Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol by Tom Mula.
Directed by Michelle Higgs. Presented by Craig Alexander in association with The Street. Studio Two. The Street Theatre. November 27 – 29 2015
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
Every now and again one comes
across an ingenious, funny, poignant and original idea that makes one think,
“Of course! Why didn’t I think of that?” Tom Mula’s tale of Jacob Marley’s quest to redeem the
apparently irredeemable Ebenezer Scrooge is such a work. Of course, we know
from Dickens’s A Christmas Carol that the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present
and Future are the agents of Scrooge’s redemption, but did we know that it was
Jacob Marley, who signed the contract to ensure his own redemption and escape
the ghoulish caverns of Hell. Such is the premise of Tom Mula’s engrossing
Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol.
Banished to an eternity in Hell,
the tortured, dead former business partner of Scrooge signs a contract to take
on the seemingly impossible task of changing the intractable Scrooge. He is
allotted only twenty four hours to achieve his goal and release the pendulous
chains that weigh him down with every link of his miserably penurious life. He
is accompanied on his mission by Bogle, a mischievous hell sprite with a sly
will to see Marley fail in his quest. In a stroke of cunning ingenuity, Marley
inhabits the familiar spirits that visit Scrooge, and lead him towards
enlightenment.
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| Craig Al;exander as Jacob Marley in Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol |
Mula has channelled the spirit of
Dickens to tell a story, colourful in its tapestry of characters, rich in its
vivid prose and thoroughly engaging in its dramatic construct. Mula is the
consummate storyteller, spinning his yarn with a thread that winds through the
fires of hell to the dome of St. Paul, the counting house of Scrooge and Marley
and the prophetic sites of the spirits. Marley’s foreboding intensity is
deliciously counterpoised by Bogle’s
impish cat and mouse Puckish playfulness.
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| Craig Alexander as Jacob Marley in Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol |
Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol poses
an actor’s Leviathan challenge. Craig Alexander and director Shelley Higgs have
chosen to perform the solo version of Mula’s play. Alexander is faced with the
daunting task of playing all characters, plummeting at times to the depths of
despair while navigating the treacherous course of his emotional rapids. In the
intimate confines of the Street Theatre’s Studio Two, Alexander’s performance
is electric, magnetic in its intensity, mercurial in its humour and relentless
in its forceful energy. Mula’s two act tour de force demands of an actor
exhausting versatility, vibrant imagination, physical endurance and keen
intelligence served by a vivid imagination. In Alexander, Mula’s demands are
fully realized in a performance that will have audiences captivated by an
outstanding stortyteller actor. There is at times the risk of a driving energy
that knows no respite, and only very occasionally does Alexander take pause to
let the effect linger. Marley’s account
of his own abusive father offers a moment of deeply moving sentiment but
bullroaring bluster can at times abuse the sensitivity of a moment. Reflection
can offer pause to contemplate. This small quibble notwithstanding, Alexander
offers a performance not to be missed.
Quite remarkable in this
production is the use of light as a leitmotif in Marley’s search for salvation
of his own soul and the redemption of Scrooge’s miserly, inhumane past.
Suitcases hide moments of illuminating magic, while candles flicker and fade at
will to reveal moments of awareness or the dark and frightening abyss of human
failing. Alexander operates the lights as an integral part of the action in a
setting of suitcases, ladder and lights designed to create an eminently
tourable show.
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| Craid Alexander as The Bogle in Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol |
Audiences should be aware that
this production offers a darker insight into Dicken’s immortal Christmas tale,
but Mula has interwoven the spellbinding appeal of Dicken’s story into his
original and clever conceit. We should all be comforted by the fact that
Marley, too, though seven years dead, may also be afforded redemption, as may
we all if only we too may listen to the spirits, ignore the sprites and deserve
the words of Tiny Tim “God Bless Us, Everyone.” Yes, Tom Mula’s play also has a
moral, but then what is a good fable without a good moral, and Jacob Marley’s
Christmas Carol is a jolly good fable.
