2015 2016

PLAY GUIDE

KAT IE M c FADZE N I N

BY C H ARL E S D I C K E N S

About ATC .................................................................................................................................................

Synopsis of the Play .................................................................................................................................

Charles Dickens: Biography .....................................................................................................................

Dickens and His Writing ...........................................................................................................................

Dickens’ World .........................................................................................................................................

Behind the Scenes: An Interview ..............................................................................................................

Glossary of Theatre Terms.........................................................................................................................

Classroom Activities.................................................................................................................................

Chronology of Dickens’ Work ....................................................................................................................

Selected Bibliography ..............................................................................................................................

SUPPORT FOR ATC’S LEARNING & EDUCATION PROGRAMMING HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY:

APS

Arizona Commission on the Arts

Bank of America Foundation

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona

City of Glendale

Community Foundation for Southern Arizona

Cox Charities

Downtown Tucson Partnership

Enterprise Holdings Foundation

Ford Motor Company Fund

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Foundation

JPMorgan Chase

John and Helen Murphy Foundation

National Endowment for the Arts

Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture

PICOR Charitable Foundation

Rosemont Copper

Stonewall Foundation

Target

The Boeing Company

The Donald Pitt Family Foundation

The Johnson Family Foundation, Inc.

The Lovell Foundation

The Marshall Foundation

The Maurice and Meta Gross Foundation

The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation

The Stocker Foundation

The WIlliam L. and Ruth T. Pendleton Memorial Fund

Tucson Medical Center

Tucson Pima Arts Council

Wells Fargo

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Arizona Theatre Company is a professional, not-for-profit theatre company. This means that all of our artists, administrators and production staff are paid professionals, and the income we receive from ticket sales and contributions goes right back into our budget to create our work, rather than to any particular person as a profit.

Eash season, ATC employs hundreds of actors, directors and designers from all over the country to create the work you see on stage. In addition, ATC currently employs approximately 50 staff members in our production shops and administrative offices in Tucson and Phoenix during our season. Among these people are carpenters, painters, marketing professionals, fundraisers, stage directors, sound and light board operators, tailors, costume designers, box office agents, stage crew - the list is endless - representing am amazing range of talents and skills.

We are also supported by a Board of Trustees, a group of business and community leaders who volunteer their time and expertise to assist the theatre in financial and legal matters, advise in marketing and fundraising, and help represent the theatre in our community.

Roughly 150,000 people attend our shows every year, and several thousand of those people support us with charitable contributions in addition to purchasing their tickets. Businesses large and small, private foundations and the city and state governments also support our work financially.

All of this is in support of our vision and mission:

The mission of Arizona Theatre Company is to inspire, engage and entertain - one moment, one production and one audience at a time.

ABOUT ATC

Our mission is to create professional theatre that continually strives to reach new levels of artistic excellence that resonates locally, in the state of Arizona and throughout the nation. In order to fulfill our mission, the theatre produces a broad repertoire ranging from classics to new works, engages artists of the highest caliber, and is committed to assuring access to the broadest spectrum of citizens.

The Temple of Music and Art, the home of ATC shows in downtown Tucson.

The Herberger Theater Center, ATC’s performance venue in downtown Phoenix.

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SYNOPSIS

A Christmas Carol

Written by Charles DickensDirected by Matthew Wiener Featuring Katie McFadzen

Katie McFadzen in ATC’s production of A Christmas Carol.

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The story begins in Victorian London where Ebenezer Scrooge runs his

counting house. Scrooge is a miserable, miserly old man who

begrudges coal to his clerks and happiness to all. Christmas seems

to make him even more miserable. He turns down an invitation for

Christmas dinner from his nephew Fred and nearly denies Bob

Cratchit, his hardworking clerk, the day off for Christmas.

He returns home to his cold, dark house and settles in for bed. He is

shortly awakened by a horrific sight – the ghost of his former

business partner, Marley. Bound in chains, Marley explains that he has come back to warn Scrooge to change his hard ways to escape the torment that Marley now suffers. Lest he not be

convinced by Marley himself Scrooge will be visited by three spirits. The ghost disappears, and Scrooge falls back asleep.

Scrooge is awakened by church bells. He thinks back on Marley's visitation.

“Just a dream,” he decides, until he turns to discover a woman standing behind him. “Who are you?” he cries.

“I am the Ghost of Christmas Past,” she says, “and I am here to take you on a journey.” The ghost takes Scrooge by the

hand, and they seemingly fly back in time, to a time and place when Ebenezer was young. He once again witnesses the

loneliness and the happiness of his young years and relives the pain of giving up the woman he truly loved. The ghost leads

him gently home to his bed.

Excruciatingly awake, Scrooge awaits his next visitor. The visitor soon arrives, a big, jolly man who introduces himself as the

Ghost of Christmas Present. He takes Scrooge on a journey, too, but not in time. They visit people and places that Scrooge

knows now. Everywhere, everyone is celebrating Christmas. They stop in at Nephew Fred's party, and Bob Cratchit's

Christmas dinner. Scrooge is especially touched by one of the Cratchit children, Tiny Tim. Although crippled and ill, Tiny Tim's

positive spirit shines, and touches even a mean old man like Scrooge.

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He asks the spirit about Tiny Tim's future. “I see a vacant seat at the chimney corner,” says the ghost, “and a crutch without

an owner.”

“No!” declares Scrooge. “Can't these things change?”

“Living men may change them,” the spirit replies leaving Ebenezer home in bed with that thought.

Next a frightful vision awakens Scrooge: A tall, silent figure shrouded in robes waits for him. Scrooge can only glimpse a

hooded skull. “Ghost of the Future!” cries Scrooge. “I fear you more than any specter I have seen.“

The ghost reaches a bony hand toward Ebenezer, and the room fades away. Scrooge finds himself at a funeral – a strangely

unemotional funeral. No one seems to mourn this death – no one has any kind words to say about the dead man. Scrooge

begins to feel uneasy regarding the identity of the dead man. There is something familiar about him.

Then he notices Bob Cratchit, kneeling by a grave – a small grave, just large enough for a child. The ghost points to another

headstone: it bears the name of Ebenezer Scrooge. “Tell me these things can change!” Scrooge pleads with the spirit. “I am

changed! What does Christmas tell us – if not that things can change? I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it

all the year! I will not shut out the lessons that you spirits have taught me!”

Scrooge is suddenly back in his own bed – alone. Happy to be alive, he bounds out of bed, not knowing what to do first. He

opens the window and shouts down to a boy in the street, “Tell me, my good lad, what day is today?”

“Why, it's Christmas Day,” replies the boy.

Ebenezer is overjoyed that the spirits worked so quickly. He can celebrate Christmas! He shouts to the boy to buy the big

turkey in the butcher's window. Delighted with his plan to deliver the bird to the Cratchits, he pays them a Christmas visit

and later shows up for Christmas dinner with Fred. Everyone is amazed and delighted by the change in him. Because of

Christmas, Ebenezer Scrooge becomes a good man – one who knows how to keep Christmas well.

Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, in Landport, Portsea,

England. He was the second of eight children born to a minor government

clerk and his wife. Dickens' father was a poor manager of money and

lacked the skills or opportunity to change jobs. He was constantly in debt

and, as was often the case in England at that time, was sent to debtor's

prison when he could not satisfy his creditors. Young Charles never forgot

the pain of that period or the harsh lessons he learned by being sent off to

work long hours at hard labor. Dickens vowed that someday he would

change those conditions for himself and other young people.

Charles Dickens, 1867.

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CHARLES DICKENS: BIOGRAPHY

Thanks to a timely legacy, the Dickens family was able to get far enough

out of debt to send Charles to school for two years. Following that he

became an attorney's clerk and then a shorthand reporter for the courts.

He learned much about poverty and crime in the city of London by

attending police court as part of his job.

While working as a journalist, at the age of twenty-four, Dickens published his first amusing character essays, Sketches by

Boz, in the newspapers. He was then commissioned, at the age of twenty-five, to write captions to accompany cartoons

about the members of a sporting club. Dickens instead wrote a series of stories about these bumbling club members that

made everyone forget the drawings. These stories became the first chapter of The Pickwick Papers.  Dickens became – at

this time and for all time to come – the most successful popular novelist in the history of the English language.

Most of Dickens' novels were first published in serial form; one chapter would come out very month in a popular journal.

People gathered in parlors, hotel lobbies and stores to wait for members of their family or group to return with one precious

copy of the journal. All would gather around to hear the latest adventures of Mr. Pickwick and Sam Weller, Nicholas Nickleby,

Oliver Twist or David Copperfield. In the United States groups would gather on the piers, waiting for ships from England to

dock, calling to the journal sellers on deck to shout down a taste of the adventure to come. Thus Dickens could be enjoyed

wherever people spoke English – even by those who could not read themselves.

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Dickens married Catherine Hogarth, the daughter of a colleague at the newspaper, in 1836. Although theirs was not a happy

marriage, they remained together for twenty-three years, finally separating in 1858 with great sorrow. Dickens continued to

write novels, essays and short stories all his life and occasionally tried his hand at the theatre. He also raised money for the

first children's hospital and a foundling hospital. In 1847 he visited the United States and later returned here for very

successful reading tour in which he charmed his audience with personal recreations of his great characters. Charles

Dickens died, still a working author, on June 9, 1870.

DICKENS AND HIS WRITING

Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim, reproduced from an 1870s frontispiece to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Illustrated by Fred Barnard.

Charles Dickens was the master of the novel in his day. For many years,

other writers and literary critics found themselves so overwhelmed by his

success and popularity that they could think of no other way to write and

be accepted by the public. As a result, when other writers finally found

new ways to write, critics began claiming that Dickens was old fashioned

and silly and not to be tolerated by new writers and new thinkers in a new

century.

Fortunately, Dickens' works seem to have survived that generation of

critics and come through it still appealing to greater and greater

audiences of new readers. Let us look, then, at what keeps Dickens

meaningful to people who have never lived in his world or his century.

Dickens’ Passion

Passion is not too strong a word for the genuine feelings that Dickens

brought to his characters and his plots. From his youth onward he was a

champion of those who suffered poverty, homelessness and ignorance. His novels often center around the sufferings of

children and those who are kept from education and kindness by the squalor in which they live. He often paints the mean,

friendless villain whose store of riches cannot make him happy. A Christmas Carol's Ebenezer Scrooge is only one example

of the misers whom Dickens could not tolerate; many times his characters learn to put aside their thoughtless, careless

behavior when they themselves are visited by pain or disease or –in Ebenezer Scrooge's case – three ghosts who will not let

him rest.

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Another aspect of Dickens' passion which is very special is his ability to display joy in his characters. Many authors can

paint heartless villains and show us terror, anger and fear. Few, however, have as much success making happiness, hilarity

and great joy so exciting in a story. Christmas morning in A Christmas Carol is just such an episode – we all wait for the

appearance of the boy whom Scrooge will question about the big turkey and in whom he will take such delight. We have such

a good time as we see the shocked expression of those to whom Scrooge wishes a “Merry Christmas” when at meeting them

last he cursed them with a “Bah, Humbug!”

Dickens' Characters

Perhaps no other author but Shakespeare has ever peopled his worlds with as

great a variety of humankind as Charles Dickens. From the shy Barkus of David

Copperfield who can never propose to his lady love, to Mrs. Sarey Gamp in

Martin Chuzzlewit whose mysterious friend “Mrs. 'Arris” never quite appears,

to the drunken, murderous Bill Sikes in Oliver Twist, to the haunting and

mysterious heroine of Our Mutual Friend whose job it is to row her father

through the Thames River as he searches for dead bodies, Dickens never stops

surprising us with people who are odd or funny or just like us or terrifying in

their capacity for evil. He finds no profession too strange to explore – a

dustman, a taxidermist, a shroudmaker – and no man too ordinary to make our

acquaintance. We spend happy time with a bootblack, a stagecoach driver, an

actor who plays a “Noble Savage”, and a young man too malnourished and

maltreated to ever develop beyond the state of childhood. Dickens never allows

Scrooge and Bob Cratchit from Dickens’ A Chrismas Carol. Illustrations by John Leech. London: Chapman & Hall, 1843. First Edition.

us to relax in stereotypes – anyone in any profession, any state of health, any level of wealth or poverty may be villain or hero

–each of them is as individual as any new acquaintance we may make today.

Dickens' Narration

One of the elements of Dickens' literary style which is most different from novelists who write today is the way in which

Dickens enjoyed dwelling on words – wallowing in great mounds of them! He could write a sentence that was an entire page

long. He could spend two paragraphs describing the making of Christmas punch. He was not anxious to tell the story as

quickly as possible. He wanted his reader to enjoy the process of getting to the conclusion. In order to guide his reader

through this happy mass of words, Dickens used a narrator who often spoke to the reader as though to a great friend, so one

has the impression when reading a Dickens novel not so much of reading as of having a story told to them by some

benevolent, elderly uncle. The modern reader, not used to this leisurely

rhythm, can approach it in different ways – he can impatiently thumb

through this often humorous and descriptive storytelling looking for the

next piece of action or he can sit back and enjoy the journey much as he

would a warm and cushioned carriage ride in Victorian England.

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Dickens' Humor

Perhaps nothing is harder to transfer from one period to the next than the

jokes of the day. In order for a joke to be funny one week or one year or one

century after it is first told, it must be about some basic human foible that

is forever a part of human activity. The humor in Dickens that we still find

funny today is humor based on characters who act foolish or silly in ways

that remind us of ourselves. It is usually a joke of this sort that Dickens

uses to bind us to his century and remind us that people have not

changed.

Dickens' Wisdom

One of the most often heard criticisms about Dickens has to do with his very happy endings and with the happy

coincidences that unite long lost relatives, old lovers and parents and children. Some readers view the happiness of the

Cratchit family in A Christmas Carol or the extreme benevolence of the Brothers Cherryble in Martin Chuzzlewit as “too

good to be true.” When we look back at the life and career of Charles Dickens, however, we cannot believe in this naiveté.

This is hardly a fit description for a boy who was banished to hard labor and poverty in a factory and whose young manhood

was spent recording the activities of police courts. Seeing the scope of Dickens' characters, we realize that he made

conscious choices as an author. He not only created heroes of exceptional bravery and goodness but also villains of amazing

greediness and cruelty. Dickens wrote not only charming and fantastical scenes, but also passages of grim despair which

are extremely bitter and painful. Perhaps the Fezziwig's Christmas party is brighter and happier than any we have been to,

but so is Fagin's last night in his cell when he is visited by the worst demons of his imaginings – a greater horror than we

have ever known.

Dickens knew (and could further conjure for us) a great breadth of human emotion and behavior. He did not ask us to accept

his characters only when we could fit them into our everyday world. Sometimes he asked us to step into the world of his

imaginings, to take us on a greater adventure – meeting the people he wished could sometimes exist in the world we live in.

Bill Sikes from Dickens’ Oliver Twist. Illustration by Fred Barnard.

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DICKENS’ WORLD

Rulers and Leaders

When Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in 1843, Victoria was Queen

of England (r. 1837-1901) and John Tyler was serving as President of the

United States. London, the capital city of England, was – and had been for

many years – the greatest center of population in the British Isles.  England

was a prosperous, still-expanding empire.

Queen Victoria, photographed by Alexander Bassano, 1882.

Business and Industry

The Industrial Revolution was well under way: the steamboat, the railroad

and the telegraph were part of Dickens' world. There were, of course, no

automobiles or airplanes or telephones yet, and the electronic wonders of the

twentieth century were not even thought of. People traveled by carriage or

coach or on horseback. Many people worked in factories, both large and

small, and laws to protect children or other workers from long hours, harsh conditions and very bad pay were almost unheard of. The law punished

criminals very severely, but left business and the arts almost completely

alone. One of Dickens' complaints during his working life was that anyone

could copy his work, change a word or two, and put their own name on it. He

was not only angry that they would get the money from selling it, but that

they would ruin its quality.

Fashion and Decoration

People dressed in many layers of clothes which were not designed for

comfort. Women wore long skirts, stiff belts and jackets and high-buttoned

shoes. Men had stiff waistcoats and tightly fitted jackets. Clothes were not

easy to wash or clean and much time was taken in the making and repairing

of garments. Children's clothes were no more comfortable, being mostly

smaller copies of their parents' wardrobes.Victorian women’s fashion, 1900s.

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Entertainment and Family Conversation

Victorian entertainment came from visiting friends or having them visit, or

by dining out at a restaurant, or by going to the theatre or the opera or the

pantomime. People spent more time talking to their families and friends

than we do now, although the rules by which conversations were held were

far different in those days. In a family the father controlled the conversation

at dinner and afterwards. Young children usually ate earlier than the rest of

the family in the kitchen or nursery and then were brought in to say

goodnight and sent off to bed. Older children were expected to answer

questions posed by their elders about the events of their day. In many homes

a certain hour was set aside every evening for reading the Bible aloud.

Reading aloud was a popular activity for an entire household to participate.

In many homes Dickens' novels were first read or heard chapter by chapter.Victorian men’s fashion, as depicted in The Gazette of Fashion, 1872.

Women had more privileges than their children, but were also expected to ask their husbands’ approval for any unusual

activity or purchase. Everyone in the household had a certain role to play and was responsible for certain duties.

Medical Care

The concept of a doctor, nurse and hospital care were well established in Victorian times, but we would not recognize any of

them today. Our standards of sanitation, sterilization and treatment of diseases has changed and improved with new

technology. In Victorian days a doctor would know your family well, would come to your house to treat you, but would not

have any of the wonderful drugs and antibiotics we have available today. It would also take him longer to get there; there

would be no telephone to call him and there would be no health insurance provided by anyone’s employer to pay hospital

bills. People relied more on old remedies and advice from their mothers and older family members. Care was lavished in a

more personal way than we often find today, but the medical discoveries were very far from those of our century.

Toys and Games

Dolls were very popular for little Victorian girls; they were more breakable than ours today, often being made of china and

delicately painted. Rag and straw dolls could be dragged around by their feet, but they were then dirty and not very easy to

clean. Many wagons and toy carriages were hand carved and painted and are very valuable today as antiques. Since

workmen made games by hand they were truly “one of a kind” and seemed to have a personality all their own.

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BEHIND THE SCENES: AN INTERVIEWDuring the busy rehearsal process for A Christmas Carol, ATC Literary Manger Katherine Monberg managed to snag a few

minutes with Director Matthew Weiner and Performer Katie McFadzen, to garner some insight on the creative process.

KM: Tell me a little bit about the adaptation process. How did the two of you go about crafting this particular script? Did you run into any surprises or challenges as the work progressed?

MW: A Christmas Carol is one of the most-adapted pieces of English literature. There have been countless stage versions

and many film and television adaptations. One of the reasons is that Dickens happened to write a wonderful story that

people have made part of their holiday traditions. Scrooge is almost a “brand” that we enjoy visiting with each December.  Dickens himself did “readings” of this piece.   So we started with his version; we then looked for places to trim his “list-

making” (sometimes [Dickens gave] as many as eight examples of an idea, when three would suffice).   Also, there were

parts of the novella that he left out of his reading version which we restored (look for the “travels” section), and other parts

that he included which we left out (bringing his bed clothes to the pawn shop is just not fun).  As of this writing, we’ve met

for many hours to edit the text but…I’m sure we will discover new adjustments in the rehearsal hall.

KMcF: Ditto to Matthew's answer!

KM: Where did the idea to craft a one-woman show out of the Dickens classic emerge, and what excites you most about this particular adaptation and production?

MW: I believe the idea for a one-woman version came from David Ira Goldstein, the Artistic Director of Arizona Theatre

Company.   But there have been many productions with one [actor] before. Perhaps the most [famous recent version was

performed by] John Patrick Stewart – he did it on Broadway for several holiday seasons. For me, the most exciting aspect of

this production is to work with Katie McFadzen and discover her version of the story. When doing a one-person play of any

sort, one of the most pleasurable aspects – at least for me – is watching a bravura performance from an extremely

accomplished artist. 

KMcF:  David Ira Goldstein approached me this past May about doing a one-woman version of A Christmas Carol and of

course I said I’d be up for the challenge. I asked him about a script and he said there wasn’t one and that we’d just use the

novella. To do the entire novella would take about three hours, so we knew we would need to edit. Matthew Wiener (who is

directing) and I found an abridged version that Dickens used when he did public readings, and used that as a starting

point. Over a period of about five weeks, we did a compare-and-contrast of the novella and the abridged version, did some

cutting and adding, and ended up with what will be our script. The big acting challenge will be doing scenes where two or

three characters are having dialogue. The rehearsal process is sure to be fun! We really want to focus on finding the humor

in the story. Scrooge’s emotional journey and ultimate change will be exciting to explore.  I'm also really looking forward to

the audience being onstage in the Herberger's Center Stage.  It's going to be interesting to see how that plays out!

KM: Do you have a favorite character or moment that we should be sure to look for during the show?

MW: One of my favorite moments in the show – which is left out of many adaptations – is during the Third Stave with the

Ghost of Christmas Present. During the “travels” section, [the Ghost of Christmas] Present takes Scrooge on a whirlwind

tour of all the faraway and forlorn places [in which] the holiday is being celebrated. I love the “swoosh” of this sequence,

and the epic scope that comes into focus during this rather intimate encounter with a single person: Scrooge.

KMcF: I have two: the scene [in which] Marley’s ghost appears in Scrooge’s room, because it’s suspenseful and funny, AND

the scene where Scrooge’s fiancé releases him from their engagement.  I think it’s heartbreaking and enlightening and really

addresses Scrooge’s change from a person capable of loving and giving into a bitter person obsessed with money.

KM: A Christmas Carol has been around for a long time, in many different versions and mediums, since Dickens wrote the original story. What do you think is the allure of this particular story, and why does it still speak to a contemporary reader/audience?

MW: At its root, this is a story that celebrates the possibility of change. Through a series of encounters with the

supernatural, Scrooge becomes a changed man and ultimately changes the lives of the other characters in the story –

especially Tiny Tim. Why this story speaks to a contemporary audience and to audiences ever since he wrote it in 1843, is the

universal idea that “change” is possible; that we can be willful creatures and chart our own path.   That it is possible to

change our own lives and in doing so, change the lives of those around us. That is a very powerful and important story to be

telling from the stage.

KMcF: Holiday tradition, first and foremost. So many people have at some point watched or read a version of this story.   I

remember seeing the movie as a child and being terrified of the ghosts.   As an adult, I saw the stage version at Actors

Theatre (several times). Surprisingly, I never read the novella until this past summer! I think there's allure in the

supernatural and [in] the idea that we can change the future but not the past.  For me, the allure is the message that we

have the power within ourselves to live better lives and be better people.  People have the ability to change their lives and in

doing so can help change the lives of others.

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KM: Is there anything else you’d like to share about the play, the process, or the production?

MW: Everyone is in for a real treat watching and listening to Katie McFadzen.  She is simply a magnificent storyteller and I’m

thrilled to help bring her performance of A Christmas Carol to our community. Come and see it!

KMcF: I'm really excited to be working with Matthew again.  We first worked together around 1994 at Childsplay and then in

2013 at Actors Theatre, so we've known each other a looooong time.  I'm also excited about doing this show in rep with The

Santaland Diaries.  I just wish Ron and I could do some kind of mash-up of the two shows....hmmm, what would that look

like?

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GLOSSARY OF THEATRE TERMSAct: The main division of a play. Most modern plays have two or three acts. There may be scenes within an act.

Actor: A performer in a play; may be male or female, adult or child.

Ad-lib: Making up a line not originally in a play. Done when an actor forgets a line or someone misses an entrance.

Antagonist: The adversary of the main character; provides the obstacle the protagonist tries to overcome.

Arena stage: Stage area placed in the center of a room with the audience seating surrounding it; theatre-in-the-round.

Break a leg: A superstitious good luck wish exchanged by actors. It is felt that saying, “Good luck,” brings bad luck.

Character: A person in a play created by the playwright and represented by an actor.

Climax: The moment of highest tension or suspense in a play; the turning point after which all action moves to a resolution.

Comedy: A humorous play that either offers a light, celebratory view of life or which makes its point through sharp ridicule

and satire. Usually has a happy ending.

Costumes: The clothes worn in a play – designed to fit the era, mood and personality of the characters.

Cue: The last words or actions that come before another actor’s speech; a light, sound or curtain signal.

Designer: A person who conceives and creates the plans for the scenery, costumes, lighting, sound, makeup, hairstyles,

properties and other visual spectacle of a production.

Dialogue: Conversations between two or more characters in a play.

Director: The person responsible for initiating the interpretation of the play, enhancing that interpretation with the concepts

of the designers and making all final decisions on production values; tells the actors where and when to move and how best

to communicate the interpretation of the play to the audience.

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Directions on stage are given from the actors’ perspective; an actor walking toward stage right moves toward the lefthand side of an audience member who is facing the stage.

Downstage: Front area of the stage, nearest the audience.

Drama: The play script; the art of writing and staging plays; a

literary art form different from poetry or other fiction.

Exposition: Dialogue which gives the audience the background

information it needs to follow the action of the play; most of it

occurs early in the play.

Improvisation: To make up as you go along; often used as a

rehearsal technique to make the actors more comfortable with

their characters; may be part of some performance situations.

Monologue: Long speech spoken by one actor without interruption.

Motivation: A character’s reason for saying or doing something; the actor searches for this in his/her study of a role and

uses voice and movement to interpret it to the audience.

Narrator: One who tells the story; speaks directly to the audience.

Plot: The story of the play. The playwright chooses the incidents that tell the story best and arranges those incidents to form

the dramatic action of the play.

Proscenium arch in Chicago’s Auditorium Building, constructed in 1887.

Prop: Any movable item used on the set of a play or handled by an

actor. (E.g., a can, a letter, a book, a vase, a suitcase.)

Proscenium: A form of staging in which an arch frames the stage;

the stage is at one end of a room and the audience sits in front of

it, watching the play through the arch which frames the action.

Protagonist: The main character; the person about whose success

or failure the audience is most concerned.

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Rehearsal: The time period before a play opens involving practice of the

dialogue, movement, rhythms and interpretation of the play.

Scene: A division of a play representing a single episode or unit of action;

subpart of an act.

Scenic Artist: The painter or machinist who reproduces the scene designer’s

drawing in full scale on the stage.

Script: The written words and stage directions created by a playwright; the

starting point of a production.

Set: The scenery of a play; depicts time, place, mood.

Stage Business: Small pieces of action, often humorous, put into a scene to

heighten its appeal or suspense.

A Tony Award, designed by Herman Rosse in 1949.

Stage Directions: Information written into the play script that tells the actors when and where to move; often describes the

mood or intent of the action; also may describe the scenery.

Stage Left: Side of the stage on the actors’ left as they face the audience.

Stage Right: Side of the stage on the actors’ right as they face the audience.

Stage Manager: A person who coordinates all aspects of the production during the performance; runs the show.

Theatre: A performance art which usually involves living actors telling a story through dialogue and action, often

surrounded by visual spectacle that enhances the story further; the space in which such an art is presented. The spelling is

theatre (from the French, usually preferred by practitioners of the art) or theater.

Theme: A major principle of ethical precept the play deals with; a complex play may be concerned with several precepts, all

relating to aspects of the human condition.

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Thrust Stage: A stage area set at on end of the room which extends out into the audience area; audience surrounds the

action on three sides.

Tony: Awards given annually by the American Theatre Wing for outstanding contributions to the theatre – officially the

Antoinette Perry Awards.

Tragedy: A play which deals with large issues of human values and ethics; most often associated with the great classical

periods of drama (Greek and Elizabethan); its characters are usually kings and heroes whose fates effect whole civilizations.

Most tragedies have endings that are unhappy for the protagonists but provide the fallen civilization with hope for the

future.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

A note to teachers: this study guide is designed for a broad age range; some activities may be not be age-appropriate

for your students.

Before you see the play

1. Read A Christmas Carol (or teachers read it to the class)

a. Play casting director: What stars or cartoon characters would you cast as Scrooge? As Bob Cratchit? Jacob

Marley? Why did you pick those people? What characteristics do you see in each person that would suit one of

Dickens' characters?

b. Pick your favorite line from A Christmas Carol. Illustrate it. Why does that line make you see a picture?

2. Get a copy of The Annotated Christmas Carol. Have each class member pick one or two pages, and find a little known

fact about Victorian times that applies to A Christmas Carol. How do these facts make the story more interesting?

(See “Dickens’ World” for some interesting facts!)

After you have seen the play

1. Write a review of this production of A Christmas Carol. What moments stood out in your mind? What characters/actors

made a big impression? How do you describe your reactions?

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2. Write a "One Minute Christmas Carol". How do you get the point of the story across in one minute? How did you decide

what was important?

3. Read Victorian ghost stories – Dickens' The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain would be a good choice.

4. Discuss the message of the play: change is possible. What makes people want to change? How can you change for the

better? How can you change the lives of people around you?

Further Topics for Discussion

Public welfare and the common good: Poverty and homelessness now and then.

Dickens today: Modern adaptations on film.

Social services: Only prisons and workhouses?

Victorian society: Lifestyles of the rich and the poor.

Class Projects

a. Do your own adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Update it – what job would Scrooge have today? Where would he live?

Would he still see ghosts? What other types of "messengers" might work?

b. Have a Victorian holiday party. Dress in the styles, try some of the recipes, and play Victorian parlor games.

CHRONOLOGY OF DICKENS’ WORK1836

1836-37

1837-39

1937-39

1840-41

1841

1842

1843

1843-44

Sketches by Boz (essays)

The Pickwick Papers (novel)

Nicholas Nickleby (novel)

Oliver Twist (novel)

The Old Curiousity Shop (novel)

Barnaby Rudge (novel)

American Notes (travel essays)

A Christmas Carol (short story)

Martin Chuzzlewit (novel)

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1844

1845

1846

1846

1846-48

1848

1849-50

1852-54

1854

1855-57

1859

1860-61

1861

1864-65

1870

The Chimes (short story)

The Cricket on the Hearth (short story)

The Battle of Life (short story)

Pictures from Italy (travel essays)

Dombey and Son (novel)

The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain (short stories)

David Copperfield (novel)

A Child's History of England (history)

Hard Times (novel)

Little Dorrit (novel)

A Tale of Two Cities (novel)

Great Expectations (novel)

The Uncommercial Traveller (essays)

Our Mutual Friend (novel)

The Mystery of Edwin Drood (novel, unfinished)

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Chesterton, Gilbert Keith. Charles Dickens: A Critical Study.

Forster, John. The Life of Charles Dickens.

Gissing, George. The Immortal Dickens.

House, Humphrey. The Dickens World.

Jackson, Thomas A. Charles Dickens: The Progress of a Radical.

Johnson, Edgar. Charles Dickens, His Tragedy and His Triumph.

Marcus, Stephen. Dickens from Pickwick to Dombey.

Pearson, Hesketh. Charles Dickens: His Character, Comedy & Career.

Wagenknecht, Edward. The Man Charles Dickens: A Victorian Portrait.

Wilson, Edmund. The Wound and the Bow.