About
the Play:
A Christmas Carol:
Scrooge & Marley is a full-length Christmas play
adapted for the stage by Israel Horovitz from the novel by
Charles Dickens. This is the classic tale of the redemption of
the original miser, Ebenezer Scrooge, as seen through the eyes of the
ghost of Jacob Marley. An ingenious and theatrically dazzling
adaptation of this great classic, A Christmas Carol: Scrooge &
Marley is a delightful twist on the favourite holiday tale by
Charles Dickens.
A Christmas Carol is famous the world over. The often
bizarre and ultimately heart-warming story of old Scrooge, his
put-upon employee Bob Cratchit, Bob's woeful son Tiny Tim and the
others needs no detailing here. Israel Horovitz follows the
Dickens original scrupulously but, in bringing it to life on the
stage, adds elements of inventiveness and brilliant theatricality
which enhance and strengthen its timeless virtues. This two-act,
100-minute version features Jacob Marley, Scrooge's deceased and
disgraced partner, as the narrator throughout, allowing his presence
to guide the audience through the trials and eventual redemption of
Ebeneezer Scrooge. Marley also stage-manages the other ghosts and
plays tricks on Scrooge who humbugs his way through Christmas Past,
Christmas Present and Christmas Future. The result is a theatre piece
of unique eloquence, which will delight audiences of all ages, and
draw forth the best efforts of all engaged in its presentation.
Israel Horovitz's adaptation of A Christmas Carol
was commissioned by Center Stage, in Baltimore, Maryland, and first
produced there in 1978 with great critical and popular success. The
play features
flexible casting and has become a popular choice for school and
community theatre productions.
Cast: 38 characters: 6 female, 23 male, 3 girls, 6 boys, plus
extras; dancers, musicians (doubling possible, minimum of 22 players)
What people say:
"Don't let the subtitle trick
you... This is straight-up Charles Dickens, complete with Christmas
geese and little waifs on crutches." — Backstage
"…Horovitz's particular
talent seems to lie in maintaining remarkable fidelity to the artist
whose work he adapts, losing none of the original flavor which marked
their greatness. At the same time, he enlivens the work, enhancing
its presentation to a modern American theatre audience in a most
sublime manner." — Catholic Review
"Children will find it
engrossing, but their parents will love it." — Baltimore
Sun
"This is a good holiday show
for the whole family." — Los Angeles Times
"…a glorious success."
— Baltimore News American
"Horovitz's passionate
adaptation, it's homespun and forthright and enlists our
imagination." — The Chicago Reader
About the Playwright:
Israel Horovitz (1939-2020) was an American playwright,
director, and actor who first came to prominence in the
counterculture melting pot of Greenwich Village in the winter of
1967-68, with four critically acclaimed plays produced Off Broadway.
Since then, nearly 70 Horovitz plays have been performed throughout
the USA, and dozens have been translated and performed in as many as
25 languages, worldwide. He won numerous awards, including the OBIE
(twice), the Emmy, Priz du Plaisir de theatre (for Line In Paris),
Prix du Jury (Cannes Film Festival), the New York Drama Desk Award,
and Award in Literature of The American Academy of Arts and Letters,
The Eliot Norton Prize, and many others.
