Actors Ryan Haystead, Darleen Dee (centre) and Carolyn Freeman rehearse for Medicine Hat Musical Theatre's upcoming show A Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Play, which runs from Dec. 2-10.--NEWS PHOTO KENDALL KING
kking@medicinehatnews.com
Medicine Hat Musical Theatre is putting a new spin on a Christmas classic with its upcoming production of A Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Play, Dec. 2-4 and 8-10.
Introduced to MHMT last year, the radio play format invites audiences into a 1940s radio broadcasting studio where a small but skilled group of actors use voice and sound effects to bring the tales they tell to life.
For this production, the actors perform a retelling of Charles Dickens’ famous Victorian tale A Christmas Carol; which tells of a cold-hearted man named Ebenezer Scrooge whose outlook on life is changed following a series of ghostly encounters which take place one Christmas Eve.
“This is our third time doing a radio play,” director Travis Boser told the News. “Last year, when we were kind of coming out of COVID, we did The War of the Worlds and then It’s a Wonderful Life. (And) they were pretty well received, so we thought ‘Let’s do it again.'”
Using a script written by the same playwright as the other two radio plays MHMT has performed, Boser says the production is sure to enthrall audience members of all ages.
“This version is a little bit different in the sense that we don’t have a lot of blocking and staging; we’re just five people standing at mics,” said Boser. “But there’s singers coming in and out. There’s a foley artist in the back. And it just invites the audience to use their imagination a little bit more.”
Boser and the rest of the cast feel audiences will also enjoy extras inserted into the plot, like the off-air dialogue between the 1940s actors, vintage commercials which play between acts and more.
“I just would love to see people come have some fun as (the production) has some light, comical moments that will garner a bit of a laugh,” veteran MHMT actor Bruce Sandford said. “But it’s also got a serious message to it.”
Sandford, who plays radio actor Freddie Filmore and Scrooge, believes the story A Christmas Carol is not only a hallmark of the Holiday Season, but also a story about the positive impact love, compassion and kindness can have.
“The message in the story is not just for Christmas, (but) every day of the year,” said Sandford. “I’d just like to see people leave the theatre and really think about what they’ve just seen and maybe carry it out into the world. Because just with the whole situation in the world today, we could all use a whole lot more love and compassion, and just reaching out to your fellow man.”
Tracey Avery, who plays radio actor Lana Sherwood, the ghost of Christmas past, Martha Cratchit and a selection of other roles, agrees with Sandford.
“It’s such a good story of redemption,” Avery said. “I just love the message that anybody can change their way of thinking. (And) this story gets me in the Christmas spirit every year, whether it’s a radio drama or the movie.”
Tickets for A Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Play can be purchased online at mhmtheatre.com. In addition to evening performances – taking place at 8 p.m. Dec. 2,3 and 8-10 – MHMT has also introduced a matinee performance on Dec. 4, which begins at 2 p.m.
