PL AYBILL a christmas carol
a christmas carol charles dickens adapted by Michael Shamata }{
approximate running time: 2 hours there will be one 20 minute intermission
TIDBITS
ARTIST NOTE: DEBORAH DRAKEFORD I love Christmas. And my joy of this season is fuller when this production of A Christmas Carol is part of it. Michael Shamata’s adaptation of this beautiful story is extraordinary. Delicately distilled, he emphasizes the dark to highlight the light. And I have been lucky enough to be a part of this, along with my wonderful husband Oliver, on and off since 1994. This is my 10th time I believe. (Is that right Michael?) Beginning in New Brunswick, onto London, ON, and now here, in the round, at Soulpepper. It’s a joy to be in the room with Michael again. I think this is our 16th show together and the shorthand we have after all that time together makes for an easy and trusting rehearsal. We have been friends and colleagues for over 25 years now. And he has known our children since the beginning. And to have my own daughter Charlotte a part of this production and watch her learn and be gently guided by Michael is a gift. I am delighted to be reunited with Michael and the rest of my Christmas Family. May the power of this story fill you with joy and hope. Keep Christmas well, and keep it all the year.
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Christmas Carol has been adapted countless times. A compendium of cinematic Scrooges would include: the incomparable Alastair Sim (1951), Albert Finney (musical version 1970), George C. Scott (1984), Patrick Stewart (1999) and more recently Kelsey Grammer (2004).
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had a pet raven named Grip. It died in 1841 and he had it stuffed. In the manner of an irrepressible Dickens character, Grip had many adventures posthumously. He now resides at the Free Library of Philadelphia, taxidermically eternal.
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protégé Wilkie Collins quoted his mentor’s formula for writing serial novels (works that appeared in instalments): Make ’em laugh, make ’em cry, make ’em wait.
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2013, British actor Ralph Fiennes directed and starred in a film about Dickens’ relationship with Ellen Ternan called The Invisible Woman.
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2014, all of Charles Dickens’ novels are in print, as they have been continuously for more than 150 years.
Merry Christmas. DEBORAH DRAKEFORD, Mrs. Cratchit in A Christmas Carol p roduc t ion s p on sor