Horsham: Dickens wants us to see the Scrooge in ourselves

The enduring popularity of A Christmas Carol is fairly straightforward to explain, as David Benson suggests.
David BensonDavid Benson
David Benson

David is playing the redeemable skinflint Scrooge in a two-man version of Dickens’ classic tale at Horsham’s Capitol this Christmas, alongside Jack Lane as all the other characters.

“Scrooge is such a great character because in a way the meaning of life is contained within this one man,” David says.

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“Scrooge’s is the journey that so many people yearn to go on even if they don’t have all the cynicism and stinginess of Scrooge – not just stinginess of money but also stinginess of mind and emotion, a life that denies love.

“The initial Scrooge we see as a man that for some reason has become cynical in love and life and in everything, and we can all recognise that from other people we know, from institutions in our lives, but also within ourselves. Scrooge embodies that, but what is so wonderful is when he loses all that cynicism and you see the man who is hidden underneath.”

And that’s an important point. David doesn’t believe Scrooge is transformed from one thing to another; more accurately, his real self comes out.

“Thinking about it again as we are approaching this, you can see that as a young man Scrooge did have relationships and he did have the potential for kindness but his lust for money got in the way and it soured him completely.

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“He lost all thoughts of his higher self. Dickens believes that most human beings are born with full potential but then something happens to them along the way. It is present still somehow in Scrooge and that is why Marley comes back to him and says ‘You are taking the wrong path in life’; he says ‘You have a chance actually to not have my fate which is to die unloved and unremembered – or remembered only by people feeling relieved that you have gone because they are no longer in your debt or are frightened of you.’ Marley gives him such a shock and shows him these pictures of not only his past and his present but what it is all likely to lead to in the future.

“To play the part you have to go right back to the text that Dickens wrote.

“There have been so many different versions and interpretations by so many different people and in different ways but everything you need is right back there in the text.

“Jack (who adapted the show and plays everyone apart from Scrooge) was very keen to avoid any slushy sentimental take on the story. It is a tough story.

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“When you see this man, he has to be convincing. He is not just a funny old character. He has to be convincing, and the audience has to see something of themselves in that. Dickens does not want us to see a strange comical character that we just laugh at or pity. He wants us to look at ourselves and say there is a part of Scrooge in all of us.

“Last year was the first time that we did it.

“This production of A Christmas Carol is a long-held dream of Jack’s.

“It was very much his dream to do initially a one-man production of it and that was what he envisaged. But after working together for two years on the Dad’s Army Radio Show, we discovered that we were very simpatico and it has been like a mutual admiration society between us. I am Jack’s number one fan.

“I had the idea for doing Dad’s Army as a radio play and I called Jack and we got together to do that.

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“Initially I was thinking it was a one-man play but we did it together and never looked back and it was the same with this. Jack was going to do it all himself and then he approached me.”

A Christmas Carol runs at the Capitol in Horsham on selected dates between December 12 and December 29.

Tickets from the venue.

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