|
The story on which this opera is based shows a darker, more troubled side of celebrated Canadian author Stephen Leacock's psyche. Known for his gentle satire on small town life, Leacock wrote the short story "Merry Christmas" as his own cry against the horrors of World War I, and the inescapable robbing of innocence that war brings. In a deceptively short tale, he uses the character of Father Christmas, as a symbolic guardian of all our innocence, cruelly turned into a mad, shell-shocked victim of war, to bring his message home. Using a device that pays homage to his favourite author, Charles Dickens, in the classic "A Christmas Carol", Leacock (himself a character in the drama) is visited by two spirits over the course of one night. These otherworldly visitations will lead to a transformation - one that empowers the author to use his writing as a tool for peace
|