Several readers and performers from the Sunshine Coast put on a production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol at St. Bartholomew’s and St. Hilda’s Anglican churches last weekend.
Though this time-honoured classic has been presented in numerous ways from the vintage movie starring Alastair Sim to the Muppets version, there is nothing like a spirited reading (pun intended) of the familiar words whereby the parsimonious Scrooge meets the spirits of Christ-mases past, present and yet to come. The tale is just as popular now as it was in 1843 at its launch in England when it became the most popular book of that holiday season.
Brenda Nestegaard Paul introduced the staged reading at St. Bart’s and told the audience that the performance would follow Dickens’ original intent to strike a blow at poverty and want, particularly at this time of the year. Admission was by donation and funds raised will benefit two programs that address hunger on the Coast: St. Bart’s Food Bank and the community meals and food programs at St. Hilda’s.
The arrangement of this particular performance was impeccable, with two choirs and other musical interludes shaping the adapted story into sections. Janice Brunson led her small choir of children, called Poco Choralations, and also led the 11-member A Cappella Strait in the type of seasonal music that would have been heard in Dickens’ time. It was lovely to hear something different from traditional carols as, for example, the vocalists singing the Somerset Wassail song. Kenneth Norman Johnson played a few piano selections and Gord Beynon chimed in on the violin.
The audience followed the progression of Scrooge’s epiphany through a series of readings from Michelle Beaudry, Ian Nestegaard Paul (priest-in-charge at St. Bart’s), actor Bryan Carson, performer Bertha Clark (aka Adelene da Soul Poet) and Heather Jeal.
Actor/director David Short opened the show in Gib-sons (Gwen Southin in Sechelt), and Short closed by echoing the words of Tiny Tim we know so well: “God bless us, every one.”
