The cast of Christmoose Carol
For those who want their Christmas fare a little less sugary, check out Loose Moose Theatre's annual holiday production, Christmoose Carol.
Dennis Cahill, who performs in the show (along with Rob Mitchelson and Ken Gardener), describes it as a "humorous, irreverent and somewhat cynical take" on Charles Dickens's classic, A Christmas Carol. "It definitely has a bit of an edge to it," he adds.
Loose Moose first staged Christmoose Carol 10 years ago, and audiences keep coming back for more. "If somebody would have told me 10 years ago that this would become a tradition for some people, I'd have been shocked and horrified," laughs Cahill.
To keep those faithful audiences returning, Loose Moose flavours the tale a little differently with each year's telling. In the past, for example, the theatre company has done the show as a Western and as a musical.
This year's theme? Well, it's a secret. Why? "Just because it's fun," says Cahill. Sounds like a logical Loose Moose answer. But, Cahill assures, the production's key features that have become audience favourites remain in the show. Audiences can still expect a big head to portray the Ghost of Christmas Present, and Jacob Marley's spirit will still arrive onstage via a bungee cord. "We can never compete with Theatre Calgary in terms of the set or the costumes," says Cahill, "but where we can compete is in our creative approach to the text. It's not so much the telling of the story as it is how the story is told.”
Even though the dialogue is mostly set once the play is up and running, it wouldn't be a Loose Moose production without some room for spontaneity. And, of course, audience participation.
Each night, the cast picks an adult from the audience to play Tiny Tim. He (or she) is then transformed backstage into a Tiny Tim. "The main point of the show is for the audience to have a good time, to have a good laugh," says Cahill. "If, over and beyond that, they think about if they've been a Scrooge, then that's an added bonus."
Cahill says that underneath all the fun that is Christmoose Carol, the underlying themes of greed and redemption remain very relevant today. In addition, he says, throughout the nearly two-hour show, “we don’t try to avoid the relevancy.”
