Mrs. Cratchit has been a fun role to tackle. She is iconic, which provides the challenge of keeping her fresh while still keeping Dicken’s original character alive. But with Julian’s guidance, I have started to really consider the essence of who Mrs. Cratchit is. She is a mother of six who works hard to provide food for her family with little money to spare. Mrs. Cratchit truly resents Ebenezer Scrooge for withholding decent wages from her husband and holds him as a symbol for all that is wrong with her world.
In this new telling of A Christmas Carol, Mrs. Cratchit leads the children in a song called “All Through the Night.” This song has a special significance for me because it was my lullaby growing up, but I called it the “Garden Angel” song because of the lyric “guardian angels.” I think song is a beautiful and pure way to communicate with others, but for a mother who shares a song with her children, this truly shows a simple and beautiful gift that instills a sense of security washing them with love.