ITOPA Presents: Inspecting Carol

Monday, 8 December 2025 07:57

Photo Credit: Ingersoll Theatre of Performing Arts (ITOPA) Facebook page

A group of actors have to undergo a government inspection while they prepare for their production of A Christmas Carol.

INGERSOLL - The next production at the Ingersoll Theatre of Performing Arts (ITOPA) is a play within a play.

Inspecting Carol is about a group of actors that have been putting on A Christmas Carol for several years now.

Peter Johnson plays Larry, the actor who plays Scrooge in the play.

"Larry is a bit of a difficult actor to work with because he likes to put his own spin on it. He's a throwback from the flower child's of the 60s and wanted to tell the world how immoral and awful they have been to the rest of the world."

He says the story gets interesting, when the group runs out of their government funding.

"The inspector is coming in to judge their theatrical capabilities and whether or not they should get funding or their previous funding has been cancelled."

Isaac Atfield plays the role of Bart, who serves as the Assistant Stage Manager for the play.

"My character is kind of a punk rocker who also seems to be helping out back stage. They've been doing it for 12 years so they have all of these different and small roles to do at the show, which is a lot of fun to play as an actor because I have actually lived that experience. A lot of my character's uniqueness comes from the fact that there is not a lot of dialogue for my character, so I just get to have fun and make up what I'm doing on stage while Larry is being an absolute pill."

He says Inspecting Carol is perfect for the holiday season.

"It's a great show to bring out the whole family and have everyone have that Christmas vibe before you go home and spend it with the loved ones that you have in your life."

The family friendly comedy is a little over two hours with an intermission, with performances scheduled for December 12th to December 14th and December 18th to December 21st. Tickets can be purchased online here or at the box office.

Peter Johnson and Isaac Atfield stopped by the Heart FM studio to chat with Dan and Marcie on Thursday December 4th. You can listen to the full interview below: