Wallace: I look forward to navigating Scrooge’s journey, the journey from who he was and is to who he becomes. What are you most looking forward to about playing Ebenezer Scrooge? Is there anything especially surprising about the character? For a moment, he really listens to another character. And it allows an audience to see Scrooge in a genuinely vulnerable state. First of all, it’s terrifying, but secondarily, it sets up everything that is to follow. Wallace: It would have to be Scrooge’s encounter with Marley’s ghost. What is your favorite part of A Christmas Carol? Compared with the 30 titles I’ve done of Shakespeare’s! I find them remarkably similar while Dickens’s text is not in verse, his language, like Shakespeare’s, is heightened and lyrical and demands a bold and passionate delivery. Wallace: I’ve actually done two prior productions of A Christmas Carol – as Marley’s Ghost at Milwaukee Rep and as the Ghost of Christmas Past at Geva Theatre Center. How might your experience with other classic texts translate to this project? You regularly perform works of Shakespeare. This simple idea unites Dickens’s divided characters, and I think it has real resonance in the often polarized, materialistic world we live in now.
Wallace: The lesson that Scrooge learns in the play is that genuine happiness is found in what we do for others. Why do you think the story is so timeless? For many in the region, coming to Ford’s Theatre for A Christmas Carol is an annual tradition.
Photo of Craig Wallace as Ebenezer Scrooge for "A Christmas Carol" at Ford’s Theatre. We spoke with Wallace this summer about what he’s most looking forward to about taking on this classic role. This holiday season (2016), Ford’s Theatre celebrates 35 years of presenting A Christmas Carol, and acclaimed Washington actor Craig Wallace steps into the role of Ebenezer Scrooge for the first time.