聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 As always one of the main events people enjoy attending during the Dickens Village Festival is the Cornerstone Theatre's numerous renditions of the classic, 鈥淎 Christmas Carol.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 This year a second generation Cornerstone Theatre alumni, Mackenzie Easton, wrote the play which sees a woman, a director of the local Christmas play, cancel their annual Dickens Festival. It was a very Carlyle-esque twist to the classic with Easton taking inspiration from and creating humour surrounding the idea of a town performing the same play every year.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淚n a fit of exasperation, she (the director) cancels the traditional play, which leads to a familiar situation...鈥� the playbill reads. 鈥淐entre stage is the fabulous music from all eras, as the actors from plays past return with old favorites and new classics.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The performance was sold out for Saturday, Dec. 6, and nearly sold out both Friday and Sunday as well to crowds which laughed and applauded throughout.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Following Evangaline (Dianne Twietmeyer) as the Scrooge character the play runs into old favourites like the Cratchitt's (David Slykhuis, Leola Hirtle, Bryanne Forcier, Braden Hill, Kyle Bye, Sydney Flynn, and Emma Pelletier as Tiny Tina) and the three ghosts, though this time they were of Christmas plays past (Craig Savill), present (Denise Singleton), and future (Lane Easton).
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 True to Dickens the play follows Evangaline on a journey, which softens her hardened heart and shows her the true meaning of Christmas.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The audience was struck by the impressive talents of the cast. The musical talents of Dianne Twietmeyer, Paul Twietmeyer, Lane Easton, Megan McAuley, Bryanne Forcier, Naomi Twietmeyer, and Nicole Gervais.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The crowd thoroughly enjoyed themselves, especially those who had attended the past productions as there were throwback songs and characters recognized in this year's production.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The band of Michele Amy, Ben Dubois, Terry Fraser, Claude Poirer, Harvey Rounce, and Wendy Rounce did a wonderful job on difficult mash-ups of songs.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Direction for the play came from Doug Waldner and Colleen Easton, while vocal direction was led by Lane Easton and Dianne Twietmeyer.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Through admission from the weekend and bar sales Cornerstone Theatre group was able to acquire enough funds to do kitchen renovations at Memorial Hall.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Member of Cornerstone Theatre, Don Carter, explained, 鈥淩ight after we finished on Sunday, we emptied the cupboards and they will be ripped out and the kitchen gutted. New cupboards and a new kitchen design will be made. In about a week to ten days, they should be close to done.鈥�
