SCENE 1: THE COUNTING
HOUSE
NARRATOR 1: Marley was dead, to begin with.
There is no doubt whatsoever about that. The register of his burial was signed
by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge
signed it. And Scrooge's name was considered good for any piece of business he
chose to put his hand to. Marley was as dead as a doornail.
NARRATOR 2: Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course
he did. Scrooge and Marley had been partners for I don't know how many years.
Scrooge was his only executor, his only administrator, his only friend, and the
only man who mourned him...if Scrooge can be said to have mourned at all.
NARRATOR 1: And the mention of Marley's funeral
brings me back to the point I started from. Scrooge never painted out old
Marley's name. There it stood, years afterward, above the Warehouse door:
Scrooge and Marley. The firm was known as Scrooge and Marley.
NARRATOR 2: It was bitterly cold and the fog
was thick as pea soup on that Christmas Eve of 1843, when Scrooge sat busy in
his counting house, with his clerk nearby trying to warm himself at a candle.
But since he didn't have much of an imagination, he failed.
FRED: A
Merry Christmas, Uncle!
SCROOGE 1:
(surprised) What?
FRED: I
said, A Merry Christmas, Uncle! God save you!
SCROOGE 1:
Bah, humbug!
FRED:
Christmas a humbug, Uncle! Surely you don't mean that!
SCROOGE 1:
Of course I mean it! Merry Christmas, indeed. What reason have you to be merry?
You're too poor.
FRED: Come,
Uncle. What reason have you to be sad? You're rich enough. Ha ha!
SCROOGE 1:
BAH! Away with Merry Christmas! What's Christmas to you, but a time for paying bills
without money; a time for finding yourself a year older and not an hour richer?
FRED:
Uncle!
SCROOGE 1:
Nephew! Keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine.
FRED: Don't
be angry, Uncle. Come and have dinner with us tomorrow.
SCROOGE 1:
I'll see myself in hell first.
FRED: But
why, Uncle?
SCROOGE 1:
Why? Why? Let me ask you a question: Why did you get married?
FRED:
Because I fell in love, of course.
SCROOGE 1:
Love! You fell in love! Ha! But your wife doesn´t own a penny! I will never
meet her! Out, out of my sight!
FRED: But
uncle!
SCROOGE 1
(not looking up): Good afternoon.
FRED: I
want nothing from you; I ask nothing of you. Why can't we be friends?
SCROOGE 1:
Good bye!
(FRED
hurries off, but he comes back in)
FRED: A
Merry Christmas uncle and a Happy New Year! (hurries off)
FRED
(poking back in): And a Merry Christmas to you, Bob Cratchit!
CRATCHIT (looking
up, surprised): Thank you, sir! A Merry Christmas to you!
MR. JEEVES:
Scrooge and Marley's, I believe? Have I the pleasure of talking to Mr. Scrooge
or Mr. Marley?
SCROOGE 1:
Marley's dead. In fact, he died seven years ago this very night.
MR. JEEVES: Oh, I am so sorry to hear it. But
I have no doubt his generosity is well represented by his surviving partner.
MR. HOWELL:
At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge, it is more than usually
desirable that we should make some provision for the poor and needy, who suffer
greatly at the present time, Sir.
SCROOGE 1 (looking up): Are there no prisons?
Did they disappear?
HOWELL: Oh,
no, sir. There are still plenty of prisons.
SCROOGE 1:
And the workhouses for the poor? Still in operation, I assume?
HOWELL:
They are. Still, I wish I could say they were not.
SCROOGE 1:
So, It's none of my business! I have too much of my own business to interfere
with other people's business. Good afternoon, gentlemen!
SCROOGE 1 (seizing
a ruler): Get away from here, you! I didn't ask to be bothered with that noise!
SCROOGE 1
(to CRATCHIT): You'll want all day tomorrow, I suppose?
CRATCHIT:
If it's quite convenient, sir.
SCROOGE 1:
It's not convenient. And it's not fair. I will have to pay a day's wages for no
work!
CRATCHIT:
It's only once a year, sir.
SCROOGE 1:
Hmph! A poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every twenty-fifth of December. But I suppose you must have it. Be here all
the earlier next morning!
CRATCHIT:
Oh, yes, sir, I shall. I certainly shall.
TINY TIM:
Father!
CRATCHIT:
Hello, my dear son! (They embrace.)
TINY TIM:
Father, I have been waiting for you!
CRATCHIT:
Let's go by Corn Hill, and watch the children play. Someday you will be there,
too, playing with them!
TINY TIM: I
feel that I'm getting stronger every day.
CRATCHIT:
And do you remember what tomorrow is?
TINY TIM:
Christmas Day!
CRATCHIT:
And I am to have the whole day off to celebrate with my family.
TINY TIM:
Hoorah for Christmas!
SCENE 3: SCHOOL
SCROOGE 3:
Good heaven! It is my school. I was a boy here!
SCPast (3rd):
Your lip is trembling. And what is that upon your cheek?
SCROOGE 3 (weeping
a little): What's what?...oh, nothing.
SCROOGE3 :
Why, that's David Masterson! And Robert Estes! Hello!
SCPast(3rd)
: These are merely shadows of the past. They cannot see us.
BOY 1: Well,
Merry Christmas!...Merry Christmas!...Say hello to your sister for me!...
BOY 2: Don't
eat too much figgy pudding!...Ha ha!
BOY 3: And
what about you Ebenizer? When are going home?
SCROOGE
BOY: I don´t know… My father will come pick me up soon, I suppose.
BOY 2: His
mother recently died. His father remarried and he doesn´t care about him too
much.
SCROOGE
BOY: That´s not true! My father cares about me a great deal!
BOY 3:
Yeah? So where is he? Where?
SCROOGE
BOY: He will be here soon!
BOY 1:
Accept it! He forgot about you!!!!
SCROOGE 3:
NO! TAKE IT BACK! (They start fighting and the two boys separate them).
BOY 1:
Anyway! We do have parents who love us! Let´s go! It´s a Christmas day! (They
leave).
SCROOGE
BOY: Father, father! Nooooooo (Sits at the desk and starts crying).
SCPast(3rd):
The school is quite deserted. A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is
left there still.
(SCROOGE 3
approaches apron.)
SCROOGE 3:
Poor boy! My mother died giving birth to my sister. My father grew morose and seemed
to begrudge us both ever after. (beat) I wish...but it's too late, now.
SCPast(3rd):
What is it?
SCROOGE 3:
It's nothing. There was a boy singing a Christmas Carol at my door last night.
I
should have
given him something. That's all. (They leave)
SCENE 4: OUTDOORS
NARRATOR 7: After they left Scrooge´s old
school, they stopped by a nice, winter park. Again Scrooge saw himself. He was
a little older now, a man in the prime of life. His face had not the harsh and
rigid lines of later years, but it had begun to wear the signs of care and
avarice. There was an eager, greedy, restless motion in the eye, which showed
the passion that had taken root, and where the shadow of the growing tree would
fall.
BELLE
(girl): I know it matters very little to you. Another idol has displaced me,
and if it can make you as happy as I would have tried to do, I have no reason
to cry.
SCROOGE
YOUNG: What idol has displaced you?
BELLE
(girl): A golden one.
SCROOGE
YOUNG Now, there's a double-standard for you! All the world speaks so
vehemently against poverty, yet it condemns the pursuit of wealth just as
harshly!
BELLE
(girl): You fear the world too much, Ebeneezer. All your other hopes have
merged into the one hope of eluding the disdain of others. I have seen your
nobler virtues fall away, one by one, until nothing is left but one
master-passion—the pursuit of profit. It consumes you.
SCROOGE
YOUNG: What then? Even if I have grown wiser and more astute, I haven't changed
my feelings toward you.
BELLE
(girl): Oh, Ebenezer, our promise to one another is an old one. We made it when
we were young and poor, and happy to remain so until we could improve our
fortune together by patience and hard work. But you've changed. You are not the
same man. (beat) Tell me, Ebenezer: if all of this had not happened, would you
seek me out and try to win me now, a poor dower-less girl with nothing to bring
to a marriage?
BELLE (girl)(standing):
Just as I thought. You may feel sad now, Ebeneezer, but I've no doubt that you
will dismiss the thought of me very soon, as if you were glad to have awakened
from a bad dream. May you be happy in the life you have chosen! Good bye
Ebenezer (Starts to leave the stage)
SCROOGE 3:
No, no, don´t be silly! You will never find anyone to love! Stop her! Don´t let
her go! Ohhhhhhh
SCROOGE 3:
Spirit! Show me no more! Conduct me home! Why do you enjoy torturing me?
SCPast (3rd):
There is one more shadow we must see.
SCROOGE 3:
I don't wish to see it. Show me no more!
GENTLEMAN
1: I saw an old friend of yours this afternoon.
GENTLEMAN
2: Oh? Who was it?
G 1: Take a
guess. G 2: Why, surely you
don't mean old Ebenezer Scrooge!
G 1: The
very same. I passed his office window. His partner, Jacob Marley, lies upon the
point of death, I hear. And there he sat, old Scrooge, all alone. Quite alone
in the world, I do believe.
G 2
(shaking his head): Miserable wretch!
SCROOGE 3:
Spirit! Remove me from this place! SCPast
(3rd): I told you, these are shadows of the things that have been.
That they are what they are, do
not blame
me!
SCROOGE 3:
Please, I beg you. Take me away from here! I can bear no more. No more!
SCENE 6: CRATCHIT HOME.
MRS.
CRATCHIT: What has ever got your precious father then? And your brother, Tiny
Tim? Martin wasn't this late last Christmas by half an hour!
MARTIN:
Here I am, Mother! (To the cheers and greetings of the younger children.)
MRS.
CRATCHIT: Oh, Martin! How late you are!
MARTIN: We
had a great deal of work to finish at the milliner's last night, and a great
deal to clear away this morning!
MRS.
CRATCHIT: Well, never mind. You are home now! Sit down and warm yourself, dear.
BEN: Father
will be home any minute. Hide, Martin, hide!
CRATCHIT:
But where's Martin?
MRS.
CRATCHIT: He won't be coming for Christmas this year, I'm afraid.
CRATCHIT:
What? Not coming for Christmas!
MARTIN
(popping out): Oh, here I am, Father! (He embraces him. All cheer.)
TWO YOUNGER
CRATCHITS: Come, Tim! Come hear the pudding singing in the copper!
MRS.
CRATCHIT: And did little Tim behave himself in church?
CRATCHIT:
He did. As good as gold, and better. He told me, coming home, that he hoped the
people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be
pleasant for them to remember, on Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk and
blind men see... But he's growing stronger every day, I just know it!
MRS.
CRATCHIT: Ben, help me with the goose. (Children cheering.)
PETER:
There's such a goose, Father, such as we've never had before!
CRATCHIT
(standing and raising his cup): A Merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God
bless us!
ALL: God
bless us!
TINY TIM:
God bless us, everyone!
SCROOGE 4
(3rd) : I had no idea Cratchit had a crippled son.
SCPresent:
I wonder why.
SCROOGE:
Tell me, Spirit. Will the boy live?
SCPresent:
I see a vacant seat at this table, and a crutch without an owner, carefully
preserved. If these shadows remain unaltered by the future, the child will die.
SCROOGE 4
(3rd) (startled): No, no,
that cannot be. Say he will live.
SCPresent:
If these shadows remain unaltered by the future, he will die.
CRATCHIT:
And now, dear ones, a toast. I give you Mr. Scrooge, the founder of our feast.
JIM: But
father, he is a mean, cruel man! He hates us all!
CRATCHIT:
Yes, but it´s Christmas time! We have to forgive and rejoy!
MRS.
CRATCHIT (after a pause): Oh, alright, then. I'll drink his health, for your
sake and the Day's sake, but not for his. (raising her cup) Long life to him!
CRATCHIT:
To Mr. Scrooge.
PETER: To
Mr. Scrooge.
ALL: To Mr.
Scrooge.
SCROOGE 4
(3rd) : I had no idea… Bob Cratchit, Bob Cratchit is a good men…
(The Cratchits start dining).
SCROOGE 4
(3rd): Forgive me, Spirit, if I am not justified in asking, but I
see something strange, and not belonging to yourself, protruding there, from
your skirts. Is it a foot or a claw?
SCPresent:
It might be a claw, for all the flesh there is on it. Look here! (SCP draws
aside the folds of his robe to disclose WANT and IGNORANCE—two thin, dirty,
wretched, scowling waifs crouched and clutching at his feet.)
SCROOGE 4 (alarmed):
Spirit! Are they yours?
SCPresent:
No! They are yours! Do you not know them? This boy is Ignorance. This boy is
Want. Beware them both, and all of their kind, but most of all beware this boy,
for on his brow I see written the word DOOM, unless the writing be erased.
SCROOGE 4:
Have they no refuge or resource?
SCPresent:
'Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses'?
WANT:
Please, help us. We will suffer a lot if you don´t let us have a better future.
IGNORANCE:
We need to learn how to read and write, we need to study, please, please, help
us.
WANT: We
deserve a better life. We are all brothers.
IGNORANCE:
We deserve happiness. God loves us all.
SCROOGE 4
(3rd) : (CRYING).
(Suddenly
the chime of twelve is heard. Lights to black. A loud, stormy noise. Wind and
thunder.)
SCPresent:
Let´s go back…
SCENE 8: THE BEDROOM.
SCROOGE 6:
Wha...? Where am I? Wait...what day is this? It's morning, but what day? How
long have I been with the Spirits? I don't know. (pinching himself) But I'm
alive. I'm alive! (grasping the bed blankets) They are still here! They're not
torn down. They are here. I am here! Woo-hoo! (jumping on the bed like a boy) I
don't know what to do! I feel light as a feather. I'm happy as an angel! I'm as
merry as a school-boy!
SCROOGE 6: Hallo! You, boy! What day is it?
SCROOGE 6:
Wait, don't be afraid my boy! What day is it?
BOY: What
day is it?
SCROOGE 6: Ha ha ha! Yes! What day is it today?
BOY: Why,
it's Christmas Day!
SCROOGE 6:
Christmas Day! Are you quite sure, my good fellow?
BOY: I
should say I am.
SCROOGE 6:
What a wonderful day! A remarkable day! I
feel so joyful, so please, so happy, I will change! Do you hear, I will change!
Here, here my good boy, go, get something to eat!
BOY 1:
Thank you Sir! God bless you!
SCROOGE 6:
And you, here, here, go enjoy!
BOYS: This
is a Christmas miracle! Thank you Sir!
SCROOGE 6:
My dear sir (taking JEEVES by both hands) How do you do? I hope you did well yesterday.
It was a very good thing to do. A very good thing.
JEEVES
(incredulous): Mr. Scrooge?
SCROOGE 6:
Yes. That is my name. I fear it isn't pleasant to you. Allow me to ask your
forgiveness. And yours, too, sir! (Handing them some money)
HOWELL:
Lord, bless me! My dear Mr. Scrooge, are you quite serious?
SCROOGE 6:
Will you do me that favor?
HOWELL: My
dear sir, I don't know what to say to such generrrrr...
SCROOGE 6:
Don't say anything, please. Come and see me sometime!
JEEVES
& HOWELL: We will! We will!
SCROOGE 6:
Hello, Fred!
FRED: Uncle
Scrooge!
SCROOGE 6:
The very same! It is I, your Uncle Scrooge. I recall an invitation you made to
me yesterday, to come and dine with you. If that invitation is still in force,
I should like to accept.
FRED: Of
course, of course! You will be always welcome to my place! Any day, but
specially at Christmas day!
SCROOGE 6:
Thank you my boy! I will not disappoint you never again! Merry Christmas!
FRED: Merry
Christmas uncle! Merry Christmas!
SCROOGE 6:
Cratchit! Cratchit! Here you are… and
your family!
CRATCHIT: I
am sorry Mr. Scrooge! I am 5 minutes late, but…
SCROOGE 6
You are sorry? You are late! And I have no intention to tolerate it! So, so..
(From behind his back he produces a leather bag full of coins) I am going to
double your salary! Yes, Bob Cratchit! Ha ha ha! I am going to double your
salary, sir. A Merry Christmas to you! A merrier Christmas than I have given
you for many a year! And from now on I will endeavor to assist your family in
any way I can...And as for Tiny Tim, he will walk again. I know it! Now, you needn't
say a thing.
NARRATOR 10
(3rd): Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and
infinitely more. And to Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father. He
became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old
city knew.
CAST: GOD
BLESS US, EVERYONE! MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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