Stewart on song with solo Carol
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Adapted and staged by Patrick Stewart
At The Albery Theatre (limited season)
*****
There have been many plays based on Dickens' Christmas Carol - there is a musical version in the West End at the moment - but Patrick Stewart's one man production can hardly be described as a play. He performs it in an ordinary brown suit as a storyteller, cutting out anything that might bore the audience and highlighting what is most delightful.
Stewart is a consummate actor. He portrays and brings vibrantly to life all 40 characters in the story - including Scrooge, Marley, the little boy in the street, various servants, the Fezziwigs and even the entire Cratchit family. He gives a realistic impression of a slightly off-key fiddle during the Fezziwigs scene and dances up a storm as he delineates every character at the party with simple moves of his body or subtle twists in his perfectly tuned voice.
For me the two greatest triumphs come with his courageous rendering of Big Ben striking midnight, when, lying on a table doing duty as Scrooge's bed, he gives us all the ding dongs followed by the whole 12 "doings" with the correct pauses in between and without the audience ever feeling uncomfortable or restless. The other great moment is his awakening at the end when the old man appears to be sobbing or choking or even dying until we see that he is in fact laughing with the joy he has finally discovered in life.
Stewart works with a stool, a lectern, a table and a desk and perfect lighting by Fred Allen. The rest is him. Every nuance, every tiny shade of movement, is perfect. He manages to glean humour from his characters - more, I suspect, than the author intended - but without sacrificing very real concerns with ignorance and want. This performance should be seen by every actor or aspiring thespian in the world. It is what real theatre should be - a perfectly told story and a performance that delights the ear the eye and warms the heart with equal force.
Until December 31.
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