Douglas – The Christmas season is filled with countless traditions, including an endless collection of holiday-themed movies/plays, and next week, one of those timeless classics is coming to the stage at Opeongo High School.

Opeongo’s Odyssey Theatre is presenting Charles Dicken’s legendary play, A Christmas Carol, for three consecutive shows on December 6, 7, and 8. Writer/director Jeff Scott said the production is a celebration of kindness and of the redemptive power of simply learning to be less selfish.

“It’s a reminder of our capacities to be more aware of the needs of others and to find joy in acts of generosity,” he wrote in his director’s notes. “This is a story without borders of time or place and it is one well-suited to a need for joy at the darkest point in the year, though its optimism can also inspire goodness in our hearts all year long.”

The script is an adaptation of the original production Mr. Scott wrote in 2023 and is very close to the original version.

 “I’ve always loved this story, I think it’s my favourite one,” he shared. “And I’ve always been scared of this play because you have to do it at Christmas time and I usually do plays in April because then you have the whole school year to put it together.

“So, I’ve always been worried about it but I’m getting close to the end of my career and I always wanted to do this play because it’s about just being good and being kind,” he added. “It’s timeless and it can be for anybody. It’s a story about how you only have so much time on earth to do good for other people and we need to remember that sometimes.”

Mr. Scott said we are living in a time when things are tough and there are a lot of people struggling. He is continually blown away by the support the greater community always has for each other and those in need.

“During the overall experience of the pandemic, we saw that a lot in school,” he recalled. “It was a hard, difficult time for a lot of people, and there were a lot of people trying to step up and do what they could. It was a really good way to look at life.”

Mr. Scott said he took the actual novel and re-wrote it into a script to make it a stage play. He noted the original story had been adapted in many forms, on stage and screen, admitting one of his most favourite versions was the Muppets’ Christmas Carol.

“I think ours sticks to the original story a little closer than the Muppets,” he mused. “But the Muppets one is my favourite one.

“But I did really like Jeremy King’s Scrooge, so I probably leaned a little that way,” he added. “Our play is very close to Dicken’s original novel.”

 Casting for the production started back in May before the end of the 2023/2024 school year.

“It is really hard to pull off a full-length play in one semester, so that’s when we cast for it,” he explained. “The kids had the scripts ahead of time, but we didn’t start working on it until about the second week of September.

“Then the bus thing happened, so it’s been probably the most spotty and challenging thing ever to try and have all the kids at the rehearsals and stuff, just because of the busing,” he added.

He said everyone involved has shown great commitment from the kids, noting some re-casting had to be done because some of the students were unable to pull it off due to the busing strike. Mr. Scott credited not only the students but the parent/caregivers who stepped up to drop off and pick up their kids up.

“Often we were hanging around here until 5:30 when parents were getting off work to pick up their kids,” he said. “So, hats off to all the parents and grandparents who brought the kids to rehearsals.”

It is one of the largest casts since Romeo and Juliet back in 2006 and includes students from Grade 9 through to fifth year.

“There’s a lot of small parts and some kids are playing double roles. The narrators work had, they’re on stage all the time. It’s a big cast and there’s a lot of work for costuming, for sure.”

Kudos For Behind The Scenes Staff

As with many other productions, he is being assisted by “the intrepid” Wanda Wallace who, as producer, is looking after all the costuming and the production of the play.

“I’d like to extend my many thanks to our stage and tech crews who we rely on greatly,” he remarked. “Also, sincere thanks are due to Ms. (Rachel) Hedley and her creative team for their industry and ambition, as well as their artistic inventiveness in creating a set for our play; to Ms. (Diane) Kennedy and her esthetics team for their brilliant and thoughtful hair and makeup planning and work; and to Mr. (Riley). Holland, Mr. (Barry) Pilgrim, and Mr. (Neil) McMaster and their set construction crews.

“It really is a school-wide effort, for sure,” he added.

While the play is not a musical, Mr. Scott noted there are musical interludes in the production. The cast has been rehearsing three times a week, including two full Saturdays, since the buses started running but he has yet to have the entire cast together at the same time.

 “You’d sort of work with who you got,” he said. “You’d go to rehearsal and say, ‘who do we have today?’ and you’d try to do the parts of the play that you could based on the kids you had.”

He said typically they would hold a matinee for the elementary schools but unfortunately that is not happening for this production.

He admitted being nervous as the production dates draw nearer, saying there are still a few bugs to work out.

“But I’m happy about it and all along, we aimed this play to land the first weekend of December. That was our goal and we’re still there, so we’re going to put it on the first weekend in December.

“My idea is it just kicks off a season of kindness and goodness for everybody, and that’s the goal,” he added.

The performances run Thursday and Friday, December 5 and 6 at 7 p.m. and on Saturday, December 8 at 1 p.m. Admission is $10 each and any donation of non-perishable foods will be greatly appreciated.

“We were hoping people might bring a canned food item just in the spirit of the play,” Mr. Scott remarked.

The cast includes: Jaxson West as Ebeneazar Scrooge; Ika Dunic as Jacob Marley’s Ghost; Oscar Martin as Bob Cratchet; Evangeline Bersan as Mrs. Crachet; Jack Faught as Tiny Tim Crachet; Joy McConnell as Ghost of Christmas past and Christmas yet to come; Elliott Wylie as Ghost of Christmas Present; Smanatha Keller as Belle; Jack Newton-Rath as Belle’s husband; Eli Barnwell as school boy Scrooge; Jackson Olson as young man Scrooge; Ally McLaren as Martha Cratchet; Evelin Finan as Belinda Crachet; and Liam Clarke as Peter Cratchet.