Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol by Tom Mula
December 11th, 2007
My friend Audrey and I have started a yearly Christmas tradition of going to a Christmas type production (or cultural event) sometime in December, complete with a nice preshow dinner. We have been to the Nutcracker a few times in the past, and this year we selected “Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol” which was performed at the Gaddy-Goodwin Teaching Theatre at Raleigh Little Theatre.
At first, I was a little concerned that the show would be too artsy for me to grasp. The stage consists of a series of black platforms against black curtains, and the only props the actors had were candles that they used a few times during the show. The performers had their work cut out for them as they not only had their own spoken lines, but they also verbally described what their character was seeing and doing as we progressed from scene to scene. I thought that they did a remarkable job, especially Izzy Burger as “The Bogle.” Audrey and I were quite impressed with her animated style and facial expressions. The performers had an additional challenge of occassionally becoming other characters in the story as well. They were all fantastic in their various roles.
The play was in the smallest theatre at Raleigh Little Theatre (at least I’m assuming it is the smallest…it doesn’t get much smaller than that one!). I remembered seeing a play there years ago. Audrey and I were so close to the action that we had to worry about whether our feet were going to trip the performers. The theatre is an interesting, intimate environment.
I was familiar with the original Christmas Carol, but I was unfamiliar with Tom Mula’s take on the story. As you would guess from the title, Jacob Marley is the focus in this version. We start the story with the death of Jacob Marley and his entrance into hell. Some parts of the story are familiar to the audience, but most of the familiar scenes have a new spin with the knowledge that Marley is on a mission to impact Scrooge’s redemption.
I would recommend this production if you can manage to fit it into your schedule. They will have four more performances this year: Thursday, December 13th at 8pm, Friday, December 14th at 8pm, Saturday, December 15th at 8pm, and Sunday, December 16th at 3pm.