‘A Christmas Carol’ – Written by Charles Dickens; Adapted by Adrian Hall with additional adaptations by Richard Jenkins; Co-directed by Sharon and Richard Jenkins. Featuring Nate Dendy, Stephen Thorne, Jeff Church, Kayla Dumont, Evie Dumont, Taavon Gamble, Gillian Williams, Allison Russo. Original Music by Richard Cumming; Music Direction by James Wood; Stage Manager Anais Bustos; Sound Designer Peter Sasha Hurowitz; Lighting Design by Brian Lilienthal; Costume Design by Toni Spadafora-Sadler. Presented by Trinity Repertory Theatre, Providence, RI, running November 12 through December 31.
By CJ Williams
Trinity Repertory’s A Christmas Carol has a 49-year tradition, but add that to the publication date of Dickens’ original story, and that’s 182 years. That’s all to say that there’s a good reason audiences return to this narrative of miser-redeemed year after year. A Christmas Carol may remind us year after year not to succumb to that sneaking hardness of heart we’re vulnerable to. But it’s also just rollicking good fun to watch an old grumpy geezer get pulled out of bed and thrust into a ghost-haunted pantomime of his past.
There are many adaptations of Dickens’ classic tale. The author himself penned the first stage rendition. Trinity Repertory’s production, co-directed by Richard and Sharon Jenkins, melds musical interludes with the base stage play to varying degrees of success. Some of the music – such as the rousing jig for Mr Fezziwig’s party during the Ghost of Christmas Past’s haunting – fit seamlessly alongside the play’s forward motion. Others, like the opening number with Marley, co-exist more uneasily.
But the play moves along regardless, gaining momentum as Scrooge plunges into the ghostly re-enactments, expectations, and conswquences of his past and present choices.
The stage and set design effectively assist in creating a sense of rapid motion and topsy-turvydom. Players enter from all sides, right and left, over the top (a gangway of sorts stretched over the stage), and underneath. Some of the most fun in this production is in the surprise of ghosts popping out of (moments before) empty curtains or characters (especially the narrator) climbing over railings or peering out of nooks you hadn’t noticed were there. Sharon’s choreography is a delight, pitching people together and apart in a way that leaves us tipped on the edge of our seats for the next movement.
Part of that tipping momentum, however, is also carried by the narrator, who’s almost a show himself. Played by Nate Dendy, the character narrates and interferes, mixing Puckish interruptions with solemn admonition, magic tricks, and acrobatics.
There are schools of Carol that play Scrooge with Shakespearean attention, and others that don’t. Playing Scrooge in this production is Stephen Thorne, an actor of the doesn’t persuasion. Though convincingly grumpy, he begins by shouting and dissolves without much segue or shift into tears. This leaves little nuance in the notorious miser’s conversion.
When the curtain closes, we have the glow of Dickens’ story and a few sharp surprises sparking delight by way of the Narrator. The child actors are both excellent and seem to be having a wonderful holiday time. For all that, A Christmas Carol is an excellent holiday tradition and a gift to the community. Trinity Repertory’s Carol may not break ground or play with the depths of the characters (perhaps they are, after all, archetypes as much as characters), but it does tell a story the whole family will enjoy, and sets the stage for its audience to enter into the hope of the season. For more information and tickets, go to: https://www.trinityrep.com/
