11-13-08

 “A Christmas Carol”—A Gift To the Town From the Walpole Players

Benefiting Fall Mountain Food Shelf

By Chuck Bingaman, Contributing Writer

            The Walpole Players will stage “A Christmas Carol”, Charles Dickens’ immortal tale of redemption and caring for one’s fellow men, December 18, 19 and 20 at 7:00 p.m. in the Walpole Town Hall.

They are staging the play as a gift to the town and will fulfill the message of “A Christmas Carol” by encouraging those attending to make a gift to the Fall Mountain Food Shelf in lieu of spending money on tickets.

            Co-Directors Ray Boas and Tara Sad are rehearsing an “all comers”, 23-person cast with veteran local actor Jim Skofield as Charles Dickens doing a public reading and other players, ranging in age from 8 to the 70s, doing vignettes of key parts of the story.

            “At the cast party for last spring’s “You Can’t Take It With You,” Jean Kobeski suggested that we do “A Christmas Carol”,” explained Boas, who is also president of the Players.  “We held a special meeting in September, and we were unanimous that it was a great idea.”

            “What we wanted to do was to include anyone who wanted to be in the play.  So Tara and I read 4-5 scripts and I sat down over ten days and made my own adaptation.  I took out the narrator’s parts and replaced them with scenes of dialogue to accommodate everybody that tried out.”

Ray showing his collection of "A Christmas Carol" editions at his shop yesterday.

            “Dickens,” Boas added, “spent a good part of his career doing public readings of his work, much of which came from “A Christmas Carol”.  So we have adapted that historic approach and interspersed it with the acted parts.”  Skofield as Dickens will be on one side of the stage, and the vignettes will be performed behind and through a 9 by 12 foot Victorian frame built by Bill Perron, creator of many of the Players’ past amazing sets.

            The original thought was to make the play a gift to the town. Admission will be free, but tickets will be required (because of limited space in the town hall) and will be available at the usual distribution points—Real to Reel Burdick’s Café and Galloway Real Estate and. The tickets will reserve seating until 15 minutes prior to curtain time.  In lieu of paid admission, the Players are asking that each person attending make a monetary donation for the Fall Mountain Food shelf.  “In keeping with the spirit of Christmas,” explained Boas, “it just felt right for us to encourage these gifts to a very needy and increasingly important organization in our community.” 

            “Following each performance—and we’re keeping it to a tad over an hour without intermission—we are going to have refreshments for the audience,” added Boas.  “And keeping with the theme, the refreshments and the theater decorations are going to have a Victorian flair.”

            But there’s even more! Boas noted that few people know about the Christmas customs of 19th century England, the background of “A Christmas Carol.” Hence he is drawing on his long interest in the subject and his collection of over 20 published versions of the story to create a special, 12-page “keepsake booklet” to be given to every person attending the performance.  And Boas intends to produce annual booklets with additional information on “A Christmas Carol” and early English Christmas traditions for future Players’ Christmas productions.

            Mary Lou Huffling, director of the Fall Mountain Food Shelf, thanked the Walpole Players last week for their coming gifts and noted that the Food Shelf, this fall, has been serving many more families in need than it has in its entire 30-year history.   The Food Shelf, which serves needy families from Walpole, North Walpole, Alstead, Charlestown, Langdon and Drewsville, last month served nearly 900 families in need of food, nearly twice the number that needed its services following the flood of 2005.  “The costs of medicine, heat, gas, and lights have gone up so much, and many people just can’t afford them,” Huffling said last week.  “And, there have been many lay-offs from smaller companies in the area that do not make the news.”

            A retelling of the lessons of “A Christmas Carol” cannot have been better timed or the Walpole Players’ approach more appropriate.

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