A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens, adapted by Michael Shamata (Soulpepper). At the Young Centre (50 Tank House). Runs to January 3 see website for schedule. $39-$89. 416-866-8666, soulpepper.ca. Rating: NNNN
Director Michael Shamatas adaptation of Charles Dickenss A Christmas Carol, a Soulpepper staple, is as robust as a hot toddy and as sweet and as a holiday candy cane.
In the companys repertoire since 2001, the production tells the well-known narrative with a good dose of stage magic, actors playing multiple roles in a way that gets you thinking about the story and its heartfelt message in a new way.
This year, the plum role of Scrooge is shared between Joseph Ziegler, who originated the part with the company, and Oliver Dennis, who earlier played Bob Cratchit, his brow-beaten clerk. Ziegler whos also performing in Parfumerie, another Soulpepper revival, this year at the Bluma Appel Theatre rather than Soulpeppers Distillery home is also the remount director for Christmas Carol, and hes maintained the shows warmth and fascination for audiences young and old.
Dennis is a fine Scrooge, initially with a pinch on his face as well as in his voice his first humbug isnt so much a comment as a curse. Hes condescending if not downright surly to anyone who finds Christmas appealing, until his visits with four ghosts turn him right around in his attitude to the season.
He grows incrementally in his understanding of the spirit of the holiday until his transformation at the end, when, bursting with boyish energy and comic joy at being alive, he sends a meal to the Cratchits and turns up unexpectedly at his nephews house. As he sheepishly remarks, I am not the man I was.
Seeing the show again is a reminder of how fine Shamatas work is, both as adaptor and director. Staged in the round, it again features John Jarvis as Marley and the other three ghosts (in turn light, jovial and solemn) who visit Scrooge Julie Foxs fine costumes define the characters as memorably as Jarviss performance.
As Scrooge wafts like a wraith through the worlds of the other characters, they occasionally deliver lines directly to him, as if they were instructing his better self to emerge from the crotchety miser.
Other pleasures in the show: Jordan Pettle as the new Cratchit, devoted to his family Matthew Edison as Scrooges nephew, Fred, and the young, bitter Scrooge Kevin Bundy as the cheery Mr. Fezziwig Maggie Huculak as Scrooges dour housekeeper and a few more happy figures Sarah Wilson as Scrooges lost love and Deborah Drakeford as the warm-hearted Mrs. Cratchit.
But the story wouldnt succeed without a Scrooge who works his way into our hearts, and thats exactly what Dennis does. He is, indeed, a newborn man by the end of the play, and that feels like a blessing shared between viewers and this favourite Dickens character.
