Many people, including myself, tend to romanticize the Victorian Era. We imagine it as a time of rich bounty where everyone walked about in bustled skirts in rich velvets and silk, and men all wore expensive suits complete with top hats, spats and silver handled walking sticks. In fact, that era is well known for its prosperity and peace under the leadership of Queen Victoria, but wealth was only for those who were already privileged to begin with, and peace was only the absence of armed conflict. The Industrial Revolution had many casualties.
Victorian England was a time of tremendous upheaval and change. Women began to fight for the right to vote and be recognized as citizens of the realm the same as any man. The traditional roles of men and women were shifting and the industrial revolution was in full swing, rapidly becoming the behemouth that swallowed everything in its path. This included thousands upon thousands of the poor and needy, along with, sadly, far too many children.
In the Spring of 1843, Charles Dickens read a report about child labor in the United Kingdom. The report was in the form of a series of interviews with the children. It carefully detailed the brutal working conditions of their crushing labor. (These conditions were no better for adults.) He was deeply affected and was moved to write a series of political pamphlets raising awareness of the situation and calling for immediate change, however--being Charles Dickens-- instead, he wrote a novella: A Christmas Carol.
Many of the quotes in the story such as those regarding the debtors prisons and the workhouses are taken from the actual public commentary of leading politicians and reknowned religious leaders of the time. Poor people were regarded as deservedly so because they were innately lazy and immoral and helping them became a source of heated debate. Some believed that aiding the poor would only encourage them to remain dependent on the higher class, and the belief that they must somehow earn the welfare of society led to the creation of the workhouses. It was actually a famous Christian minister of the day (Rev. Thomas Malthus) who encouraged allowing the destitute to go on and "die and decrease the surplus population."
Sadly, we hear some of those same, merciless sentiments echoed today.
It is our sincere hope that you will enjoy tonight's performance and leave with a sense of holiday joy. Our students have worked hard to perfect their performances in a very different and challenging style for this production. However, it is also our goal that you will see that the poor and needy have always been with us and Want and Ignorance belong to all mankind. We hope that none of you ever find yourselves without the basic necessities of life, but if you ever do -- we pray there is always a kind and generous person willing to lend a hand.
Many important holidays are celebrated at this time of the year, not Christmas alone. What they all have in common is the joy and thankfulness we feel for our abundance of blessings and the understanding that, as Jacob Marley said, mankind is our business. Indeed, it is our business to share our abundance and our blessings with our fellow human beings. We thank you for your donations for The Mission of Ponca City.
Merry Christmas, Chag Urim Sameach, Happy Kwanzaa, and a prosperous New Year
Amelia Z. Hensley and the Wildcat Theatre Company