Bah! Humbug! The 'East Side Version of Dickens' Returns

"While there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour." -- Charles Dickens

It's mid-afternoon at the rehearsal space in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Musical director Don Hardy lays down a jaunty beat on the piano, while the cast members launch into the opening lines of the third piece of music to be learned that day, an original composition with lyrics by local poet Patrick Foley.

"We live downtown on Hastings Street in an SRO hotel," they sing. "We know it ain't no heaven, 'cause it's right next door to hell."

The process involves several debates over modifications, and discussions about tempo and missing bars, vamps and cue lines -- the sort of nitty-gritty detail work that goes into a musical production in the days before it opens.

But this isn't your average production. The cast is a diverse mix of film professionals, theatre veterans and Downtown Eastside community performers. The songs are similarly eclectic, featuring the likes of Tom Waits and John Lennon alongside traditional Christmas carols, a Tsleil-Waututh family prayer song, and original numbers with lyrics by local poets. The set features video elements with work by award-winning Strathcona artist and muralist Richard Tetrault.

The script, titled Bah! Humbug! and adapted by Michael Boucher, Savannah Walling (of Vancouver Moving Theatre), and Jay Brazeau, is an updated retelling of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Set in the Downtown Eastside of today, it uses humour and music to explore themes of transformation, redemption and social justice. It has also become something of an annual tradition in the neighbourhood.

"It's like the east side version of Dickens," says cast member Jennifer Brousseau. "Which I love, because then we can bring in social issues that matter to us. There are four of us who are aboriginal in the cast, and there are a lot of social issues in regards to the aboriginal community that get brought to the forefront in the play."

Now in its sixth consecutive year at SFU Woodward's, Bah! Humbug! was the first production to grace the building's Goldcorp Stage when it opened back in 2009. Many of the cast members, including The Romeo Section's Jim Byrnes as Scrooge, and City of Vancouver theatre award winner Margo Kane as the narrator, have appeared in the production multiple times.

This year's edition opens Dec. 10, and all proceeds go to funding next year's Heart of the City Festival, another community project produced by Hunter and Walling.

Music, merriment, a worthy message

Now in her third year, Brousseau is a standout member of the cast. Born in northern Ontario to Ojibwa and French parents, she's spent the past 20 years building a career that strikes a balance between artistry and social justice.

Her work often explores complex issues such as suicide, healing and identity, whether performing with M'Girl, an ensemble of indigenous singers and storytellers, working with housing non-profit Atira in the Downtown Eastside, or leading workshops on performance and life skills in First Nations communities across Canada.

"I don't like doing fluff," she says, both of her solo work and Bah! Humbug! "If we're going to be performing something, I want people to really be affected, and walk away having gained something from what they've seen."

Despite the show's neighbourhood ties and important social agenda, director Max Reimer notes that the emphasis is still on fun. "Some of our most serious messages are best carried using humour. And this script is rich in humour," he says. "It's rich in social comment, but the social comment is within the context of today's world. And it uses the humour of today. That makes it enjoyable fare for people to come and see. That's what struck me right at the beginning -- how powerful it was, but also how fun it was."

The Bah! Humbug! script is revised each year, both to reflect changes in the neighbourhood and to keep the material fresh (additional themes this year include an exploration of drug use and recovery, with Bob Cratchit himself portrayed as a recovered addict). The rehearsal process is brief, only 10 days, owing as much to the ensemble's six years of experience as to the format of the show, which is conducted more like a staged reading than a full-scale theatrical version.

Reimer, who has helmed the production since its first year, says that the 2015 edition will incorporate new visual elements, including more staging and fully integrated video in place of sets. One aspect that remains unchanged is the company's use of community actors from the neighbourhood, all of who have returned for the upcoming run.

"We've got everything from movie stars like Jim Byrnes, to community actors, to seasoned classic theatre actors," Reimer notes. "It's been really great for me to get to learn all the different ways that one can work. In a lot of ways, we're colouring outside the lines on this. And that's what keeps me coming back."

The mix is important to Brousseau, too. "All of us are putting our all onstage. Every cast member becomes a part of it. It's their show, too. I don't care if I'm a community actor or a professional actor. As long as we're touching lives, that's all that matters."

If the recent rehearsal is any indication, Bah! Humbug! promises to be touching indeed, an amusing experience rich with music, merriment and what Dickens himself called the irresistible contagion "of laughter and good humour."

Bah! Humbug! runs at the SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts Dec. 10 to 19. More information, including ticket prices and dates, can be found here.