Kelt Eccleston is somewhat of a local celebrity; he’s been a local musician for “too many years to count,” he says, and also keeps busy as an actor. The last notable performance Eccleston has done was a Belfry Theatre production of the homelessness-themed Home Is a Beautiful Word, but this time he’s starring in a heartwarming holiday classic.
In December, the Victoria Symphony, accompanied by Eccleston, will present A Sentimental Christmas Carol, a concert based on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Ecclesto, who is the narrator and also does all the voices and characters, hopes that with his latest performance he can make people reflect on their lives.
“When I read A Christmas Carol, I got really emotional. When I was reading the script, I wanted to touch people with it,” he says. “I want people to come away feeling they can be better people.”
That’s what Christmas is all about, right? Being better people, learning from our mistakes over the year, coming together with our family and friends, and loving the ones in our lives. The whole performance is about personal growth, and the play won’t vary too much from Dickens’ story, according to Eccleston.
“I want people to kind of reflect on themselves, because the story is really just about being a better person,” says Eccleston. “I kind of stay away from watching movies of A Christmas Carol because it gets all about the ghosts and it gets sensational. And this script is not sensational. This script actually stays quite close to the Dickens version.”
The classic holiday story also shows us that no matter how far down we go, there’s always hope for redemption. Eccleston will be a character that we can relate to because we all have a dark side; we will be able to love and grow with him, he says.
“It’s more about looking at your fellow man, because the character of Scrooge is kind of an everyman, in a way. He’s kind of the dark side of humanity,” says Eccleston. “It’s about greed, and capitalism, and all that, and how dark that can be, and how isolated that can be.”
Seeing how the character of Scrooge changes, and how he reflects on his mistakes, will help us see our own faults and make this Christmas a more meaningful one. After all, doesn’t everyone want to be a more giving person?
“And at the end, to see how he’s such a changed man, and he comes to that conclusion not so much because he’s scared out of his wits, but because he gets a chance to actually reflect on his life and realize the mistakes he has made, and at the end he is a better person,” says Eccleston.
Eccleston says he and the symphony hope the production makes attendees feel good and feel closer to their community.
“With classical music, and the symphony being so amazing, I think it will really have an effect on the audience,” says Eccleston. “It will be a great holiday experience.”
A Sentimental Christmas Carol
8 pm Friday, December 12 and Saturday, December 13; 2 pm Sunday December 14
$30 and up, Royal Theatre
victoriasymphony.ca