Orson Welles’ A Christmas Carol, a light-hearted account of the making of the Mercury Theatre’s 1938 radio production of the Charles Dickens’ holiday classic, returns to the Dublin stage next month
The production will be staged at the James Joyce Centre in Dublin from December 12 through 24. For details, visit jamesjoyce.ie/events/orson-welles-christmas-carol/
First presented by scripter Paul Nugent in 2013, the “radio-play-within-a-play” finds Welles and his Mercury Theatre On the Air troupe presenting A Christmas Carol live on Christmas Eve 1938 … having just lost their Scrooge. The AboutFACE production features a 45-minute version of A Christmas Carol in the 1930’s radio style with live sound effects and carols.
Since its debut, the AboutFACE production has been hailed as “delightful ” by the Sunday Independent, praised as “an absorbing success” in the Business Post and called an “absolute joy to watch” by The Arts Review.
The cast includes Nugent as Welles with Lizzy Morrissey (Agnes Moorehead); Michael Mullen (Joseph Cotten); Anna Nugent (Benny); Eoin O’Sullivan (Ernest Chappell); David Ryan (George Coulouris); and Tana Walsh (Arlene Francis).
Those interested in hearing the actual 1938 CBS broadcast — which aired on December 23 and not Christmas Eve — can stream it from the Lilly Library collection at Indiana University at orsonwelles.indiana.edu/items/show/1976#
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