{"id":35961,"date":"2020-12-18T03:50:14","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T11:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=35961"},"modified":"2020-12-16T18:39:10","modified_gmt":"2020-12-17T02:39:10","slug":"christmas-carol-goes-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2020\/12\/18\/christmas-carol-goes-online\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Carol goes online"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Adams as Scrooge and Scotia Browner as Tiny Tim in Metro Theatre\u2019s production of A Christmas Carol \u2013 The Radio Play<\/em>. (photo by Nicol Spinola)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Metro Theatre was all set to provide socially distanced, safety-first live performances of A Christmas Carol \u2013 The Radio Play<\/em> this month. But then the provincial restrictions on gatherings came down, and the struggling theatre company had to cancel its in-theatre run. But the production team used what holiday spirit it had to film the show and an online version will be available for viewers to watch from Dec. 21 through Jan. 3.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are fortunate to have our talented friends Nico Dicecco and [playwright] Erik Gow film the show and put together a beautiful digital stream of it that is available by donation,\u201d stage manager Kat Palmer told the Independent<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Palmer has had a few shows canceled since the pandemic hit. \u201cRight at the beginning of COVID,\u201d she said, \u201cI was in rehearsals for a sweet little concert Wendy Bross Stuart put together called With a Song in My Heart<\/em>. I was also looking forward to Hello Dolly!<\/em> at Theatre Under the Stars. And, most importantly, my company, Raincity Theatre, was gearing up for our production of Cabaret<\/em>. Obviously, intimate, site-specific theatre is not possible during COVID.\u201d<\/p>\n

But A Christmas Carol \u2013 The Radio Play<\/em> was created with COVID-19 protocols in mind. The theatre is a large space, enough for patrons to be distanced from one another. \u201cEven the set was designed to keep actors more than six feet apart at all times,\u201d said Palmer. In rehearsals, every cast member arrived masked and wore their mask until they were in their show spacing, she said. For the stage show, they were ready with two understudies, prepared to go on, lest \u201cany actor wake up with any sort of tickle in their throat.\u201d<\/p>\n

But those plans went for naught when, last month, large public gatherings were prohibited and the show, which was to open Dec. 3, was delayed to organize the online version.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is no surprise that COVID has deeply impacted our arts community,\u201d said director Chris Adams. \u201cThe Metro Theatre is a not-for-profit theatre company that relies on ticket sales to get by. Once a thriving arts hub in a former movie-house, Metro has been hit hard by COVID restrictions that have seriously impacted their revenue. The Metro also rents out their space to schools and dance companies over the quieter spring\/summer months but, due to our new reality, that was also impossible this year. The Metro Theatre is at risk of closing its doors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the show is also raising money for the charity Backpack Buddies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol<\/em> in 1843, charitable giving soared overnight,\u201d said Palmer. \u201cThe story has forever changed how we celebrate the holiday season and reminds us of the importance of generosity. It is in this spirit that the Metro always selects a charity to support each year at Christmas.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarly in the show, we meet Abigail \u2013 an orphan who speaks of food insecurity. It is shocking to find parallels between children today and the Dickensian era. British Columbia has one of the highest child poverty rates in Canada, with 20% of children living below the poverty line. The Backpack Buddies program provides backpacks of food to children in need so that they do not go hungry over the weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Christmas Carol \u2013 The Radio Play <\/em>is an original work by writer Gow, based on the Charles Dickens novel, of course.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Christmas Carol<\/em>, there is an expected order that ghosts appear. Erik has decided to shake it up,\u201d<\/p>\n

said Adams. \u201cThere are also some scenes that do not appear in the book that add an extra level of character development.\u201d<\/p>\n

The radio play stars David Adams as Ebeneezer Scrooge, who meets all the characters in A Christmas Carol,<\/em> \u201cfrom Bob Cratchit to Jacob Marley, but with only six actors creating and voicing over 40 of the beloved characters,\u201d reads the play\u2019s description. Joining David Adams \u201con stage\u201d will be Roger Monk, Jill Raymond, Chris Ward, Emilia Michalowska and Scotia Browner. The COVID covers were Jim Stewart and Courtney Shields, who is also the assistant director of the production.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of our actors have created a character for their narrator in addition to playing every character in the piece,\u201d said Palmer. \u201cFor the majority of our performers, they play four or five characters each. For the simplicity of the storytelling, David plays Scrooge but has also created a very unique and distinct character for his narrator. While David has played many Jewish characters, like the Merchant of Venice, Tevye and Fagin, he is not Jewish himself. Although, he has had to learn some Yiddish for roles from time to time.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for being a Jewish person working on a Christmas play, Palmer said, \u201cAt this time of year, I sometimes feel like Scrooge. I despise the commercialism of the holiday season, how it seems to consume the entire month of December and don\u2019t get me started on cheesy Christmas movies. But, as a Jewish person working on this show, it is easy to see Jewish values on every page of the script. Yes, A Christmas Carol<\/em> takes place at Christmas but, in many ways, A Christmas Carol<\/em> is really a story of teshuvah, tzedakah and tikkun olam\u2026. It\u2019s a story that celebrates kindness, charity and human transformation \u2013 ideals that all parents hope to instil in their children \u2013 ideals that have deep roots in Jewish tradition. Don\u2019t we all want to believe even the worst among us has a core of goodness?\u201d<\/p>\n

The filmed version of A Christmas Carol \u2013 The Radio Play<\/em> is available by donation at metrotheatre.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Adams as Scrooge and Scotia Browner as Tiny Tim in Metro Theatre\u2019s production of A Christmas Carol \u2013 The Radio Play. (photo by Nicol Spinola) Metro Theatre was all set to provide socially distanced, safety-first live performances of A Christmas Carol \u2013 The Radio Play this month. But then the provincial restrictions on gatherings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[785],"tags":[20138,20140,9357,9717,9784,8398,255,20139,6208,1959],"class_list":["post-35961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts","tag-a-christmas-carol","tag-backpack-buddies","tag-chris-adams","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-kat-palmer","tag-metro-theatre","tag-scrooge","tag-theatre","tag-tikkun-olam"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}