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Shakespeare & Beyond

Shakespeare theaters stage 'A Christmas Carol'

"A Christmas Carol "at Annapolis Shakespeare Company. Dexter Hamlett as Scrooge.

“A Christmas Carol “at Annapolis Shakespeare Company. Dexter Hamlett as Scrooge. Photo by Joshua McKerrow.

“There is no doubt that Marley was dead. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate. If we were not perfectly convinced that Hamlet’s Father died before the play began, there would be nothing more remarkable in his taking a stroll at night, in an easterly wind, upon his own ramparts, than there would be in any other middle-aged gentleman rashly turning out after dark in a breezy spot—say Saint Paul’s Churchyard for instance—literally to astonish his son’s weak mind.”

If you’re a regular Shakespeare & Beyond reader, you know that Charles Dickens was a Shakespeare fan—the novelist referenced the Bard in his works and even helped to preserve Shakespeare’s birthplace with a benefit reading of The Merry Wives of Windsor.

We’re big fans of Dickens, and so are our theater partners, many of whom stage adaptations of A Christmas Carol around this time of year. We asked some of our partners to tell us about their productions of A Christmas Carol and how staging Dickens is similar to staging Shakespeare.

Comments

The BBC have combined Shakespeare and ‘A Christmas Carol’ in the latest of their episodic BBC2 TV series/sitcoms ‘Upstart Crow’. Great fun (though, IMHO, the Christmas Carol episode is not quite up to the standard of the precedents; so watch those if you can!) with anachronistic references to current events sprinkled through not-badly-researched events in London and Stratford involving WS, his family and servants (including the excellent Gemma Whelan as polite feminist Kate; though the entire ensemble is worthy of praise) and the villainous (promoted) original author of the show’s title. To be recommended!

Frederick Robinson — December 26, 2018

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