✭✭✭✩✩

written and directed by Michael Shamata

Soulpepper Theatre Company, Premiere Dance Theatre, Toronto

December 16, 2001-January 6, 2002

"Dickens Without Wonder"

In Soulpepper's production of "A Christmas Carol", director Michael Shamata tries to treat the story's sentimentality the same way that Thornton Wilder treats it in "Our Town"--by exposing the workings of the theatre to undercut it.  Unfortunately, his approach is not consistent enough and contrasts too much with John Ferguson's detailed designs to succeed.  What saves the show are a number of fine performances, but overall one has the feeling that it is just not as effective as it should be.

Shamata's adaptation of Charles Dickens's 1843 tale begins with John Jarvis as the Narrator explaining what a "ghost light" is in the theatre, removing it because this play intends to conjure up ghosts not keep them at bay.  From that point on Shamata attempts to emphasize the play as theatre.  Two actors called "harlequins" (though never costumed as such) move props on and off.  Flying is represented by their moving characters about on a ladder with wheels.  The London skyline, built on a series of wagons, is pulled by like a toy train.  Except for Scrooge the main actors play from two to five roles.  While this procedure does well in undercutting the sentimentality in the scenes with the Crachit family, it also undercuts the magic in the scenes with all four ghosts.  Shamata needs to use more extensive repertoire of techniques à la Andrei Serban or to cut back to the bare essentials à la Peter Brook if he wants theatricality to evoke the wonder of Dickens's narrative.

John Ferguson's set is symptomatic of the problem.  As a three-sided box with nine doors used for interiors and exteriors, it might seem minimalist but its detailed moldings and panelling work against that idea.  Ferguson's costumes, too, are all too varied and realistic if theatre-as-theatre is really what Shamata is aiming at.  Graeme S. Thomson's lighting achieves a number of good effects but is not as imaginative as it could be. 

Shamata's adaptation consists almost entirely of Dickens's dialogue taken verbatim from the story.  Divorced from Dickens's extensive narration, this dialogue gives us only the bare bones of the story.  It's rather odd, then, that having begun the play with a Narrator, Shamata does not use him again until the conclusion.  The play is only an hour 45 minutes long including intermission.  More of Dickens voice via the Narrator would not only be useful for creating the right mood but would heighten the play's theatricality.

Luckily, Shamata has assembled a generally fine cast, most notably with Joseph Ziegler as Scrooge.  Ziegler succeeds in the difficult task of making this overfamiliar character a person not a caricature.  Private woes not greed have led this Scrooge to his present rigor, but when he kicks off his slippers in joy at the end we, too, feel his release.  Oliver Dennis's main role among five is Bob Crachit and he is perfect for it, showing him as a good, decent man whose inherent optimism withstands many trials.  Patrick Galligan makes a positive impression as Scrooge's well-meaning nephew, but is especially effective as the young Scrooge, whose loss of his only love has made him bitter old man we know best. 

The main liability in the show is John Jarvis.  Among his five roles, he is fine as the Narrator and imposing as the silent Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.  But the accent he gives the Ghost of Jacob Marley would seem to locate him in Louisiana not London, and he employs varied gaits alone to differentiate the Ghosts of Christmas Present and Past while neglecting to give them any character, ghostly or otherwise.  Young and slim, Kevin Bundy does his best at being old and jolly, but anyone familiar with John Leech's original engravings will find him miscast in his main role as Mr. Fezziwig.

In contrast, Tanja Jacobs, among five roles, is just right as the genial Mrs. Fezziwig.  Susan Coyne gives us a Mrs. Crachit much more forceful than usual.  Deborah Drakeford is especially good in the key role of Young Scrooge's fiancée Belle, a woman who knows Scrooge better than he does himself. 

Among the four children, Henry Ziegler (a relation, I assume) is delightful as the Boy Ebenezer and as Tiny Tim.  Ross Ward at only 13 already shows more authority in his two roles, Tim's older brother and a Boy, than many an adult actor.

One of the few scenes in the production where all the elements come together is in the extended wordless sequence of Mr. Fezziwig's ball, cleverly choreographed by Timothy French.  Here the onlooking Scrooge is gradually drawn into the lively dances in spite of himself.  We see both how isolated he has become and the potential for a renewed connection to society and its celebrations.  If every scene were like this one, combining theatricality with real feeling and insight, then this "Christmas Carol" would be a triumph.  As it is, you may very well feel like turning back to the source to recapture the mystery and wonder that too often are missing.

Photo: John Jarvis and Joseph Ziegler. ©2001 Soulpepper Theatre Company.