Invite the Christmas spirit with Theatre Calgary’s A Christmas Carol production
By Abbas Hussain, January 20 2026—
Theatre Calgary is your home to theatrical performances here in Calgary. Founded in 1968 through a merger of Workshop 14 and the Musicians’ and Actors’ Club, Theatre Calgary became the first fully professional theatre company in Calgary. Ever since then, they have been putting on theatrical acts, including world premieres of Honour Beat, Mary and Max A New Musical and more. For this winter season, Theatre Calgary put on A Christmas Carol from November 28th to Dec 31st.
A Christmas Carol is a story that follows Ebenezer Scrooge, who is a mean-spirited, selfish old man who hates Christmas. Through this two-hour play, we follow Scrooge on a journey into his past, present, and future to show him the errors of his ways. We meet lots of different people throughout this play. Including the Ghost of Christmas Past, Present and Future; as well as visiting his business partner, Jacob Marley, the Bob Cratchit family and finally his nephew Fred’s Christmas celebrations. At the end of the story, after Scrooge realizes the error of his ways, he seeks to rectify the situation by buying the biggest turkey in the shop for the Cratchit family and spending the evening with his nephew and their family.
Ebenezer Scrooge is played by Doug McKeag, who has appeared in over 150 live dramas and musicals in both Canada and the US. He has played in many different productions, including A Christmas Carol. McKeag did an incredible job portraying Scrooge, bringing the character to life with his voice, acting and all. The rest of the cast also did a phenomenal job putting on the production, with incredibly perfected performances that really brought out the nuances in each of the characters, making it seem as if we were with Scrooge himself, watching the story unfold.
To add to the performances of each of the characters, the set itself really brought the story to life. From the moving background, to the smoke coming out of the ground, and also the modular set that changed to adapt to the various scenes. It really added a layer to the production, adding a sort of 3rd and 4th-dimensional layer, similar to the jump from 2D to 4D.
The production is broken down into five staves, with stave one being set on a cold Christmas Eve in London with a miserable Scrooge refusing to attend a Christmas dinner hosted by his nephew. We then move to stave two, which takes us through Scrooge’s past; guided by the Ghost of Christmas Past, who is played wonderfully as a pink princess who flies down to meet Scrooge.
Stave three then follows the Ghost of Christmas Present, which follows through a joyous market where people are buying the makings of Christmas dinner and Fred’s Christmas party. Stave four brings the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (future), where everyone is celebrating the death of the miserable and arrogant Scrooge. We finally move to stave five, where Scrooge, finally seeing the errors in his way, aims to rectify the situation by making a donation to charity, buying a huge turkey for Cratchit’s home for Christmas dinner and spending the afternoon at Fred’s Christmas party.
One of the scenes that really stood out to me was the celebrations of Christmas in a miner’s cottage. It was brought to life with more than a dozen actors on stage, singing and dancing along to the wonders of Christmas, celebrating with all the love and joy in the world. It truly felt like the essence of the occasion of Christmas was brought to the stage.
A Christmas Carol is a quintessentially Christmas story, bringing in the festive nature of giving and sharing love. This performance by Theatre Calgary certainly brought that essence out with a flair for the dramatic, with a touch of wonder and affection.
More about Theatre Calgary’s upcoming performances can be found on their website.