A Christmas Carol

FULL LENGTH PLAYS

A CHRISTMAS CAROL
An adaptation of the Charles Dickens story by Ron Nicol.

PLOT RESUME
Miser Ebenezer Scrooge is haunted by the ghost of his partner Jacob Marley, and visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. Glimpses of his past life, visits to the happy households of his clerk and his nephew, and fearful visions of the future make him change his miserable nature.

CAST MULTIPLE

Ebenezer Scrooge m
Bob Cratchit, his clerk m
Fred, Scrooge’s nephew m
Two Gentlemen / Gentlewomen m/f
Child carol singer (voice off) m/f
Jacob Marley m
Ghost of Christmas Past m/f
Scrooge as a boy m
Fan, Scrooge’s younger sister f
Young Scrooge m
Dick Wilkins m
Mr Fezziwig m
Mrs Fezziwig f
Miss Fezziwig f
Two other Miss Fezziwigs (n/s) f
Six Admirers (n/s) m
Fiddler (n/s) m/f
Scrooge as a young man m
Belle, Scrooge’s fiancée f
George, Belle’s husband m
Ghost of Christmas Present m/f
Albert m
Cockney m
Victoria f
Mrs Cratchit f
Belinda Cratchit f
Peter Cratchit m
Martha Cratchit f
Tiny Tim Cratchit m
Caroline, Fred’s wife f
Topper m
Agnes, Topper’s fiancée f
Ignorance (n/s) m
Want (n/s) f
Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come m/f
Two Businessmen m
Old Joe m
Charwoman f
Mrs Dilber f
Woman debtor f
Man debtor m
Gravedigger (n/s) m/f
Child m/f
Delivery Man m/f
Carol Singers
Shoppers, Revellers, Guests, friends, neighbours (n/s)

Author's note
Depending on the size of company, doubling, trebling and even quadrupling of parts are possible. There are many combinations - as many as ingenuity and the ability of the cast can suggest!

SET
The action takes place in various locations but mainly in Scrooge's rooms and his mind.

TIME - 1840s, 1780s
DURATION - approx. 1 hour 45 minutes

Script Sample - The Cratchits' Xmas Dinner

The Ghost waves his hand and the lighting changes as Carol Singers enter to sing “The Holly and the Ivy“, while Mrs Cratchit, Belinda and Peter enter, bringing out the table and putting chairs round it. When the carol concludes, the Singers exit and the preparations are completed - if necessary during the following.

MRS C Whatever’s got your precious father, then? And your brother Tiny Tim. And Martha wasn’t as late last Christmas Day by half-an-hour.
BELINDA Here’s Martha, Mother!

Martha enters.

PETER Hurrah! There’s such a goose, Martha!
MRS C Why bless your heart alive, my dear, how late you are. Take off that shawl and bonnet.
MARTHA We’d a deal of work to finish up last night, mother, and we’d to clear away this morning.
MRS C Well, never mind, as long as you’re come. Sit down before the fire, my dear, and have a warm...
BELINDA No, no! Here’s Father coming!
PETER Hide, Martha, hide!

Martha hides. Bob Cratchit enters with Tiny Tim.

CRATCHIT Why, where’s our Martha?
MRS C Not coming.
CRATCHIT Not coming! Not coming on Christmas Day!

Martha comes out of hiding.

MARTHA Merry Christmas, Father!
CRATCHIT Why, you little goose!
PETER The goose, the goose!
BELINDA The goose, the goose!
MRS C The goose! Fetch it, Belinda. And Peter, make sure all’s ready.
PETER Come on. Martha.
BELINDA You should see the goose, Martha! And the pudding!
MRS C The pudding! Suppose it’s not done enough!
BELINDA Suppose it should break in turning out!
PETER Suppose somebody’s got over the wall of the yard and stolen it!
MRS C Quickly! Quickly! Make sure, Martha!
MARTHA Mother! Don’t fuss! Tim, come and hear the pudding singing in the copper!

Martha, Belinda and Peter exit with Tiny Tim.

MRS C How did little Tim behave in church?
CRATCHIT As good as gold, and better. He gets thoughtful, sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangest thoughts you ever heard. He said he hoped people saw him in church because he was a cripple. He thought it might be pleasant to them to remember on Christmas Day who it was made lame beggars walk and blind men see.

Tiny Tim enters, followed by Martha, Belinda and Peter with the food and plates. They gather round the table and lay everything out.

MRS C Mash those potatoes, Peter, and sweeten that apple sauce, Belinda.
MARTHA These plates are hot!
CRATCHIT You sit beside me, Tim.
MRS C Take that spoon out of your mouth, Belinda!

When the table is ready they all sit round it.

CRATCHIT For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful.
TINY TIM Amen.

Cratchit prepares to carve the goose.

MARTHA Oh! There never was such a goose.
CRATCHIT You’re right, Martha, I don’t believe there ever was such a goose cooked.
PETER So tender!
BELINDA So big!
MRS C So cheap!

Everybody laughs as the light on the family fades and they continue to eat their Christmas dinner in dumb-show.

SCROOGE Spirit, tell me if Tiny Tim will live.
GHOST I see a vacant seat in the chimney corner, and a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved. If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die.
SCROOGE No, no, kind Spirit! Say he will be spared!
GHOST If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, none other of my race will find him here. What then? If he be like to die, he’d better do it, and decrease the surplus population. If man you be in heart, forbear that wicked cant until you’ve discovered what the surplus is and where it is. It may be, that in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man’s child!
SCROOGE Spirit, you’re right. I’m overcome with penitence and grief, truly I am…

Light comes up on the family.

CRATCHIT What a wonderful pudding! The greatest success since our marriage, my dear.
PETER We’ve ate it all at last!
BELINDA You’ve sage and onion in your eyebrows, Peter!
MRS C Now the weight’s off my mind, my dears, I must confess I’d my doubts about the quantity of flour…
MARTHA Mother! It was lovely!

Cratchit stands.

CRATCHIT I’d like to propose a toast. I give you Mr Scrooge, the Founder of the Feast!
MRS C The Founder of the Feast indeed! I wish I had him here, I’d give him a piece of my mind to feast on, and I hope he’d have a good appetite for it.
CRATCHIT My dear, the children. Christmas Day.
MRS C It should be Christmas Day, I’m sure, on which one drinks the health of such an odious, stingy, hard, unfeeling man as Mr Scrooge! You know he is, Robert. Nobody knows it better than you do.
CRATCHIT My dear, Christmas Day.
MRS C Well, I’ll drink his health for your sake and the Day’s. Not for his. Long life to him. A merry Christmas and a happy New Year. He’ll be very merry and very happy, I’ve no doubt!
CRATCHIT A merry Christmas to us all, my dears, God bless us!
TINY TIM God bless us every one!

from A Christmas Carol

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