John Hardy, nationally known for his one-man play, Rattlesnake, will bring his adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol to WTA’s Gateway for one night only on Saturday, December 22 at 7 pm at 329 West Main in Downtown Waynesboro. The performance runs approximately eighty minutes and is performed in one act. It is appropriate for audiences of any age but is best suited for age ten and above.
In his adaptation of the beloved Christmas classic, Hardy plays over forty characters. “It is a loyal adaptation of the book”, says Hardy. “A Christmas Carol is one of the best known stories in the world and I wanted to retain, as much as possible, the essence of the book in its original form.” The play follows the book, scene by scene. “Even though it is the same story as the book,’ he says, “the experience of actually watching an actor live through the events of a play is vastly different than simply hearing the story or reading the book. I get entirely caught up in the story as I am doing the play, and the audience goes right along with me.”
From the first moment of the play until the last, Hardy never leaves the stage and he never changes costume. Even if an audience member has seen a previous production of A Christmas Carol, they have not seen it done like this.”
In working on A Christmas Carol, Hardy found that the story had much more to offer than he originally believed: “I was surprised at how funny it was. Dickens has taken this serious subject and somehow made it funny. It is a celebration of the spirit of Christmas. That is the best word that I can think of in describing this piece: Celebration; it is a celebration.”
Hardy is in the midst of a thirty five year career in the professional theatre. He has worked all over the country and overseas. Over the course of his career John has directed over one hundred professional productions including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Man of La Mancha, and played many of the great roles including Hamlet, MacBeth, Tom Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie, and Teach in American Buffalo. As a playwright he has had over fifty productions of fifteen plays produced across the country and overseas. Among the many theatres John Hardy has worked at over the years are The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, The Barter Theatre, and Off-Broadway at The Lamb’s Theatre.
Doors open at 6:30 pm for the 7:00 performance of A Christmas Carol.
Advanced tickets are $5 for children and $7 for adults. They may be purchased at WTA’s office (533 West Main) or by calling 540-943-9999. Remaining tickets will be available on the evening of the performance for $7 for children and $10 for adults.
The performance is support by a grant from the Community Foundation of the Central Blue Ridge.
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