The festive period is here and there are so many shows that are available for audiences to go and watch! Over the next few weeks, we will be talking to lots of different shows and performers about what they have in store for this time of year! Today we find out all about Mr Charles Dickens presents A Christmas Carol from actor John O’Connor which is being performed at Greenwich Theatre on Tuesday 12 Dec at 7.30pm and Monday 18 Dec at 2.30pm and 7.30pm

Hello tell us a little bit about yourself!

Well, I’ve been an actor for 26 years and live in Charles Dickens home town of Rochester so it made sense to do a show with a Dickensian theme. I recently did two seasons of Before We Die on Channel 4 playing a corrupt detective.

What is the show that you are bringing to the stage in this Festive season?

It’s ‘Mr Charles Dickens presents A Christmas Carol’, a one-man show with me recreating Dickens’s legendary public performances of his best-loved story.

Tell us all about the character that you play?

I play Charles Dickens as we might imagine him in his public performances of A Christmas Carol in the 1860s. He was a frustrated actor and these readings were a way for him to get up on stage and connect with his audience. By all accounts he was an extraordinary performer and used to play to 2000 people a night all over Britain and America. Incredibly, he made more money from these tours than from all his novels put together!

Will there be a bit of festivity in your show?

There will be nothing but festivity in the show! Dickens practically invented our idea of Christmas and we use his performance script so the audience are getting the story direct from the source. It’s two hours of magical storytelling and people should leave feeling thoroughly festive and Christmassy. 

What are your favourite things about the festive season and why?

Christmas is the great constant throughout our lives and there’s comfort in all the traditions, like the tree, the lights, hanging up stockings, singing carols, and giving gifts. Christmas dinner with the family around the table is the centrepiece of it all. Dickens reminds us (through his depiction of the Cratchit family) how precious that time is and how lucky we are to have each other, even if we have little else. He also teaches us that it’s a time for giving, for sharing and thinking about those less fortunate than ourselves. My favourite thing about the festive season is that people are inclined to be a little kinder.

This time of year the venues tend to be a bit busier as well – do you find that the audience changes at all?

I think the regular audience that supports the theatres throughout the year get a little bit neglected at this time of year as pantomime takes over everything. Panto is a vital moneyspinner for theatres and great for children and families. This version of A Christmas Carol is a nice alternative to panto as it appeals to the classic drama audience but is still a festive treat. 

What advice would you give for people performing around the festive season?

Pace yourself! 

What is the best thing about a night at your show for the audience?

At its best, the show is like an intimate conversation with the audience. People love A Christmas Carol so much and know it so well that you have to deliver it with total commitment, attention to detail and real passion. Only then do you get the response back from the audience (laughter, tears, anger, compassion) that lets you ride the wave of their energy.

Dickens used to say to his audiences before a reading:

‘If you feel disposed to give expression to any emotion whether grave or gay, you will do so with perfect freedom from restraint and without the least apprehension of disturbing me’. 

In other words, there’s no need to be as reserved as a Victorian! Feel free to laugh, cry, gasp and wonder, in the spirit of Christmas past, present and future. 

If people want to find out more about you where can they follow you on social media?

Facebook: @Europeanartscompany Twitter: @EuropeanArtsCo

And Finally in three words – Why should people come and see the show?

True Christmas Spirit