The Imperial House will on Christmas Eve night be airing a live reading of Scrooge – A Christmas Carol, an adaptation of the 1843 Charles Dickens classic, on their Facebook page.
The Christmas Carol “tells the story of the greedy, miserable and stubborn Ebenezer Scrooge who detests the merriment, charity and even family warmth that the Holidays bring”, an Imperial House release stated. However, there is a twist to the story as it portrays the spirit of old colonial Georgetown in British Guiana.
Casting and theatre director, Jairo Rodrigues, told Stabroek News yesterday that the production will be prerecorded and includes a dramatic script reading with caroling and dramatic snippets of the Charles Dickens classic.
This is the first time The Imperial House will be putting on anything of this sort though they are known for executing pageant productions as well as dances. Initially, A Christmas Carol was supposed to be a stage production but owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has since been redesigned into a digital creation.
“Considering that we are in a pandemic and that everyone should be at home, we just want to put on something everyone can watch and enjoy. It’s a Guyanese adaptation [reflecting] on the 1920’s in Georgetown between the aristocrat Scrooge and the working class,” Rodrigues explained.
In keeping with the COVID guidelines as it relates to the amount of persons allowed at a gathering, the cast has ten members, one of whom contested the Miss Guyana Teen Scholarship Pageant in 2019, while a few others will be contesting in next year’s pageant. Rodrigues explained that the entire cast was required to quarantine for fourteen days before they got together to film the production. The cast has been rehearsing for a month now in the run-up to the airing of the production.
“This is the first time I think Guyana will be experiencing a reading of this nature, the way we have done it and I’m very excited about that. When I conceived Imperial House and the mission that is behind Imperial House, one of it is youth empowerment through theatrical productions. We are happy also to bring males into the fold to work throughout the production since we were strictly dealing with females as it relates to pageantry. The guys would have been involved through dances for the ballroom dancing pageant. We want to do more productions that would involve both the male and female”, CEO of The Imperial House and producer of the show, Wasim Khan said.
The Imperial House currently holds the franchise for the Miss Guyana Teen Scholarship Pageant which debuted last year. In 2016, the organisation managed the 16th season of the Miss Guyana Talented Teen Pageant. It is known for creating and implementing social programmes geared for the advancement of youths. Forced to cancel this year’s edition of the Miss Guyana Teen Scholarship as a result of COVID, the organisation in mid- 2020 launched a scholarship programme for a digital university where the candidates participated in fifteen online sessions. The candidate who acquired the highest grades was awarded a $75,000 grant, 20% of which was required to be dedicated towards a charity or social programme of his/her choice.
Those who choose to participate in the online sessions will be granted automatic placement in next year’s pageant, allowing them the opportunity to win the 2021 Miss Guyana Talented Teen Pageant crown and a $400,000 scholarship award.
Rodrigues is the
narrator of the story. The other members of the cast and the characters they play are as follows: Diego Malik Jackson plays Ebenezer Scrooge; Eros Jackson – Cratchit; Kristie Kissoon – Fred, and Mrs Cratchit; Dianty Persaud – gentleman visitor, child Scrooge, and Tiny Tim; Jordana Adams – Marley’s ghost; Tamaisha Oxford – charwoman, and a fan; Sephora Persaud – first Spirit; Keri Phang – Scrooge’s sweetheart; and Kriston Smith plays the second Spirit.
“Scrooge – A Christmas Carol” will be aired at 8pm tomorrow.
