A Brief History of the Reading

A Christmas Carol was written in 1843, and apparently written very quickly; Dickens was seized with the idea and completed the little book in just under six weeks.  He interrupted the writing of Martin Chuzzlewhit to do it.

He got the idea for the story after visiting the northern industrial town of Manchester, England.  He made a speech there about the necessity of educating very poor children. Dickens wrote the book because he needed money, but he chose the theme as a response to the notorious poverty of the "hungry forties".  A week after publication the Carol had sold 6000 copies.

"A Christmas Carol" was Dickens’ favourite novel, and ten years later he began presenting it in public readings all over Britain, in Paris, and in the United States.  Initially, his readings benefited charities; mostly in aid of education or hospitals. After a few years of sold-out houses, he went professional and began to tour the readings. He was so successful that his rival William Thackeray said Dickens could have earned 20,000 pounds a year if he had gone on the stage.  No small sum in those days!

His first public reading of "A Christmas Carol" took three hours. Over time, Dickens reduced it to about 80 minutes. That shorter script is the version being used in the current CBC readings.

It was said that particularly receptive audiences would stimulate him to new effects, both histrionic and verbal.  The "London Leader" wrote of his first performance in 1857, "We have rarely witnessed or shared an evening of such genuine enjoyment, never before remember to have seen a crowded assembly of three thousand people hanging for upwards of two hours on the lips of a single reader...every fragment of the dialogue was treated dramatically.  At the close there was an outburst, not so much of applause as of downright hurrahing, from every part of the hall."

A huge thank you to CBC Radio for the script for the evenings performance, they have been an enormous help.

The Church of St. John the Baptist Norway Anglican Church of Canada

Church services were first held in the village of Norway starting in the 1840’s at O’Sullivans Tavern. In the early 1850’s a former school house was moved to a three acre site at Woodbine and Kingston Road donated by Charles Small. It served as a parish church until 1892, when the current facility was built. The new church was designed by C.J. Gibson and enlarged in 1915 by C.D. Lennox. The church grounds always included a cemetery where many notable east enders are buried. It has an original litch gate. St. John the Baptist is the oldest church in the East End. This site is perfect venue for such a performance.

THE 2006 CAST

In Alphabetical order...

Anne Butler- An Award winning actor - A Child's Christmas in Wales. An Ohio award for Canterbury Tales, Kismet in London’s West End The Panther and the Jaguar which is the story of HG Wells and Rebecca West. King of Kensington a nomination for best supporting actress. Anne s delighted to be taking part in the presentation.

Dan MacDonald-Over half-century full-time professional experience in Canada, the U.S., Britain and on tours throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Appeared with all major Canadian, and many British theatre companies, as actor and director; Producer, Tioram Arts Projects; Artistic Director, Festival of Comedy. Completed over 200 television productions, many feature films, regular on several series, well over 500 radio dramas, as well as numerous prestigous commercials and voice-overs.

Sean Mulcahy-Sean Mulcahy's 45 year career in theatre, film and television  embraces acting, directing and teaching. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Andrew Allan Award in 1984 and The ACTRA Nellie Award in 1986. He is the former director of the Citadel Theatre and Beaverbrook Playhouse, and former Associate Director of The Shaw Festival. He has also been the Artistic Director of Instant Theatre in Montreal, The Georgian Foundation for Performing Arts and The Press Theatre. Sean has been a Drama Director and Lecturer at Universities across Canada including the University of Toronto, McMaster, Ryerson, University of Alberta and the University of Western Ontario.

A veteran of the RAF and recipient of The Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977, Sean is the past Chairman of the ACTRA Performer's Guild and was elected to the ACTRA Fraternal Board of Governor's in 1990.

Ann Tager Page- Trained as an actress in London and at Concordia University Montreal, she has performed in theatre, film, radio and Television. Major roles include Amanda Wingfield in Glass Menagerie, Mme Arcanti in Blythe Spirit, (where she met her husband Aron Tager), Medea in Medea. In the New Year she will be seen on television in “Crimes of Passion “ on the Women’s Television Network, and in “Puppets That Kill” on the Comedy Channel. Other credits include four wonderful daughters and seven very wonderful grandchildren.

The Beach Carollers

The performance may not be suitable for young children.

Ticket prices are $10 each and are ON SALE NOW! Proceeds are directed to our annual Share A Christmas Program.

Contact Nancy Culver at 416.691.1113 ext 224.

A SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR & FRIENDS AT PRUDENTIAL PROPERTIES PLUS

The appearance of Anne Butler, Dan MacDonald, Sean Mulcahy, and Ann Tager Page is by permission of the Canadian Actors Equity