Stephen Hair begins his 22nd year playing Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol on Nov. 26 at Theatre Calgary. In all that time, and through all those performances, Hair, who just turned 65, has never missed a show.Chris Bolin/The Globe and Mail
Stephen Hair is an iron man among his peers. He is about to begin his 22nd season as Ebenezer Scrooge in Theatre Calgary's production of A Christmas Carol. It's a role the 65-year-old Hair has never grown tired of, even when it calls for 23 performances in 29 days. He spoke with The Globe between rehearsals.
What is it about Scrooge that keeps you wanting to play him?
It's the journey from darkness into light. We all go through periods where our life is not going great but there is a way to get some kind of redemption. You do this enough, you live the story. I've had people come up to me and say it changed their lives because they realized their life was going the way of Scrooge's and that they can change. We say this every year to the new people [in the cast], 'This is not just another show. This one actually touches people and shows you what theatre should be about, what acting should be about.' It wakes up lot of actors to the power we can have if we go out and really do this story. It will touch people, and it does.
Has it ever become more of a job than a joy for you?
I've made it quite clear to everybody around here that if it's just a question of taking it out of the box and redoing what we did last year then I'm not interested in doing it. It has to change. This year, half the cast is new. To me, that's a wonderful, exciting thing because they bring a whole new way of thinking about it. I'm always searching for what I missed in this human being, this character I've tried to build for all these years. So as long as that stays, then I'm happy to keep doing it.
Have you ever missed a performance in 22 years?
Many, many years ago when I first started Scrooging I got the flu and I lost my voice and it was the most awful experience of my life. I managed to do the show because they fixed my mic [so he didn't have to raise his voice]. Ever since then I am so aware of it. I get my flu shot before it's even supposed to be allowed. I live in Purell and Cold-FX and I stay away from the [other actors] as much as possible. I go into my dressing room and shut the door. I'm just so aware of not getting sick. It can't happen. It's so hard to do, especially if you have no voice, because there's no such thing as an understudy. That's the big myth – maybe they have them at festivals like Stratford and Shaw. But we don't.
Have you watched any of the TV/movie adaptations of A Christmas Carol?
Oh, yes, I've watched all the others and there's always new ones. There are weird ones, strange ones, I love watching how they've taken the story. There's one, it's basically like Coronation Street. It's very odd, very modern. But in it, Scrooge and Jacob Marley were like dope dealers. Marley comes back as all three ghosts to haunt Scrooge. It's really weird. It makes me laugh.
Do people recognize you when you're off stage?
At airports, when you're waiting to go through security, there always seem to be a bunch of families and you can feel those eyes burning into you. So I turn around and they go, 'Hi, Mr. Scrooge.' And I say, 'Bah, humbug!' Big laughs all around.
A Christmas Carol runs Nov. 26 to Dec. 24 at Theatre Calgary