Review
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Theatre Calgary
Starring Stephen Hair, Philip Warren Sarsons and Tim Koetting
Written by Charles Dickens
Adapted by Greg Nelson and Ian Prinsloo
Directed by Eric Rose
Runs until December 24
Max Bell Theatre (Epcor Centre)
"I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it."
Their faithful Friend and Servant,
C. D.
December, 1843
Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol continues to find mileage in his "Ghost of an Idea" more than 160 years after it was first published. A staple of Theatre Calgary’s season for 16 consecutive years – 11 of which have seen local actor Stephen Hair walking in the miserly boots of Ebenezer Scrooge – the redemptive story has become a traditional Christmas experience for many Calgary families.
With such a well-known tale, there’s no need to say, for example, that the archetypal Christmas hater begins by demonstrating his own monstrous hatred for all things festive, despite the best efforts of his nephew (Guillermo Urra) and the compellingly desperate situation of his employee, Bob Cratchit (Philip Warren Sarsons). And there is also no need to note that, after Scrooge’s late partner, Jacob Marley (Tim Koetting), visits him with ominous warnings of hellfire and chains, the old curmudgeon is haunted by the three spirits of Christmas Past (Jennie Esdale), Present (Kevin Rothery) and Future (Koetting). Thank goodness for classics.
Director Eric Rose employs an often-heavy hand in creating the familiar world of Dickens’s story, with a sophisticated digital-projection backdrop illustrated by Ty Semaka sometimes overwhelming the colourfully idealized whimsy of London’s Christmas celebrations and the dazzling costuming of Charlotte Dean. Yet the production makes no apologies for its own scale and the importance of spectacle in a rousing holiday adventure. Featuring frantically choreographed bustling and even a spirited game of "Blind Man’s Bluff" with a comically effete C. Adam Leigh, the show moves with an infectious holiday enthusiasm that even extends to Scrooge himself.
A comic, fumbling old man who displays about as much malice as you’d expect had he missed his glass of Ovaltine before nap time at the retirement home for Dickensian taskmasters, Hair’s Scrooge is downright endearing. He mugs for the audience like a Victorian Jackie Gleason and we can’t help but like him from the moment he jumps into bed after Marley’s portentous appearance on the door knocker. Unfortunately, this lovable Scrooge takes away the necessary drama from Christmas Carol’s climactic redemption, instead proving his emphatic insistence to the Ghost of Christmas Future that "I’m ahead of schedule."
Twenty first-century digital projection and lovable villains notwithstanding, ’tis the season. And there is no denying that a lighthearted and familiar holiday tale transcends even the most critical "bah, humbug." A production that has consistently contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the food bank through its Toonies for Turkey campaign, A Christmas Carol is as welcome and guilt-free as a Christmas dinner. And, given the strength of tradition, this "Ghost of an Idea" will likely continue to haunt Calgary theatre seasons for years to come. |
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