Christmas Theatre in The Hague

 “Every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart”

Before Queen Victoria's reign began in 1837 folk didn’t do Christmas like we do today. As Victorian England’s industrialisation began in the 1840’s people started sending Christmas cards, sharing Christmas crackers and singing O Come all ye Faithful and other carols. Queen Victoria’s German husband Albert imported the German tradition of the Christmas Tree when he brought one to Windsor castle.

And then Charles Dickens wrote "A Christmas Carol" in 1843 encouraging people to be merry at Christmas and give gifts and money to the poor. The quote above, of course, belongs in this Dickens work to Ebenezer Scrooge.

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On Tuesday Sean and I saw the English story teller Ashley Ramsden perform Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”, playing EVERY character from the infamous Scrooge to all three Ghosts of Christmas (from Mr Past to Mr Yet to Come) and of course poor Tiny Tim. Mr Ramsden should be commended for his genius and endurance. No lines forgotten during the whole 90 minutes. Ramsden flicked between characters seamlessly and convincingly. The fact that he has been performing this one man show for years possibly helps. He managed to squeeze in a few Dutch gags for this audience at the Concordia Theatre in The Hague.

Before cosying in to watch Ramsden in the 19th century auditorium with timber balcony reminiscent of an old west saloon, we froze our rosy cheeks off over the road. Pre-theatre drinks were served in the courtyard of the Hof van Wouw, a walled 17th century alms house opposite the theatre. Hofje’s are typical Dutch creations that existed from way back in the 14th century with the purpose of housing elderly people, usually with a picturesque central garden.

The night was cold and Sean and I rugged up in coats, scarves, gloves and huddled over a firebox in the garden with Styrofoam cups of mulled wine. People still live in the cosy little joined cottages that cluster in a U-shape around the hofje’s fairy lit courtyard, and we were told quite rightly not to gawk inside their windows. In fact the garden is only open to the public on special occasions such as this. The Hof van Wouw still provides housing for fourteen selected residents who must be over 50, single and petless.


Image by Haags Uitburo via Flickr

 A Christmas Carol was put on by STET, The English Theatre Production Company in The Hague. Last night we also attended another of STET’s productions. This time performed by  Tusk Theatre and OperaDans at De Kombinatie theatre in The Hague. Called Christmas, Christmas, Christmas, the production consisted of three plays from different parts of the world not surprisingly about Christmas. My favourite was the tear jerking German story of the Nürnberg Angel. I really nearly cried.

It goes that a widower dollmaker named Hauser in Nürnberg was mourning the death of his little daughter at Christmas. Meanwhile he is visited by a beautiful angel with the face of his daughter wearing a golden dress and crown. The angel’s message is that his daughter is happy. Hauser, joyful to receive the message, then makes a doll in the angel’s image which becomes the Christmas Angel put atop our Christmas trees.

The three plays that merged into each other cleverly were accompanied by the beautiful soprano Nicole Jordans, singing carols and songs including Stille Nacht, Silent Night in German and English. Sean and I were both talking about her incredible voice today.


What the dickens! Scrooge is back on my blog. But he has transformed...

"I don't know what to do!" cries Scrooge, laughing and crying in the same breath; and making a perfect Laocoön of himself with his stockings. "I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a school-boy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to every-body! A happy New Year to all the world!"

 And God bless us, every one!

Image via Wikipedia