“God bless us, every one”
Tis the season for holly, mulled wine, and curing any case of “Bah humbug.” Returning for the second year in a row (and deservedly so!), this one-man show, adapted and edited by Sherrionne Brown and Phil Gallagher returns to Baltimore’s own Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre through December 18th to reprise this wonderful rendition of Charles Dickens’ beloved classic: A Christmas Carol.
It is difficult to find anyone in the English-speaking regions of the world who are not, at least in some manner, familiar with at least one rendition of Charles Dickens’ beloved Christmas classic. Whether it be through TV specials, theatre, Muppets, animated ducks, or reading the classic novel itself, many know the general story and characters by heart. But with so many options to choose from already on the Christmas market, you will be remiss if you miss your chance to see this delightful and encaptivating telling of the timeless tale of Ebeneezer Scrooge and his journey to find his own humanity.
As with any single-person theatrical performance, suspension of disbelief and imagination are strongly encouraged commodities to bring with you into the theatre. Once there, you will find a simple, yet chic setting to the theatre-in-the-round (or in this case square) which compliments the imaginative immersion of the story-telling wonderfully. Director Sherrionne Brown wears many hats with this production as Director, Set Designer, Prop Designer, and Sound Designer, with Sound Editing by Fred Brown and Lighting Design by Fuzz Roark to round off the creative team for this production and contribute to the complimentative atmosphere of Gallagher’s world-building performance. While the overall design may be minimal, it is this minimalistic nature that lends itself most strongly to encouraging the audience to remain in the imaginative present with Gallagher and be wherever he is at any given moment.
The most complex set pieces in this production are the different types of chairs one may find in different economic settings; be it the solid wooden chair backed against the sensible but plush velvet curtain of Scrooge’s bed chamber, or a multipurpose stepping-stool with a seat for the crowded Cratchit household. But in reality, very little is needed to add to the rich worldbuilding unfolding before the audience through Gallagher’s performance.
All characters and narration are played by the wildly talented Phil Gallagher. Gallagher displays mastery in not only transforming himself instantaneously into different characters of different sizes, shapes, corporal planes, and ages, but also in his ability to carry out conversations with himself seamlessly. Turning on a dime, Gallagher is able to metamorphose himself into all parties present and carry out a full conversation both seriously and humorously as necessitated by the scene.
Being as Gallagher is in real life only one singular person of one singular stature, it is even more enjoyable to see and hear the ways he takes on the individual characterizations of each and every character we meet and manage to keep them “individual.” Whether it is the larger-than-life Ghost of Christmas Present, or the playful and vigorous Cratchit children, Gallagher plays with the inflection and timbre of his voice to envelop the different characterizations of each without making you feel like he is recreating any character. On the contrary, he captures the individual vocal and physical characteristics of each character (no matter how fleeting their time on the stage) so as to let the audience immediately know who he is at any given moment without the necessity of the narration always identifying them. Additionally, Gallagher’s prowess at owning the space on the stage further assists in his transformations as he is able to manifest the physical stature of his characters and make the audience feel the presence of space in his adjustments. When he plays Christmas Present, you can feel the space on the stage fill with his enormous presence, while contrastingly feeling like the space opens endlessly around him as he wanders the open country roads of Scrooge’s youth. That being said, I found Gallagher so captivating in his storytelling that I often found myself completely immersed in his journey to the point where I occasionally caught myself looking where he was looking instead of looking directly at him.
But two notable characters Gallagher seems to capture the strongest are that of Scrooge and his clerk Bob Cratchit. Being such opposite characters throughout most of the story’s journey, Gallagher’s penchant to capture the essence of Cratchit’s good qualities to mirror Scrooge’s lack of such goodness (at least in the beginning) play strongly off of each other, allowing the audience to feel even more strongly for both the happiness and sorrow of Cratchit’s life events in Christmas present and future, as well as the joyful enlightenment Scrooge finds within himself by the end.
Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is a timeless classic for a reason. Its overall lessons of the joys of humanity through friends and family outweighing the material pursuit of wealth and accumulation rings true today just as much as it did in the 1840’s. But if you think “if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all,” you’d be sorely wrong. The humor, sobriety, and overall delight that is this particular rendition of A Christmas Carol is a joy to behold and a strongly recommended treat to include in your Christmas-time preparations this year. But don’t sleep on this one! Time is fleeting, and there’s no guarantee that you will be visited by ghosts in the night to help usher you to The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre in time before it becomes a shadow of Christmas Past!
Running Time: Approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes, including one fifteen-minute intermission.
A Christmas Carol…a one man show plays through December 18th, 2022 in the Spotlighters Theatre at The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre, 817 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore MD. For tickets call the box office at (410) 752-1225 or purchase them online.
