first published October 2016
I know this isn’t necessary, but I find it helpful and amusing to take my character and create a little backstory. With several roles to play in A Christmas Carol this year (2016), I needed to figure out how they tied into one another, and if they could tie together as a single coherent character. Why is this character (or characters) played by a fat bald chick? So I put my roles together, mixed heartily with some Dickensian flavour, and found... Karl.
Karl Sowberry, born Carla Sowberry, is a gentleman of Dickensian London. Determined to live entirely as a man, Karl has taken employment as an Undertaker’s Man, and aspires one day to become a Funeral Director. His responsibilities include travelling to the homes where bodies are laid out and ensuring they are prepared for burial. This, of course, includes getting all necessary paperwork signed by the chief mourner and executor of the deceased’s estate, as well as forming up a party of mourners for those funerals expected to be less heartily attended. After all, an unattended funeral is quite cheap, and honestly bad for business (mourners require food to be laid out, the funeral hall to be rented, and so forth). Karl always ensures ‘his’ bodies are laid out in their best attire. However, some few baubles have been rumored to be missing after his visits. The wages of an Undertaker’s Man are not that great, and many of his customers are as alone in life as Karl is, himself.
When not at his place of employment, however, Karl makes a bit jolly. He is a caring fellow, though close to none. He has formed a group of carolers, merry folk who wander around town singing and providing good cheer for holiday shoppers and working folk. What small amount of tips they acquire (for they sing for the joy of it, and collect tips only as a secondary endeavor), are put into a general fund used to buy food and other accoutrements of the merry season for the poor. Karl goes through the businesses of town soliciting contributions to this fund as well, and it is through this solicitation that most of the moneys are collected.
Fred, a particular friend of Karl’s, and his wife Rachel, are contributors to this fund, and always invite Karl and his group of carolers to their holiday party. It may not be the most elegant party they attend each season, but it is the one they most look forward to, as it includes a good dinner and provides a great deal of merriment, at the most festive time of the year.
Roles:
- Music Director
- Undertaker’s Man
- Solicitor 2
- Gentleman 1
- Party Guest
In 2019, I contributed several stories to an anthology of Christmas Carol stories that expand upon the original, and Karl received his own story (and appeared in a couple of others, as well). I changed him just a bit from the story above, but he is still quite recognizable from the 2016 stage version to the 2019 print version.
No comments:
Post a Comment