Performed by Jack Wynters
At the Astor Theatre
Thursday 15th of December 2011
Tickets are $15.00 per person
Mr Wynters is a professional actor and stage performer and his presentation of Dickens' characters grasps the attention of the audience as the story unfolds. This dramatized reading of "A Christmas Carol" is one hour and thirty five minutes plus the intermission. The choir opens the show with Christmas carols which sets the stage for the season. Throughout the performance the carolers enter stage left with a variety of carols fitting to the dialogue of the story of Scrooge and the three ghosts and the lives of Ebenezer Scrooge, Jacob Marley, Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim. Wynters' reading brings the story's characters, Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Bob Cratchit and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, to life and has the audience firstly in laughter and then later in tears. There is a great joy to giving to those less fortunate at Christmas, or for every day of the year for that matter; even Scrooge discovers that.
Charles Dickens himself presented hundreds of performances of this story in various places in Europe and not uncommonly in North America. Dickens first trip to Canada was in 1842 and was a great success despite his support for his abolition of slavery. Dickens' second visit to America was in 1867 and by the time he completed his tour and boarded his ship to return to England he was gravely ill. In 1868-1869 he toured England, Scotland and Ireland with his "farewell readings". By April 1869 he collapsed with a mild stroke. With medical approval he again returned to the stage, although still in grave health, to perform 12 shows between the 11th of January and the 15th of March 1870. His final performance was before the Prince and Princess of Wales. June 8th, 1870 he died at home from a stroke. His last words were alleged to have been:
Be natural my children.
For the writer that is natural has fulfilled all the rules of art.
HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL
You tube video clip of "A Christmas Carol":
