Upstairs, the ruckus has started.
The powder room is strewn with remnants of the rush minutes before. Makeup boxes, fake hair and hair pins dot a long, yellow table abutting a lit mirror. The gaggle of ghost, spirits and good old-fashioned carollers has moved next door, gathering in a room above the excited audience below.
"Five minutes people," booms a voice from the stage, which can be viewed from a balcony through the doorway. "We're going to get started."
In Brackendale Art Gallery's main hall, a fire flickers in the fireplace at the back of the room. Christmas boughs hang from wooden beams and holiday music fills the chamber. A small group of children, sitting on benches along the wall, giggles and whispers as the lights dim. Then the wind starts up, whipping its way through the room. The whispers stop.
Gradually a spotlight illuminates a staircase trimmed in holly. Standing on it is a young man, looking sharp in a beige waistcoat and jacket.
"Marley was dead to begin with," he says.
And so the Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol, begins. This is Between Shifts Theatre's largest production ever. Fifty-eight people are involved in the Vancouver theatre producer Fiona Revill Summers' adaptation of the Victorian novel from renowned costume designer Janet Dundas to props master Barb Stover.
Everyone has pulled together and, in doing so, created the Christmas spirit. Yes, the thick furry capes, Christmas tree and carollers add to it. So does the warm, cozy Brackendale Art Gallery, which has the feeling of an old tavern. The costumes are amazing thick, silky and luscious. So is the makeup. Jacob Marley, played by Paul Borchert, looks more tortured than ever, with hollow eyes and skin so pale that it's a wonder it has the life to cling to his bones.
There's the spirit in the acting too. Scrooge's girlfriend Belle, played by Emma Wong, has the audience captivated as she breaks off her marriage arrangement with a young Ebenezer.
But the theatre troupe's true accomplishment can be seen in the audience. It's visible in the smiles of the children as they point to Ebenezer Scrooge's wispy eyebrows or the crowd's laughter as the lovable Ghost of Christmas Present greets members of the audience.
The show's premiere took place yesterday (Nov. 24), but there's still time to get in the spirit. A Christmas Carol runs nightly through Sunday (Nov. 27) and then from Dec. 1 to 4 at the Brackendale Art Gallery.
Tickets are selling fast, said Lisa Schaer, a theatre company member. If you want to take part in Scrooge's awakening, make sure to get them sooner than later, she warned, noting the theatre company is predicting similar sales to that of its smash hit, The Princess Bride.
Tickets are available at Billie's Bouquet on Cleveland Avenue, the Portico Gallery on Pemberton Avenue and the Adventure Centre.
Tickets cost $15 for youth ages 18 and under, $20 for adults and $15 for seniors (65 years old and up) and students with ID cards. For more information visit www.betweenshiftstheatre.com or see A Christmas Carol Squamish on Facebook.
