Stave 1 - Marley’s Ghost

• Scrooge is introduced as a bitter man - ‘hard and sharp as flint’

• Setting is introduced as Scrooge’s counting house

• Portly gentlemen enter and ask Scrooge to donate

• Portly gentlemen leave after Scrooge angrily refuses - ‘decrease the surplus population’

• Fred enters, wishes Scrooge a merry Christmas, and invites him to his house for Christmas

• Fred leaves

• Bob Cratchit is introduced

• He asks for Christmas day off and Scrooge says that ‘It is not convenient’ but lets him have the day off anyway

• Scrooge goes home and Jacob Marley (his deceased partner) shows up as a ghost in chains

• Marley warns Scrooge of his possible future and of the 3 spirits that will come

• Marley goes to the window and shows Scrooge all the phantoms desperately trying to help people

• Zooms in on a wretched woman with infant

• Phantoms and Marley fade into the mist and Scrooge immediately falls asleep

Stave 2 - The First of the Three Spirits

• Scrooge wakes up and sees the Ghost of Christmas Past

• Ghost takes him to his school and to see the past version of himself - lonely

• Skip to a few years later and it is the same until Little Fan (Scrooge’s younger sister who passed away) enters and tells him that she’s here to take him home

• ‘Father is so much kinder than he used to be, that home’s like heaven!’

• Ghost takes Scrooge to where he was apprenticed

• Fezziwig is jolly and sets up a party for Christmas

• Scrooge meets Belle and dances with her

• Ghost takes him to where Belle broke off her engagement with Scrooge - ‘another idol has displaced me’

• Scrooge gets upset

• Ghost takes him to see Belle’s new family and her husband mentions Scrooge - this makes Scrooge feel a mixture of jealousy and upset

Stave 3 - The Second of the Three Spirits

• Scrooge wakes again and walks in the other room to find the Ghost of Christmas Present sitting on a throne made of a gourmet feast and wearing a deep green robe

• Ghost is joyful

• Ghost mentions he has more than 1800 brothers

• Ghost takes him to see the Cratchit family

• Scrooge asks if Tiny Tim will live and he says that he sees an empty chair in the future unless something changes

• Scrooge is taken to Fred’s house and plays games with them even though they cannot see him

• Scrooge is shown Ignorance and Want - ‘Yellow, meagre, ragged’

• Ghost of Christmas Present disappears

Stave 4 - The Last of the Three Spirits

• Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come approaches Scrooge and stays silent

• Scrooge hears that someone is dead

• Lots of people talk bad about the person who has died - as if he deserves no respect

• Men say they will only go to the funeral if food is provided

• A woman, Joe, and Mrs Dilber are all rejoicing due to Scrooge’s death as they can make a profit off his belongings

• Scrooge sees the man’s body but not his face

• Scrooge says is there any person ’who feels emotion caused by this man’s death’

• Scrooge is shown people who are in debt and are thankful that the man had died as their debts may be transferred to someone less ‘merciless’

• Ghost takes him to the Cratchit household which is very quiet as Tiny Tim has died

• Scrooge sees the man’s grave and it has his name on it

Stave 5 - The End of It

• Scrooge wakes up happy and as if he was reborn

• Asks a young boy what day it is and then asks him to get the biggest turkey that was in the display window of a shop

• He tells him to send it to the Cratchit house

• Scrooge sees the Portly Gentlemen and whispers his donation to imply that it is a lot of money

• Scrooge goes to Fred’s for Christmas

• Scrooge pretends to be mad at Bob but raises his salary

• Story concludes