Scrooge comes to life for one night only
Scrooge, the epitome of miserliness, has a long lexicographical history but for most it sums up a story of Christmas’s wonder. Campbeltown Picture House’s special screening of this stage version of A Christmas Carol is based on Charles Dickens’s own performance adaptation of the tale of miser Scrooge.
Author
Most associate Scrooge with the 19th-century author whose novella A Christmas Carol was published in 1843. Although Dickens was one of the most prolific writers ever and coined many words, Scrooge was not one of them. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word scrooge, meaning to crush, squeeze or crowd, first appeared in 1755, nearly 100 years before Dickens made it synonymous with meanness. Actor Simon Callow and director-designer Tom Cairns have created a one-man theatrical extravaganza of festive story-telling that is both heart-warming and deeply moving. The show is a Christmas must-see for eight to 88-year-olds. Dickens’s A Christmas Carol is one of the most beloved books in the English language. It has become a classic Christmas tale for generations of grown-ups and children alike. As the ghosts spirit Scrooge from the present to his past and future, Dickens takes us on a magical journey from the miser’s dank and creaking house to cosy hearths, and from snowy graveyards to joyful festivities.
Celebration
This treasured story offers a celebration of goodness, a plea for justice and the promise of redemption. Simon Callow, one of the nation’s best-loved actors, returns to Dickens’s tale after huge international success with The Mystery of Charles Dickens (West End and Broadway), national acclaim for Dr Marigold and Mr Chops and guest starring as Dickens on Doctor Who. Notable recent acting work has included his performance as Count Fosco, the villain of Wilkie Collins’s The Woman in White, both in film and on stage. Simon published his own biography of Dickens in early 2012. The performance, which runs in London at the Arts Theatre for five weeks from December 8, is presented by Assembly and Riverside Studios. It is showing for one night only in Campbeltown, next Tuesday. Tickets from Campbeltown Picture House.