The casting for A Christmas Carol at Penrith Playhouse will take place on
Thursday September 16 at 7.00. It is to be performed at the Playhouse from 8
– 11 December. Rehearsals will begin in the first week of November.

John Davies, the director, has adapted Dickens’ short story for an ensemble of
six or seven actors, one of whom will play only the pivotal role of Ebenezer
Scrooge, with the others playing everybody else, using the minimum of props,
costumes and furniture. There’ll be lights and sound effects, of course, and
spooky stuff without which this story wouldn’t be the same. Each actor will
establish a warm rapport with the audience as narrator, sharing the tale of
literature’s most celebrated miser with the other members of the Company.

John said: “Turning a novel into a stage play is like holding someone else’s
baby: you have to be extra careful with it. With every click of the laptop key, I
sense the creative genius that produced this literary baby in 1843, and realise
that I mustn’t drop it! In a heady mixture of apprehension and buoyant
elation and optimism I’m putting the finishing touches to my latest adaptation
of Charles Dickens.

“It will be significantly different from the version I wrote and directed on that
stage in 2013 when this glorious tale was told by more than twenty
performers and a section of Penrith Town Band.

This is an opportunity for actors to demonstrate versatility as they dip in and
out of roles, in true ensemble fashion, sharing the story not only among
themselves, but with their audience. A challenge, yes, but given performers in
tune with the spirit of this new version of ‘A Christmas Carol’, it will work
magic on a wooden stage. And I hope that Mr Dickens will approve of what
I’ve done to his baby, and that I didn’t drop it!”

If you are unable to make Sep 16th for the casting but would still like to be considered for casting, please contact us at penrithplayers@gmail.com.