A Christmas Carol

A novella by Charles Dickens first published by Chapman & Hall on 19 December 1843.

The novella was adapted for the stage almost immediately. Three productions opened on 5 February 1844, and by the close of February 1844, eight rival theatrical productions of the work were playing in London.

The novel and the play have been a standard piece since then, and has been adapted for stage, film, radio and TV production in numerous ways over the years. Also adapted for opera, ballet, a Broadway musical, a BBC mime production starring Marcel Marceau, and Benjamin Britten's 1947 chamber orchestra composition Men of Goodwill: Variations on 'A Christmas Carol. Produced under the title Scrooge (e.g. Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost, a 1901 silent film; Scrooge (1913 film); Scrooge (1935 film); Scrooge (1951 film); Scrooge (1970 musical film), and Scrooge (1992 stage musical), etc.)

Performance history in South Africa

Translations and adaptations

Little Libertas Theatre, Stellenbosch 2012: Pennyknyper ("Penny Pincher") An Afrikaans translation and adaptation of A Christmas Carol by **, directed for the Little Libertas Theatre, Stellenbosch in 2012 by Juanita Swanepoel, with Waldemar Schultz, ***

The Baxter Theatre, 2013: Scrooge, Lara Foot’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol , set in the present day and journeying to the early 1900s, and performed in English with some Afrikaans. Directed by Lara Foot, with Marc Lottering, Andrew Buckland, Shaleen Surtie-Richards and Christo Davids, Nur Abrahams and Poseletso Sejosingoe; plus a 50 strong youth choir. Set design is by Patrick Curtis, lighting by Mannie Manim, costumes by Marcel Meyer and magic is created by Chad Findlay. The choir is made up of learners from Kenmere Primary School Choir, Kensington Chorale Girls' Choir, Herzlia Constantia and Injongo Public Primary School Choir.