{"id":23418,"date":"2022-12-07T09:54:15","date_gmt":"2022-12-07T17:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=23418"},"modified":"2022-12-08T09:30:38","modified_gmt":"2022-12-08T17:30:38","slug":"one-man-a-christmas-carol-returns-to-craigdarroch-castle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2022\/12\/07\/one-man-a-christmas-carol-returns-to-craigdarroch-castle\/","title":{"rendered":"One-man A Christmas Carol<\/em> returns to Craigdarroch Castle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Get ready to get transported back in time to Victorian England as actor Jason Stevens performs his one-man take on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol<\/em> at Craigdarroch Castle this month.<\/p>\n

Stevens studied acting in London, England before moving to Victoria. He was a stay-at-home dad who needed a creative outlet, which is when he re-read A Christmas Carol<\/em> and felt inspired to perform the story for others.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was bored. I had moved to Victoria, and I was basically a stay-at-home dad at that point,\u201d says Stevens. \u201cI was busy with kids but I wasn’t doing anything creative. And then one day I just said, ‘Tell a story… Just learn one.’ Everyone was coming home for Christmas and I had a book of Charles Dickens’ readings and one was A Christmas Carol<\/em>, so I read it and I thought, ‘This is great.’ So, I learned it and I told it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Actor Jason Stevens is bringing his one-man A Christmas Carol<\/em> back to Craigdarroch Castle this month (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This will be Steven’s 12th year performing A Christmas Carol<\/em> at Craigdarroch Castle. His first performance of the story, however, was for his child’s school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did it… like five years before that for fun for my kid’s school once and then he liked it, so I approached the castle sometime later,\u201d he says, \u201cand the rest is history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stevens enjoys performing A Christmas Carol<\/em> because the set is simple yet the story is complex, focusing on one man’s redemption, which is something everyone can relate and connect to.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s very basic,\u201d he says. \u201cThere’s no set, there’s no lights. It’s just me, telling a story. There’s something very primal about it. People connect to it. People love to be told stories. And this is a beautiful one… It’s a beautiful story about redemption, about a man in the 11th hour of his life. He lives kind of a miserable and malignant existence and then he sees the errors of his ways. He sees the light and is transformed by it. And I think we have a little connection to that as well… We all have ghosts of Christmas past.\u201d<\/p>\n

An exciting challenge for Stevens was to make the characters different enough for the audience, since he plays them all.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love this story… It’s just these big epic tales and these bold characters,\u201d says Stevens. \u201cWhen it’s all up to you to do it, you have to make pretty bold choices with the characters to make them contrast with each other, and it’s one of these stories where you have to go big or go home… When I’m doing it, I’m in a different place in my head, and it’s great. I love bringing people along with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall, Stevens hopes that the audience walks away feeling hopeful and joyous after listening to this classic Christmas story.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just hope that, basically, ‘God bless us, every one,’ as Tiny Tim says,\u201d says Stevens. \u201c[I hope they feel] this feeling that this is a time of harmony. A good and forgiving and charitable and pleasant time. I just hope it lights up their ‘shut-up hearts.’\u201d<\/p>\n

A Christmas Carol<\/em>
\nVarious dates, Wednesday, December 14 to Friday, December 23
\n$30, Craigdarroch Castle
\nthecastle.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Get ready to get transported back in time to Victorian England as actor Jason Stevens performs his one-man take on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol at Craigdarroch Castle this month. Stevens studied acting in London, England before moving to Victoria. He was a stay-at-home dad who needed a creative outlet, which is when he re-read […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23422,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-webexclusive"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t