"We are all connected:" A conversation with Geoffrey Simon Brown

Geoffrey began his journey to bring the new adaptation of A Christmas Carol to life on the Theatre Calgary stage in spring of 2018. 

Once he received the call for submissions from Theatre Calgary, he read the original novella by Charles Dickens. He was struck by how beautiful and theatrical of a story it is, and from there, he found it easy to imagine how to bring the story to life.

“When I began this process, I started thinking a lot about how polarized we are right now in our political views, and how they have divided us. This play is deemed as loved across the board, regardless of having a particular political standing or view. This story brings people together to talk about humanity, giving back and caring for each other, without an agenda.”

Geoffrey kept this sentiment close to his heart when he put pen to paper on his submission to Theatre Calgary. When he received the call that he was to write the new adaptation from Theatre Calgary’s Artistic Director, Stafford Arima, he worked closely with the creative team to hone the script. The first draft took him three months to finish. Geoffrey describes that the writer’s experience can be a lonely one, spending many hours on his own, reading and rereading lines out loud. With no one to bounce ideas off of, he found himself wondering, is this funny? Will the audience enjoy this? But, throughout the journey of writing, he was able to collaborate with Stafford and the creative team at Theatre Calgary to hone the script.

“The experience working with the Theatre Calgary team has been fantastic. They’ve honoured what I imagined and found a way to bring that to life on the stage. Stafford is so amazing as a director and leader, he brings everyone together, and all of our voices are heard.”

Rehearsals for the new adaptation began in late October, bringing together 24 cast members, 13 of which have never been in A Christmas Carol, and nine who are making their debut on the Theatre Calgary stage. Geoffrey remarked that it was amazing to see a room full of people with ages across seven decades. There are some cast and creative team members who have worked with Theatre Calgary for generations, and those are experiencing their first time on stage. But everyone learned from one another, regardless of their background. 

“Each cast member was kind and thoughtful, and everyone took great care into how they approached a scene. We were all excited to be there and play, it was a room shared by a diverse group in a wonderfully collaborative manner.”

Audiences can expect Geoffrey’s adaptation to stay true to Dickens’ classic tale, but he did take some creative liberties with character development and modernizing some of the dialogue.

“It’s a short novella, so Dickens’ characters were not so complex. I was interested in digging into the characters more, especially some of the female characters. The play itself is set in 1843, but our palate as a society has changed, so I made changes that would connect more with a modern audience.”

When all is said and done, Geoffrey hopes that this story and play bring people together, regardless of their political lens, their social values, and take the true spirit of the story. 

“We are all connected, this is the message here. It’s important to see outside of us and ours alone, and see the larger community and world that we all belong to.”