Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Jefferson Mays once again displays complete mastery of his craft in a beguiling solo stage adaptation of Dickens’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL

• By drediman
• November 28, 2020
• No Comments

Last night, I caught the superb new film capture of the Geffen Playhouse’s 2018 staging of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, starring the great Jefferson Mays. Conceived by Michael Arden (who also directs) and Dane Laffrey, this iteration of the perennial holiday staple has been adapted for the stage by Mr. Mays, Susan Lyons, and Mr. Arden, who yank the focus back to Dickens’ evocative original text. In doing so, it peels away the hackneyed sentiments of many a film and stage adaptation, bringing the work’s sober themes to starker light. But make no mistake, this is still very much the familiar story we all know and love, just recalibrated to feel newly urgent. In the spirit of the classic, funds raised from this live-streamed event will benefit the many community, amateur, and regional theaters that have been decimated by the pandemic.

At the center of the production – narrating, as well as playing all the characters (over fifty of them!) – is the astonishing, chameleon-like Mr. Mays, certainly one of the finest American stage actors of his generation. In his parade of portrayals in A Christmas Carol, Mr. Mays exudes the same complete mastery of his craft as he did in his award-winning, tour-de-force performances in I Am My Own Wife and A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. He also brings a thickly gothic sensibility to the storytelling that accentuates the fact that Dickens’ novella is at heart a chilling ghost story. Together with his ecstatic, fully-invested (emotionally, physically) approach to acting, Scrooge’s existential crisis comes to the fore with terrifying potency. Altogether, it’s a hat trick of a performance that manages to be in turn both unsettling and warm-hearted, but never at the expense of absolute lucidity.

Without all the bells and whistles of the staging, this A Christmas Carol would still be one to write home about. But somehow, Mr. Arden – who is fast establishing himself as one of the most inspired stage directors working today – and his team have matched Mr. Mays’ virtuosic performance with a similarly beguiling production. Although much of his fluid, atmospheric staging is shrouded in shadows, I marveled at the theatrical spectacle of it all (e.g., skillful use of projections, lighting, puppetry), particularly for what is essentially an intimate one-man show. The rich, decidedly contemporary musical scoring was provided by alternative pop artist Sufjan Stevens, whose contribution heightens the emotional stakes of the story. Happily, the production has been expertly filmed, admirably capturing the theatricality of the much-missed in-person experience.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

A CHRISTMAST CAROL
Theater / Live-stream
Geffen Theater / TBD Pictures / La Jolla Playhouse / On The Stage
1 hour, 30 minutes
www.achristmascarollive.com