wicktheatre > Archive > Performances > A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol

The Barn Theatre, Southwick Community Centre

December 18, 19 [17.00hrs], 20, 21 & 22, 1999

A Christmas Carol

by Charles Dickens

Directed by
Tony Brownings


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“Stunning performance”
– Shoreham Herald –

Cast


David Goodger – Ebenezer Scrooge

Bob Ryder – Bob Cratchit

Kevin Isaac – Fred [Scrooge’s nephew]

Peter Thompson – Portly Gentleman [1]

John Barham – Portly Gentleman [2]

David Creedon – Marley’s Ghost

Judith Berrill – Ghost of Christmas Past

Tom Cullen – Scrooge, as a boy

Jane Richards – Belle

John Garland – Scrooge, as a young man

Helen Armes – Fran

Peter Winstone – Dick Wilkins

Ralph Dawes – Mr. Fezziwig

Joan Bearman – Mrs. Fezziwig

Laura Isaac – Lotty Fezziwig

John Barham – Ghost of Christmas Present

Margaret Pierce – Mrs. Cratchit

Stuart Isaac – Peter Cratchit

Liz Nowak – Belinda Cratchit

Becky Hodge – Martha Cratchit

Christopher Brownings – Tiny Tim

Julie le Manquais – Agnes [Fed’s wife]

Jane Richards – Maude [her sister]

John Garland – Topper

Margaret Ockenden – Old Meg

Diane Robinson – Charwoman

Rosemary Bouchy – Laundress

David Creedon – Undertaker’s Man

Judith Berrill – Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come

David Brownings – Beggar Boy / Ignorance

Annette Thompson – Beggar Girl / Want

Tom Cullen – Young Boy

Mark Flower – Businessman

Ralph Dawes – Businessman

Peter Winstone – Businessman

Peter Thompson – Businessman

Derek Fraser – Carol Singer

Nick Ryder – Carol Singer

Jane Richards – Bell Ringer

Joan Bearman – Bell Ringer

Ralph Dawes – City Folk

Rosemary Bouchy – City Folk

Julie Le Manquais – Party Guest

Linda Mostyn – Party Guest

Valerie Bray – Party Guest

 

Production Crew

Musical DirectorKati Szeless

Stage ManagerDavid Comber

ASMOlive Smith

ASMMarc Lewis

ASMDave Collis

LightingMike Medway

LightingSimon Snelling

Set ConstructionDavid Comber

Set ConstructionDave Collis

Set ConstructionBrian Box

Set ConstructionMike Davy

Set ConstructionMarc Lewis

Set PaintingFrances Thorne

Set PaintingSheila Neesham

PropertiesSue Whittaker

PropertiesMargaret Davy

CostumesFrances Moulton

Press & PublicityRosemary Bouchy

Press & PublicityFrances Thorne

Press & PublicityRosemary Brown

Design, Graphics & PhotographyJudith Berrill

Assistant to the DirectorBetty Dawes

Box OfficeMargaret Murrell

Front of House ManagerDavid Pierce

Front of House ManagerBrian Moulton

 

Programme Note #1: A Christmas Carol

TB wrote “Charles Dickens was just 31 when he wrote A Christmas Carol, though already he had enjoyed huge popular success with ‘The Pickwick Papers’, ‘Oliver Twist’, ‘Nicholas Nickleby’ and ‘The Old Curiosity Shop’. He began writing it in October 1843 and had it on sale in the bookshops the week before Christmas – about the same length of time we have taken to rehearse this new adaptation for the stage!

Dickens actually wrote A Christmas Carol while working hard to produce the monthly episodes of ‘Martin Chuzzlewit’ for his magazine readership. He once described how, in that busy autumn of 1843, he would walk the streets and alley-ways of London in the middle of the night, with his mind racing about the chapters he would write the following day.

What drove him to work so furiously on the book? To begin with, he felt driven to attacks social injustice of child poverty and exploitation. Just before he began the Carol, he had lectured in Manchester on the perils of ‘Want’ and ‘Ignorance’, which he then brought so vividly to life in the book. But he was also driven to show the power of redemption – the chance to confront past memories and present truths, and to build a better future. Through Scrooge, Dickens invites us all to embrace the universal values of friendship, family and the generosity of the human spirit.

I set about this new adaptation for the stage because I felt that many earlier versions had strayed a long way from the mood which Charles Dickens created, either watering down his tone or making it more sentimental than he intended. By going back very closely to the dialogue which he wrote for his characters, I hope that we are now presenting a play which is much more faithful to the spirit of the book.

It has been enormous fun working with the large team of Wick members [and their children!] who have come together to create this production. A Christmas Carol is not only a cracking good story, it should be a heart-warming, uplifting experience as well. So we hoe that you enjoy this production and feel its cheer spreading into the festivities ahead.

A very merry Christmas to you all!”