The Sunrise Rotary Club will be getting the community into the Christmas spirit at Southminster United Church, Dec. 7 with their fifth annual reading of Charles Dickens’ classic “A Christmas Carol.”
If Charles Dickens was alive today, he’d be 200 years old. So this year is special,” said Sunrise Rotary Club representative Kristy Jahn-Smith. She observed the event is something Dickens would have appreciated as he lived in an era surrounded by poverty and orphans and consequently became a champion of rights  and raising funds for the poor.

This will be the fifth year the Rotary Club has been raising money for both Lethbridge food banks through the increasingly popular event.

There will be several familiar faces reading the story this year including Ed Bayly,who will be playing Charles Dickens, and Brian Quinn, who are familiar faces with Playgoers of Lethbridge and Hatrix Theatre respectively. The other readers are Morgan Day, Derek Hoare, Judith Buchan, Bill Laycock and Adam Mason.

“Most people know the story because of how often it has been dramatized on television and on film. It’s always original, except this is a reading of the story, not a dramatization,” Jahn-Smith continued.

But the readers will be wearing Victorian era costumes from the University of Lethbridge and will be using a few props as well. They will also be performing in front of a Victorian era set.

 While this event is a more conservative, traditional celebration, there will also be music with the U of L Faculty Brass Quintet, Dave Mikuliak, Sheldon Arvay plus Kade Hogg and the U of L Youth Singers.

There are no shortcuts in life or in comedy according to comedian Ron James, who plays the Yates Theatre, Dec. 2.
 Before he embarks on tour, he will wrap up shooting on the fourth season of the Ron James  Show. The 14 episode run premieres on CBC in its new Monday time slot beginning Dec. 31.
“It’s a year-long gig for me,” said James, just after finishing lunch with his writing staff.
“But it all comes from the road,” he said.
 The cartoons must be written first because they take longer to produce and it is a 24-7 gig, but James loves every minute of it, from the cartoons to the 12 minute monologue to the road odes.

“Sunday is a day of rest whenever I’m home. But if you can get up on a Monday morning with a spring in your step, then you’ve won. And if you can get a laugh from it that’s the icing on the cake,” he continued.

“I’d be parachuting in and out of communities for the road odes, which is why it’s important to have solid writing staff at home,” he said.
While Lethbridge has been featured on Ron James’s road odes, he wouldn’t be above doing another piece on Lethbridge, though he prefers to keep his routines fresh.

“I’ve never been to Lethbridge in the summer. I’d love to wander the Milk River coulees and go to that water-tower and go to Fort Whoop-Up. I’d be game for that. Lethbridge is the only place I’ve gone for a run and had my eyelids frozen shut after,” he said.

He has been a stand-up comedian for the past 15 years, but admitted he didn’t know who he was before that.
“I went down to the United States for three years to do a TV show, but it failed. Then I had two daughters and decided I couldn’t live like this anymore— waiting for the phone to ring,” he said.

If you think your family has problems, then you should check out the royal family in The Lion In Winter. The University of Lethbridge presents the 1966 James Goldman historical play, Nov. 20-24 in the University Theatre. It surrounds the adventures of King Henry II of England and his family in 1183 as he must decide which of his sons inherits the throne.

 “ It takes place over a 12 year period. It’s a very dysfunctional family,” described director Philip Adams, who came to Lethbridge from Saskatoon to direct the production. Adams won Saskatoon’s Best Director Award in 2012. A bit of a nomad, he has been the artistic director of Nakai Theatre in the Yukon and Mulgrave Road Theatre in Nova Scotia and has directed productions across the country.
  The play is about a really dysfunctional Christmas.

It is set in the stark hollows of Castle Chinon as the dramatic tensions between members of King Henry II’s family take centre stage. The company includes Henry’s quarrelling and conniving sons who are intent on claiming the throne; his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, allowed a reprieve from her 10-year imprisonment to join the festivities; and Henry’s young mistress, Alais, who is also betrothed to his son Richard. As the party commences, the scandals of this dysfunctional dynasty explode, revealing shocking truths of betrayal, deceit and treachery.

“ It’s about him dividing up his kingdom, it’s about succession. And it takes place in 1183, before English common law. He wrote the laws of inheritance,” Adams summarized.

“It’s about equality, fairness and good government. He’d rather negotiate than go to war,” Adams continued.
Adams was drawn to the play because it is so well written. There is not only a lot of drama, but comedy as well plus a plethora of plot twists and turns.

“It’s a very well written play. It’s very clever,” he continued. He emphasized how much he is enjoying working with the cast.
“They are the most professional group of young actors I’ve ever worked with. They are so committed to this play. They are so disciplined. There is no cavorting and no cell phones,” he enthused.
While it was made into a 1968 film starring Peter O’Toole and Katherine Hepburn, Adams was more familiar with the play.
“The characters change their minds three or four times a page,” he said.