Virtual Program
Blue Orange Arts presents –
A Christmas Carol – by Charles Dickens
Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly and wealthy man, is well-known for his miserly ways and unkind spirit.
One Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his old business partner, Jacob Marley, who is eager for Scrooge not to share his miserable and eternal fate in the afterlife.
Marley tells Scrooge that he will be visited by three spirits; the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet to Come. These ghosts show Scrooge how his mean, selfish behaviour has affected those surrounding him and that there is still time for him to change his wicked ways.
Dickens’ supernatural tale of redemption and the Christmas spirit is one of the most iconic seasonal tales of all time; delighting readers and audiences, of all ages, generation after generation.
Cast
in Alphabetical order
Jasmine Arden-Brown –
Charity Collector 2, Fan, Belle, Ghost of Christmas Present, Martha, Tiny Tim, Cornelia (Scrooge’s niece’s sister), Woman 2, Charwoman, Maid.
Richard Constable –
Bob Cratchit, Jacob Marley, Mr Fezziwig, Belle’s husband, Dinner Carrier 1, Y. Cratchit, Topper, Man 1, Old Joe.
Alan Groucott –
Ebenezer Scrooge
Lynne Payne –
Charity Collector 1, Ghost of Christmas Past, Anaconda Cratchit, Lynne (Fred’s wife), Woman 1, Mrs Dilber.
Benedict Powell –
Fred, Y. Scrooge, Belle’s Child, Dinner Carrier 2, Peter, Man 2, Undertaker’s Man, Boy (on Christmas Day).
Jasmine Arden-Brown
Jasmine Arden-Brown has been performing in theatres, schools, pubs, fields, and castle ruins since 2014, and is thrilled to be included in A Christmas Carol this winter.
After studying Drama at the University of Exeter, she has appeared in numerous plays, with a preference for comedy and classics.
Theatre credits include Keeping Tom Nice (2014), Five Kinds of Silence (2015), Dick Whittington and his Cat (2016), Paper in my Pants (2016), Twelfth Night (2017), Dinosaurs in the Wild (2017/18), Henry V (2019), Steps to Success (2020), The Lady-killers (2022), The Misanthrope (2023)
Film: Still (2015), Victim (2016), A Voice from the Past (2017), Dissociating (2018), Tokyo Tales (2019) Rushed (2022)
In 2019, Jasmine won the ‘Best Actress in a Short Film’ award at the Fusion International Film Festival for her work in Tokyo Tales. She is also a theatre director and author, with her debut comedy novel Help! We’re Trapped Inside this Book! currently on submission to publishers.
Richard Constable
This is Richard Constable’s first performance for Blue Orange Arts. Recent productions include Nell Gwynn (Oldbury Rep), Death of a Salesman, The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, and It Runs in the Family (Highbury).
Recent films include The Vanishing Killer (Kyle Simms), Pawns and Kings (Alex Clinch), and The Bench (Jon Pegg).
He also appeared in the internet series Definitely Do Panic for Doctor Who Online Adventures (Brendan Sheppard).
Alan Groucott
Alan has appeared this year at Oldbury Rep in Murder on the Nile as Canon Pennefather and the Aussie Bushwhacker Danny in Ladies Down Under; he has also been part of the Let’s Create storytelling ensemble in the Order and Chaos festival at Birmingham Rep courtesy of LouDeemY Productions, and various voices in the play Delayed at an Up to Scratch new writing night at The Old Rep.
On tour Alan has played Macbeth with Bitesize Theatre Company and then again at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with Heart Productions (both dramatized variations based on the original play); with MDCC Theatre Company he has played Proteus in The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing.
He has also appeared at the Crescent Theatre as Count Neppomuck in Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, at the Old Joint Stock as world-weary reporter Mike Darley in Frank Bramwell’s PoV Look at the Birmingham Riots with Inamoment theatre, and at the Blue Orange in Catching Snowflakes by local writer Mike Bower produced by Jars of Clay Theatre Company.
He has recently moved to the Ladywood area and beyond his great appreciation of local café culture he is a keen volunteer tour guide at St Paul’s Church in the Jewellery Quarter.
Benedict Powell
Benedict has been acting since university, where he performed in and directed for the university’s then-fledgling Gilbert and Sullivan Society. He ventured into professional acting first as a means of paying his student rent, then as a passion, then as a full-time career, and has since toured abroad as far as Mediterranean Europe and the UAE.
Recent show credits include ‘King Lear’, David Hare’s ‘The Permanent Way’, ‘The Lady Killers’ and the new musical ‘After This Plane Has Landed’, which enjoyed a highly successful run at the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe.
In addition to acting, he is a writer, having completed a debut fantasy novel. He has also had original stage works and adaptations performed, including a Gilbert and Sullivan-inspired parody musical, and an opera satirizing Britain’s coalition government.
Lynne Payne
Lynne grew up in the Northwest seaside town of Blackpool and studied theatre at Lancaster University.
She began her career as a Professional Dance Artist, working for over 15 years before focussing on her career as an actor.
Recent screen credits include “Supervisor” in the sci-fi feature Sky Peals (premiered at Venice Film Festival 2023), and “Jane” in The Confessions of Frannie Langton (ITV). Lynne previously appeared here at The Blue Orange playing numerous roles in The Snow Queen (2022) and is thrilled to be back performing in this year’s production of A Christmas Carol
Crew
Directed and produced by – Mark Webster
Lighting/Sound by – Nathan Bower
Costumes/Props by – Simon Ravenhill/Haina Al-Saud
Set by – Mark Webster/Ben Mills-Wood