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Christmas Carol haunts the BAG

Between Shifts production slated for an eight-show run starting Nov. 24
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WHAT: Between Shifts presents A Christmas Carol

WHERE: Brackendale Art Gallery

WHEN: Nov. 25 - 27; Dec. 1 - 4. START TIME IS 7:30 P.M.

 

Scrooge. Do you know this guy? What a guy. What a crusty, twisted old fart. He can humbug himself right off the side of a mountain. Yeah?

But, you know, it's easy to forget that Ebenezer Scrooge, the misanthropic miser of Charles Dickens's classic tale A Christmas Carol , learns a few things by the end of the tale. He comes around! He becomes less miserly, less of a crotchety old naysayer and saves Tiny Tim's tiny little life.

It's a happy ending that I've now just ruined for those of you who didn't know it, and were planning on seeing Between Shifts' production on the classic tale. Running for eight nights at the Brackendale Art Gallery beginning Thursday, Nov. 24, the celebrated community theatre will tackle the greatest Christmas story ever told (besides Home Alone ).

"It's just a great story of redemption, really," says Carol director Carla Fuhre. "I think a lot of points, just like Shakespeare, they're still relevant today. And, of course, it has a happy ending, which people want at this time of year. It's a lovely tradition too."

Establishing that tradition might have been Dickens's greatest feat as an author. The story was written in 1843 at a time when the Victorian British were feeling nostalgic for the spirited celebrations observed by the Tudors. The Church of England had all but outlawed the yuletide cheer and the holiday had, over the previous centuries, become somber and sobering. With A Christmas Carol , Dickens sought to reconstruct Christmas as a time of generosity and goodwill. A Christmas Carol has been credited as reviving the Christmas spirit in both Britain and the Americas as we view it today.

Published in 1844, the novella became an instant classic. Today, most North Americans have at least an inkling of the infamous plot. It is retold every year in virtually every major city across the Western world. It's been adapted to theatre, opera, and ballet, to Broadway and to film 21 times. Elements of the story have varied for each adaptation, with some focusing on the social commentary, while others have redefined it as a family tale. Others still have given it a spookier, more ghastly twist.

Between Shifts' version is a ghost story. The stage design is Tim Burton-inspired, and while the adaption (written by Fiona Revell Summers in 2009 for Spectral Theatre in Vancouver) stays true to the original, it leans more heavily on the ghostly element.

"It's a bit of a spooky story really," Fuhre says. "It's an interesting version, shall we say."

Already, Between Shifts is considering producing A Christmas Carol annually, depending on how successful this run of shows becomes.

"Some theatre companies do a Christmas carol as their bread and butter, and it would be interesting to see whether or not we could pull out everybody's hard work, sets and costumes and just recast it every year," says the show's producer, Lisa Schael.

She says that ticket sales are already strong - a good indication, since their dramatic productions in the past have largely flopped.

Between Shifts started 15 years ago as a modest and very amateur theatre group. Slowly, after doing four productions a year, with many regulars coming back for each production, it's grown into a well-organized, deeply passionate and tight-knit troupe. It has staged dramatic plays in the past, but its most successful ventures have been pantomimes and comedy scripts, including Fawlty Towers.

The troupe earned a significant boost in popularity with the critically acclaimed, legally questionable production of Princess Bride last March. The show was cancelled three performances early after 20 th Century Fox issued a cease-and-desist order after Between Shifts failed to secure the rights to the script.

But it was an artistic success anyway. Everyone involved felt that they had raised the bar for themselves and for Squamish. Princess Bride showed Between Shifts hitting its stride.

Now, A Christmas Carol will be its best production yet. Besides the 27-person cast, there are another 30 volunteers who have devoted their time (all, literally, between shifts) to making the production happen. Schaer estimates "a thousand" man-hours have been volunteered to shaping this production.

"The calibre of people working professionally on this show is unprecedented," she says.

The costume designer works professionally in the movie industry. The lighting designer used to work professionally and has worked on A Christmas Carol several times in the past for arts clubs in Vancouver. Their set designers have won awards for past Between Shifts work. The make-up artists are professionals as well, while the hairdresser (also a professional) has been working with a broken leg after being hit by a taxi in Florida.

"The crew is unbelievable. I almost can't even describe how amazing they are, I'm grateful. That's the word, I'm really grateful," Schaer says.

As grateful as Scrooge to those dastardly ghosts? Probably not. I mean, really. Those ghosts inspired him to see the light. No one gets that kind of help these days.