A Christmas Carol
Adapted by Catherine Bush, based on the novel by Charles Dickens
Directed by Sarah Van Deusen
Barter Theatre
Gilliam Theatre
November 20th - December 29th, 2024
Production Team:
Scenic Design: Derek Smith
Costume Design: Lee Alexander Martin
Lighting Design: Andrew Morehouse
Sound Design: Brandon Reed
About The Play
Ebenezer Scrooge hates everything and everybody, but he hates Christmas most of all. Then one Christmas Eve he is haunted by the ghost of his former business partner, Jacob Marley, who warns Scrooge that a horrible fate awaits him unless he changes his miserable ways. Thus begins an adventure like no other, as Scrooge, with the help of the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet-to-Come, learns to open his heart to all those around him. This new adaptation of the classic story will leave you glowing with the joy of the season.
After locking up his office, Scrooge heads home. Along the way he keeps noticing and hearing bizarre things. He thinks he hears the voice of Marley calling out to him. After pushing it off he arrives at his doorstep. Before going inside the face of Marley emerges from the door terrifying him.
We hear harsh winter wind as Scrooge walks home. We hear Marley’s actor whisper his name throughout the theatre. As he arrives home we fade in a spooky tonal atmosphere to give a sense of unease. Then with Scrooge’s face popping into the door, we hear a piano wire getting plucked. As the face goes away we hear the same sound in reverse. A hint at some the spookiness to come.
Voices Of The Past
By the end of the act, Scrooge is contemplating where it all went wrong. The ghosts of his past start to swarm him and chant about how he must “be happy with the life that he has chosen,” and deal with the consequences of his actions. To go with this moment I have a ghostly whoosh take us into a liminal space where the voices of his past enter. Past puts back on her crown so we bring back the texture to go with that. As they chant at him, phantoms swarm and the mood grows more dire. A grand whoosh takes us back to reality in silence before the lights blackout with the sound of breaker. A violin plays a jovial tune as Scrooge walks offstage in darkness and we go into Intermission.
Scrooge meets our second ghost, the ghost of Christmas Present. A much brighter and more cheerful and hopeful ghost compared to the rest. His musical introduction is more jovial and celebratory to go with the Christmas spirit. His magical moments are marked with a violin playing a few notes in a pizzicato style. This is also where we meet Tiny Tim, who has his own somber felt piano anytime we discuss what may come of him and his condition.
Reclamation
Finally Scrooge has seen the error of his way, and begs to be set free. Therefore we have his reclamation. Our director wanted this moment to feel climatic, scary, and almost like he was being dragged down into hell itself.
As Yet To Come begins his final dance, the voices and whispers of phantoms build around the theatre as Scrooge begs for his life. As the tension builds we hear orchestral instruments playing atonal and sporadically escalating the tension. As Scrooge finishes begging for his life, we have a climatic whoosh as we dip into a sequence where the set is returned to the night before. We hear phantoms wailing and screaming, the earth rumbles and shakes, the clock chimes continuously signifying we are reversing time. Finally as we finish there is a cinematic whoosh that takes us out of the sequence. It’s the next morning and Scrooge is given another chance.
Christmas Present
Photos given courtesy of Barter Theatre
During my conversations with our director Sarah, she said that she would like to really lean into the horror and whimsy of this classic. Making use of lots of musical underscoring and really enhancing the ghosts in the story. We would also be combining pre-recorded sound effects and music with a live violinist as well as musical tracks that are music director created that the cast would sing-along to. We really wanted to make this a fantastical, immersive, and joyful experience for the audience.
We really wanted the cast to stand out vocally with all the dialogue, singing, and musical underscoring. Therefore I made the choice to reinforce their vocals and gave each cast member their own wireless microphone. I also put an ear rig on the violinist to reinforce their instrument at specific points. This also allowed for me to use vocal effects within the console (Allen & Heath DLive) to heighten certain moments. The show was luckily in a traditional proscenium setup, with a Main Left/Right/Center array. We also had rear surround speakers, subwoofers, and plenty of onstage speakers for sourcing effects and underscoring on stage.
I decided that each major character introduced such as Scrooge, Marley, and the three ghosts that they would each have their own musical theme and sonic characteristic. Musically I was very inspired by classical instrumentation from the time period so I made use of violin, viola, cello, upright bass, and other instruments. This also helped mesh well with the pre-recorded tracks with the same instrumentation and our live violinist.
For Marley and each of the ghosts, It was important to me that we really embraced the supernatural aspect. I made sure that each ghost had their own sonic characteristic that really separated them from each other. For Marley, I really leaned into horror films, with darker atmospheric sounds, whispers, and ghoulish sounds. For Christmas Past, I really embraced the light hearted fairy tale aspect of her until the end of the act, where Scrooge starts to realize his errors. For Christmas Present, I aimed for a more simplistic, but holiday spirit type of vibe. Finally for Yet To Come, I really went for a sparse, tonal, and moody vibe with lots of ethereal and empty sounding tones, faint bells, and wind. This was such a massive show with sound playing a vital role in making this come alive.
Top Of Show
From the beginning we really lean into the darker tone of this adaption where we establish right away it’s a cold and dreary night, while we see people carry what we suspect to be the casket of Marley. Accompanied by a violinist.
To get us into this, the moment the live curtain speech ended, we hear a gust of drafty wind, before establishing background snowy wind. We hear an orchestral arrangement that conveys a sense of slight unease before the street light turns on and we see our violinist. A wind chime goes with the streetlight up on her.
The Sound Design
Scrooge Introduction
After we get some introductions from the carolers about the premises of the story, we finally meet Ebenezer Scrooge. As they describe how cold and calculated he is as a person, they are underscored by what would be his theme. We get the sense of him being a bitter, and cold person. This was an arrangement I made using a violin, cello, and upright bass.
Marley’s Face
Marley’s Haunting
As Scrooge enters his home we hear a faint draft of moaning wind giving an eerie vibe. As he sits down in his chair he sees the bell next to him begin to float and ring on it’s own. Several layers of bells in various pitches slowly build and layer one by one, echoing and engrossing the audience. As the bell lands, one final bell chime buttons the sequence. We then hear moans of ghouls around him as Marley’s chains drag in the distance. Finally, with Marley’s entrance through the door, a loud climatic piano chord is struck as two tonal layers come in (a high and low) to escalate the tension. This was further enhanced by the actor wearing a microphone where I had reverb of his voice thundering throughout the space. Finally as Marley prepares to leave the phantoms wail around the theatre, He finally takes his leave accompanied by a climatic whoosh that sucks away all the tension. A moment of peace as we hear the drafty wind continue to moan.
Christmas Past
For our first ghost we meet Christmas Past. A joyful and innocent spirit. Often portrayed as a cherub or youthful like in nature. Their musical underscore was written to be more joyful and upbeat. The text also describes that their crown is so bright that it blinds Scrooge’s eyes. Therefore I had a high pitch tonal texture underneath the music to convey this crown’s otherworldly power. As she takes it off it fades away. Each ghost also has moments of magic, where they wave their hands and something fantastical happens so I created an accompanying sound. For Past, I had a glockenspiel layered with wind chimes to convey a sense of innocence and magic. Past drags Scrooge out of bed with a forceful spell, so I had a more intense sound to go with him pulling out of bed. Finally Past takes Scrooge on a journey, to go with this a gust of wind takes us into the skies.
Top of Act 2
To bring us back into the emotional moment we just witnessed at the end of act 1, I decided that as house lights dimmed we began to slowly hear recordings of Scrooge’s past echo throughout the theatre. His most memorable childhood moments. They slowly build into a cacophony of sound as a low bass drone fades in to convey tension. Finally, once we are ready to bring lights up on Scrooge, we hear the chant of “may you be happy with the life you have chosen,” over and over before a whoosh buttons us into the top of the second act. All of this adds up to put us back into the same emotional state we felt before intermission.
Yet To Come
For the final ghost we meet, the ghost of Christmas, Yet To Come. For this one, I took an approach that was off the wall. We wanted this ghost and everything it represents to feel ephemeral and fleeting. Rather than having a musical underscore, it features a hollow almost empty tonal drone. It conveys a feeling that isn’t quite dark, or joy, but rather just nothing. Whenever it does it’s magic or takes Scrooge to other places, it’s accompanied by faint ghostly wind, and dark bells echoing a haunting melody. You’re left feeling in awe of it’s beauty, but also a bit somber.