Harleston Players – A Christmas Carol

“You will be haunted by three spirits. Expect the first when the bell tolls one!” So begins the longest, strangest and most terrifying night in the life of Ebenezer Scrooge, Charles Dickens’s famous miser – brought to the stage this month by the Harleston Players.

Like every Dickens’ tale, A Christmas Carol makes for fantastic drama: eccentric, larger-than-life characters, a wonderful story, and plenty to get us both laughing and feeling a lump in our throat. In this dynamic, fast-moving show, the Players bring to life the colourful world of London in the 1840s – home to money-lenders, thieves and the hard-working poor, as well as to some of Dickens’ most memorable characters.

We meet Scrooge’s super-jolly nephew Fred, his long-suffering clerk Bob Cratchit, his lost love Belle, and the selfless child, Tiny Tim. And then there’s Scrooge himself, the ultimate party-pooper – ‘Every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart!’ Who else but Scrooge could be so mean?

Adapted for the stage by Karen Louise Hebden, the play received high praise when first performed in 2003 – ‘the kind of thrilling, uplifting theatre that really lodges in the heart and mind’; ‘as warming as a glass of mulled wine on a winter’s day,’ said the critics.

Directed by Meryl Keeble, and with a large cast aged from nine to seventy, A Christmas Carol is a fantastic family show, suitable for children aged six and over. There are six performances over two weekends, including two matinees, starting on Friday 28th January. Tickets (£8 and £6) and further details available from Harleston Pet Stores or by telephoning 01379 588043.

Performance details:

Performances at 7.30pm and Saturday matinee at 2.30pm

at the Archbishop Sancroft High School, Harleston.

Friday 28 and Saturday 29 January 2011

and

Friday 4 and Saturday 5 February 2011

Tickets £8 and £6 concs.
from The Harleston Pet Stores or by phone from 01379 588043

See web site for more details www.harlestonplayers.co.uk