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A CHRISTMAS CAROL – THE CLOCK TOLLS FOR ALL IN GOOD TIME
Adapted from the novel by Charles Dickens by Ray Manfredi
Produced by Stage Door Productions
810 Caroline St.
Tickets $20.00
Reviewed by Dennis Wemm
Editors Note: Dennis Wemm normally appears on Sunday, but we’ve bumped his column up a day. This play has two showings today, December 16, at 3 PM and 8 PM, and one showing on Sunday at 3 PM. Based on what follows, you’ll want to carve out some time and make this Stage Door Production part of your holiday.
I attended the Sunday matinee performance of A Christmas Carol – The Clock Tolls for All in Good Time (or ACC—TCTfAiGT for short) at the Caroline St. Stage Door Community Theatre of Fredericksburg. And I went expecting anything. After all, no one can seem to leave the poor novel alone.
In 2017, Time magazine notes that Dickens is “the man who invented Christmas” and the novel’s popularity changed Christmas from a second-class holiday to a family friendly time of warmth and sharing. The story has been tough enough to be musicalized, comedy-ified, cartooned, colorized, expanded, contracted, filmed, staged, and even opera-ized. The novel seems to stand up to anything, as long as you tell the story that Dickens invented.
Dickens would have applauded Ray Manfredi’s adaptation, which recognizes that early Victorian society was fatally flawed. It seriously needed an infusion of empathy, and humanity, and the realization that material success was not enough.
I have to start with a caveat: I know this story, I read it first when I was nine years old. I’ve adapted it three times, directed it twice in community and college theaters, and had my script used by others. I can say I am genuinely impressed by this retelling. There are a few surprises, otherwise why not watch one of the great Scrooges from the past? So why am I a fan of this production?
Scrooge is an avatar of meanness who is a role model for every meanie since. This meanie is someone who made his own fortune and then refused the opportunity for others to do the same. If evil is banal, then Scrooge is the most evilly ordinary man in the world.
Before watching a production I check to see if there’s a credit for two characters, Ignorance and Want. If they are there, the adapters have understood what A Christmas Carol is about. They are there on Caroline Street, and their entrance is electrifying.
So…what will you see if you go? Chances are you’re looking for period costumes that elevate the show and make it believable that you’re watching people from 1843. Other than a few less-than-flammable fabrics, you’ll see them.
You’re looking for ghosts that haunt the old skinflint to scare him into caring. You’ve got them, very well realized. Each ghost has their own look and style.
You’re looking for some simple visual and sound effects to help you believe in the supernatural power of the holiday. You’ve got them.
But wait, there’s more! Carols. Lots of carols. The audience will sing along, without any prompts from the cast (who do occasionally break that ole fourth wall to reach out for understanding or to explain themselves). Those are there, too.
The cast is uniformly aware of the importance their parts play in the story and are more than able to perform them well. The ensemble of performers in smaller parts becomes a chorus of Londoners at the drop of a top-hat—or a bonnet. Standouts pop out at any moment: Richard Hamilton’s Scrooge replaces the usual eccentricity with a profoundly normal older man who has gradually removed every emotional connection from his life, leaving only money. That normalcy becomes ironic self-criticism when he realizes what he has become. His redemption is real because his character is real.
Recurring characters led by Liam Storm, as an energetic and magnetic Nephew Fred, are enthusiastic partygoers supported by his wife who gets a strong moment of her own, owing to an inspired staging moment. They are all uniformly strong in their performances. The four ghosts are unworldly, the people are worldly. There is an easy-going naturalism to their performances that works beautifully on the intimate Caroline Street stage.
The required scenes are all there. Some are spun out a bit beyond Dickens’s intent or played for some needed comic relief. And some are just wacky. The John and Caroline scene receives a complete do-over without losing a word of dialog from the story, but adding a few extras that make them, well, less sympathetic.
When I made my reservation for that Sunday performance the auditorium was almost completely empty. When I arrived, it was almost completely full (although I’m sure the group wouldn’t have minded if you were there too).
Submission deadlines and publication dates being what they are, this review can’t help the group fill the space for more than one performance. If you can make it to 810 Caroline St. (and make it up the stairs) on Sunday, December 17 at 3:00 PM, you will enjoy this play. It is thoroughly “there” in preparation and in performance.
Dennis Wemm is a retired professor of theatre and communication, having taught and led both departments at Glenville State College for 34 years. In his off time he was president and sometimes Executive Director of the West Virginia Theatre Conference, secretary and president of the Southeastern Theatre Conference, and generally enjoyed a life in theatre.
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