A Singer’s Notes 27: Christmas Past

Eric-hill-returns-as-scrooge
Eric Hill as Scrooge at the Berkshire Theatre Festival's Production of "A Christmas Carol"

Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" is a moralizing tale, strictly speaking. It's one of those that's mostly tough with the sweetmeats at the end. It's a story you already know. It is such a good tale structurally that it has proved irresistible to tinkerers of all sorts. The layout works. It has a little bit of everything — ghosts, little children, Christmas stuff, a happy ending. It seems to me the great message of the story is not the happy result of generosity, but something much more private, the promise that there still is time. It is not too late for Scrooge. This is the center of it. Good productions say this clearly. Eric Hill, in the Berkshire Theatre Festival's Unicorn, got this across clearly. This actor has a technique so finished it disappears. At one point wandering around his premises, he made a series of sub-verbal noises — moans, groans — you knew exactly what he meant.  He wasn't a ferocious Scrooge; he just didn't care - didn't want to be bothered. This seemed right to me. He didn't exaggerate his fear when Marley's ghost appeared, nor did he overdo the high jinks at the end. I see this same economy in his directing, sometimes almost too much so, as in the recent Macbeth. But there is always a center line to what he does, and there is always cohesion. This was a real performance, not a holiday treat.

Read the full article on the Berkshire Review, an international journal for the Arts!

Michael Miller