The Cricket on the Hearth

Although we are sold out for most shows, if you’d like to come please call 604-224-8007, ext 2 and leave a message asking to be put on the wait list – we are having a few cancellations due to illness.

This charming Christmas tale, more beloved in its day than A Christmas Carol, has all the wit and humour of a classic Dickens story bubbling with music, song and fairytale magic, and let’s not forget: a singing Cricket! Dates: November 28 – December 21, 2025 Times: Thurs-Fri at 8:00 pm, first & third Saturdays at 8 pm, second and fourth Saturdays at 2 pm, Sundays at 2:00 pm, closing on December 21 Preview: November 27 ($20.00) Opening: November 28 Talkbacks: Thursday, December 4 and Sunday, December 7 Matinées: All Sundays (Nov 30; Dec 7, 14, 21), two Saturdays (Dec 6, 20) NOTE: there is a second show added on Saturday, December 20 – at 8:00 PM – please CHECK THE TIME carefully when selecting a Dec 20 performance!

Run time: 2-1/4 hours including a 15-minute intermission
Content warning: non-toxic haze effects are used in the performance

VocalEye Described Performance:

United Players is  pleased to offer a VocalEye Described Performance for the matinee performance on November 27, 2025.

VocalEye provides live description to audience members who are blind or partially sighted through the use of a single earpiece. This matinee performance will be described live for patrons who are blind and partially sighted. The description will not be audible to the general audience. Ten minutes before the show begins, VocalEye patrons will hear a brief description of the set, characters, props, and costumes. When the show begins, the VocalEye describer will convey important visual information and physical action, live, between the actors’ lines.

For tickets to this VocalEye performance or for more information, please email info@unitedplayers.com.

For general information about VocalEye, please check out VocalEye

The Playwright: Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian era. His many volumes include such works as David Copperfield, Bleak House, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations and Our Mutual Friend. Dickens gave his first formal expression to his Christmas thoughts in his series of small books, the first of which was the famous A Christmas Carol. There were four others: The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life and The Haunted Man. The five are known today as the Christmas Books. The Cricket on the Hearth, although third in the series, is perhaps next in popularity to A Christmas Carol. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity during his lifetime than had any previous author. Much in his work could appeal to the simple and the sophisticated, to the poor and to the queen, and technological developments as well as the qualities of his work enabled his fame to spread worldwide very quickly. His long career saw fluctuations in the reception and sales of individual novels, but none of them was negligible or disregarded and his popularity has never ceased. The most abundantly comic of English authors, he was much more than a great entertainer. The range, compassion, and intelligence of his apprehension of his society and its shortcomings enriched his novels and made him both one of the great forces in 19th-century literature and an influential spokesman of the conscience of his age.

The Director: Sarah Rodgers

Sarah is a freelance director based in Vancouver and is the Artistic Director for United Players. She received her BFA (Acting), MFA (Directing) from The University of British Columbia. Sarah directs across Canada and the States.