November 23rd, 2008
The system of currency in the UK has always been a bit of a mystery for Americans. What’s a pound, a farthing, or a shilling—and what do you do with 50 “quid”? These are important questions to put the references to money in perspective throughout the story of A Christmas Carol.
References to money in the story:
Scrooge: “My clerk, with fifteen shillings a week, and a wife and family, talking about a merry Christmas.”
Narrator: “…Even the little tailor, whom he had fined five shillings on the previous Monday for being drunk and bloodthirsty in the streets, stirred up to-morrow’s pudding in his garret…”
Scrooge: “If I was to stop half-a-crown for it, you’d think yourself ill-used, I’ll be bound?”
Ghost of Christmas Past: “Why. Is it not. He has spent but a few pounds of your mortal money: three or four perhaps. Is that so much that he deserves this praise.”
Narrator: Then up rose Mrs Cratchit, Cratchit’s wife, dressed out but poorly in a twice-turned gown, but brave in ribbons, which are cheap and make a goodly show for sixpence.
Narrator: Tiny Tim drank it last of all, but he didn’t care twopence for it.
Narrator: Bob Cratchit told them how he had a situation in his eye for Master Peter, which would bring in, if obtained, full five-and-sixpence weekly.
Joe: “If you asked me for another penny, and made it an open question, I’d repent of being so liberal and knock off half-a-crown.”
Joe: I wouldn’t give another sixpence, if I was to be boiled for not doing it.
Fred: “If it only puts him in the vein to leave his poor clerk fifty pounds, that’s something; and I think I shook him yesterday.”
Scrooge: “Come back with the man, and I’ll give you a shilling. Come back with him in less than five minutes and I’ll give you half-a-crown.”
The UK government under Queen Victoria had only begun recognizing and officially issuing bank notes in 1833—just ten years before Dickens published A Christmas Carol so mainly coins were in use (the pound is the oldest form of currency still currently in use). The basic coins of Victorian England, from highest to lowest, were:
Pound (a sovereign or pound sterling—today’s slang would be a “quid” or a “nicker”)
Crown (4 crowns = 1 pound)
Half-a-crown (8 half-a-crowns = 1 pound)
Shilling (2.5 shillings = 1 half-a-crown or 5 shillings = 1 crown or 20 shillings = 1 pound)
Sixpence (2 sixpence = 1 shilling)
Penny (6 pennies = 1 sixpence or 12 pennies = 1 shilling)
Half-penny (24 half-pennies = 1 shilling)
Farthing (4 farthings = 1 penny or 2 farthings = 1 half-penny)
This was pre-decimalization so things were a bit haphazard. So for a little comparison, if a British Pound was the equivalent of one U.S. dollar, the breakdown for the money used in the story would be:
Half-a-crown – 12.5 cents
Shilling – 5 cents
Sixpence – 2.5 cents
Penny – Approximately half a cent
Farthing – Approximately one-tenth of a cent
So when the story mentions Bob’s salary of 15 shillings a week, you can easily see, even at that time, how measly it was. Mrs. Cratchit must have seriously splurged to buy those ribbons on her dress for sixpence. When A Christmas Carol was first published, it sold for 5 shillings a copy—cheaper than many books of the period, but still quite a luxury.
Get a look at the coins of the Victorian era here: http://www.ukcoinpics.co.uk
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November 12th, 2008
Before touring in Europe, I was not sure what to expect when it comes to how audiences would react to a primarily anglo-centric story. When in the early stages of adapting the book at The Marsh with Charlie Varon, the irony hit me that a Jewish man was giving me advice how to adapt A Christmas Carol—something that his religion didn’t permit him to subscribe to. When I remarked on this, he simply said, “It’s a universal story. It doesn’t matter.”
Nothing could be more true and when I performed in Europe, others said the same thing. Some in the context of being Jewish (like Michael Feldman, Cultural Attaché of the U.S. Embassy who brought his family to the show in Prague) and some in the context of cultural reference (like Vlado Cerny, Director of the Astorka Theatre in Bratislava). The story is universal no matter what language you speak.
With that in mind, I’ve added several translations of A Christmas Carol the the Study section of the Web site. Right now there’s Spanish, French, German, and Italian (with a downloadable audio book). I hope to add others as well so if you have the classic tale in another language, please send it to me here: scrooge AT humbugtheatre DOT com. I hope to compile the largest collection possible.
Und so schließen wir mit Tiny Tims Worten: »Gott segne jeden von uns.«
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November 9th, 2008
Yes, it’s getting close to the month mark before opening night. It always amazes me how little time there is to prepare (and getting dragged into the current RVP production dominated my attention for the last few weeks) and I always say to myself “this time it’ll be different”. And it’s always the same.
I’m also organizing the Solo Players Festival at RVP, where we’ll host five great performers doing their solo shows in a first for RVP. Most of the early stages of preparation are complete, but I’ll jump back into that after opening night. It’ll be interesting to see how that progresses and how RVP audiences take to these shows. Luckily, the word has been getting out and early tickets sales are in good shape.
In addition to getting A Christmas Carol together, I’m also producing the show. I’m not thrilled about it but there’s a dearth of production managers at the theatre so I’ve been taking on the organizational tasks like advertising and staffing.
A few weeks ago, I had a consultation session with Joe over at the Misdirections Magic Shop about the kinds of magic I can integrate into the show. We came up with a few nice and simple ideas and some complex ones. I’d like to incorporate them all, but it’ll depend on time. That brings me to the idea of more magic into the show. As I rehearse the show and integrate things, there’s a certain disruption to the flow of the story if it doesn’t completely integrate into the narrative. I can’t change the narrative much (preferably not at all) so if the illusion doesn’t flow perfectly, it’s just not working for me. I don’t want to turn A Christmas Carol into a magic show because it’ll lose the simplicity of the story and I’ve been preaching since day one. While the bigger productions have some value, I think there are stories that just belong to a simple presentation style. This is one of them. So it’s a bit of a Catch-22 and a very detailed process to find the right balance of storytelling “enhancements.” So while there will be some magic, I’m just not sure how much or little. The next few weeks of rehearsal will tell.
So, my espresso machine has recently come into the ranks of a best friend—keeping me up those long days and nights while I recite the “ghostly little book” over and over and over….
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