Ever wonder what goes on in the mind of a playwright?
Our Author Insights series features personal essays from playwrights, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the ideas and experiences that shaped their work.
Below, read “A Darker Carol”, where playwright Sally Kinka reflects on her play The Haunting of Ebenezer Scrooge. You can also download a free PDF that pairs the essay with short, classroom-ready activities for students.
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A Darker Carol: Finding Empathy in The Haunting of Ebenezer Scrooge
Sally Kinka
Recently, a member of a community theatre approached me to see if I would write a version of “A Christmas Carol” focusing on the ghosts. They wanted a scary Christmas Carol. Of course, as everyone else, I knew the story pretty well, The Muppet Christmas Carol being my favorite version, but I had never read the original text by Dickens.
As I read the original I was struck by how Scrooge seemed to be followed by oppressive spirits his whole life. I realized that Scrooge had lived a very unpleasant life, with horrible things happening to him at every turn, a kind of cosmic oppression. But it was the series of devastatingly terrible Christmases that he experienced, which made him the miserable man he had become. Now he was making the choice to be unpleasant. I kept coming back to this as I wrote. Overcoming this oppression would not simply depend on a change of attitude, but on an acquisition of empathy.
I decided to have Scrooge’s oppression be personified in the form of living, malevolent, specters, always hovering, always following. I think this works to drive home the ever present tone of gloom, making his glorious change at the end even more pronounced.
Also, the visual symbol of dark or spectral color choices in each scene, sets the tone for the scene, ultimately progressing to the full, vibrant colors of Christmas, once Scrooge has had his metamorphoses.
The Haunted Wreath which follows Scrooge around through his memories and visions acts as a metaphor for the dark cloud of unhappiness that accompanied so many of his Christmases. In the final jubilant scene, even the wreath has a happy transformation.
In this version, Marley too is released from his bonds. As Scrooge embraces the humanity around him due to the success of the ghosts’ mission, Marley is carried off by kind spirits, presumably to a happier afterlife.
I think the overall message of the play is that it is never too late to change, never too late to hope, never too late to be happy and make others happy as well, that ultimately working toward making others happy can vanquish any malevolent spirits and is your own greatest reward.