Wishing you a very merry Klingon Christmas! Chicago stages Charles Dickens' Scrooge classic in Star Trek language

Performers stage A Christmas Carol in the fictional sci-fi language of Star Trek villains

Patrons use subtitles to follow the plot, which has added bloodshed



'Wishing you a very merry Klingon Christmas' translates as 'QISmaS DatIvjaj 'ej DIS chu' DatIvjaj'

Sci-fi nuts in Chicago have staged the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol entirely in Klingon, the fictional language of the villainous alien race in Star Trek.

The play is being staged at the Raven Theatre in Chicago in the language created more than 30 years ago for the Star Trek race of long-haired, ridge-foreheaded warriors.



Those who do not speak the language can enjoy the unfolding drama thanks to English subtitles.

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Klingon Christmas: Performer Josh Zagoren plays with a puppet used to represent 'Tiny Tim' backstage before a performance of 'A Klingon Christmas Carol' in Chicago

Actor Kevin Alves' dialogue is projected on a teleprompter. 'A Christmas Carol' is translated into the Klingon language and adapted to Klingon culture

Although Klingon has a small vocabulary of between 2,000 and 3,000 words, it is the most spoken fictional language in the world, according to Guinness World Records.

Last month a Swedish couple were married in a Klingon wedding ceremony at a Star Trek convention in London.

Arika Okrent stated in her book 'In the Land of Invented Languages' that there are probably around 20-30 fluent speakers of the language.



Smiling: Wyatt Weber puts on his Klingon make-up for a performance in 'A Klingon Christmas Carol'

Touch-up: An actor adds the finishing touches to the extensive make up required to portray a Klingon

Sci-fi technology: Jon Beal (left) checks his mobile as Josh Zagoren (right) puts on his make-up

Performers Sarah Camargo (left) and Christina Romano prepare for a performance. The Klingon's distinctive ridged forehead make-up is seen in the foreground

High five: Performers joke around as they they prepare backstage for the performance

Cheer: Performer Phil Zimmermann celebrates as he plays a video game on his phone while waiting for curtains to go up

Star Trek: Cast members portray both Vulcan and Klingon characters in the play

Actor Josh Zagoren (left) reads a magazine while waiting backstage. Clark Bender (right) enjoys a pre-play snack



The play's synopsis states: 'SQuja' (Scrooge) has no honor, nor any courage. Can three ghosts help him to become the true warrior he ought to be in time to save Tiny Tim from a horrible fate?



'Performed in the Original Klingon with English Supertitles, and narrative analysis from The Vulcan (the highly logical race to which Spock belongs) Institute of Cultural Anthropology.'



A review from ChicagoTheaterBeat said: 'It holds up surprisingly well; the storyline is easy to follow, and the actors imbue their characters with a Dickensian energy infused with a healthy dose of bloodlust.'



The play includes a puppet with the race's distrinctive clothing and alien features that is used to represent Tiny Tim.

It was written by Christopher O. Kidder and Sasha Walloch and was originally translated by Laura Thurston, Bill Hedrick and Christopher O. Kidder .

Reserved: A woman lays out markers on seats beside a weapon called a 'bat'leth' before the performance Fandom: It's not just the perfromers who dress up. Marc Malnekoff wears a costume while watching a performance

Interstellar battle: Performers Ali Kidder-Mostrom (left) and David Coupe perform a fight scene as a translation of their dialogue is projected on a screen