2024/2025 SEASON STUDY
GUIDELINES FOR ATTENDING THE THEATER
Attending live theatre is a unique experience with many valuable educational and social benefits. To ensure that all audience members are able to enjoy the performance, please take a few minutes to discuss the following audience etiquette topics with your students before you come to Hartford Stage.
• How is attending the theatre similar to and different from going to the movies? What behaviors are and are not appropriate when seeing a play? Why?
• Remind students that because the performance is live, the audience affects the performance. No two audiences are exactly the same and no two performances are exactly the same—this is part of what makes theatre so special!
• Theatre should be an enjoyable experience for the audience. Audience members are welcome to applaud when appropriate and laugh at the funny moments. Talking is distracting to other audience members and the actors on stage. Theatres are constructed to carry sound efficiently!
• Any noise or light can be a distraction, so please remind students to make sure their cell phones are turned off. Students should not text, or take photos or video during the performance.
• Students should sit with their group as seated by the Front of House staff and should not leave their seats once the performance has begun. Students will have the chance to get a drink or snack, eat lunch, or use the restroom at intermission.
Vanessa R Butler as Belle and Erik Bloomquist as Scrooge at 30.
Rebecka Jones as the Spirit of Christmas Past.
A Ghost Story of Christmas
Have you ever hesitated before going down into a dark basement, or thought you saw a shadow cross the floor from the corner of your eye? You turn your head quickly to see what it is, but there’s nothing there. How about the howl of the wind on a dark starry night, the creaks of an old house settling or just the strange feeling that you are not alone in an empty room? Do these things scare you?
Have you ever wondered why? Is it fear of the unknown? Writers and storytellers have depended on these tricks of the imagination for years to widen the eyes of readers and listeners and make their hair stand on end. Ghost stories have been used as entertainment and in literature throughout history, but they were popularized by Charles Dickens during the Victorian era. During that time it was commonly thought that if a person died with a guilty conscience, as did Jacob Marley, they were doomed to haunt the earth for eternity.
But why a GHOST STORY at Christmas?
Most of us associate ghost stories with Halloween or with cozy nights by the camp fire, but at Christmas? This may seem strange, but in 1843 telling ghost stories at Christmas was as typical as hanging Christmas lights on the house. Furthermore, monster and ghost stories were considered excellent tools for instructing children towards the path of virtue. Think about this and how it relates to Scrooge. Was Scrooge scared into changing for good?
FUN FACT
In the ghost scenes, actors wear glowing, fluorescent costuming adding an eerie chill to the stage. Period shoes are first painted white and then sprayed with an almost translucent white fluorescent spray. This second step ensures that the costumes will glow under the black light. (Science fact: not all white will appear fluorescent under black lighting; hence the need for the second spray.)
From the Play
Read the text below and decide how you would answer Scrooge’s question.
“Why do Spirits walk the earth, and why do they come to me?” — Scrooge
“… if [a human] spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. It is doomed to wander through the world and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth.” — Marley’s Ghost
GHOST STORY
STARTER
Finish this ghost story in your own way:
It was a dark, moonlit night and the wind was howling. The door creaked open, then shut with a bang. I felt a cold shiver run down my spine as I crept down the stairs. In the moon-light, the figure seemed silver as it entered the kitchen...
The ghosts of A Christmas Carol.
Meet the Characters
EBENEZER SCROOGE
Ebenezer Scrooge is a cranky old man who doesn’t like people very much.
Mrs.
MRS. DILBER
Bob
THE SOLICITORS
Two gentlemen who are collecting money to give to the poor.
Mr.
Dilber is Ebenezer Scrooge’s housekeeper.
BOB CRATCHIT
Cratchit works for Ebenezer Scrooge. He is a very kind man.
TINY TIM
Bob Cratchit’s son, who is very sick but loves Christmas.
FRED
Fred is Ebenezer Scrooge’s nephew. He is a very kind man.
BETTYE PIDGEON
Bettye is a kind woman who sells dolls. She owes Ebenezer Scrooge money.
BERT
Bert is a kind man who sells fruit and cider. He owes Ebenezer Scrooge money.
MR. MARVEL
Marvel is an inventor who sells watches. He owes Ebenezer Scrooge money.
Meet the Characters
JACOB MARLEY
Jacob Marley was Ebenezer Scrooge’s business partner. He has been dead for seven years.
MR. AND MRS. FEZZIWIG
Mr. Fezziwig is a kind man who gave Ebenezer Scrooge his first job. Mrs. Fezziwig is his wife.
MRS. CRATCHIT
Mrs. Cratchit is Bob Cratchit’s wife and the mother of Tiny Tim. She loves her family very much.
SPIRIT
OF CHRISTMAS PAST
The first spirit to visit Ebenezer Scrooge. She shows him scenes that have already happened in his life.
Belle is a lovely young woman who was once going to marry Ebenezer Scrooge. He loved her very much.
FRED’S WIFE
She is married to Ebenezer Scrooge’s nephew, Fred. She is very kind.
YOUNG SCROOGE
When Scrooge visits his memories of the past, he sees himself at 14 and 30 years old.
SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT
The second spirit to visit Ebenezer Scrooge. He shows Scrooge the joy of Christmas in the present day.
SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS FUTURE
The third spirit to visit Ebenezer Scrooge. He shows Scrooge visions of what the future will be like if he does not try to be a better man.
BELLE
Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens was, in his own lifetime, a literary superstar—with throngs of fans attending his public readings and lectures and welcomed at towns across the globe (Hartford included) as if he were royalty. “If we see him,” wrote novelist Jane Smiley, “as a man whose work made him rich and famous, as close to a household name as any movie star is today—then we can also see him as the first person to become a ‘name brand.’”
The rise of Charles Dickens to brand name status is a rags-toriches story. Charles John Huffman Dickens was born February 7, 1812, near Portsmouth, England, the second of John and Elizabeth Dickens’s eight children. His father was employed as a clerk for the Naval Pay Office, requiring the family to move frequently. Despite his job security, John Dickens found it difficult to support his growing family. The family of ten was habitually on the edge of financial ruin as John’s careless spending left them constantly in the clutches of creditors, a crime in Victorian England.
Charles Dickens was an intelligent and naturally inquisitive boy that discovered a love for books during his years at the Chatham School. His delight in education was cut short at the age of 10 when his father was transferred to London and Charles was sent to work at the Warren Blacking Company, putting labels on bottles of shoe polish, to help support the family. Two days after Charles’s twelfth birthday, John’s financial floundering caught up with him. John Dickens and the remaining family members were thrown into a debtor’s prison to work off the huge debt amassed. Abandoned, neglected, and ill-treated by factory overseers, Charles worked 12 to 16 hour days, then trekked three miles to his squalid lodgings in Camden town. These years profoundly influenced Charles’s later writing career; themes of abandonment, abuse, and ignorance permeate his work. The shame of his circumstances and the anger at his lack of education compelled the young Dickens to succeed through hard work and determination. Through his life and work he would be a constant champion of children, the poor and a well-regulated legal system. An unexpected inheritance allowed John Dickens to pay off his debt and Charles was reunited with his family. Charles continued his education at the Wellington House Academy until at age 15, his family could no longer afford his tuition. He began a series of odd jobs, including work as an office boy in a law firm and a stint as a county reporter covering Parliamentary debates for The Morning Chronicle in 1835.
Charles Dickens’s first fictional works to gain notoriety, the satirical Sketches by Boz (1833-35), were presented in serial form, followed by The Pickwick Papers (1836-37), making the 24-year-old Dickens a famous and successful author. With his novel Oliver Twist (1839), Dickens sealed his popularity and announced some of the continuing themes of his work: an indictment of a society that mistreated the poor, a condemnation of the wrongs inflicted on children by adults, and a denunciation of corruption and decay in politics and government.
Of all of Dickens’s works, none has entered the consciousness and become a “brand name” in its own right as A Christmas Carol. Though he was a quite popular author by that time, his publishers were threatening to lower his payment. Concerned over his own financial problems, and trying to avoid having to lease out his London home, Dickens thought he might have hit upon a profitable story with his tale of Ebenezer Scrooge and his nocturnal visitations. He wrote A Christmas Carol after the summer of 1843, which he spent teaching in a program that provided basic instruction to poor children. Barely clothed, hungry and already turning to a life of thievery, these children would inspire a central image in A Christmas Carol: the two children, Ignorance and Want. Dickens announced the story would hit his readers over the head like a “sledge-hammer.” Though only one in ten people in Victorian England could read, legend has it that each person who read A Christmas Carol went out and read it to many other anxious listeners. These retellings became the first adaptations of the beloved story.
Charles Dickens in his Study, 1859 by William Powell Frith, Victoria and Albert Museum.
Bestseller
“Never had a little book an outset so full of brilliancy of promise,” wrote Dickens’ first biographer John Forest. “Published but a few days before Christmas, it was hailed on every side with enthusiastic greeting. The first edition of six thousand copies was sold the first day…” Wonderfully illustrated by John Leach, bound in red with gold lettering, it sold more than 12,000 copies in the first five months, and unauthorized copies and altered versions soon appeared for sale all over London, as well as several stage adaptations. Thereafter when Dickens performed readings of his work, it was A Christmas Carol that was most demanded. He gave at least 127 readings of the book between 1853 and 1870, not only in England, but across Europe and the United States as well, where fans would camp out the night before in order to secure tickets. Though some of his readings were in excess of three hours, he eventually developed a performance that ran approximately ninety minutes. Part reader, part actor, Dickens changed his voice and physical characteristics as he took on the many roles of the story. More than a century later, A Christmas Carol has been retold in countless versions, and its characters, story and dialogue — “God Bless us every one,” “Bah! Humbug!” — have a life completely separate from the slim little book Dickens published in 1843. A tale of redemption and hope, that story is based on Dickens’s harshly critical view of a society that permitted its youngest members to suffer, while a few gathered in wealth.
NOTABLE WORKS BY CHARLES DICKENS
The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club
April 1836–November 1837
Monthly Serial
A Christmas Carol 1843 | Novella
The Cricket of the Hearth 1845 | Novella
David Copperfield
May 1849–November 1850
Monthly Serial
Bleak House March 1852–September 1853
Monthly Serial
A Tale of Two Cities
April 30, 1859–November 26, 1859
Weekly Serial in All the Year Round
Great Expectations
December 1, 1860–August 3, 1861
Weekly serial in All the Year Round
The Mystery of Edwin Drood April 1870–September 1870
Monthly Serial | Unfinished
Patrick O’Konis as Bob Cratchit and James Salvo as Tiny Tim.
Victorian London
The Victorian Era (1837-1901) is defined by the reign of Queen Victoria in England. Before this time, most people in England lived outside the city on farms and in other rural settings. During Queen Victoria’s time on the throne, the city of London grew into a great metropolis of factories and businesses. Traders from all over the world visited London to buy and sell everything from clothing and food to nails and hammers. Unlike today, where there is a large population in the middle class, Victorian London was a time of very rich people and very poor people. The rich lived life with comfort and the poor struggled, every day, to put food on the table. As you can imagine, life for the poor was difficult.
There were two kinds of poor people in Victorian London; those who had a job and those who did not. People who did not have jobs quickly fell into the gutter, the prison or the grave. The poor, who did have a job, often worked under terrible conditions for low pay. They had to work six days a week and generally sixteen hours a day. There were no health benefits, vacations, bonuses or any of the perks most workers get today. In fact, before 1833, most people had to work on Christmas day; there were NO HOLIDAYS OFF.
In the Hartford Stage production of A Christmas Carol, Bob Crachit asks his boss, Ebenezer Scrooge, for a day off. Keep your eyes and ears open for how Scrooge responds to Crachit’s request.
Using the picture of Victorian London above, decide who you think each of the people in the picture is.
• What is their job?
• What do they want?
• If each of them could say one thing, what would they say?
The costumes to the left were designed specifically for Hartford Stage and made right in our own costume shop! When you watch the play notice the other characters and what they wear.
What can a costume tell you about a character?
From left (Rebecka Jones, John-Andrew Morrison, Noble Shropshire and Allen Gilmore.
Victorian Youth
Then and Now
Victorian life was very different than life today. Complete the sentences below to get a better sense of how our lives today compare to life then.
1) In Victorian London, people used candles for light. Today we use __________________________________________.
2) In the 1800s, homes were heated with coal; today we heat our homes with ___________________________ or____________________________.
3) In the 1800s, most kids worked in factories or coal mines. Today kids ________________________________________.
4) Back then the rich used a horse and buggy to get around the city. Today people use ____________________________.
5) In the mid-1800s, the steam train was a new invention. A new invention today is _____________________________.
6) Most Londoners listened to classical or instrumental music in the 19th century. I listen to ____________________
Extra, extra, read all about it!
There were many issues that pertained to children during the Victorian era. Child labor was one of them. Make a list of some issues that affect children today. The issues can deal with anything from education to arts or sports to family life.
7) Mince pie and cabbage soup was a common meal then. A common meal at my house is ________________________
Did You Know?
Workhouse or Poorhouse:
a place maintained at public expense to house needy or dependent persons or persons guilty of minor law violations. (i.e. pick-pockets/stealing)
• Before 1833, children generally worked 64 hours a week in the summer and 52 hours a week during the winter months.
• After 1833, children between the age of 11 and 18 worked twelve hours a day, children between 9 and 11 worked eight hours a day, and children under 9 were not legally allowed to work, but were often put to work in secret.
• Small boys and girls were put to work in the iron and coal mines because they fit into the cramped holes and shafts of the mines. Often the small ones began working at the age of 5 and died by the age of 25 of Black Lung disease.
Tiny Tim and Polio
Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a viral disease in which the infection enters the blood stream through the digestive tract, then spreads through the lymph system and can attack the nerves. Children are now routinely immunized against the disease (the vaccine became widely available in 1955) and it has been completely eliminated in many countries, but from the 1840s through the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic.
In about 95% of polio cases, the infection is asymptomatic, meaning it produces no symptoms at all. But in the 4-8% of cases that do produce symptoms, there are three different forms. In subclinical polio, the person experiences flu-like symptoms, including fever, sore throat, headache, and vomiting, but no long-term effects. Nonparalytic polio is associated with aseptic meningitis and includes symptoms such as neck stiffness and sensitivity to light. The third form, paralytic polio, is the rarest form (occurring in only 0.1-2% of cases) but is the form most commonly thought of in association with the disease, as it is a severe, debilitating illness that results in muscular paralysis and sometimes death. Once in the body, the paralytic form of polio could produce the same physical symptoms displayed by Tiny Tim. Polio was eliminated in the United States by 1979 and in the Western Hemisphere by 1991.
In A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens never specifically identifies Tiny Tim’s ailment, but polio is one of the most common theories. The lack of proper sanitation in Victorian London, combined with poor hygiene and the Victorians’ lack of knowledge about germs as a source for illness, resulted in living conditions that were ideal for the spread of the disease. Polio is transmitted from person-toperson, primarily through contact with infected mucus, phlegm, or feces. Residents of industrial cities in the 19th century came into contact with all three on a daily basis, as indoor plumbing was rare, and the streets contained a blend of mud, factory pollution, rotten food, and sewage. Bathing was a luxury afforded only by the wealthy, and impoverished people like the Cratchits would have washed themselves with a cloth and cold water, if they washed at all. In addition to polio, diseases like cholera and tuberculosis were rampant, and families like the Cratchits had little to no access to what limited, but potentially life-saving, medical treatments existed for these diseases. Tiny Tim’s apparent contraction of polio, exemplified by his paralyzed legs and general weakness, would truly have been a death sentence without the intervention of a wealthy benefactor such as Mr. Scrooge.
A frontispiece to Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. By Frederick Barnard, circa 1870.
Allen Gilmore as Scrooge with the ghosts of A Christmas Carol.
Glossary
Act 1
HUMBUG Nonsense; something devoid of meaning.
LIBERALITY The quality of being generous or bountiful.
DESTITUTE Without means of subsistence; lacking food, clothing, or shelter.
WORKHOUSE An institution maintained at public expense in which the very poor did unpaid work in exchange for food and shelter.
SURPLUS An amount greater than what is needed.
RELIC An object from the past.
UNDERTAKER A person who oversees the burial of the dead.
APPARITION A supernatural appearance of a person or thing; a ghost.
FETTERED Shackled; restrained.
CHARITY Generous actions or donations given to those in need; goodwill or kindly feelings towards those in need.
MERCY An act of kindness or compassion towards someone who has committed an offense.
FORBEARANCE Holding back from enforcing a right.
BENEVOLENCE The desire to do good for others; an act of kindness or charitable gift.
RECLAMATION The act of reclaiming something; taking back something useful.
APPRENTICE A person who works for someone else to learn a trade or receive specialized training.
IDOL A person or thing regarded with unconditional, blind admiration and adoration.
Act 2
FORTIFIED Protected or strengthened against attack.
QUARREL A fight or argument.
TARRY To delay or be late.
PALTRY Insultingly small.
GULLIBLE Easily tricked or deceived.
ODIOUS Deserving of hatred or dislike; highly offensive.
STINGY Reluctant to give; not generous.
PENURY Extreme poverty.
BACHELOR An unmarried man.
CANTANKEROUS Disagreeable; difficult to deal with.
DAFT Senseless; foolish; crazy.
IGNORANCE A lack of knowledge or learning.
REFUGE Shelter or protection from danger and trouble.
SPECTER A visible spirit, particularly a frightening one.
GUMPTION Courage; initiative; resourcefulness.
FARTHING A former coin of Britain worth one-fourth of a penny; a very small amount.
MUNIFICENCE The quality of showing unusual generosity.
TEMERITY Reckless boldness.
Allen Gilmore as Scrooge with the children of A Christmas Carol.
Discussion Questions and Classroom Activities
BEFORE THE SHOW
1. Charles Dickens published his book A Christmas Carol in 1843. Sketch your thoughts and predictions of what the costumes and set will look like in the Hartford Stage production of A Christmas Carol
2. Redemption is a central theme in the play. Look up the dictionary definition of “redemption.” What elements do you think the play must have to be a story about redemption?
3. Deliverance, rescue, liberation, and recovery are all synonyms for redemption. Do any of these words play an active role in your personal, school or family life?
4. Many are familiar with the character Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge. What connotation does the word “Scrooge” have today?
5. What special effects do you expect to see in this production of A Christmas Carol?
6. Do you expect to be moved by this production?
AFTER THE SHOW
1. What were Dickens’s thoughts on child labor laws and workers rights during the 1850s?
2. How does this play condemn and personify wealth? How does this play treat the struggle of poverty versus wealth? What other social commentary can you find in this text?
3. What party games did you see the characters play at Fred’s house? Research parlor games and party games of Victorian England and compare them to games we play today.
4. This play is a beautiful, articulate story of redemption. Track Scrooge’s change in behavior and the realizations and resignations he must make in order to receive redemption and salvation. What other stories of redemption have you heard?
5. Is this play a traditional ghost story?
6. Take any holiday (Thanksgiving, Flag Day, Bastille Day) and create a ghost story about the day. Your tale must include the following: a moral or principle, a clear beginning, dynamic middle and a thrilling end. Also add a plot twist, reversal of fortune or surprise.
7. If you were a playwright, how would you modernize A Christmas Carol?
8. Do you think that this story is applicable to people of diverse religious backgrounds?
9.Does this story of redemption apply to you? Does this play speak to you? How and why?
10. Seeing a production of A Christmas Carol has become a holiday tradition not only in Hartford, but across the nation. What are your family’s winter traditions?
11. Research the definition of “Bah! Humbug!”
12. Whether it is through the cinema, television or another theater’s production of the classic, most Americans have enjoyed some version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
(a) How did this version compare to other version you have seen?
(b) Why do television stations air such classics like A Christmas Carol every year? What do these stations stand to lose or gain with this specific and repetitive holiday programming?
(c) Why do you suppose that countless theatres across the nation, small community theatres to large regional theatres produce A Christmas Carol each and every year?
13. Were you satisfied with the ending of the production? Do you think it is a plausible ending? Rewrite the ending of the play. Can you support your changes with facts learned through the entire body of text?
REFERENCES
“1833 Factory Act.” The National Archives. The National Archives. Web. 17 Oct. 2011, http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/lesson13.htm.
“BBC - History: British History In-depth.” BBC - History. British Broadcasting Corporation. Web. 18 Oct. 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/.
Bloy, Marjie. “The Corn Laws.” The Victorian Web: An Overview. Web. 17 Oct. 2011. http://www.victorianweb.org/history/cornlaws1.html.
“Chartist Timeline.” Chartist Ancestors: Chartism, the Chartists and the People’s Charter. Web. 17 Oct. 2011, <http://www.chartists.net/Chartist-Timeline.htm>.
Daunton, Martin. “BBC - History - London’s ‘Great Stink’ and Victorian Urban Planning.” BBC - History Trails - Victorian Britain. British Broadcasting Corporation, 4 Nov. 2004. Web. 19 Oct. 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/victorian_britain/social_conditions/victorian_urban_planning_01.shtml. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, LLC. Web. 30 Oct. 2012, http://dictionary.reference.com/.
Dickens, Charles, and Peter Haining. “The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain.” Charles Dickens’ Christmas Ghost Stories New York: St. Martin’s, 1993. Print.
Dickens, Charles. Introduction. A Christmas Carol. Delray Beach, FL: Levenger, 2009. IX-XIX. Print.
Dickens, Charles. The Chimes. Rockville, MD: Serenity Pub., 2009. Print.
Dickens, Charles. The Pickwick Papers. London: Vintage Classic, 2009. Print. “Parlor Games.” VictoriasPast.com. Web. 26 Oct. 2011, http://www.victoriaspast.com/ParlorGames/parlor_games.htm. “Polio.” KidsHealth. The Nemours Foundation, Sept. 2010. Web. 18 Oct. 2011, http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/polio.html#.
“Poliomyelitis - PubMed Health.” PubMed Health. A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia, 28 Aug. 2009. Web. 18 Oct. 2011, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002375/.
Smiley, Jane. Charles Dickens: A Life. Penguin, 2011.
Wikipedia contributors. “Timeline of British history (1800–1899).” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 5 Jan. 2011. Web. 17 Oct. 2011.
Adelina McGinnis and Gloria Dotson-Kelly with John-Andrew Morrison as Bert, a fruit and cider vendor.
HARTFORD STAGE EDUCATION PROGRAMS ARE SUPPORTED BY
The BFA Endowed Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving
Connecticut State Department of Education
Connecticut State Judicial Branch
Enterprise Foundation
Ensworth Charitable Foundation
Mr. & Mrs. William Foulds Family Foundation
Greater Hartford Arts Council
Hartford Foundation for Public Giving
The George A. & Grace L. Long Foundation
The MorningStar Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving
SBM Foundation
Scripps Family Fund for Education and the Arts
The Michael E. Simmons Foundation
Talcott Resolution
Travelers Foundation
The University of Saint Joseph
SEASON SPONSORS
LEAD PRODUCTION SPONSOR
William & Judith Thompson PRODUCERS
STUDENT MATINEE SPONSOR
The Michael E. Simmons Foundation
For more information about education programs at Hartford Stage, please call 860-520-7244 or email education@hartfordstage.org.
POST-SHOW DISCUSSION SPONSOR
Production photos of A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas by T. Charles Erickson.