A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol is a one-man stage performance by English actor Patrick Stewart of the Charles Dickens 1843 novella of the same title, which has been performed in the United Kingdom and the United States on occasion since 1988. Stewart was originally inspired to create the adaptation during the production of the 1986 film Lady Jane. It is performed without costumes or props, and has Stewart playing more than 30 characters. Critics have praised Stewart's portrayal and compared them to the readings performed by Dickens during the 19th century. Background A Christmas Carol is a novella by English writer Charles Dickens, first published on 19 December 1843. It has been adapted into a variety of media, with the first theater production taking place in London within six weeks of publication. The run lasted for 40 nights before transferring to the Park Theatre in New York City. In 1853, Dickens began to perform the story itself in public, performing each of the characters himself without props or costume changes. He continued to make these occasional recitals until his final public performance on 15 March 1870. Patrick Stewart first became influenced by the story during the production of his 1986 film Lady Jane. In a break between filming, he discovered that he had read all the newspapers and magazines he had available in his hotel. However, it had a small library available to guests. Stewart picked up an old copy of A Christmas Carol, having realised that while he was familiar with the story, he had never read it. He compared the major theme of redemption in the story to those he had previously seen in the works of William Shakespeare.