A Christmas Carol - The Kansas City Repertory Theatre

POST‐SHOW DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
TOPICS FOR THOUGHT: Use the following prompts as conversation starters with your students after
attending A Christmas Carol at the Rep. Following the discussion, you may want to have your students
write a review of the production. We’d love to hear from them! Please share student responses with
Melinda McCrary, Director of Education, at mccrarym@kcrep.org.
The Production
What did you think of the theatrical elements for
the Rep’s production of A Christmas Carol – such as
the set, props, costumes, music? What elements
did you find most effective? Was there anything
you would have done differently? If so, explain or
draw how you would to do it.
Some students may be surprised that Charles
Dickens is a character in the play. In many
contemporary plays, especially those adapted from
books, narrators are also central characters in the
action. The character of Charles Dickens as
narrator serves primarily as a storyteller in the play.
Barbara Field, who adapted Dickens’ novel for the
stage, has said, “I included Charles Dickens as a
character because I felt it would be unforgivable to
tell the story without including the narration. How
can you legitimately produce A Christmas Carol
which doesn’t start ‘Marley was dead, to begin
with.’? Narrative can set the scene and give us
factual detail, but more important, it can comment
upon the internal action and can quickly
communicate the feelings of the characters. And
while I feel it would be an inappropriate technique
to use for adaptations for most other writers, I believe that the unabashed theatricality and the sense of
actors sharing with the audience and each other—is apt. By this means they help to plunge us headlong
into the storytelling of Dickens.”
The Characters
Scrooge
2010: Cratchit Family Caroling—top right:
Walter Coppage (Bob Cratchit), center right:
Stephanie Roberts (Mrs. Cratchit), bottom
right: Katie Kalahurka (Martha). Children:
Whittaker Hoar (Tiny Tim), Anna Stastny
(Belinda), Nick Grant (Peter). Background:
Allan L. Boardman; photo by Don Ipcock
The name Scrooge has become part of our language. What does it mean to be a “Scrooge”? What is the
dictionary definition?
A Christmas Carol: Learning Guide Page 25