jillotaylor: December 2011

I love Dicken's Christmas Carol and wanted to share it with my Chinese students. I shortened it to a five person play using the best of the lines from Dickens. I wanted to share, but had trouble finding it. So once I found it I decided to put it on my blog so I could find it again.

“A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens
(A play for 5 actors with 5 optional silent parts prepared by Jill Taylor)
Narrator: "Once upon a time -- on Christmas Eve -- old Ebenezer Scrooge sat busy in his bank. Scrooge was a hard, stingy, mean, cold-hearted, rich banker. He had no wife, no children, no friends and he trusted no one. He only cared about himself and his money. He treated his clerk, Bob, poorly and paid him a very small salary. His office was always cold because Scrooge was too cheap to pay for extra coal. His kind-hearted Nephew entered."
Fred: “Merry Christmas, Uncle, Come dine with us for Christmas dinner tomorrow.”
Scrooge: “No, Merry Christmas? Bah Humbug! What reason have you to be merry? You're poor enough?"
Fred: “What reason have you to be dismal? You’re rich enough?” I have always thought of Christmas time a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the year, when men and women open their shut-up hearts freely to think of people below them. And so as I leave, I say, “Merry Christmas, Uncle.”
Narrator: Then two men came in to ask Scrooge if he would donate money to help buy food for the poor.
Scrooge: “I don't make merry myself at Christmas and I can't afford to make idle people merry. Their welfare is not my business. My own business occupies me constantly. I wish to be left alone. Good afternoon.”
Narrator: The men left. Scrooge closed his office and walked home alone to his empty house and locked himself in. When he had dressed for bed, he heard a clanking noise, deep down below; as if some person were dragging a heavy chain. He heard the noise coming up the stairs; then coming straight towards his door. Scrooge watched in horror as in through the door walked the Spirit of his former business partner, Jacob Marley, who had died seven years ago on Christmas Eve. Scrooge fell upon his knees, and clasped his hands before his face.
Scrooge: "Mercy! Why do spirits walk the earth, and why do you come to me?"
Spirit: "It is required of every man to help others, and if he does not do so in life, then he is doomed to wander through the world and witness the suffering of others without having the ability to help.
Narrator: Again the spirit raised a cry, and shook its chains on which hung heavy bags of money.
Scrooge: "Why are you chained?”
Spirit: "I wear the chain I forged in life. I made it link by link of my own free will. My spirit never walked beyond our business. I did not know that no space of regret can make up for a life's opportunity misused!
Scrooge: "But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,"
Spirit: "Business! Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business. I am here tonight to warn you, that you have yet a chance to escape my fate. You will be haunted by three Spirits.”
Narrator: The Spirit of Christmas Past was a youth who showed Scrooge his past life. He saw his former employer who had always treated him kindly and Scrooge felt guilty that he did not treat his own clerk better. The Spirit of Christmas Present was a jolly giant and showed Scrooge how the families of his Nephew and his clerk were celebrating Christmas. He saw that his Nephew’s home was full of love and caring. His clerk’s family was also happy even though they were poor and the youngest boy, named “Tiny Tim,” was sick and needed crutches. Scrooge began to feel more empathy and wished to help them. The Spirit of Christmas Future was scary and wore a black shroud. It never spoke but only pointed with its boney finger. It showed Scrooge that if he did not change his ways he would die alone on a future Christmas Eve with no one to weep for him. He was then shown his clerk’s family weeping for Tiny Tim who had died.
Scrooge: “If I change my life, then the future must change too. I am not the man I was. Why show me this, if I am past all hope? Assure me that I yet may change what you have shown me by an altered life. I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will not ignore the lessons that I have been taught. “
Narrator: Scrooge awoke to find that it was Christmas morning and he still had time to change his life. He sent a big turkey to his clerk’s family as a surprise and spent Christmas day getting acquainted with his Nephew’s family.
Narrator: The next morning when his clerk came to work late, Scrooge pretended to be upset.
Scrooge: "You are late!”
Bob: “I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.
Scrooge: I’m not going to stand for this …and therefore I’m going to raise your salary and I will help find a doctor for your son. Merry Christmas, Bob! Make up the fires, and buy more coal before you do anything else.”
Narrator: Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the good old city knew. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him; but his own heart laughed, and that was quite enough for him.
He saw no more Spirits; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!