Scrooge’s Last Stand
All good things must come to an end, and Jeremy Webb’s annual
comedic one-man take on Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol is no exception.
Recently, AE spoke with the Halifax-based thespian about what audiences can
expect this holiday season.
Rumour
has it that this will be your last year presenting A Christmas Carol - is that
true?
The
rumours are indeed true. After eleven years and over 500 performances of
this version of the show, I am going to take some time away from it and cast someone
new, exciting, and fresh in the role. The show will go on and the new guy will
be great! It's a bit like Dr Who regenerating - the show goes on with a
different face. I think we will even do some kind of special 'hand-off' show
next year, where he takes over in the middle, or at the end. I'm not sure yet,
but it will be good to see someone else sweating the butt off for 90 minutes.
Why the
decision to bow out now?
I'm
getting on in years... No, actually, it just feels right to take a break from
it. I love doing it and will enjoy those final four shows at Neptune this year.
That's the stage where it was all created in 2003, after all.
What
will you miss most about the role?
Oh,
easily the interaction with the audiences. The laughter of the children is so
contagious and it's that which has kept me going so long. Of course, getting to
play such an iconic character has been a treat, too. To play the range of
emotions that Scrooge goes through in one evening is a challenge that I enjoy,
but then to also have to play many other roles too...that's the special thing
about this version that I love.
Looking
back over the years, what have been some favourite Christmas Carol moments,
and-or performances?
There
is audience participation in this show...sometimes it's planned for. Sometimes
it just appears out of nowhere. I have had 500 grown men up on stage with me,
playing the street urchin boy who Scrooge sends off to buy the turkey at the
end of the show. I thank them all for helping me create a very strange, silly
and fun ending to the play.
You've
been touring the production through the US for the last while - what has the
response been like there?
As
I write back to you now with these answers we are setting up at a theatre
called Thalian Hall, in Wilmington North Carolina - a theatre where Wild Bill
Hickcock played, as well as the actual Tom Thumb. The US audiences have been
great. This is our third time back down here in NC and Georgia with one or more
of my shows. They are so welcoming and love hearing about Nova Scotia.
What
can audiences expect in Halifax this year?
The
show has always changed each year. Two years ago we added projections... the
jokes, the puppets, the silly fun and the very traditional telling of Dickens'
great story are all still there. It's such a good way for a family to spend
some time together, laughing. I hope that people use our two boxing day shows
as an excuse to get out of the house and out from underneath the
turkey-hangovers they'll be experiencing.
Would
you consider reprising the role at some point down the line?
Never
say never. I am sure one day I'll return to it.
What do
you have on tap for 2015?
Next
up for me is the addition of a second son in January, then I go into rehearsals
for Neptune Theatre in the play Rexy. After that I am producing two shows in
the Neptune Studio Theatre: Karen Bassett's great play about female pirates,
Heroine, in April. We follow Heroine with Shakespeare's MacBeth, in which I
finally get a chance to play the title role, in May. Both plays are on sale now
at Neptune, or via my website.
A
Christmas Carol
December 23-26, 2014
Neptune Studio Theatre, Halifax
www.offtheleash.ca
