Last week Rachel Izen made theatrical history. She was the first woman to play the role of Scrooge in a stage adaptation of A Christmas Carol, which opened at the Bridge House Theatre in south east London last Tuesday.
Her achievement is all the more notable when you consider that a second and different show featuring a female Scrooge, played by Sally Dexter opened on Friday at Wilton’s Music Hall. It’s clearly a concept that has found its moment.
“It’s about time,” says Izen, who is relishing the challenge of playing a gender-neutral version of Dickens’ cold-hearted miser. “ After all, for hundreds of years in the theatre we’ve had actors playing different genders. “ In fact, she points out, the cast is small and all the other performers play multiple roles across genders. “It’s the theatre, so you suspend disbelief.”What’s a nice Jewish girl doing in such a quintessentially Christmassy play? For Izen, the message is as much about politics as religion. “It’s about socialism,” she says. “Its message is very appropriate in these days . It’s about how Scrooge learns to think of the greater good.”
Izen grew up in Sidcup, Kent, daughter of two performers. Her mother was an opera singer, her father, Ralph Izen, a trumpeter who played on the Beatles’ hit, Hey Jude, and on the soundtrack for Star Wars. Her mother wasn’t Jewish and Izen had a non-religious background, but nevertheless she identified strongly with her father’s Jewishness.
