Best known as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Professor X in the X-Men films, Patrick Stewart also undertook a striking theatrical challenge. In 1988, he devised a solo adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, performing approximately 40 characters in one evening. He adapted the script himself as a way of maintaining his range while working in television.
His attachment to the story dated to 1985, when a delayed call time on the film Lady Jane left him waiting. Picking up an old copy of Dickens’ novella, he became sufficiently enthusiastic to abridge it for a forthcoming reading at a local church.
The demands of Star Trek subsequently gave the project a particular purpose. Stewart had initially imagined trying the series for a year, whereas the producers sought a six-year commitment. As its success made a lengthy run increasingly apparent, he feared losing his theatrical life; a solo production offered independence from other actors’ availability.
Stewart repeatedly revisited the production, with US performances in 1994 and 2001 and a charity performance in 2019. In TNT’s 1999 television adaptation, he played only Scrooge, alongside Richard E. Grant as Bob Cratchit and Joel Grey as the Ghost of Christmas Past. Written by Peter Barnes and directed by David Jones, the film was generally well received. Variety praised Stewart’s portrayal, linking its assurance to his extensive experience performing the story on stage.
