This holiday season, local theatre group Wonderheads is bringing A Wonderheads Christmas Carol to town. Wonderheads productions is co-founded by Kate Braidwood and Andrew Phoenix. Braidwood is also one of the artistic directors of A Wonderheads Christmas Carol, and she says that the main focus of the play is to tell their version of Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol.
“It’s an adaption of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, but it’s done in our style,” says Braidwood. “So, we perform in the style of full-face masks and puppetry. The show is completely wordless and it’s full of music, puppets, and masks, and it tells the whole story of A Christmas Carol in this very unique style.”
Phoenix says that his favourite part of creating the show was finding innovative ways to create the puppets.
“We do a little bit of everything here,” says Phoenix. “Kate makes the masks, we adapted and directed the show. Sometimes we perform in it, sometimes we don’t, but we also make all of the puppets. I think my favourite part of the show is in the creation. It was figuring out really magical ways to create the puppets that represent the separate ghosts that visit Scrooge on his Christmas Eve journey… And then in the show, I think my favourite part is the awe and the surprise when the audience see the new ghosts revealed.”
Braidwood agrees with Phoenix, adding that creating the show the way they did offered them creative freedom to create a unique version of the ghosts from the story.
“Creating the show in this style with the masks and puppets really gave us a lot of creative freedom to create very unique and whimsical versions of the ghosts that visit Scrooge,” says Braidwood. “So, that was really fun to imagine and create.”
There is no dialogue in Braidwood and Phoenix’s show, which presents a fun challenge for communicating the story.
“We really wanted to challenge ourselves with this show, because, traditionally, it’s a story with a lot of words and a lot of dialogue,” says Braidwood. “So when we set out to create it, it was definitely a question to whether or not we would be able to communicate the story without any words at all. So that was a challenge, but it was a really fun challenge.”
The two say that the main things they’ve learned since starting Wonderheads are how theatre is appealing to all ages, and the fundamental differences between theatre and film or TV.
“I think with theatre you need to leave a space open for the audience,” says Phoenix. “A place for them to be a part of the imagination, be a part of the story, be a part of the emotional journey… We want to give enough that the audience can feel the story and understand the story but if you leave some space open for their imagination for them to be a part of that journey, they feel more fulfilled after the show.”
“It appeals to all ages in a really great way,” adds Braidwood about their craft. “When we first set out to create this work, we were maybe worried that it would be perceived as just being for kids because we sort of have this cartoonish style, with the masks and the puppets. Doing theatre for kids is awesome but we also wanted to create work for adults and, really, for all ages. We’ve learned that this form really does appeal to all ages, it has a little something for everybody, which is really nice.”
A Wonderheads Christmas Carol
7:30 pm Friday, December 16
3:30 pm and 7:30 pm Saturday, December 17
Various prices, McPherson Playhouse
rmts.bc.ca