On Saturday, Dec. 3, at 7 p.m. Bradford United Church will be presenting A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens for the first time.
The production will be delivered in period costumes by experienced “readers” who have successfully presented the story for more than 20 years.
Robert Murdock, a retired Toronto police detective of 37 years, will be one of those readers. He’s been involved in the production for two decades because of the importance of the story Dickens tells.
“It was written in 1844 at a time when oddly enough, society was going through very similar things that we are today,” said Murdock. “Economic recession, people doubting their faith, people are leaving the church because of the corruption that seems to be in the church. Faith was going through a real crisis time and Charles Dickens wrote the story with a view of attracting the attention of others to the social injustices of the day.”
The story was written in five staves, or verses. Dickens had a publisher pay him by the word, which led to some extra flair when performing it.
“When you read Dickens's works, quite often instead of using one word, he would add five or six more words,” said Murdock. “So, his prose is very flowery and very much in keeping with Victorian England. The writing is very old when you listen to it in spoken form.”
The reason Murdock has been involved with the production dates back three decades when Judy Maddren of the CBC encouraged local communities to put on a production of A Christmas Carol.
“About 21 years ago in Tottenham, the church there decided they’d put on a production, and I became very involved,” said Murdock, who’s gone back to school to become a United Church minister. “A woman named Laurie Lang also got involved and between us we more or less produced it in Tottenham, and it became quite an annual event. We’d have lots of people come from all over and we went on the road with the show performing at different events around York Region and Simcoe County.”
After moving away from Tottenham seven years ago, Murdock has been looking to get involved with the production again.
“I contacted Laurie and asked if she’d be interested in helping a little church that’s struggling with finances and membership to see if she’d want to help raise some money for a good cause,” he explained. “She jumped aboard and when I approached the people at Bradford United to do this, they were all for it.”
Three members of Bradford United will perform the first three staves with Lang on the fourth and Murdock on the fifth.
“We really get into it and ham it up and have a lot of fun with it,” he said. “We do it with all the lights out and candles glowing. It’s kind of spooky and it brings back an entertainment form that’s really fallen out of use. It’s quite quaint and people get such a kick out of it. I’m looking so forward to it.”
The performance is roughly two hours with an intermission that includes holiday treats and refreshments. The evening will finish with carols.
Tickets are $15 each. They can be reserved by contacting the church office at 905-775-7268 and can be purchased in person at the church office or by e-transfer to [email protected]. Those who attend are encouraged to bring a food item for the food bank.
