FCAC play combines classic Christmas story with fairytale twist

Two classics will come together for this year’s Franklin County Arts Council winter play.

The FCAC and the Franklin Players on Dec. 14 and 15 will present “A Fairy Tale Christmas,” which combines the classic story of “A Christmas Carol” with favorite children’s fairytales. For example, the Big Bad Wolf is Ebenezer Scrooge and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future will be played by a Fairy Godmother, Old King Cole, and the Queen of Hearts, respectively. Mother Goose, Midas, Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella and many more favorites also make an appearance.

Director Russell Wood said the story is a retelling of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” but the fairytale spin helps bring an air of newness to one of the holiday season’s most cherished stories.

“It’s interesting to take a piece someone has done multiple times to see if you can tweak it but it’s also fun to do something completely different,” he said.

With a cast of predominantly children and young adults, Director Russell Wood said the play is a mixture of familiar characters, like the Ugly Duckling and the Big, Bad Wolf, and ones not as known to younger audiences, such as Tabitha the Matchstick Girl. He said in order to help the actors and actresses get into character, he encouraged them to do some research and look up the tale or rhyme to gain a level of familiarity.

“Some of them are very common that kids would be aware of but there are some that are a little more obscure,” he said. “I did ask kids to look up the parts they’re playing, know the rhyme and know what it’s about.”

Wood said that the audience will see that the fairytales’ various mannerisms and characteristics have crept their way into Dickens’ classic characters. While some are more nuanced, others clearly depict the fable side of the combination.

“Some of them definitely you can tell,” he said. “Especially the ghosts and the Big Bad Wolf…when you see them interacting, you’ll know it’s not just a different costume, it’s a character.”

Along with apparent characteristics of the fairytale-turned-Dickens characters, Wood said the dialogue of the play also alludes to the fairytales and nursery rhymes of the characters. If the audience listens closely, they’ll catch snippets of the various tales and rhymes throughout.

Wood said the fairytale spin on the classic story definitely lends itself to humor and a hint of absurdity not seen in the original tale but at its heart, “A Fairytale Christmas” is still a story about redemption and the impact one’s actions and legacy has on those around them.

“The Christmas Carol really is about redemption, it is about the fact that no one is beyond being redeemed,” he said. “The Christmas Carol is about this person who everyone thinks is evil and the world would be better off if he wasn’t here, but he’s given an opportunity to redeem himself.”

Showings for “A Fairytale Christmas” will be Saturday, Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 15 at 2 p.m. at the Windsor Theatre. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children and can be purchased at Center One or at the door the day of the show.