CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE At the University of Tennessee

PRESENTS

CHARLES DICKENS’

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Adapted byEdward Morgan and Joseph Hanreddy

TEACHERS’ GUIDEE01-1035-001-01

Teacher’s Guide Researched and Written by Kim Midkiff and David Alley

TABLE OF CONTENTS

For the Teachers

Live theatre offers your students an opportunity to experience new ideas, challenge assumptions, and discover stories and people unknown to them.

It is our hope that this study guide will help you help your students to get the most out of their experience with CBT’s Season for Youth.

Among the things you will find in this teacher’s guide are:

About CBT Student Matinees………………………………………………… 3CBT Production: Preview……………………………………………………. 4CBT Production: Director Notes.……………………………………………. 7From our Theatre Historian……………………………………………………. 8Cast and Characters in the Play.……………………………………………… 10A Perspective on Charles Dickens’ Life……………………………….……. 12Dickens’ Original Preface……………………………………………………. 14Summary of the Story………………………………………………………… 15Stave One: Marley’s Ghost Commentary….………………………………… 16Stave Two: The First of the Three Spirits Commentary……………………… 17Stave Three: The Second of the Three Spirits Commentary………………… 18Stave Four: The Last of the Spirits Commentary.…………………………… 20Stave Five: The End of It Commentary……………………………………… 20Iconic Images and Quotes……………………………………………………. 22Study Questions………………………………………………………………. 25For Students to Think and Write About………………………………………. 26Suggested Theatre Vocabulary………………………………………………… 27Discussion Questions about the Theatre………………………………………. 28About the Clarence Brown Theatre……………………………………………. 29

We look forward to seeing you andyour students at the theatre!

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About Student Matinees

The Matinees will begin at 9:30 am on November 28, December 1, 14, 15, 18, and 19 in the Clarence Brown Theatre at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

We ask that you arrive at the theatre by 9:10 a.m. so that students may be seated in an orderly and timely manner.

Student audiences are often the most rewarding audiences that an acting ensemble can face. We want every performance to be a positive experience for both audience and cast, and we ask you to familiarize your students with the theatre etiquette that follows:

The performers need the audience’s full attention and focus. The performers are there in the auditorium with you, trying to perform. Conversation (even in whispers) carries easily to others in the audience and to the actors on the stage. It can be disruptive and distracting. This is not to say, however, that your students shouldn’t feel free to respond to what is happening on stage with laughter, etc…. That’s part of the “dialogue” between the actors and the audience. Remember, we want everyone to have a wonderful time in the theatre!

There is no food allowed in the theatre: soda, candy, gum, and all other snacks. Wrappers make noise and are distracting. Please keep these items on the bus or throw them away before you enter the auditorium. There are no backpacks allowed in the theatre.

Cell phones, watch alarms and other electronic devices should be turned off before the performance begins. When watch alarms, cell phones and pagers go off it is very distracting for the actors and other audience members.

Attending a live performance is a time for you to reflect and allow yourself to get wrapped up in the experience. As theatre artists, we approach our audiences with respect and expect the same in return.

What to bring to theTheatre —Curiosity

ImaginationRespect for others

An open mind

What to leave behind —Food and conversation

Cell phones, pagers, noise-makers, etc.Backpacks

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PREVIEW

“A Christmas Carol” Tradition Returnsto the Clarence Brown Theatre Mainstage

Stunning costumes, beautiful carols, an adaptation guaranteed to enrich your holiday season, PLUS $10 tickets for children 5 to 12, “A Christmas Carol,” returns to the Clarence Brown mainstage November 22 through December 17. At each performance, patrons can enhance the experience by enjoying holiday treats at the concession stand and taking pictures with “Scrooge and Tiny Tim” in a specially designed photo experience which will be stationed in the main lobby. The $10 children’s tickets can only be purchased by calling or stopping by the Box Office at 865-974-5161.

A Pay What You Wish Preview performance, where patrons can name their own price, will be held Wednesday, November 22 from 4 pm to 7 pm at the theatre. A Talk Back with the actors will take place Sunday, December 3 following the matinee. Deaf Night @ the Theatre, where all patron interactions including the performance is interpreted in American Sign Language, will take place Tuesday, December 5 at 7:30 pm. On Wednesday, December 6 at the CBT Family Feast, families can attend dinner at 6:00 pm and then see the show for only $10. The Open Captioned performance is Sunday, December 10 at 2:00 pm.

The production is sponsored by Schaad Companies, Pilot Flying J, Prosperity Partners Wealth Management, and UT Federal Credit Union. Media sponsors are WBIR, WUOT, WUTK, B97.5, the Daily Beacon, and the Knoxville News Sentinel. Free and convenient parking is available in the McClung Tower Garage on Volunteer Boulevard.

In “A Christmas Carol,” miserly boss, Ebenezer Scrooge is forced to face the true cost of his behavior in a series of supernatural visits from ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Future.

Kathleen F. Conlin (Director) has enjoyed a multi-faceted career as a professional stage director, casting director, associate artistic director, university administrator and award-winning professor. She served for twenty-two seasons as Associate Artistic Director and Casting Director for Utah Shakespeare Festival. She has guest directed at Kent State University, Illinois Opera in productions at the Krannert Center, Definition Theatre, a multi-ethnic professional theatre in Chicago, Colony Theatre in LA, Peterborough Players Michigan Repertory, Theatre South Carolina, and others. At the University of Illinois, she served as both Dean of the College of Fine and Applied Arts and the Barnard Hewitt Professor of Theatre/Director in Residence. A native of Ohio, she also has served as Director of Theatre at Ohio University and Chair of Theatre at Ohio State University. She is currently the Frank B. Weeks Visiting Professor and Department Chair at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.

Melony Dodson (Music Director), originally from North Carolina, graduated magna cum laude from the University of Tennessee in 2008 with a master’s degree in Collaborative

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Piano, concentrating on vocal coaching and musical direction. Currently, she is the host and producer of WUOT’s Morning Concert on 91.9FM and is a staff accompanist at the University of Tennessee. Previous CBT music-directing credits include “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific,” “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” and a staged reading of Jason Robert Brown’s “Parade.”

Returning to perform the role of Scrooge is Jed Diamond, head of the MFA Acting program at UT. CBT credits: “Of Mice and Men,” “A Shayna Maidel,”“Noises Off,” “On the Razzle,” “A Christmas Carol,” “Woyzeck,” “Oedipus the King,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Life of Galileo,” “Born Yesterday,” and “Allthe Way Home.” He has acted regionally at the Roundabout Theatre, Signature Theatre, NY Shakespeare Festival, the Joseph Papp Public Theatre, Arena Stage, with the Acting Company, and Syracuse Stage Company. Prior to UT, he was based in New York, where he worked as an actor, teacher, and director for 18 years. He was founding faculty of the Actors Center and the Shakespeare Lab at the New York Shakespeare Festival. He taught at NYU, Stella Adler Studio, Playwrights Horizons Theatre School, Fordham University, and privately.

UT faculty, visiting guests and community actors include: David Brian Alley (Marley/Old Joe); Peter Kevoian (Ensemble/Fezziwig/Christmas Present/Quartet); Brian Gligor (Fred/Fezziwig Guest/Businessman; Madelyn Payne (Fan/Ensemble); Connor Hess (Businessman2/Young Scrooge/Topper); Levi Payne (Tiny Tim); Natalya MacDonald-Risner (Tiny Tim); Brooklyn Halter (Mary Cratchit); Ryan Cross (Peter Cratchit/Dick Wilkins/Miner 3); Annika Kallstrom (Alice Cratchit); Irelyn Easterling (Ensemble/Remembrance/Ignorance); Winter Easterling (Belinda Cratchit); Joshua Cross (Smudge); Ethan Graham Roeder (Ensemble/Quartet/Oatway/Sailor 2); Sofia Silvan (Ensemble/Forgiveness/Want); and, Laura Beth Wells (Mrs. Dilber/Mrs. Fezziwig).

Graduate and undergraduate students include: Edgar Eguia (Reverend/Fezziwig Guest/Ensemble); Miguel A. Faña (Scadger); Emily Kicklighter (Mrs. Cratchit); Charlotte Munson (Catherine); Aaron Orlov (Mudd/Barnaby/Ensemble); Lauren Pennline (Belle/Lucy/Ensemble); Carlène Pochette (Past/Madeline/Ensemble); Brenda Orellana (Martha Cratchit/Fezziwig Guest); Aleah Vassell (Ensemble/Lisa/Miner 4/Quartet); Jude Carl Vincent (Grimgrind); Trevor Goble (Twyce); and Ben Terpstra (Future).

The creative team for this production includes: Bill Black (Costume Designer); John Horner (Lighting Designer); Joe Payne (Projection Designer); Mike Ponder (Sound Designer); and Kevin Depinet (Scenic Designer). Also contributing to the production are Casey Sams (Choreographer), Abigail Langham (Voice Coach), and Patrick Lanczki (Stage Manager).

The Preview for “A Christmas Carol” is Wednesday, November 22 followed by Opening Night Friday, November 24. The production runs through December 17. UT faculty/staff, senior citizens, children and students receive discounts. The Clarence Brown Theatre only sells tickets online through Knoxville Tickets. For tickets, call the Clarence Brown

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Theatre Box Office at 865-974-5161, or order online 24/7 at www.clarencebrowntheatre.com.

With a dual mission to train the next generation of theatre artists and to provide top quality professional theatre, the Clarence Brown Theatre at the University of Tennessee Knoxville is one of only 12 academic LORT (League of Resident Theatre) institutions in the nation. Under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Calvin MacLean and Managing Director Thomas Cervone, the CBT season runs from August through May and features eight productions ranging from musicals to drama.

The CBT provides a cultural resource for both the university and the larger East Tennessee community and affirms diversity and inclusivity in all their forms.

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DIRECTOR’S NOTESFrom Director Kathleen Conlin

Remembrance and Forgiveness. Ignorance and Want. Those four concepts continually circle my thoughts as I prepare for this production of A Christmas Carol and reconsider the impact of Charles Dickens’s classic novel. His Victorian world—so similar to our own—contained the hollows of despair for a remarkable number of his countrymen. Poverty, homelessness and hunger disenfranchised children and adults as they scrambled for a few crumbs of human warmth and decency. Not content to simply contrast this cultural underbelly to Victorian middle-class comfort, Dickens ingeniously chose to tell of the transformation of one man whose own heart mirrors that disenfranchisement from generosity and mercy.

But, wait, as Scrooge says: “We’re not finished.”   

I don’t think this story is simple, melodramatic, feel-good pablum for the masses. By concentrating on a unique moment in time—the nightmarish dreamscape that presents the chained Marley and his promise of three Spirits embodying past, present and future–Dickens uncompromisingly depicts the emotional struggle of Scrooge’s heart and soul. Perhaps we in the 21st century understand that even more profoundly than Dickens’s own audience. We know that hitting rock bottom whether in loneliness, despair, or the dark night of the soul is when we truly can begin to transform who we are. Personal change does not result from a superficial checklist of steps, or an entertaining podcast of inspiration, or a trendy recitation of mantras. It happens when we acknowledge our realities, forgive our transgressions, and accept the buoyancy of human connection. Needing others—not using others—is key.

Even as we strive in this production to provide Spectacle and Joy—even Abundance—we also carry into and out of it a tiny penetrating reminder that our truths lie deep inside. The swaddling of a baby, the warmth of family dinner, the genuine wave of friendship in the street add up to human mercy and joy.

I wish us all a tiny opening each day into the depths of our own hearts.

God Bless Us Everyone!

Kathleen F. Conlin

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FROM OUR THEATRE HISTORIANby Gina Di Salvo

Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas during the holiday season of 1843. Soon after, the novella transformed into theatre. Multiple dramatic adaptations appeared the following year and A Christmas Carol has remained a core part of the English and American theatrical experience ever since. Dickens, who worked primarily as a journalist and fiction writer, also wrote six plays and once considered a career as an actor. It is, perhaps, unsurprising then that the novella’s title and format blurs the distinction between performance and book reading. Despite the fact that A Christmas Carol in Prose seems to describe something impossible – a carol, after all, is sung and it should be rhyming – Dickens divided the novella into five staves rather than chapters, thereby suggesting that this story provides the building blocks for holiday music and the traditions contained within them.

As a play, A Christmas Carol preserves some forgotten performance traditions of the nineteenth century. The average Victorian family did not see plays in the grand theatres of the West End, the London equivalent of New York’s Broadway. Instead, they enjoyed a variety of entertainments at local musical halls, lecture halls, and town halls. In fact, Dickens’s first public reading of A Christmas Carol occurred not in London but at the Birmingham Town Hall. There, in December of 1853, Dickens read his book in front of 2,000 listeners, although “read” is probably the wrong word. The writer proved himself an excellent dramatic interpreter and continued to entertain packed houses with Marley, Scrooge, and the Cratchit family until just before his death in 1870. Although the physical book was always with him at these “readings,” it remained closed sometimes and the author became his own solo play of A Christmas Carol. At other nineteenth-century venues, audiences enjoyed Harlequinades and, eventually, Christmas Pantomimes (which continue in England to this day). These popular entertainments mixed together a variety of character types, music, and dancing, and featured a spectacular transformation episode overseen by a magical fairy. Although the plot of A Christmas Carol differs from the clowning scenarios of the Harlequinade and the Jack and the Beanstalk-type stories of the Pantomime, this play puts forth supernatural apparitions and an almost miraculous transformation at the end.

The story of Scrooge’s transformation relies heavily on the theatricality of the Christmas season. Despite the oft-cited criticism of theatre as unrealistic because people don’t actually break out into song-and-dance in real life, this is exactly the sort of thing that happens in homes, workplaces, and churches throughout December. The episodes of Christmas Past and Christmas Present in this production, which are woven together by an abundance of carols, form a series of tiny morality plays for both us and for Scrooge. As he begins the tour of his life and deeds, Scrooge demands of the Ghost of Christmas Past, “What is the point in digging up these long-forgotten days?” Only through watching acts of generous virtue and miserly vice does he regret and reform. But this transformation is

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not just about repentance. There is an infectious joy that conquers the cranky humbugs and connects the past of Fezziwig’s song-and-dance Christmas parties to the present of the Cratchit children rehearsing a small nativity play. It’s the same joy that might cause you, too, to join in and sing a Christmas carol.

THE CAST

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and CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY

David Brian Alley*.........................Marley, Old Joe

Collin Andrews...............................Bob Cratchit, Ensemble

Brady Craddock.............................Boy Scrooge, Ensemble

Joshua Cross...................................Smudge, Ensemble

Ryan Cross.......................................Peter Cratchit, Dick Wilkins, Ensemble

Jed Diamond*.................................Ebenezer Scrooge

Irelyn Easterling ............................Remembrance, Ignorance, Ensemble

Winter Easterling..........................Belinda Cratchit, Ensemble

Edgar Eguia.....................................Reverend, Ensemble

Miguel A. Faña*..............................Scadger, Ensemble

Brian Gligor*...................................Fred, Ensemble

Trevor Goble...................................Twyce, Ensemble

Brooklyn Halter .............................Mary Cratchit, Ensemble

Connor Hess....................................Young Scrooge, Mr. Topper, Ensemble

Annika Kallstrom...........................Alice Cratchit, Ensemble

Peter Kevoian* ...............................Fezziwig, Christmas Present, Ensemble

Emily Kicklighter*.........................Mrs. Cratchit, Ensemble

Natalya MacDonald-Risner........Tiny Tim, Ensemble

Charlotte Munson*........................Catherine, Ensemble

Brenda Orellana.............................Martha Cratchit, Ensemble

Aaron Orlov*...................................Mudd, Barnaby, Ensemble

Levi Payne .......................................Tiny Tim, Ensemble

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Madelyn Payne...............................Fan, Ensemble

Lauren Pennline*...........................Belle, Miss Lucy, Ensemble

Carléne Pochette*.........................Christmas Past, Madeline, Ensemble

Ethan Graham Roeder .................Oatway, Sailor, Ensemble

Sofia Silvan .....................................Forgiveness, Want, Ensemble

Ben Terpstra....................................Christmas Future, Ensemble

Aleah Vassell ..................................Liza, Ensemble

Jude Carl Vincent*........................Grimgrind, Philpot, Ensemble

Laura Beth Wells* .........................Mrs. Dilber, Mrs. Fezziwig, Ensemble

A Perspective on Charles Dickens’ Life

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Charles Dickens is much loved for his great contribution to classic English literature. He was the quintessential Victorian author. His epic stories, vivid characters and exhaustive depiction of contemporary life are unforgettable.

His own story is one of rags to riches. He was born in Portsmouth on February 7, 1812, to John and Elizabeth Dickens. The good fortune of being sent to school at the age of nine was short-lived because his father, inspiration for the character of Mr. Micawber in David Copperfield, was imprisoned for bad debt. The entire family, apart from Charles, was sent to Marshalsea along with their patriarch. Charles was sent to work in Warren's blacking factory and endured appalling conditions as well as loneliness and despair. After three years he was returned to school, but the experience was never forgotten and became fictionalised in two of his better-known novels David Copperfield and Great Expectations.

Like many others, he began his literary career as a journalist. His own father became a reporter and Charles began with the journals The Mirror of Parliament and The True Sun. Then in 1833 he became parliamentary journalist for The Morning Chronicle. With new contacts in the press, he was able to publish a series of sketches under the pseudonym 'Boz'. In April 1836, he married Catherine Hogarth, daughter of George Hogarth who edited Sketches by Boz. Within the same month came the publication of the highly successful Pickwick Papers, and from that point on there was no looking back for Dickens.

As well as a huge list of novels, he published autobiographies, edited weekly periodicals including Household Words and All Year Round, wrote travel books and administered charitable organizations. He was also a theatre enthusiast, wrote plays and performed before Queen Victoria in 1851. His energy was inexhaustible and he spent much time abroad - for example, lecturing against slavery in the United States and touring Italy with companions Augustus Egg and Wilkie Collins, a contemporary writer who inspired Dickens' final unfinished novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

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On June 8, 1870, Dickens suffered another stroke at his home after a full day's work on Edwin Drood. He never regained consciousness. He was laid to rest in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. A printed epitaph circulated at the time of the funeral reads: "To the Memory of Charles Dickens (England's most popular author) who died at his residence, Higham, near Rochester, Kent, June 9, 1870, aged 58 years. He was a sympathizer with the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world."

DICKENS’ ORIGINAL PREFACE OFA CHRISTMAS CAROL

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PREFACE

I have endeavored in this ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my

readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.

Their faithful Friend and Servant,

C.D.A CHRISTMAS CAROL SUMMARY

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A mean-spirited, miserly old man named Ebenezer Scrooge sits in his counting-house on a frigid Christmas Eve. His clerk, Bob Cratchit, shivers in the anteroom because Scrooge refuses to spend money on heating coals for a fire. Scrooge's nephew, Fred, pays his uncle a visit and invites him to his annual Christmas party. Two portly gentlemen also drop by and ask Scrooge for a contribution to their charity. Scrooge reacts to the holiday visitors with bitterness and venom, spitting out an angry "Bah! Humbug!" in response to his nephew's "Merry Christmas!"

Later that evening, after returning to his dark, cold apartment, Scrooge receives a chilling visitation from the ghost of his dead partner, Jacob Marley. Marley, looking haggard and pallid, relates his unfortunate story. As punishment for his greedy and self-serving life his spirit has been condemned to wander the Earth weighted down with heavy chains. Marley hopes to save Scrooge from sharing the same fate. Marley informs Scrooge that three spirits will visit him during each of the next three nights. After the wraith disappears, Scrooge collapses into a deep sleep.

He wakes moments before the arrival of the Ghost of Christmas Past, a strange childlike phantom with a brightly glowing head. The spirit escorts Scrooge on a journey into the past to previous Christmases from the curmudgeon's earlier years. Invisible to those he watches, Scrooge revisits his childhood school days, his apprenticeship with a jolly merchant named Fezziwig, and his engagement to Belle, a woman who leaves Scrooge because his lust for money eclipses his ability to love another. Scrooge, deeply moved, sheds tears of regret before the phantom returns him to his bed.

The Ghost of Christmas Present, a majestic giant clad in a green fur robe, takes Scrooge through London to unveil Christmas as it will happen that year. Scrooge watches the large, bustling Cratchit family prepare a miniature feast in its meager home. He discovers Bob Cratchit's crippled son, Tiny Tim, a courageous boy whose kindness and humility warms Scrooge's heart. The specter then zips Scrooge to his nephew's to witness the Christmas party. Scrooge finds the jovial gathering delightful and pleads with the spirit to stay until the very end of the festivities. As the day passes, the spirit ages, becoming noticeably older. Toward the end of the day, he shows Scrooge two starved children, Ignorance and Want, living under his coat. He vanishes instantly as Scrooge notices a dark, hooded figure coming toward him.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come leads Scrooge through a sequence of mysterious scenes relating to an unnamed man's recent death. Scrooge sees businessmen discussing the dead man's riches, some vagabonds trading his personal effects for cash, and a poor couple expressing relief at the death of their unforgiving creditor. Scrooge, anxious to learn the lesson of his latest visitor, begs to know the name of the dead man. After pleading with the ghost, Scrooge finds himself in a churchyard, the spirit pointing to a grave. Scrooge looks at the headstone and is shocked to read his own name. He desperately implores the spirit to alter his fate, promising to renounce his insensitive, avaricious ways and to honor Christmas with all his heart. Whoosh! He suddenly finds himself safely tucked in his bed.

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Overwhelmed with joy by the chance to redeem himself and grateful that he has been returned to Christmas Day, Scrooge rushes out onto the street hoping to share his newfound Christmas spirit. He sends a giant Christmas turkey to the Cratchit house and attends Fred's party, to the stifled surprise of the other guests. As the years go by, he holds true to his promise and honors Christmas with all his heart: he treats Tiny Tim as if he were his own child, provides lavish gifts for the poor, and treats his fellow human beings with kindness, generosity, and warmth.

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/christmascarol/summary.html

The book is divided into five sections which Dickens labels “Staves” in reference to the musical notation staff – a Christmas carol, after all, is a song.

Stave One: Marley’s GhostCommentary

The opening Stave of A Christmas Carol sets the mood, describes the setting, and introduces many of the principal characters. It also establishes the novel's allegorical structure.

(Allegory, a type of narrative in which characters and events represent particular ideas or themes, relies heavily on symbolism. In this case, Scrooge represents greed, apathy, and all that stands in opposition to the Christmas spirit. Bob personifies those who suffer under the "Scrooges" of the world--the English poor. Fred serves to remind readers of the joy and good cheer of the Christmas holiday.)

The opening section also highlights the novel's narrative style--a peculiar and highly Dickensian blend of wild comedy (note the description of Hamlet a passage that foreshadows the entrance of the ghosts) and atmospheric horror (the throng of spirits eerily drifting through the fog just outside Scrooge's window).

Marley’s GhostThe first Stave centers on the visitation from Marley's ghost, the middle three present the

tales of the three Christmas spirits, and the last concludes the story, showing how Scrooge has changed from an inflexible curmudgeon to a warm and joyful benefactor. Underlying the

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narrative and paralleling the more ostensible theme of moral redemption, lies an incisive political diatribe. Dickens takes aim at the Poor Laws then governing the underclass of Victorian England. He exposes the flaws of the unfair system of government that essentially restricts the underclass to life in prison or in a workhouse. (Dickens' own father served time in debtor's prison.) Dickens' sympathetic portrayal of Bob Cratchit and his family puts a human face on the lower classes. Through Scrooge's implicit defense of the Poor Laws (his argument that prisons are the only "charity" he cares to support), Dickens dismisses the excuses of the indifferent upper class as an irresponsible, selfish, and cruel defense.

Stave Two: The First of the Three SpiritsCommentary

In the allegory of A Christmas Carol, the Ghost of Christmas Past represents memory. The aged appearance of the childlike figure touches on the role of memory as a force that connects the different stages of a person's life. His glowing head suggests the illuminating power of the mind. The ghost initiates Scrooge's conversion from anti-Christmas grinch to a poster boy for the holiday season. Each episode in the montage of scenes shows a younger Scrooge who still possesses the ability to love, a person who is still in touch with his fellow human beings. As the visions pass before him, Scrooge watches himself become ever more cold and greedy until the ultimate scenes. His all-consuming lust for money destroys his love for Belle and completes his reversion to a venomous recluse. The tour through his memories forces Scrooge to recall the emotional episodes of his past. This dreamlike series of remembrances brings the otherwise hardened man to tears. His breakdown and then reconnection with his feelings initiates the process of melting away Scrooge's cold exterior.

Fezziwig’s PartyAn important aspect of A Christmas Carol is its view of Christmas as a joyous,

benevolent holiday. The story promotes values of social responsibility, communal good spirit, and the joy of giving. Celebrating joy and happiness, A Christmas Carol becomes a fitting

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celebration of the spirit of the holiday in that giving is seen as blessed to the giver as well as the receiver. Dickens first sketches out this joyful perspective at the Fezziwig’s Christmas party, which includes a feast with much singing and dancing. The religious underpinning of Christmas is always present in the story's backdrop -- like the church bell that keeps time throughout the tale – but Dickens larger purpose is to define a more social conception of the holiday and how its spirit has meaning to the plight of the poor.

Stave Three: The Second of the Three SpiritsCommentary

The Ghost of Christmas Present serves as the central symbol of the Christmas ideal—generosity, goodwill, and celebration. Appearing on a throne made of food, the spirit evokes thoughts of prosperity, satiety, and merriment. Christmas, in Dickens’ mind, should not bring about self-denial, renunciation, or emotional withdrawal, rather, Christmas is a time of sharing one’s riches -- emotional, spiritual, material -- with the community. A feast is a wonderful thing but only if one has loved ones with whom to share it. In this sense, the Ghost of Christmas Present also represents empathy. As Scrooge sees the want of his employee Bob Cratchit’s family, he is also brought to feel their sorrow and material hardships. Still each Cratchit shares what they have, as little as that may be, and in essence, the celebratory aspects of Christmas that Dickens promotes are grounded in this generosity.

Ghost of Christmas Present

The scene at Bob Cratchit’s unassuming little abode is pivotal to the development of the novella. Dickens uses the opportunity to draw a poignant criticism of the unfeeling members of a disconnected upper class and to present a highly sentimentalized portrait of the lower classes.

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This picture is designed to address and undermine Victorian class prejudice and awaken Dickens’ readers to the harsh realities of poverty. In 1843, when A Christmas Carol was written, England had particularly stringent laws in governing the payment of debts and the condition of penury. These draconian rules forced many poor people into prisons and provisional workhouses. At the same time, many prominent politicians and theorists were attempting to justify these conditions with arguments designed to de-legitimize the rights of the underclass, a move that further hindered the ability of the poor to affect the governing of their own society.

Ignorance and Want

Dickens was particularly disgusted with the writings of an economist named Thomas Robert Malthus, a wealthy man, who argued in his Essay on the Principle of Population (1798) that population growth would always outpace food supply resulting in unavoidable and catastrophic poverty and starvation. (His equations, long since debunked, postulate that population growth will occur according to a geometric sequence, while food supply will grow according to an arithmetic sequence.) In his pamphlet “The Crisis,” Malthus supported the Poor Laws and the workhouses, arguing that any man unable to sustain himself had no right to live, much less participate in the development of society. Dickens alludes to Malthus in Stave One, when Scrooge echoes the economist’s views on overpopulation in his rebuke of the portly gentlemen. The Cratchits are Dickens’ defense against this large-scale, purely economic, almost inhuman mode of thought -- a reminder that England’s poor are all individuals, living beings with families and lives who could not and should not be swept behind a math equation like some numerical discrepancy.

Stave Four: The Last of the SpiritsCommentary

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Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come

Within the allegory, the silent, reaper-like figure of the Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come represents the fear of death, which refracts Scrooge's lessons about memory, empathy, and generosity, insuring his reversion to an open, loving human being. In A Christmas Carol, the fear of death connotes the anticipation of moral reckoning and the inevitable dispensation of punishment and reward -- literally the split between heaven and hell. In this way, the Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come briefly interjects a more somber, Christian perspective into the secularized tale. This serves to remind Scrooge of Jacob Marley's fate, the horrific consequences of greed and selfishness -- a fate that will doom Scrooge, as well, unless he can change his ways.

Stave Five: The End of ItCommentary

This short closing Stave provides an optimistic and upbeat conclusion to the story, showing the new Ebenezer Scrooge starting off his new life with a comic display of happiness and Christmas cheer. It also rounds out the symmetrical structure of the novella, as Scrooge encounters, in sequence, the same people he treated with cruelty in Stave One. Only this time, the newly reborn Scrooge sheds his bah-humbugs in favor of warm holiday greetings. He sends a turkey to the Cratchits and gives Bob a raise, atoning for his previous bitterness toward his clerk in Stave One. Scrooge also asks Bob to order more heating coals where previously, in Stave One, he forced Bob to suffer in the cold. He apologizes to the portly gentleman he meets on the street and pledges lavish contributions for his charity, where in Stave One he threw him out of his counting-house. Scrooge also happily attends Fred's party, where, before the ghostly visits, he had told Fred that he would see him in hell before coming to the party.

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Scrooge and Bob Cratchit

The last comment holds a great deal of significance in Stave Five, as Scrooge has quite literally escaped hell by going to the party -- or rather, by experiencing the moral conversion that compels him to look fondly on the holiday gathering. He is quite literally a saved man and the story of his redemptions ends with a note of extraordinary optimism. The famous last words of the novel, "God bless us, every one," conveys perfectly the fellow feeling and good cheer to which Scrooge awakens as his story unfolds and that A Christmas Carol so vehemently celebrates.

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/christmascarol.html

ICONIC IMAGES AND QUOTES

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When did you first see Ebenezer Scrooge? Was Alistair Sims your first? Or Michael Cain? Patrick Stewart? Mr. Magoo? You probably know the characters of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol from the wide range of movies and plays that have been made over the years – but you may not know how Dicken’s himself described these characters .

Ebenezer Scrooge“Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret

and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shriveled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes read, his thin lips blue’ and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days’ and didn’t thaw it one degree at Christmas.”

The Cratchit family“Then up rose Mrs. Cratchit, Crotchet’s wife, dressed out but poorly in a twice-turned gown, but brave in ribbons, which are cheap and make a goodly show for sixpence; and she laid the cloth, assisted by Belinda Cratchit, second of her daughters, also brave in

ribbons; while Master Peter Cratchit plunged a fork into the saucepan of potatoes, and getting the corners of his monstrous shirt collar (Bob's private property, conferred upon his son and heir in honour of the day) into his mouth, rejoiced to find himself so gallantly attired, and yearned to show his linen in the fashionable Parks. And now two smaller Cratchits, boy and girl, came tearing in, screaming that outside the baker's they had smelt the goose, and known it for their own; and basking in luxurious thoughts of sage and onion, these young Cratchits danced about the table, and

exalted Master Peter Cratchit to the skies, while he (not proud, although his collars nearly choked him) blew the fire, until the slow potatoes bubbling up, knocked loudly at the saucepan-lid to be let out and peeled.”

Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim“So Martha hid herself, and in came little Bob, the father, with at least three feet of comforter exclusive of the fringe, hanging down before him;

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and his threadbare clothes darned up and brushed, to look seasonable; and Tiny Tim upon his shoulder. Alas for Tiny Tim, he bore a little crutch, and had his limbs supported by an iron frame.”

The Ghost of Jacob Marley“The same face: the very same. Marley in his pigtail, usual waistcoat, tights and boots; the tassels on the latter bristling, like his pigtail, and his coat-skirts, and the hair upon his head. The chain he drew was clasped about his middle. It was long, and wound about him like a tail; and it was made (for Scrooge observed it closely) of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel. His body was transparent, so that Scrooge, observing him, and looking through his waistcoat, could see the two buttons on his coat behind.Scrooge had often heard it said that Marley had no bowels, but he had never believed it until now.No, nor did he believe it even now. Though he looked the phantom through and through, and saw it standing before

him; though he felt the chilling influence of its death-cold eyes; and marked the very texture of the folded kerchief bound about its head and chin, which wrapper he had not observed before: he was still incredulous, and fought against his senses.”

The Ghost of Christmas Past“It was a strange figure -- like a child: yet not so like a child as like an old man, viewed through some supernatural medium, which gave him the appearance of having receded from the view, and being diminished to a child's proportions. Its hair, which hung about its neck and down its back, was white as if with age; and yet the face had not a

wrinkle in it, and the tenderest bloom was on the skin. The arms were very long and muscular; the hands the same, as if its hold were of uncommon strength. Its legs and feet, most delicately formed, were, like those upper members, bare. It wore a tunic of the purest white, and round its waist was bound a lustrous belt, the sheen of which was beautiful. It held a branch of fresh green holly in its hand; and, in singular contradiction of that wintry emblem, had its dress trimmed

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with summer flowers. But the strangest thing about it was, that from the crown of its head there sprung a bright clear jet of light, by which all this was visible; and which was doubtless the occasion of its using, in its duller moments, a great extinguisher for a cap, which it now held under its arm.”

The Ghost of Christmas Present“Heaped up on the floor, to form a kind of throne, were turkeys, geese, game, poultry, brawn, great joints of meat, sucking-pigs, long wreaths of sausages, mince-pies, plum-puddings, barrels of oysters, red-hot chestnuts, cherry- cheeked apples, juicy oranges, luscious pears, immense twelfth-cakes, and seething bowls of punch, that made the chamber dim with their delicious steam. In easy state upon this couch, there sat a jolly Giant, glorious to see:, who bore a glowing torch, in shape not unlike Plenty's horn, and held it up, high up, to shed its light on Scrooge, as he came peeping round the door."Come in!" exclaimed the Ghost. "Come in, and know me better, man."

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come“The Phantom slowly, gravely, silently approached. When it came, Scrooge bent down upon his knee; for in the very air through which this

Spirit moved it seemed to scatter gloom and mystery.It was shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form, and left nothing of it visible save one outstretched hand. But for this it would have been difficult to detach its figure from the night, and separate it from the darkness by which it was surrounded.

He felt that it was tall and stately when it came beside him, and that its mysterious presence filled him with a solemn dread. He knew no more, for the Spirit neither spoke nor moved.”

STUDY QUESTIONS

1. In what way is A Christmas Carol an allegory? What are the symbolic meanings of the main characters?

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Answer: A Christmas Carol is an allegory in that it features events and characters with a clear, fixed symbolic meaning. In the novella, Scrooge represents all the values that are opposed to the idea of Christmas -- greed, selfishness, and a lack of goodwill toward one's fellow man. The Ghost of Christmas Past, with his glowing head symbolizing the mind, represents memory; the Ghost of Christmas Present represents generosity, empathy, and the Christmas spirit; and the Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come represents the fear of death and moral reckoning. The Cratchits represent the poor, whom Dickens portrays with warmth and sympathy while seeking to draw attention to their plight.

2. How does the time scheme of A Christmas Carol function? Why might Dickens have chosen to structure his book in this way?

Answer: Time is very important in A Christmas Carol, which is structurally centered on distinct elements of Past, Present, and Future. But, the time scheme of the story itself seems to make little sense. On Christmas Eve, Jacob Marley's ghost tells Scrooge that he will be visited by three ghosts on three successive nights. On Christmas morning, Scrooge awakes, having already been visited by all three ghosts. The three nights seem to be compressed into a single night. The presence of the spirits apparently bends the normal flow of time. Dickens uses the temporal inconsistencies to emphasize the supernatural powers of the spirits -- when they are around, normal earthly standards, including the flow of time, have no effect.

3. What role does social criticism play in A Christmas Carol? To what extent is the story a social commentary?

Answer: Social Commentary -- particularly those statements directed at the Poor Laws governing the lower classes during Dickens' time -- plays an important but not a central role in A Christmas Carol. Dickens often uses Scrooge as a mouthpiece to express the more callous justifications and excuses used to defend the harsh treatment of the poor. Malthus' theory that anyone who could not support himself did not have a right to live is a good example of these outrageous claims. Asked whether he wishes to support a charity, Scrooge replies that he does support charities -- prisons and workhouses, which are all the charity the poor need. Dickens harshly criticizes these attitudes and presents a highly sympathetic view of the poor through his depiction of the Cratchits. On the whole, however, the numerous messages of A Christmas Carol expand far beyond this narrow political critique of Victorian society.

For Students to Think and Write About:

1. How is the holiday of Christmas portrayed in the story? (Think of the moral, social, aesthetic, and religious aspects of the holiday.) In what way does A Christmas Carol help to define the modern idea of Christmas?

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2. Compare and contrast the three spirits who visit Scrooge. What are their main similarities? What are their main differences? Do their differences have any thematic significance? (Why, for instance, do they look and dress so differently?)

3. Think about the story's narrator and about the way Dickens chooses to tell his tale. What role does humor play in the narration? How do the comic aspects of A Christmas Carol interact with and support the moral and ghost-story aspects? How does Dickens blend comedy and horror?

4. How is wealth treated in the story? Is it a sign of moral corruption and greed, or does Dickens offer a more complex assessment?

5. How is the story and its themes brought to life on stage in terms of the theatrical design elements you saw in the play? The setting? The lights? The costumes? The sound and projections?

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/christmascarol/study.html

Suggested Theatre Vocabulary

Director: The person in the theatre who is ultimately responsible for every element of the finished production. The director, usually working from the script, supplies the finished production. The director, usually working from the script, supplies the central ideas that define the world of the play, that help to describe its “look” as depicted by its set, costume, and the lighting design, and helps the actors’ interpret their roles.

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Production Dramaturg: The person in the theatre who is responsible for preparing the text of the play for performance. He or she may also compile research on the production and different aspects of the play in order to help those involved in the production and/or the audience better understand the piece. He or she has direct and intimate knowledge of the script – its composition, organization and progression of action. During rehearsals, a dramaturg helps the production remain in line with the vision for the production. A dramaturg often engages in “audience dramaturgy” which may involve producing the program and/or audience education (such as this Teachers’ Guide) and other community outreach.

Scene Designer: The person in the theatre responsible for creating the look of the places in which the play occurs. Sometimes the set designer works in a realistic mode, attempting to capture the actual look of a place. More often, in the twenty-first century, set designers create a setting more theatrical than realistic, that evokes a certain feeling rather than depicting the actual look of the place during a particular time period.

Costume Designer: The person in the theatre responsible for designing the costumes for the characters in the play. Sometimes the costume designer tries to create costumes that capture the actual look of the time period, but at other times he or she creates costumes that are more theatrical than realistic, that evoke a certain feeling rather than reflecting an actual style or period.

Lighting Designer: The person in the theatre responsible for designing the lighting of the play. By using certain colors of lights and sometimes a spotlight, the lighting designer can create a certain mood or even let us know whether it is daytime or nighttime during certain scenes in the play.

Sound Designer: The person in the theatre responsible for designing all the sound effects, including all incidental music, in the play. The sound designer can create certain moods and tones at different times in a production, including giving us clues of the era in which the production is taking place.

Stage Combat Director: The person in the theatre responsible for choreographing and directing all the fights in the play. A stage combat director is usually nationally certified. He or she teaches the actors how to stage wrestling/sword/gun/fist or any kind of fights so that they look real to the audience. The Combat Director also teaches the actors about different weapons and the safe use of them on and off stage, around other actors and the audience. He or she works individually with the actors and is present at every rehearsal to make sure all the fights remain safe and to answer any of the actors’ questions.

Discussion Questions about the Theatre

1. Had you ever been to a theatre before visiting the Clarence Brown Theatre? If so, what things were different? What things were similar?

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2. What things do you remember seeing during your visit to the Clarence Brown Theatre? What do you remember about the lobby? The seats? The stage? The lights? The set?

3. What different things did the set do? Did it change? How do you think the people backstage made the set work?

4. What do you think it was like for the actors to act in this play? What do you think it would be like to rehearse a play? How do you think the actors memorize all of their lines?

About the Clarence Brown Theatre

The Clarence Brown Theatre Company is a professional theatre company in residence at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Founded in 1974 by Sir Anthony Quayle and Dr. Ralph G. Allen, the company is a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and is the only professional company within a 150-mile radius of Knoxville. The University of Tennessee is one of a select number of universities nationwide that are

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affiliated with a professional LORT theatre, allowing students regular opportunities to work alongside professional actors, designers and production artists.

The theatre was named in honor of University of Tennessee graduate, Clarence Brown, the distinguished director of such beloved movies as The Yearling and National Velvet. In addition to the 575-seat proscenium theatre, the CBT’s facilities house the costume shop, electric department, scene shop, property shop, actor’s dressing quarters, and a 100-seat Lab Theatre. Generally used for classroom activities and auditions, the Lab Theatre is also home to many student productions, sponsored by ACT (All Campus Theatre). The Clarence Brown Theatre also utilizes the Ula Love Doughty Carousel Theatre, an arena theatre with flexible seating for 350, located next to the CBT on the University of Tennessee campus.

The Clarence Brown Theatre has a 12-member resident faculty, headed by Calvin MacLean, department head and producing artistic director, and 25 full-time management and production staff members. The CBT is also served by a 32-member Advisory Board, which supports our production efforts. Comprised of leaders from the local corporate, arts and volunteer community, the Advisory Board members provide guidance in strategic planning as well as fund-raising for scholarships and artistic endeavors.

The mission of the Clarence Brown Theatre is to: 1) Produce plays, both classical and contemporary, which will stimulate, educate and entertain audiences, providing them with memorable theatrical experiences; 2) Provide professional experiences where acting and technical students may gain practical experience and professional career credits; and 3) Serve our community through involvement in outreach programs which touch young audiences, special populations and other multi-cultural groups.

The CBT strives to select plays each year that will expose audiences to new and meaningful theatrical experiences, featuring a mix of classical and contemporary plays, new plays and North American/English language premiers, musical productions and international theatre projects. The CBT productions will include both professional (equity) actors and students of theatre.

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