23 times a Scrooge and no 2 the same: Stephen Hair's ever-evolving role in A Christmas Carol

For 23 years in a row, Stephen Hair has taken centre stage as the embittered old miserEbenezerScrooge inTheatre Calgary's production of A Christmas Carol.

Where most actors get three weeks to turn scripted lines and stage directions into a living character, Hair has had 23 years to breathe life into this particularChristmas-hating moneylender.

• PLAY | Theatre Calgary's A Christmas Carol: Nov. 24 - Dec. 24

Rather than recreate the same character year after year, Hair has made it a personal mission to enrich and re-imagine Scrooge, thecold-heartedgrouch who by play's end comes to embodythe kindness and generosity of theChristmas spirit.

"There's a real story there.A real human being," Hair, now 66, said.

"That's what we're trying to find as we inch forward year by year, is to find the humanity in the person," heexplained.

"Otherwise, it won't touch an audience and I know it touches the audience every night, because they tell me so, and I can see them weeping."

Pouring his life experience onto the stage

Each seasonbefore rehearsals begin, Hair pauses to reflect on the events that have shaped him that year and how he can bringthem toScrooge.

"Over 23 years, I've lost both parents. All kinds of things have happened to me. You take those life experiences, and you put them into a human being that you're trying to create."

That attitude of continually adapting, playing and digging deeper is something that Theater Calgary has actively nurtured over the 30 years that it's been staging this production.

Over the years, the cast and crew haveexperimentedwith different scripts, altered staging and new sets and props, which helps keep the material "fresh and alive" for actors and directors, said associate director Simon Mallett.

"We are constantly trying to make it better," he said.

A rarity in theatre

Despite its many iterations, or maybe even because of them, A Christmas Carol has become a belovedfamily tradition for generations of Calgarians, Mallett said.

"Because this is the 30th year, there are now people who saw it growing up who are bringing their young children as well. That's a pretty magical experience, and not something you get very often in theatre."

Mallett said part of why the play resonates so strongly is that Scrooge's redemption story carries a great lesson and a strong reminder for the holiday season: "That sense that we are all one, and that we need to support each other and love each other," he said.

"This is the time of year when some of the differences that we have are extrapolated because of financial situation. It's a nice touchpointand a reminder to bring us back together as a city and as a community," Mallett said.

Hair admits thathe himself has even become something of an institutionin the city, thanks to hislongstanding role as the central miser.

"I get so many people every year who say it's such a part of their Christmas, and that I've become their Scrooge."

Hair said Calgarianshave even recognized himat Costco and have taken the time to tell him: "You're how we start Christmas."

"It's a huge responsibility and a huge gift."