A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Background Notes

by Soulpepper Associate Artist Toby Malone

Charles Dickens' Ebenezer Scrooge remains one of English literature's most enduring, evocative characters, whose negativity and frugality have entered into the common vernacular. Not surprisingly, our common association with Scrooge is of the man we meet before his encounter with the three Christmas ghosts: a man who clings to every penny, a man who treats celebrations of family and Christmas as 'Humbug': to be called a 'Scrooge' is a negative epithet. Adaptations of Dickens' story - that of a man who is helped to understand, by way of three Christmas ghosts, how he has grown into his current lonely, angry state - are plentiful and iconic. Alastair Sim's 1951 film portrayal is perhaps most easily remembered as a fixture of every Christmas season; there have been musical versions, orchestral arrangements, one-man shows, and radio plays. Disney created a beloved cartoon adaptation starring Scrooge McDuck as his penny-pinching namesake; Bill Murray and Jim Carrey have played Scrooge characters in years past. For Toronto audiences, however, Michael Shamata's adaptation of Dickens's novella is gaining traction as a similarly iconic interpretation. Soulpepper will present Shamata's brilliantly entertaining version of Scrooge's tale for the fifth time, with Soulpepper Founding Member Joseph Ziegler reprising the role of Scrooge. The evocative setting in the Baillie Theatre, configured to play in the round, brings this classic story to life in a thrilling, energetic production. Scrooge's redemption at the hands of the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future ultimately comes from deep inside himself, where he is confronted with the man he has become. His brush with the consequences of a lifetime's selfishness shows us that with a little bit of Christmas spirit, anyone can be redeemed.