Members of the Valley Shakespeare Festival to present 'A Christmas Carol' in December./ Contributed photo
Charles Dickens wrote his holiday classic “A Christmas Carol” in London in 1843 in the midst of England’s industrial revolution.
It was originally written to be published as a pamphlet to inspire social reform.
At the time, London was teeming with problems: in only 80 years its population quadrupled from 1 million to 4.5 million; crime was rampant-the police estimated that 20,000 children were being trained in thievery; the city’s water supply was polluted; housing was sparse and cramped with entire families living in one small room; and education for children was at an all-time low.
It is into this world that Valley Shakespeare Festival will take its audiences on Dec. 10 and 11.
Presented without elaborate period costuming and staging, VSF’s production puts the emphasis on the true meaning of the story.
Jeremy Funke (Scrooge) explains, “What I like best about VSF’s stripped-down presentation of this classic tale is that it forces the audience to focus on the story-the audience’s imagination is our special effects designer, and I can’t think of a better way for them to experience it.”
Audience members will join Ebenezer Scrooge on his transformational journey through his own personal darkness of bitterness and disillusion on that fateful Christmas Eve and emerge with him on that brilliant Christmas morning with renewed faith in God and humanity.
Tom Simonetti, the company’s Executive and Artistic Director (and Bob Cratchit), echoes this sentiment.
“The story is powerful enough on its own not to need all kinds of embellishment," he says. "I love to see the children’s and families’ reactions to Jacob Marley’s chains, Tiny Tim, and Scrooge’s last speech. It’s a story that needs to be told because it reminds us of the kind of people we should be all year long. It’s exactly what we need.”
Valley Shakespeare Festival will present it staged reading of “A Christmas Carol” Dec. 10 at Plumb Memorial Library, 65 Wooster St., Shelton, and on Dec. 11 at the Seymour Historical Society, 59 West St., Seymour.
Anyone wishing to come and experience this memorable moment in history may reserve seats by calling Valley Shakespeare Festival at 203-513-9446 or by visiting www.vsfestival.org.
The event is presented free of charge with a suggested donation of $10 per person.
Seating is limited and reservations are encouraged.
This is a press release from Valley Shakespeare Festival, a 501(c)(3) tax exempt, non-profit theater company serving the communities of the Lower Naugatuck Valley.
