Patrick Stewart played Captain Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Professor X in the X-Men films. But in one stage show, he played around 40 different parts. He created this show in 1988 from Charles Dickens’ book A Christmas Carol.
His interest in the story began in 1985. He was waiting to work on the film Lady Jane and picked up an old copy of the book. He loved it and made a shorter version. He read this version to people at a local church.
Later, Star Trek took more time than he expected. Stewart first wanted to try the TV series for one year, but the programme’s team wanted six years. He worried about losing his theatre work. His Christmas show let him act on stage without waiting for other actors to be free.
He returned to the show many times, with performances in the United States in 1994 and 2001. He also performed it for charity in 2019. In 1999, he played Scrooge in a television film of A Christmas Carol. Other actors joined him, and reviews were generally good.
