Last night was the annual Christmas Date with one of my goodest friends. Instead of exchanging gifts, we go out on the town for a nice dinner and some sort of cultural event.
This year, we purchased tickets for Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol. It was held at the Raleigh Little Theater. RLT actually has several stages, and this one was held in the tiniest one. The audience sat on 3 sides, and those of us in the front row had to make sure our feet weren’t in the way of the actors – that’s how close to the action we were. It was a very intimate setting, and it was very well done.
There was no set. Only 4 actors. The narration, of which there was quite a lot, was interestingly done – each actor narrated the parts about himself. Because there was no set, the script and the actors had the huge job of describing things to the audience. This troupe did an amazing job. Especially Izzy Burger as The Bogle.
It does start off a little strange and a little slow. Jacob Marley has died, and he’s in hell. It’s pretty weird. There is a good bit of time explaining the types of punishments in hell, how hell works, and what the spirit world can and can’t do to affect things in the real world. You might start to wonder where this is all going, and how this relates to Christmas. It becomes relevant, however, when Marley is finally given his assignment at the end of the first of two acts – change the heart of Scrooge. Now your new understanding of the spirit world becomes important in understanding the schemes they come up with.
It is fascinating how this perspective changes the original story without changing it at all, and even makes it a little better. I definitely recommend it!
October 23rd, 2010 12:36 pm
Thanks for the interesting posts guys, been following your blog for the past few months while trying to lose weight for my wedding on the Cambridge diet plan and it’s going really great. I’m down about 25 lbs in the past couple of months and this website has really inspired me to keep trying. Great job.