Frank Dickens’ Christmas Carol
by Jaybo Russel
Original Songs by Marie Russel
Role: Robert Crachette | Director: Mark Lewandowski | Company: Rosebud School of the Arts
This show is a Canadian version of Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol told through the eyes of his son, Frank Dickens, who historically did move to Canada and became a member of the RCMP. It was such an honour to play Robert Crachette in this show. Robert experiences a very dramatic journey throughout the play; yet, the audience only sees moments of this journey – the moments that Scrooge happens to see. Robert's love for his family is so strong that his whole existence surrounds taking care of them. He wants to provide them with everything they need, and it hurts him that he is unable to. When Tiny Tim, or Ti Jean in our version, passes away, he blames himself and is in deep despair even though he needs to be strong for the rest of his family.
This was a particularly interesting scene for me. Since Scrooge is jumping in time with the spirits, just a few minutes earlier he had seen the present-time in which Crachette’s Christmas is full of joy and love. Not long after, the play jumps to the future Crachette where Ti Jean has died, and they are in deep sadness. This was a large emotional jump in a very short time with not much leading up to my moment of breaking down.
So I had to reach this emotion by listening to Mrs. Crachette read the children a short scripture from the Bible. I found that if I put pressure on myself to reach this emotion, it wouldn’t happen. However, if I just focused on Mrs. Crachette’s text, my words in the scene, and I remembered to let the thoughts enter as I inhaled to speak, I didn’t have to try at all. The emotion would simply be there because I was listening to my scene partner and allowing her words to affect me.
