eBook - ePub
A Christmas Carol (NHB Modern Plays)
RSC stage version
Charles Dickens, David Edgar
This is a test
Share book
- 144 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
A Christmas Carol (NHB Modern Plays)
RSC stage version
Charles Dickens, David Edgar
Book details
Book preview
Table of contents
Citations
About This Book
One ghostly Christmas night, cold-hearted businessman Ebenezer Scrooge gets the fright of his life, discovers the truth about himself, and learns to love his neighbour.
This adaptation by David Edgar of the Charles Dickens classic â one of the best-loved stories ever written â rediscovers the social conscience of the timeless tale. It was premiered by the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon for Christmas 2017.
Frequently asked questions
How do I cancel my subscription?
Can/how do I download books?
At the moment all of our mobile-responsive ePub books are available to download via the app. Most of our PDFs are also available to download and we're working on making the final remaining ones downloadable now. Learn more here.
What is the difference between the pricing plans?
Both plans give you full access to the library and all of Perlegoâs features. The only differences are the price and subscription period: With the annual plan youâll save around 30% compared to 12 months on the monthly plan.
What is Perlego?
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, weâve got you covered! Learn more here.
Do you support text-to-speech?
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.
Is A Christmas Carol (NHB Modern Plays) an online PDF/ePUB?
Yes, you can access A Christmas Carol (NHB Modern Plays) by Charles Dickens, David Edgar in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Literature & British Drama. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Topic
LiteratureSubtopic
British DramaACT ONE
Scene One
The stage is empty, minimalist, forbidding, stark. Children weep, critics carp, parents complain. Can this really be the Christmas show?
Two YOUNG MEN in their early thirties burst on to the stage. The first â CHARLES DICKENS â waves a closely printed government document. The other â JOHN FORSTER â has a Newcastle accent.
JOHN. For Christmas?
CHARLES. Yes.
JOHN. You cannot be serious.
CHARLES. I have never been more serious.
JOHN. But for ChristmasâŠ
CHARLES (waving the report). Have you read this?
JOHN. I donât need to read it.
CHARLES. Itâs entitled âThe Physical and Moral Condition of the Childrenâ â thatâs the childrenâŠ
JOHN. Itâs a government report.
CHARLES. ââŠand Young Persons Employed in Mines and ManufacturesâŠâ
JOHN. Dickens. You of all people cannot produce a tractâŠ
CHARLES. I shall call it âAn Appeal to the People of EnglandâŠâ
JOHN.âŠbased on a government reportâŠ
CHARLES. ââŠon behalf of the Poor Manâs Child.â
JOHN. ⊠and claim that itâs a Christmas book, by you.
CHARLES. I am a radical, campaigning writer. I fight for social justice. Why dress it up as entertainment?
JOHN. Well, because you have a public â
CHARLES (waving the report). In the factories, some children start their work at four.
JOHN. At four in the morning?
CHARLES. Four years of age.
Slight pause.
JOHN. But even so.
CHARLES flips through the report:
CHARLES. âChildren in breach of apprenticeships are committed to jail.â
JOHN. Your public has legitimate expectationsâŠ
CHARLES. âConditions are especially bad in nail-making, lace-making, the hosiery tradesâŠâ
JOHN. Heart-warming humour. Powerful descriptive passages.
CHARLES. âThe work generally causes deformity of the spine, so that a âlace-runnerâ can be known by her walk.â
JOHN. Memorable characters with witty, emblematic names.
CHARLES. âThere is no class of persons in this country, living by their labour, whose happiness, health and lives are so unscrupulously sacrificed as those of young dressmakers.â
JOHN. Emotion! Tears and laughter! Happy endings!
CHARLES. Happy endings?
JOHN. Yes!
CHARLES. âWhile the life of a dry-grinder scarcely averages thirty-five years.â
JOHN. But, Dickens. Christmas. Holly. Snow.
CHARLES. Forster, we are thirty-one. And when did it last snow at Christmas?
It starts to snow.
JOHN. Goose with sage and onion stuffing.
A CHILD runs across the stage.
Plumcake for the children.
Then the stage floods with Christmas. Trees are carried home, FAMILIES buy mistletoe and holly from STREET SELLERS, joints of beef, great hams and trays of mince pies are delivered, chestnuts are sold, CHILDREN throw snowballs, a group of merry SINGERS strike up a Christmas song.
Mince pies lit up with flaming brandy. Dancing. Play-acting. Wassailers trudging along country byways.
And perhaps we see people we will meet as the play progresses: LADY TIBSHELF and MRS TROWELL, MR and MRS BALDOCK, the CRATCHIT FAMILY, FRED, his pregnant wife JANE and her sister LUCY. As, at the back of the stage, detached from the merrymaking, BUSINESSMEN at the trading exchange pass notes and bills. But then, suddenlyâŠ
CHARLES. No.
Everything stops. EVERYONE looks at CHARLES.
We owe it to these children that we hear them.
JOHN. Dickens, send a letter to the Morning Post. And then, write / a â
CHARLES. Forster, I knew something of all this, in my own life.
JOHN. Then do what you do best. And write it as a story. Which will echo down the ages.
Upstage, a man in black, in his fifties, bids a frosty farewell to the BUSINESSMEN and sets off back to his place of work.
CHARLES. As a story.
JOHN. As a story!
CHARLES. Rather than a pamphlet, as you say, a tractâŠ
JOHN. Indeed!
CHARLES. A story might have even greater force.
JOHN. Iâd say, twenty thousand times the force.
CHARLES. And echo down the ages.
JOHN. Yes.
And Christmas starts up again. JOHN clasps CHARLESâs arm.
CHARLES. As longâŠ
JOHN. As long?
CHARLES (waving the report). As its subject is oppression. Misery and want.
And now the stage is emptying, as the man in black strides on, a path forms around him, MERRYMAKERS pulling back, as if from an icy blast. A small CAROLLER â brave but desperate â stands in his way.
JOHN. And how to you propose to achieve this?
CHARLES. IâŠ
CAROLLER (sings). God bless ye merry, gentlemen, Let nothing you â
SCROOGE. Do I appear in want of blessing? Do I look remotely merry?
CAROLLER. No, sir, but â
SCROOGE pushes the CAROLLER aside.
SCROOGE. Bah! Humbug!
CHARLES. Yessss.
Now the CROWD is almost gone, and SCROOGEâs counting house â with its battered sign âMarley and Scroogeâ â is emerging.
JOHN (accepting the inevitable). And does this appalling misanthrope possess a name?
CHARLES. Ebenezer â Scratch. ScrewâŠ...