Information for What the Dickens? at Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton (Play). Charles Dickens' reading of A Christmas Carol isn't going to plan: he finds himself re-cast as Scrooge, with his past, present and future being played out, as presented by two women he mistreated: his wife Catherine and his mistress, the actress Ellen Ternan, who was only 19 when Dickens first approached her - at the age of 45.