A Christmas Carol (Paller)

CHARLES DICKENS – Tall, slim, seldom standing still; a dynamo of energy. A mesmerizing presence and voice. In his early thirties, he is already near the height of his storytelling powers.
THE CHILD – No older than ten, but old enough to be an individual. Dressed in shades of gray and black.
MARK LEMON – The genial, quick-witted editor of the well-known weekly humor magazine Punch. He is advancing toward middle age and corpulence.
FREDERICK DICKENS – Younger brother of Charles Dickens. About twenty-three, something of a ne’er-do-well, but charming. He is a Dickens, after all.
CLARKSON STANFIELD – A painter, famous for both his theatrical scene painting and naval genre pictures. About thirty-two, handsome, with a quality that is at once mischievous yet gentle, equally at home in theaters and the Royal Academy.
HELEN HOGARTH – Charles Dickens’ ten-year-old niece. Already a quick mind.
CHARLEY DICKENS – Charles’ and Catherine’s son, also about ten, and quick-witted.
REBECCA STANFIELD – Wife of Stanfield. Early thirties. An actress before her marriage, she has no trouble slipping into the evening’s festivities.
CATHERINE DICKENS – Wife of Dickens. Late twenties. She is the one who has the resources to put up with occasions such as this, when her husband’s flights of imagination take precedence over everything
else, with humor and grace.
JOHN FORSTER – Editor and writer; Dickens’ closest friend and advisor. He’s the only person in whom Dickens confided the painful story of his time in the blacking warehouse. Also in his early thirties, he is in many ways Dickens’ opposite: though given to occasional fits of joviality, he is by nature gruff and taciturn. It takes an evening such as this one to reveal that other side.

WHO PLAYS WHOM
DICKENS – Scrooge
CHARLEY – A Caroller, Young Ebenezer, A Little Fezziwig, Tiny Tim, The Boy
HELEN – A Caroller, Fan, A Little Fezziwig, Belinda Cratchit
STANFIELD – Bob Cratchit, The Ghost Of Christmas Past, Topper, The Thin Man, The Undertaker
REBECCA – Belle, Martha Cratchit, Dora, The Charwoman
CATHERINE – Mrs. Fezziwig, Betsey Cratchit, Jenny, Mrs. Dilber
FREDERICK – Fred, Young Scrooge, Peter Cratchit, Ghost Of Christmas Yet To Come (I), Old Joe
FORSTER – Second Portly Gentleman, Ghost Of Jacob Marley, Dick Wilkins, Man With The Handkerchief, Ghost Of Christmas Yet To Come (II)
LEMON – First Portly Gentleman, Fezziwig, Ghost Of Christmas Past, Fat Man, Man On The Bed