BAH! HUMBYRNES
Byrnes takes on iconic role in Downtown Eastside production
Actor/musician Jim Byrnes steps into Ebenezer Scrooge’s shoes for the fourth year in Bah! Humbug!
There have been many, many Scrooges, from Alastair Sim to George C. Scott to Bill Murray to Michael Caine. It’s a role that comes with baggage.
“As an actor, you want to stay away from that stuff, and find this guy,” said Jim Byrnes, who is Ebenezer Scrooge in the SFU Woodward’s/Moving Theatre co-production, Bah! Humbug!
“You don’t want to play the role as somebody else playing the role. It’s a challenge.”
This is the actor/musician’s fourth year playing Scrooge in this version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Jay Brazeau was the legendary skinflint for the first two years of the production, which inaugurated the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts in 2011.
The twist with this take on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is its setting, the Downtown Eastside, and the involvement of the local community.
“We try to contemporize the script to throw what’s happening in current affairs, both in the world and in the Downtown Eastside, into the mix,” Byrnes said.
New this year are cast members Bill Croft and Jonathan Holmes, who play Bob Cratchit and Marley respectively. Margo Kane is reprising her role as the Narrator. Max Reimer, the director, has given Cratchit a backstory as a former addict.
This year’s production also features a new musical director, Don Hardy, and some new songs.
Music is vitally important to Bah! Humbug! — there are 40 numbers. Even though the story is familiar, some of the music choices may surprise.
“There’s traditional Christmas music, but then there’s music from Buffy Sainte-Marie, from Trent Reznor, from Elton John,” Byrnes said. “It helps keep the story fresh.
“I really like the stuff that they’ve chosen. For example, the Nine Inch Nails song Hurt, I sing that as Scrooge, and it’s perfect. The emotion and the scene and what it expresses as Scrooge begins to have his epiphany works very well to carry things along emotionally.”
Just as crucial, if not more so, is the involvement of people from the Downtown Eastside.
“We have a mix of equity people and some Downtown Eastside people who are involved in the writing of it, particularly in the rewriting,” Byrnes said.
“We don’t want it to be condescending at all. What we’ve tried to do with the script, also, is make it clear it’s not about charity, it’s about social justice. It’s about trying to make the playing field more even. It’s not about ‘Well, I’ll write a cheque’ or ‘Well, I’ll send a can of food to the food bank, and that will ease my conscience.’ It’s about digging down and finding how we can make this a better place.”
Community participants include singers from the Saint James Music Academy Choir.
“There’s something special about a children’s choir,” Byrnes said. “And they grew up in the neighbourhood, and that brings a special quality.”
Full Circle: First Nations Performance is a first-time partner, and has helped the producers incorporate First Nations themes and mythology. The sets include large-scale projections from Strathcona-based artist Richard Tetrault. Each show also features a turkey draw and an audience singalong.
Recently, Byrnes has been doing a lot of TV work, including a role in the CBC espionage drama The Romeo Section. But he is happy to be returning to the stage.
“There are a couple of tears and a lot of smiles,” he said of the show. “I’m so happy to be doing it, I really get a kick out of it. I started out in live theatre. There’s a magic when the lights come up that’s like nothing else for me.”