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Local theatre group puts on adaptation of the iconic movie ‘A Christmas Story’

Remember nine-year-old Ralphie and his little brother, Randy? What about bully Scut Farkas, or the infamous leg lamp? An adaptation of the classic holiday movie A Christmas Story is coming to Squamish this month.
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Between Shifts Theatre’s Darren McPeake – holding the infamous leg lamp – Sola Letchford, Pepe Johnson and Louise Robinson act out a scene from A Christmas Story during a rehearsal on Nov. 11.

Remember nine-year-old Ralphie and his little brother, Randy? What about bully Scut Farkas, or the infamous leg lamp?

An adaptation of the classic holiday movie A Christmas Story is coming to Squamish this month. Between Shifts Theatre is putting on the play from Nov. 29 to Dec. 8 at the Eagle Eye Community Theatre. 

All the elements of the beloved movie are in the play, including the family’s temperamental exploding furnace, the boys’ experiment with a wet tongue on a cold lamppost and the Old Man winning a lamp shaped like a woman’s leg in net stocking.

“We have a lot of die-hard fans of A Christmas Story in Squamish, including a man who owns a leg lamp that we’ve borrowed,” says co-director Amy Reid. 

“Another man owns a Red Ryder BB gun. His wife was in the original movie – she and her siblings were each paid $1 to be extras at the school. They’re flying her sister all the way from Banff to see the show.”

The production includes Christmas carols, baked goods for sale, as well as photos with Santa Claus before the play on Fridays and after the matinées of Saturdays. All money raised from the photos goes to Squamish Helping Hands.

A Christmas Story is based on humorist Jean Shepherd’s memoir of growing up in the 1940s and follows Ralphie Parker in his quest to get a genuine Red Ryder BB gun under the tree. Ralphie pleads with his mother, his teacher and even Santa Claus, receiving a consistent response: ”You’ll shoot your eye out!”

A lot of people consider the movie a Christmas staple and watch it every year, but some people still haven’t seen it, says Reid, who is co-producing the play with Kathy Daniels. “I’m gob-smacked when I hear someone hasn’t seen the movie yet. This will be a big treat for them to see it for the first time.” 

Reid says A Christmas Story is one of the funniest Christmas movies, although she admits the 2003 movie Elf comes in close. 

Older Ralph is played by Peter Slade, while the younger version is played by Pepe Johnson. Mountain FM’s Darren McPeake is playing the Old Man and Louise Robinson is playing the Mother. Other local actors complete the cast. 

“We have so many great kids acting,” says Reid. “We really encourage anyone to get involved.”

She and Daniels hold acting classes called Broadway or Bust at Squamish Academy of Music on Fridays. See squamishacademyofmusic.com for more details. 

For more about the play, see betweenshiftstheatre.com.

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