ROAR ACADEMY presents
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens and adapted for the stage by Tony Palermo
This play will be performed as a CHRISTMAS IN JULY event at THEATRE 102 – in Cabaret with Christmas Dinner and trimmings
AUDITIONS at THEATRE 102 (102 Anzac Ave, Redcliffe)
Friday March 8th 4-6pm and Sunday March 10th 10am-12noon (call-backs)
Please come prepared to read from the script in a BRITISH accent (posh, cockney or regional accents as the character requires)
Copies of the script will be available to read on Saturday morning March 2nd between 9-10am at THEATRE 102 – and certain passages can be taken away to review ahead of auditions.
Auditions will be conducted by reading from the script in character groups.
Queries to the director – Madeleine Johns on [email protected]
General Information
'A Christmas Carol' is Tony Palermo's very faithful stage-play adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic story of Christmas. The dialogue is verbatim Dickens. This adaptation has been performed by professional theatres, community theatre troupes, colleges, churches, high schools and students around the world.
The full stage-play runs just over one hour-without intermission. We will run the play in 2 acts in a Christmas cabaret-style setting.
While the show makes use of pre-recorded music for scene transitions and as dramatic underscoring, this is not a Broadway-style musical. However, we will use a small choir to serve within scenes as the poor child carollers dispelled by Scrooge and as Marley's colleagues, the moaning phantoms and also at Nephew Fred's parties, the Cratchit household and elsewhere.
LEADING CHARACTERS
- Ebenezer Scrooge - The miserly owner of a London counting-house. The three spirits of Christmas visit this bean-counter in hopes of reversing Scrooge's greedy, cold-hearted approach to life. He needs to show the ability to change from rigid, cold and calculating to opening his heart to family and happiness.
- The Narrator (Charles Dickens)
- Bob Cratchit - Scrooge's clerk, a kind, mild, and very poor man with a large family. Though treated harshly by his boss, Cratchit remains a humble and dedicated employee.
- Tiny Tim - Bob Cratchit's young son, crippled from birth. Tiny Tim is a highly sentimentalized character who Dickens uses to highlight the tribulations of England's poor and to elicit sympathy from his middle and upper class readership.
- Jacob Marley – was Ebenezer Scrooge's equally greedy partner. Marley died seven years before the narrative opens. He appears to Scrooge as a ghost condemned to wander the world bound in heavy chains. Marley hopes to save Scrooge from suffering a similar fate.
- The Ghost of Christmas Past - The first spirit to visit Scrooge, a curiously childlike young spirit who takes Scrooge on a tour of Christmases in his past. (male or female)
- The Ghost of Christmas Present - The second spirit to visit Scrooge, a jovial figure who escorts Scrooge on a tour of his contemporaries' Holiday celebrations. (male or female)
- Fred - Scrooge's nephew, a genial character who loves Christmas. He invites Scrooge to his Christmas party each and every year, only to be refused by his grumpy uncle.
- Belle – Scrooge’s fiancé when he was a young man. Belle broke off their engagement after Scrooge became consumed with greed and the lust for wealth.
- Peter Cratchit - Bob's oldest son (approx 12 yrs old)
- Martha Cratchit - Bob's oldest daughter (approx 15 yrs old)
- Fan - Scrooge's sister; Fred's mother.
- Mrs. Cratchit - Bob's wife, a kind and loving wife.
There are a number of smaller character parts also to be considered as we will need 20 + in total for the play. I encourage my students from ages 7yrs to 17yrs to read for a part as we need a variety of ages and sizes to portray the different characters.
I may cast an adult in the role of Scrooge if I cannot find a student able to portray all the different shades of Scrooge’s character.
Rehearsals will be Friday 4-6pm and Saturday 3-5pm through Term 2