Nicholas Pelczar (Ebenezer Scrooge, foreground) and Khris Lewin (Jacob Marley’s ghost as Spirit of Christmas Present) in Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol. Photo by Kevin Berne.
[rating:4/5]
In Tom Mula’s retelling of the holiday classic, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, our focus shifts to Jacob Marley, partner in life to Ebenezer Scrooge–left in Dickens’ original to help Scrooge find a change of heart without getting a second chance of his own. The Marley of Mula’s story is still deeply human despite his supernatural circumstances in the afterlife and he must use his human instincts in addition to his newfound power to aid Scrooge’s transformation.
Director Jon Tracy, his actors and designers are full of inventive stagecraft. Four actors not only play all the parts but also handle much of the staging, which is quite compelling. Much of the illumination is done with flashlights held by the actors in the dark.
The story starts out in a word for word approach of Dickens’ classic, which is eventually abandoned for a more conversational style.
Khris Lewin makes a sympathetic Marley as he faces a very Dickensonian form of afterlife bureaucracy. His unearthly companion Bogle (Rami Margron) is delightfully versatile in his new physicality. Nicholas Pelczar as Scrooge becomes a minor character to be redeemed. Last but not least is an old favorite, Stacy Ross as the Record Keeper in the purgatorial counting house
Tom Mula passes lightly over much of what happens to Scrooge to focus on Marley. Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol befits the season and makes an old classic new again.
Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol runs from November 21-December 22, 2013. Performances are held at the Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller Avenue in Mill Valley, Tuesday and Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m.; Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m. Matinee performances are Thursday at 1 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday at 2 p.m. For tickets, call the box office at 415-388-5208 or go online at www.marintheatre.org.
Coming up next at Marin Theatre Company will be Lasso of Truth by Carson Kreitzer and directed by Jasson Minadakis, February 20-March 16, 2014.
Flora Lynn Isaacson
