December 17, 2010 performance reviewed by Frances Benn Hall.
If you can get a ticket for A Christmas Carol, now playing on the Unicorn Stage at the Berkshire Theatre Festival through December 30th, grab it! Now in its fifth season, and 5th version, Eric Hill, director, adapter, and a talented actor has so deeply developed his role as Scrooge that he totally inhabits it. And Charles Dickens’ tale of a miser redeemed becomes something much more.
The minute shades of the man have been given as much development as one would expect in a Shakespearean lead. Here, Dickens’ grouchy hero evolves into a giddy, benevolent human being.
The many scenes are woven together and the production flows effortlessly from the first solo by a young boy (whom I cannot identify from the program, but who sings beautifully) to the last moment when the child Tiny Tim (Henry Taylor) sends us home with the message: God bless us everyone.
The lights that fell like rain drops over the stage and ceiling at times, the sound brought in bells and gongs, the buoyant dances that accompanied the gay uplifting moments, proved that skilled theatre technicians were at work to ensure that the play ran smoothly and convincingly. It was clear that the actors loved what they were doing and wanted to please us.
All this contributed to a lovely feeling of joy and good will and of having been present at a performance well worth having shared, one in which Hill’s theatrical talents showed brightly. Go, and carry Tiny Tim’s wish with you out of the theatre: “God bless us every one.”
- Berkshire Theatre Festival
- PO Box 797, Stockbridge, MA 01262
- Box Office – 413-298-5576 ext. 33
- website: BerkshireTheatre.org
