As the rush to get ready for the holidays gives way to celebration and finally relaxation, the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey has the perfect show for this season as it completes its 2011 performances this month with the Dicken’s classic A Christmas Carol. Shows resume after Christmas on Tuesday evening and continue until the final show on New Year's Day, Jan. 1, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.
The Theatre is using the version that was adapted for the stage by Neil Bartlett. It features 11 actors playing more than 50 different roles throughout the course of the play. Bartlett’s adaptation holds true to the pure Dickens’ version by using his own words. Bartlett said “Dickens himself prompted this decision; after all, he wrote the story not just to be read, but to be read out loud for an audience. His words don’t describe; they enact.” Bartlett has included spoken and sung Victorian carols delivered a cappella throughout the play.
Audiences have been filling the theatre and cheering the cast led by Philip Goodwin who plays Scrooge. We see him disinterested in life as the play begins and watch him come back to life as a human being filled with compassion, fun, and charity. The transformation is filled with colorful characters and moments. The transitions when the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come enter and exit are events well executed on the stage. The Ghost of Christmas Present shrinks in size as the scene goes on. And an amazing job done was done with the costuming for the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come to present an overwhelming sense of impending doom.
One of the most difficult parts of this play is seeing the two children who represent ignorance and want. This adaptation has one of the best interpretations of these characters truly bringing home the critical sense that Dickens felt about the state of affairs of his day. On a bit of a lighter note, Scrooge's office where we meet Bob Crachit also has two young apprentices whose work is recording in large journals. But to add to the scene, the actors include sound effects that resemble a clock ticking and a bit of light humor needed before the intensity of the evening visits begin.
Especially enjoyable are the costumes and their adherence to the Victorian theme. The dresses during the Christmas party given by Mr. Fezziwig were especially beautiful.
Artistic Director Bonnie J. Monte has directed a show that will appeal to a wide audience. She first directed this show at the Shakespeare Theatre in 2007. She wrote the following in her Director Notes: "Now in 2011, I find myself back with Dickens' story and embracing it once again, no less enchanted by the exciting directoral challenges it provides, but more painfully familiar with the social milieu from which it sprang - because, of course, our social milieu has become so eerily similar."
The experience of seeing A Christmas Carol brings revelations about the good and bad in mankind and it does bring out similarities between events in the Dickens' era and now. Visit the Shakespeare Theatre of NJ this week and see for yourself.
Information about purchasing tickets can be found on the Shakespeare Theatre of NJ website.
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