Tiny Tim’s Christmas Carol a different take on classic story
A new spin on an old classic is how Jeremy MacKenzie describes Workshop Theatre’s holiday play, Tiny Tim’s Christmas Carol.
MacKenzie co-directs and plays Scrooge in this new version of the Dickens’ classic written by American playwright Matthew Thompson. It runs in the Pumphouse Theatre’s Victor Mitchell Theatre from Nov. 23 to Dec. 1.
“The play opens with a father and daughter who’ve just returned from Ebenezer Scrooge’s funeral. The little girl has always thought of Scrooge as her kindly old uncle, but her father tells her that’s not always how Scrooge was.
“When the girl refuses to believe him, her father finds a copy of Charles Dickens’ book and begins reading it to her,” says MacKenzie, adding “it’s a really interesting way to bring audiences into the classic story.
“All the major characters are in this version as are the major scenes and, of course, all the ghosts.”
There are 22 actors in the cast, but MacKenzie says that with all the doubling of roles, they are able to include far more characters.
Abelynne Langille plays Tiny Tim with John Mason as Bob Cratchit and MacKenzie’s codirector Evan Davies as Scrooge’s nephew Fred. Jim Archibald plays Marley’s Ghost with Alexia Sabau as the Ghost of Christmas Past and Paige Fossheim as both the Ghost of Christmas Present and the Ghost of Christmas Future. Hamish Crawford is the narrator and Vanessa Buscu is his disbelieving daughter.
MacKenzie says it’s an interesting stretch for him to be playing Scrooge.
“I normally do comedy and here I am playing this miserable old man who is so horrible to people. Thank heavens he turns around at the end of the story because it’s difficult being in his mindset. He is absolutely the antithesis of who I am.”
The real joy for MacKenzie in playing Scrooge in this particular production is that his granddaughter, Molly Nordstrom, is playing one of the Cratchit children.
“Molly is 10 years old, which is the same age I was when I made my first stage appearance back in England opposite my mother in The Mikado. Molly is a fifth-generation theatre actor.”
MacKenzie says he hopes after seeing Tiny Tim’s Christmas Carol, audiences will get excited about celebrating their own Christmas this year.
“That’s really why we decided to do this particular show at this time of year.”