A Christmas Carol - PCPA Theaterfest

PCPA Theaterfest
Student Matinee Program
www.pcpa.org
A Christmas Carol
By Charles Dickens
Adapted by Richard Hellesen
Music by David DeBerry
Orchestrations by Gregg Coffin
Study Guide for Educators
Generously sponsored by Ng & Ng Dental and Eye Care
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Welcome to PCPA Theaterfest
A NOTE TO THE TEACHER
Thank you for bringing your students to PCPA Theaterfest at Allan Hancock College. Here are some helpful
hints for your visit to the Marian Theatre. The top priority of our staff is to provide an enjoyable day of live
theatre for you and your students. We offer you this study guide as a tool to prepare your students prior to the
performance.
SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENT ETIQUETTE
Note-able behavior is a vital part of theater for youth. Going to the theater is not a casual event. It is a special
occasion. If students are prepared properly, it will be a memorable, educational experience they will remember
for years.
1. Have students enter the theater in a single file. Chaperones should be one adult for every ten students. Our
ushers will assist you with locating your seats. Please wait until the usher has seated your party before any
rearranging of seats to avoid injury and confusion. While seated, teachers should space themselves so they are
visible, between every groups of ten students. Teachers and adults must remain with their group during the
entire performance.
2. Once seated in the theater, students may go to the bathroom in small groups and with the teacher's
permission. Please chaperone younger students. Once the show is over, please remain seated until the House
Manager dismisses your school.
3. Please remind your students that we do not permit:
- food, gum, drinks, smoking, hats, backpacks or large purses
- disruptive talking.
- disorderly and inappropriate behavior (stepping on/over seats, throwing objects, etc.)
- cameras, iPods, cell phones, beepers, tape recorders, hand held video games. (Adults are asked to put any
beepers or cell phones on silent or vibrate.) In cases of disorderly behavior, groups may be asked to leave the
theater without ticket refunds.
4. Teachers should take time to remind students before attending the show of the following about a live
performance: sometimes we forget when we come into a theatre that we are one of the most important parts of
the production. Without an audience, there would be no performance. Your contribution of laughter, quiet
attention and applause is part of the play.
When we watch movies or television, we are watching images on a screen and what we say or do cannot affect
them. In the theatre the actors are real people who are present and creating an experience with us at that very
moment. They see and hear us and are sensitive to our response. They know how we feel about the play by how
we watch and listen. An invisible bond is formed between actors and a good audience, and it enables the actors
to do their best for you. A good audience helps make a good performance.
PCPA Theaterfest welcomes you as a partner in the live theatre experience from the moment you take your
seats. We hope that your visit will be a highlight of your school year.
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A Christmas Carol Cast and Production Team
Director
Choreographer
Musical Director
Scenic Designer
Costume Designer
Lighting Designer
Sound Designer
Vocal/ Dialect Coach
Stage Manager
Stage Manager
Mark Booher
Michael Jenkinson
Callum Morris
DeAnne Kennedy
Frederick P. Deeben
Jen 'Z' Zornow
Elisabeth Rebel
Andrew Philpot Production
Christine Collins*
Aleah Van Woert
Cast of Characters
Scrooge Peter S. Hadres*
Bob Cratchit/Ensemble
Evans Eden Jarnefeldt
Fred/Italian Teacher/Young Ebeneezer
Michael Jenkinson*
Labourer/Parent/Clerk/Topper Quinn Mattfeld*
Tailor/Parent Scott Fuss
Subscription Gent/
Ghost of Christmas Present Erik Stein*
Grocer/Marley/Fezziwig/
Belle's Husband/Old joe
Andrew Philpot*
Subscription Gent/Beer Seller/Guest Paul Henry
Niece/Parent/Mrs. Fezziwig/Laundress Karen Hendricks
Tailior's Wife/Parent/
Baker's Wife/Female Guest Anne Guynn
Martha Cratchit/Mrss Fezziwig Chrissi Erickson
Mrs. Cratchit/Parent/Matron Belle Elizabeth Stuart
Charwoman/Ghost of Christmas Past Kitty Balay*
Sister-in-Law/Maid/Mess Fezziwig Andrea Hilbrant
Peter Cratchit/Schoolboy/
Apprentice Ebeneezer Zachary Bukarev-Padlo
Labourer/Suitor/Yet to Come Mackenszie Drae
Labourer/Suitor/Wreath Vendor Philip Bolton
Delivery Boy/Schoolboy/Dick Wilkins Stephen Michael Stone
Labourer/Fiddler/
Yet to Come/Undertaker's Man Tony Carter
Labourer/Parent/Baker/Yet to Come J.R. Yancher
Song Vendor/Neighbor Girl Donna Noelle
Ibale Maid/Schoolboy/Young Miss/
Book Vendor Nicole Widtfeldt
Maid/Belle Cristina Gerla
* Member, Actors' Equity Association
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HOW TO USE THIS STUDY GUIDE
The Study Guide is a companion piece designed to explore many ideas depicted in the stage production
of A Christmas Carol. Although the guide's intent is to enhance the student's theatrical experience, it can also
be used as an introduction to the elements of a play (in this case a play with music), and the production elements
involved in the play's presentation. Although many students are familiar with the general storyline, this specific
stage adaptation presents a wealth of new questions for this generation to answer. The guide has been organized
into
three major sections:
Elements of the story
Elements of production
Activities
Teachers and group leaders will want to select portions of the guide for their specific usage. Discussion
questions are meant to provoke a line of thought about a particular topic. The answers to the discussion
questions in many instances will initiate the process of exploration and discovery of varied interpretations by
everyone involved. This can be as rewarding as the wonderful experience of sight and sound that A Christmas
Carol creates on-stage.
It is recommended that the Charles Dickens book A Christmas Carol, available in paperback at local libraries or
book stores, be used in conjunction with discussion of the play. A PDF of this 80 page book can be
downloaded and printed for free at: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46
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ELEMENTS OF THE STORY
PLAY SYNOPSIS
ACT I
The show opens with the Londoners singing carols as they describe the business partnership between Ebenezer
Scrooge and the now deceased Jacob Marley in Prologue: First Refrain. We encounter Scrooge bitter, greedy,
and cruel in his counting-house on Christmas Eve. His freezing employee, Bob Cratchit diligently works with
only one coal for his fire. Scrooge‘s nephew Fred visits him with an invitation to his annual Christmas party.
Scrooge cruelly refuses the offer with ‗humbug‘ and protests that marrying for love is the only thing sillier than
a Merry Christmas. Two gentlemen request charity donations for the poor, and Scrooge coolly snubs them.
Soon after, the Labourers gather around a fire singing Labourer's Carol.
That night, Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of his late partner, Jacob Marley who is condemned to walk about
the earth, fettered with the chains of his cruelties committed in life. Marley warns Scrooge that he too shall be
trapped with such a chain and will be forced to carry it without rest forever. Marley tells him, his only chance to
avoid this fate, lies in three spirits who will visit him over the next three nights. As Marley disappears, we hear
the sounds of tormented spirits warning Scrooge of their agony, Song of the Spirits: Second Refrain. Jacob
departs, and as soon as Scrooge begins to sleep, he is disturbed by the bell tolling each hour until it is one.
The Ghost of Christmas Past arrives in glowing white light. She takes him on a journey to Scrooge‘s boyhood,
(where he lays whiteness) unseen by the shadows of his past. He watches the boys from his childhood running
through his school, Melodrame: Schoolboys. The boys each greet their parents as they are released for the
holiday vacation in Merry Christmas Round. Finally he looks upon himself as a boy, dissatisfied with Christmas
even as a child. Scrooge‘s sister Fan arrives to take young Ebeneezer home with her, and they sing Home at
Christmas Tide. The Ghost of Christmas Past then takes Scrooge to another Christmas at the Fezziwig house.
Scrooge watches himself as an apprentice celebrate with the entire Fezziwig family. The festivities begin with
dancing, and Mr. Fezziwig singing Fezziwig's Carol. The room is filled with singing and dancing, just as Belle
arrives, the beautiful young woman with whom Ebenezer is madly in love. Scrooge watches himself as a young
man, propose to Belle. The Ghost of Christmas Past then takes him to a time a few years later, when Ebenezer is
a young man. Scrooge watches as Belle releases young Ebenezer from his engagement. The spirit then shows
Scrooge the woman Belle grew into in Gifts of the Heart. She is married with children and lives happily among
them. Scrooge begs to be released from these visions; the three versions of Ebenezer Scrooge appear and the
phantoms sing Nightmare: Third Refrain.
ACT II
Scrooge, asleep in his bed, is awaked by the striking of the bell. He welcomes in the Ghost of Christmas Present
who enters on a sleigh with children and the full company singing the Wassail Song. With a touch of his robe,
Scrooge is brought to the streets of London where he views people young and old celebrating Christmas Day.
The Ghost brings him to the house of Bob Cratchit and his family, which despite its poverty, is filled with love
and cheer. The Ghost of Christmas Present takes Scrooge to the home of his nephew Fred where he and his wife
are entertaining guests for the Christmas Holiday. Scrooge is swept up in the festivities and longs to stay, but
the Ghost and he leave to visit the Cratchit family where they sing The Toast. Scrooges voices concern over the
welfare of Tiny Tim, Bob Cratchit‘s youngest boy, who is crippled. The Ghost warns him, that if the present
does not change, it is likely that the child will die. He then reveals two children: Want and Ignorance from
beneath his robe. The Ghost of Christmas Present warns Scrooge that these children are mankind‘s and that they
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will bring ruin and evil to the world. The Ghost has aged over his time with Scrooge and so must leave at the
stroke of twelve.
As he disappears, The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come enters during Yet to Come: Fourth Refrain. The Ghost
leads Scrooge through various conversations about an unknown man‘s death. Scrooge watches businessmen
discuss his riches and thieves divide the dead man‘s possessions. Finally, Scrooge is brought to the Cratchit
house, which is now replete with the gloom of Tiny Tim‘s death. Scrooge is unsettled, and begs to know who
the dead man is whose death caused so much joy to others. Ever silent, The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
shows Scrooge to a graveyard, where he reads his own named engraved on the tombstone. In desperation,
Scrooge begs to be spared of this future written on this tombstone, and vows to live the life of a changed man,
with love in his heart.
Suddenly Scrooge awakes in his own bed, hearing a Christmas song outside his door in Streetsinger: Fifth
Refrain. Scrooge is gleeful, and filled with relief since he discovers that not only is his future unwritten, but
today is in fact Christmas. He purchases a turkey for the Cratchit family, and upon encountering the very same
charity gentlemen from the first scene, he decides to donate a generous amount to their cause. Scrooge visits his
nephew Fred. He celebrates his new reformed life by becoming a better employer to Bob Cratchit and a second
father to Tiny Tim. Over the years, Scrooge lives with generosity and love for his fellow man, and the entire
cast sings Finale: Sixth Refrain.
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About the Playwright- Richard Hellesen
Richard Hellesen
Hellesen was born 1956.
A California resident, the playwright has served on the faculty of California State University Fullerton and
American River College, and has been a resident artist at the William Inge Center for the Arts in Independence,
Kansas. His works have been performed by regional theater companies including South Coast Repertory in
Orange County, California, the LA Rep (Los Angeles Repertory Company), the Denver Center Theatre
Company, Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC, City Theatre in Miami, Florida, and Geva Theatre in Rochester,
New York. He received the Barrie and Bernice Stavis Playwriting Award from the National Theatre Conference
in 1998. In 1987 Hellesen adapted A Christmas Carol as a musical with composer David de Berry.
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About The Author – Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
“I have endeavored in this Ghostly little book to raise the Ghost
of an Idea”
–Charles Dickens -preface to the original edition.
Charles Dickens was a literary genius of the Victorian Age and
beyond. As a populist novelist, an editor, social advocate and
reformer, and an active journalist, his voice often articulated,
shaped and preserved for future generations this period of great
social and artistic transformation. Most critics and audiences agree
that Dickens offered such diversity and authenticity of character,
rich and persuasive narratives, and a mastery of English language.
Thus he is often seen as the ―symbol‖ of the age and a literary
power to rival William Shakespeare.
Dickens‘s source for his perceptions and observations of life in
19th century London and its environs was often drawn from his
own experiences. His David Copperfield (1849) is highly
autobiographical; it charts the rise of a hero from a boyhood of
poverty and deprivation to a life of wealth, security and fame. After an appalling childhood of work in a bootblacking
factory while his family resided in a debtor‘s prison, Dickens‘ became an office boy in a law firm and
then a staff reporter for The Mirror of Parliament. In 1836, His Sketches by Boz brought him popular acclaim
and established his reputation as a serial novelist. In that same year he married Catherine Hogarth. From 1836-
42, he published, in monthly installments, some of his most popular works including The Pickwick Papers,
Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby. He undertook his first successful American Tour in 1842. In 1843, his first
Christmas tale, A Christmas Carol, sold 6,000 copies (a period record) on its first day of publication. And in
that same year, Dickens began to offer private theatricals as well as public dramatic readings of his works,
especially A Christmas Carol.
By the mid 1800‘s Dickens was London‘s leading literary figure producing a major novel approximately every
two years. In addition to his literary achievements, Dickens was also a tireless campaigner for social reform: in
particular the scope and effectiveness of Child Labor Laws and the transformation of the public educational
system. And while his professional life was a major success, his personal life was far less so. Dickens engaged
in numerous relationships with other women, including a lifetime liaison with the professional actress Ellen
Ternan. He and his wife separated in 1858 (divorce was unthinkable for a man of his social position in this era).
And while he was often an ―absent‖ father to his ten children, he is often credited with transforming our western
idea of children and childhood. In Dickens‘ works, children have unique insights, strong emotions and powerful
imagination; he, more than Charcot or Freud, imbued our modern sensibility of child psychology.
The novels of the later portion of Dickens‘ career owe a great deal to the developing genres of detective fiction
and the mystery story. Works such as Bleak House (1852), Hard Times (1854), A Tale of Two Cities (1861) and
Great Expectations (1861) reveal a balance between the dynamics of familial crises and psychological
examination, with an articulation of social injustice and the transformation of modern society. His final work,
The Mystery of Edwin Drood, was begun in 1869 but was unfinished at his death in 1870. His death was front
page news around the world, and despite his request to be buried in Rochester Cathedral, mourners spent weeks
paying their respects at his grave in ―Poet‘s Corner‖ of Westminster Abbey.
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About The Play
A Christmas Carol was born out of Dickens‘ initial efforts to produce
an important socio-political pamphlet to be entitled ―An Appeal to the
People of England on Behalf of the Poor Man‘s Child.‖ But as he set
to work on this journalist endeavor, a much more powerful ―ghost
story of Christmas‖ began to take shape. As Dickens observed, ― By
the end of the year, you will certainly feel that a sledgehammer has
come down with 20 times the force – 20 thousand times the force - I
could exert by the following my first idea!‖ While it may be hard to
measure the ultimate political effect of this ―sledgehammer‖ on
Victorian society, it is certainly true that Dickens‘ brilliant casting of
this study in indifference, humanity and transformation, resurrected the
society‘s awareness of, and engagement in, Christmas. At a time when
old traditions of the holiday were in sad decline, Dickens constructs a
world of hospitality, merriment, open-heartedness and generosity with
laughter, radiance, wit, energy, and vitality. And as a result, his name
became synonymous with that holiday. The famous anecdote of the
simple London lass who was overheard observing, ―Dickens dead?
Then will Father Christmas die too?‖ reveals his inseparable
connection to Yuletide.
In his study of The Battle for Christmas, Stephen Nussenbaum argues that it is Dickens who is
responsible for the holiday‘s focus on gift-giving and charity. While familial gifts became ―presents‖ – objects
of luxury and indulgence, gifts to the disadvantaged became ―charity‖ – necessities purchased by a third party
on the behalf of others. And while Dickens‘ story is less about the religious nature of the holiday, it is most
certainly about its spiritual nature. Scrooge‘s self-transformation also requires action; after his encounter with
the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, his relationships are informed by a need to treat others
humanely and compassionately. Mankind is his responsibility. Especially its future generations. As Dickens
well knew, nearly half of all funerals in London were for children under the age of ten. So when Scrooge is
presented with the allegorical children, Ignorance and Want, by the Ghost of Christmas Present, they offer the
strongest warning, ―This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but
most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased.‖
The ―carol‖ of the title refers to a tradition of ―wassailing‖ dating to the 4-5th century, where the
drinking toast was ―waes hal‖ (your health). Groups of singers went from home to home, offering songs in
return for drinks of ale spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and lemon. But during the Interregnum (1649-
1658) Oliver Cromwell banned all carols and observances of the holiday, and as a result, the ancient customs
and practices fell into decline. In 1834, The carol, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, was among the few popular
tunes of Yuletide. But by the 1870s, Victorians had rediscovered the musicality of the holiday through Dickens‘
work and through the Victorian Collection of Christmas Carols Old and New, published in 1871.
This adaptation of the novella by Richard Hellesen, with music by David De Berry, features a
celebration of the season‘s musicality as well as a brilliant introduction of the ―ghost story.‖ As Dickens
observed in his original preface, ―I have endeavored in this ghostly little book to raise the ghost of an Idea.‖
That is an idea best expressed in Marley‘s statement to his friend Scrooge, ―The common welfare was my
business; charity, mercy, forbearance and benevolence were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but
a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business.‖
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About the Novel
In the tenth installment of The Pickwick Papers (31 December
1836), Charles Dickens wrote 'a good-humored Christmas
Chapter' (XXVIII) "The Story of the Goblins who stole a
Sexton‖. Gabriel Grub, who became is the prototype of
Ebenezer Scrooge, was the story‘s protagonist. This story tells
how this miserly man, hardened by the cold world can be
restored to choose charity and kindness and it clearly points the
way to Dickens‘ A Christmas Carol seven years later.
Dickens began writing this story on October 5, 1843. Invited to
speak at the first annual general meeting of the Manchester
Athenaeum (an adult education institute for the working class),
Dickens had stayed with his beloved older sister Fan. One of her
two young sons was a frail cripple. He became the inspiration
for the character of Tiny Tim (in the initial draft named "Fred,"
after Dickens' younger brother), and he died early in 1849.
The character of Scrooge in his dual natures: miserly and loving,
is thought to hold its roots in Dickens‘ father, who was both
loved and hated by Dickens.
Dickens toured the Cornish tin mines in 1843 and witnessed the
horrible conditions for children there. He also became aware of
impoverished and starved children during his stay at the Field Lane Ragged School, one of several London
schools set up for the education of children. His experiences of poverty, child mortality, and starvation deeply
affected him, and so much of A Christmas Carol was filled with both his outrage for Victorian indifference, as
well as hope for change to come.
Dickens completed the story in six weeks. A Christmas Carol was published in 1843 by Chapman & Hall. In
London, the novel was well received and by the close of 1844 the book had sold almost 15,000 copies. The
novella was adapted for the stage almost immediately. Three productions opened on 5 February 1844 with one
by Edward Stirling sanctioned by Dickens and running for more than forty nights. A Christmas Carol was the
text chosen for his first public reading in 1853 with the performance an immense success. Dickens read the tale
127 times right up until 1870 (the year of his death) when it provided the material for his farewell performance.
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ELEMENTS OF THE PRODUCTION
From Artistic Director Mark Booher (and this production‘s director), this is
his eighth journey through a theatrical adaptation of this great story. And it is
the fifth time with this version which he describes as his favorite for the stage.
As he says, ―I am not done with it because it is not done with me.‖ For
Booher, his storytelling begins with a series of important questions: Where
are we going? Where does this story take us? What‘s the conclusion? While
he notes that it is important to celebrate this adaptation of the novella as a
classic work, it is more powerfully remembered as a ―morality‖ story. In the
conventions of the theatre, a morality play is a type of ―allegory in which the
protagonist is met by personifications of various moral attributes who try to
prompt him to choose a Godly life over one of evil.‖ And it is also about the
journey of a man who ―with overwhelming humility and gratitude in his heart,
a man with an essentially reinvented idea about the purpose of his life, with
an intense desire to do good, doesn‘t know what to do and how to go about
doing it. He‘s a baby at goodness.‖
He is that baby because after his journey to awareness, he‘s just being born, again. For Booher, this ―Carol‖ is a
great story of the ―re-s‖ in life: remembrance, repentance, reconciliation, reawakening, redemption, and rebirth.
It is also a ghost story as mystery and a ghost story as ―Spirit‖ – the Holy Ghost. As Booher states, ―this story
assumes that man is a spirit and further, that there are ethereal, ephemeral, and even eternal implications to our
actions and inactions in life. 'It is required of every man that the spirit within him walk abroad among his fellow
men and travel far and wide and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. It is
doomed to wander through this world – O woe is me- and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared
and turned to happiness.'‖
To explore these understandings of A Christmas Carol, Booher and
his team set this production the London of the 1840s, where the
atmosphere and the sensibilities will celebrate the world of Dickens at
the time he created this classic. And since this 1840s London was the
city of the young (children were 30-40 per cent of the population and
the average age of mortality was 27), Booher is excited to share this
project with a conservatory based company. And most importantly,
he is excited to share with our audiences this musical adaptation
since, ―music is one of the magic doorways to the ephemeral, spiritual
aspects of our nature.‖
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ELEMENTS OF SCENIC DESIGN
Scenic Designer DeAnne Kennedy created these ¼ inch models to assist the
director and other designers in imagining how the scenic element would enhance
telling the story for A Christmas Carol.
ACT I
Scrooge‘s Past : The school
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Christmas Present: At The Fezziwig‘s
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Act II
Fred‘s House and the Cratchit House
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Finale
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ELEMENTS OF COSTUME DESIGN
Costume Designer Frederick P. Deeben created the water color renderings to assist
the director and other designers in imagining how the costume element would
enhance the story of A Christmas Carol. The renderings are an important step in
making sure the costumes are constructed to the designer‘s specifications.
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Social Background of the Play: Victorian London
(Excerpts from Wikipedia)- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_era
Victorian Era 1837-1901 the period of Queen Victoria's reign in England from 20 June 1837 until her death on
22 January 1901. Victoria's reign lasted 63 years and 216 days, the longest in British history. During the early
part of the era, the House of Commons was headed by two parties, Whigs and Tories. From the late 1850s
onwards, Whigs were replaced by Liberals; and the Tories became known as Conservatives.
Population: The Victorian era was a time of unprecedented demographic increase in England. The population
rose from 13.897 million in 1831 to 32.528 million in 1901. The Industrial Revolution had a positive impact on
living standards. People had more money and could improve their standards; therefore, population increase was
sustainable. Fertility rates in the Victorian era increased every decade until 1901 when the rates started to even
out. With living standards improving, the percentage of women able to bear children also increased However, a
cholera epidemic took place in London in 1848-49 killing 14,137, and subsequently in 1853, killing 10,738.
This anomaly was attributed to the closure and replacement of cesspits with the modern sewerage systems.
Technology and engineering: Stagecoaches, canals, steam ships and most notably the railways all allowed
goods, raw materials and people to be moved about, rapidly facilitating trade and industry. Trains became
another important factor ordering society, with "railway time" being the standard by which clocks were set
throughout Britain. Steamships such as the SS Great Britain and SS Great Western made international travel
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more common and also advanced trade. The importation of goods such as corn from the United States and meat
from Australia was a part of such trade. Another engineering development in the Victorian Era was the sewage
system from London. It was designed by Joseph Bazalgette in 1858. He proposed to build 82 mi (132 km) of
sewer system linked with over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) of street sewers. Many problems were encountered but the
sewers were completed.
Another important innovation in communications was the arrival of Penny Black, the first postage stamp, which
standardized postage rates to a flat price regardless of distance. Photography was realized in 1839 by Louis
Daguerre in France and William Fox Talbot in the UK.
Poverty: 19th century Britain saw a huge population increase accompanied by rapid urbanization stimulated by
the Industrial Revolution. The large numbers of skilled and unskilled people looking for work kept wages down
to a bare subsistence level. Available housing was scarce and expensive, resulting in overcrowding. These
problems were magnified in London, where the population grew at record rates. Large houses were turned into
flats and tenements, and as landlords failed to maintain these dwellings slums developed. Kellow Chesney
described the situation as follows: "Hideous slums, some of them acres wide, some no more than crannies of
obscure misery, make up a substantial part of the metropolis... In big, once handsome houses, thirty or more
people of all ages may inhabit a single room."
Child labour: The Victorian era became notorious for the employment of young children in factories and mines
and as chimney sweeps. Child labour, often brought about by economic hardship, played an important role in
the Industrial Revolution. Agile boys were employed by the chimney sweeps; small children were employed to
scramble under machinery to retrieve cotton bobbins; and children were also employed to work in coal mines,
crawling through tunnels too narrow and low for adults.
Children also worked as errand boys, crossing sweepers, or shoe blacks, or selling matches, flowers, and other
cheap goods. Some children undertook work as apprentices to respectable trades, such as building, or as
domestic servants (there were over 120,000 domestic servants in London in the mid 18th century). Working
hours were long: builders might work 64 hours a week in summer and 52 in winter, while domestic servants
worked 80 hour weeks. Children as young as four were put to work. In coal mines children began work at the
age of 5 and generally died before the age of 25. Many children (and adults) worked 16 hour days. As early as
1802 and 1819, Factory Acts were passed to limit the working hours of workhouse children in factories and
cotton mills to 12 hours per day. Many young people worked as prostitutes (the majority of prostitutes in
London were between 15 and 22 years of age).
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Victorian colloquialisms
Mid-nineteenth-century English was somewhat different from the English we speak today — not in its usage
but in its vocabulary. The following colloquialisms all come from A Christmas Carol:
Ebenezer: 'the stone of help' (I Samuel vii. 12); used as a name of a particular Methodist or Baptist chapel, and
afterwards contemptuously to mean "dissenting chapel" (1856).
Scroudge: 'a crush, squeeze, or crowd' (1839), from dialects in Kent and Cornwall.
Bob: a pet form of Robert; also, London slang for a coin worth 1.5 pence in the 14th c., and by 1837 a shilling.
Cratchet: a dilemma, a tool used by thatchers, the stomach, to eat heartily.
Crotchet: a whimsical fancy, a peculiar notion held by an individual in opposition to popular opinion (1831).
Jacob: in 1662 a Jacobus was a gold coin; otherwise, the name alludes to the biblical patriarch who in Genesis
30: 40 made the inferior sheep he had been given breed faster.
Marley: from marl (soil); in Yorkshire, sleet.
Come Down: an expression meaning "to lay down money";
Humbug: colloquially, a hoax, imposition, fraud, or sham (1751); used interjectionally to mean "stuff and
nonsense" (1825); in slang, to deceive or cheat.
Situation: post or employment (1813).
Bedlam: the Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem, founded as a priory in 1247; by 1402, it was a hospital or
asylum for lunatics; by extension, any madhouse (1663); hence, any scene of mad confusion (1667).
Sovereign: a gold coin originally worth 22s. 6d., but latterly worth only 10 or 11 shillings; by royal
proclamation in 1817 the coin's value was fixed at twenty shillings.
Copper: a vessel made of copper. particularly a large boiler for cooking or laundry purposes, but now more
often made of iron (1833).
'Change: a place of (financial or commercial) exchange, as in the King's or Queen's Exchange (1601); a money
changer's office (1569); the 'Burse' or Exchange built in London by Sir Thomas Gresham in 1566 received from
Queen Elizabeth I the name of the Royal Exchange.
Griping: The action of grip[p]ing, clutching, grasping, or seizing tenaciously, especially with the hands, arms,
claws, and the like.
Skreeks: from Screech (also screik, screak, skreigh), to utter a loud, shrill cry.
Fusty: That which has lost its freshness, stale-smelling, musty, as of a wine-cask; of bread, corn, meat, etc.,
smelling of mould or damp (1491); that which has lost its interest.
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Discussion Topics
For Grades 1 – 6
1. Which Christmas Ghost was your favorite, and why?
2. How is Scrooge‘s nephew Fred different from his uncle Scrooge?
3. Does the play end the way you expected? How? Why?
4. What has Marley‘s ghost been doing since his death?
5. Why does Belle leave Scrooge?
6. Which of the Christmas ghosts has the greatest effect on Scrooge? Why?
7. What do you think is the moral or the message of A Christmas Carol?
Discussion Topics
For Grades 6 – 12
1. What are the conflicts in A Christmas Carol? What types of conflict (physical, moral, intellectual, or
emotional) did you notice?
2. What are some themes in the story? How do they relate to the plot and characters?
3. What are some symbols in A Christmas Carol? How do they relate to the plot and characters?
4. What is the central/primary purpose of the story? Is the purpose important or meaningful?
5. What is the role of women in the text? How are mothers represented? What about single/independent
women?
6. To what extent is Scrooge a comic character? What makes him funny?
7. How would you characterize Bob Cratchit‘s attitude toward Scrooge? Scrooge‘s attitude toward Cratchit?
8. How does Scrooge‘s relationship with his sister Fan play into the story?
9. How is Scrooge affected by seeing the Cratchit family?
10. Why does Fred refuse to speak against Scrooge? How does his wife differ on this matter? Fred and his wife
and Bob and his wife have different views on Scrooge. What does this say about each of them?
11. What does the Ghost of Christmas Present mean when it says the boy and the girl under his robes, Ignorance
and Want, are ―Man‘s‖?
12. How does Scrooge feel about the spirit of Christmas yet to come?
13. What is the lesson Scrooge learns when the ghost shows him the Cratchit family after Tim‘s death? Why is
this lesson needed when Scrooge‘s attitude has already changed so much?
14. What specific events lead to Scrooge's reformation? In particular, at what point in the story do we first begin
to see him change (that is, when does he first show emotion)?
Activities
For All Grades
Activity 1: Yes and No:
Pick a character, object, or image from the Play A Christmas Carol, and take turns playing the ‗yes and no‘
game from the show. Students can take turns asking questions till they discover the character, prop, or object
from the play you have selected. They can all play this game with each other.
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(Focus on Performance): Professional actors will rehearse a play for weeks before the audience comes to see
it. You can give your students a taste of what it‘s like to work on a character through the following acting
exercises. This activity is for the teacher, as the entire class must be organized in a certain way for this activity:
Activity 2: Who am I?
Have your students pick a character from the play.
In a central playing space (like the front of your classroom) have the student act out a moment in that
character‘s day (this can last about a minute).
Have your class guess whom the student is portraying by what they see him/her do, and the way that
he/she completes the action. What are the major clues? Is anything confusing?
For an Extra Challenge: While the first student is acting, if another student thinks he/she knows who the
character is, have that student join in the action. The challenge is to have student B act as his/her
character, and also interact with character A in the context of the scene! You can have as many people
enter the scene as you like. At some point say, ―Freeze‖! To stop the action. Ask students to determine
which characters are being portrayed. Were the students thinking of the right characters?
Activity 3: How Old Am I?
Write the following on the board: Boy Scrooge, Young Scrooge, Old Scrooge.
Have each student pick one of the ages of Scrooge to portray – in their portrayals they should think
about these things: how fast does their Scrooge move? how does his body look? Does he have aches and
pains? Where? How does he feel emotionally at this age? What is his focus?
Have one student volunteer to be the observer. The observer will watch the Scrooges and try to
distinguish what age each student is portraying.
Have your students walk around an open space as their Scrooge. One by one, the observer will tap each
student‘s shoulder and put each student in one of the three groups (Boy, Young Man, and Old Man)
based on the word‘s placement on the chalkboard.
At the end, see if everyone is in the right group. Talk about what movements, gestures, pace, and stance
gave clues to the ages of Scrooge.
You can repeat this exercise again as much as you‘d like with different observers.
Activity 4 (A Christmas Character): Design and write a Christmas card from the perspective of one of the
characters, or make a dish using their favorite recipe. To do this exercise you must, in a sense, become that
character – Scrooge, Mrs. Cratchit, Fred, one of the Ghosts, whoever. Examine what this helps you to
understand about that character – you may need to reference things in that character‘s life that are not present in
the play, even come up with a back story.
Activity 5 Improvisation
Break the class up into groups of 3-5 students. Give them 10 minutes to decide what are the main Five points or
events in the story. The group will create tableau pictures (frozen poses that tell a story) to represent each of
their main points. Have one person narrate the caption of each tableau. Like a living picture book. Have each
group take turns their tableau story and watch each group in turn as they quickly go from one frame to the next,
freezing only ten seconds or so in between each to let the audience see. This exercise quickly lets us all discuss
what we think are the main events or plot points in the play.
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Was this Study Guide Helpful?
It is useful for us to know what was helpful to you as you read and/or used this guide. Please fill out and mail or
e-mail this quick response sheet to us. We appreciate your ideas.
1. Was it easy for you to find and download the Guide?
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2. Did you spend more time working with the material BEFORE or AFTER the play?
Before After Equally Before and After
3. Did using this Study Guide add to your theater experience?
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4. What did you use from the Guide?
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5. How did the experience of preparing for and then seeing the play impact your students?
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6. Is there something you would like to see included in the Guide that wasn‘t here?
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7. How much of the Guide did you read?
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8. Which of the following best describes you?
I teach:
Middle school high school elementary school home school
Other Comments:
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Mail to:
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