The Cricket on the Hearth

Jericho Arts Centre to December 21, 2025

Tickets: Adults $37, seniors $32, students with ID $15 at 604-224-8007 or www.united players.com

Posted December 2, 2025

Thoroughly charming. Thoroughly delightful. And thoroughly professional despite United Players status as a “non-professional” theatre company. This little-theatre-company-that-could, operating out of the Jericho Arts Centre, has been punching over its weight for years – but even more so under Sarah Rodgers’ artistic direction. For a while, UP was a well-kept secret but its cover has been blown; shows are selling out and this one will, too.

The Cricket on the Hearth is an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novella of the same name. I am not much of a Dickens fan but, adapted for stage by Naomi Wright and Sarah Rodgers, this production just sings. And sing it does with original music and lyrics by Christopher King with Chris Robson on piano and December Goodkey (as Cricket) on violin. There’s singing and parlour room dancing to warm your heart – and hot apple cider or mulled wine at the concession, too. Dickens, I think, would be rubbing his hands in glee at what magic Rodgers and Wright have made of his little novella.

From the press release: “The symbolism of the cricket is almost lost to us in Canada, though still known in many parts of the world. Having a cricket in your house was a harbinger of prosperity, health and abundance, bringing happiness, warmth and a sense of peace to a home.” But how to represent a cricket on stage? Enter Goodkey with her violin and you have a Cricket – “chirping” away.

Directed by Sarah Rodgers, this production is bursting with delightful small details and creative ways of lifting the words off the page. Dickens wrote five Christmas novels in the 1840s, including A Christmas Carol; he described the Cricket on the Hearth as, “quiet and domestic…innocent and pretty.” And this production is rustic and unpretentious as well. There is something so sweet and simple about it.

And it’s pretty, too, with set and props designed by Sheila White: a free-standing door centre stage, that on one side has a painted-on lace curtain and on the other (when it’s revolved) is unadorned. A Tiffany shade. Hanging pots, pans and kettles. A mantlepiece and, obviously, a glowing hearth. Simple with a slight fairy-tale feel about it. Mara Gottler’s costumes are cotton-y and homespun; there’s a gorgeous black gown on the mother-in-law-to-be. A couple of bonnets. Stage left are Robson and Goodkey providing the music. Lighting design is by Sam Cheng and Kaitlyn Fernandez. It’s all perfect for Dickens’ tale of happiness-turned-sour-turned happiness again.

 The story revolves around John and Mary Peerybingle, a couple so in love that there appears to be a halo of contentment and happiness wherever they go. Subplots involve blind Bertha, her toy-maker father Caleb, and the villainous, rich merchant Tackleton who intends to marry the reluctant but penniless May Fielding, a childhood friend of Mary Peerybingle.

In the novella, Mary and John have an infant but here’s one of those creative details I mentioned: the baby is, of course, a doll swaddled in a blanket. But what housemaid Tilly Slowboy, played by Cassie Unger, does with that baby is a hilarious through-line. Unger tosses it, drops it, shakes it and unceremoniously hands it off. Not funny, really, but Unger has tremendous comedic talent and we know it’s just a doll, just a play, just for comic effect. Indeed, this production benefits greatly from Unger’s stellar performance. It’s a great piece of casting and directing on Rodgers’ part.

Also providing lift is Vincent Keats as the Peerybingle’s dog Boxer. He scratches, snoozes, rips around the house in true dog-like fashion. He also does backflips. Who’s a good boy?

Emma Houghton and Charlie Deagnon are nicely paired as Mary and John. Ringletted Houghton is sweet and pretty while Deagnon is burly and robust. Grade 12 student Pippa Cochrane makes a very sympathetic Bertha while Kazz Leskard is a remarkably villainous villain – until he isn’t. And when his character makes a Scrooge-like turnabout – as we suspect he will – he is spectacularly gleeful. Try not smiling at his little jig! Completing the cast are Gordon Law and Toby Verchere.

Maybe it’s time to retire – for a while – A Christmas Carol and do The Cricket on the Hearth at Christmas. But it’s not merely Dickens’ novella, it’s what Rodgers and Wright, the cast, the musicians and the design crew  do with it that’s truly inspired. I think United Players could make this its December offering for years to come. The setting is only barely Christmassy but the overwhelming feeling of goodwill and kindness makes it feel like Christmas. When the curtain falls you will feel as if you have been sitting by a cozy hearth with a hot, sweet beverage (and maybe some shortbread), while someone tells you a simple tale of goodness and kindness. And who doesn’t need more of that?