´Find information about the client for this project. What services do they offer? What are they? Are they a charity/company etc…
Our client for this project was the Delius Centre; the Delius centre is a company that provides access to “the best of Bradford’s culture, entertainment and education” according to the Delius Arts and Cultural Centre’s website. (Delius Arts and Cultural Centre | Permaculture Association)
The Delius Arts and Cultural Centre was founded in 2008, the current director being Claudia Powell. It is located in Great Horton, Bradford. (The Delius Arts and Cultural Centre | Bradford | Claudia Powell (bizseek.co.uk))
´Who is the clients target audience?
The Delius Centre’s demographic is unlimited, it reaches out to everyone in the general public of all ages, backgrounds and cultures. Their sole focus is on educating others about all of the different cultures that make their home in Bradford as well as the entertainment that comes from the media and productions here too.
´In what way have you used your research to inform your choices for the development of your character?
I have used my research on Dickens’ life to inform the manner of my character, the Gentleman Visitor. The Gentleman Visitor is a charity collector for the poor in Scrooge’s town and travels door to door to collect money, from my research I learned that Dickens himself grew up poor and had to be sent to work as a child. This informed my knowledge of the rough conditions that my character was advocating for the end of by ensuring that the poor were given the proper funds to support themselves and their families in order to avoid being sent to the workhouses. This horrific practice of the play’s time motivates my character and his action, also dictating his manners and determination.
´Give us a brief synopsis of the plot.
In the tale of A Christmas Carol, we follow our protagonist, Ebenezer Scrooge, who is a bitter, old man tainted by his greed for money. On the anniversary of his former business partner Jacob Marley’s death, he is visited by his spirit as a warning of what his fate is yet to be if he doesn’t change his ways, bound to chains and padlocks for all eternity forged by his selfish and covetous behavior. He is told he will be visited by 3 spirits, each representing Ebenezer’s past, present and future. The past reveals to us that Ebenezer had a neglectful upbringing and an upsetting separation with his fiancé. The present displays how Fred, Scrooge’s nephew, and the Cratchits, the family of his employee, all view him; negatively. The future tells of a Christmas yet to come, one where Tiny Tim, the beloved and optimistic son of his worker Bob Cratchit, succumbs to his illness and unfortunately passes on, soon to also reveal that Scrooge himself has also died in this vision of the future. He is shown in this vision that several people were raiding his house for possessions to take now that he is dead, baring no respect for him and not displaying any remorse or mourning. All of this acts as a wake up call for Ebenezer and he pleads with the final ghost to take him back, and as he does, he wakes up in his bed in the present. No one has died and he still has a chance to change his ways and make it right. He calls to a young boy on the street and asks him to fetch the largest poultry from the shop window at the butcher’s and he’ll pay him to help take it to the Cratchit family’s home. Scrooge is said to have then become like a second father to Tiny Tim and a very close and vital part of the Cratchit family. Ebenezer has bettered himself and those around him are better for it too, he and Tiny Tim both live much later beyond next Christmas, almost as if that happiness they had from all of them being a family saved them.
´Where is this project set? What time period/year is it set? Is it in a home/school/hospital/prison etc?
A Christmas Carol is set in the early 1800s, somewhere between 1800-1850, in London, England. Dickens had written the story in 1843 so it is implied the present portions of the story are also approximately around that year, whether that is slightly before or during. The reigning monarch of this period was Queen Victoria, of course making the story set in the Victorian era. This is evident due to the prevalent poverty shown throughout the story and its relevance to the plot, as this was a time in which the divide between the wealthy and the poor was it perhaps one of its worst extremes.
While there are many different buildings and areas shown throughout the story, the main area the story takes place in happens to be Scrooge’s house and street.
(What year was the story A Christmas Carol set in? – eNotes.com)
´What conditions do the characters live in/experience? What conditions did the writer experience?
The author of A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, grew up with 7 siblings, him being the second born of the 8 children. The large family became rather trying on his father John’s wage, so his parents decided to move to a smaller home in order to save on money. However, despite their best efforts to cut costs, John Dickens was arrested for inability to pay back debt. Due to this, Charles was sent to work as a child of 12 years old at “Warren’s Blacking Warehouse”, a factory whose business revolved around producing polish for shoes. At his factory Charles would spend his days labeling pots of shoe polish. This job earned him 6 shillings a week for his family. This dark period of his life inspired another one of his works, Oliver Twist. His father was able to negotiate an early release by coming up with a solution to his debt problems with the people he had borrowed money from and therefore pulled Charles out of working, sending him to school against his mother Elizabeth’s wishes. Having to live in such poor conditions to begin with as his family struggled to stay afloat and then being forced to work so laboriously at such a young age had caused a firm belief within Dickens that nobody should have to live like this; this inspired his reasoning behind writing a story such as A Christmas Carol. He wanted people to realize how barbarically those less fortunate had to live and how that those who could afford to help should because of how big of a difference it could make.
The character of Ebenezer Scrooge, however, did not appear to grow up poor given that he spent his entire childhood at boarding school, even during the holidays, which likely cost quite a bit.