reviewvancouver: A Christmas Carol

As Ron Reed takes to the intimate confines of the small Pacific Theatre stage with his own adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, he joins a clutch of other notable actors who have uttered “Bah, humbug!” in the guise of one of the English novelist’s most infamous characters, Ebenezer Scrooge.

Dickens’ words have been beloved for over a century and a half and Reed has studied them well. He delivers a reading that provides the right measure of wit, humour and umbrage that the story deserves. Reed is also an enormously talented actor who is able to give a voice and soul to Dickens’ iconic characters.

The production works essentially because of the audience’s familiarity with the story. However, I wonder if Reed’s hurried staccato style of storytelling would just as effectively convey a more obscure narrative. My sense is that it would not. During the actor’s near two-hour, single-handed performance, I frequently found myself switching my attention to his on-stage partner Kathleen Nisbet, who with the help of Bryan Pollack’s quaint Dickensian set, looks like she might have dropped out of the pages of The Old Curiosity Shop. Alas, Ms Nisbet’s main contributions to the production are fiddle-playing, scene shifting and following Reed’s monologue.

The pacing of the show is brought about more from Reed’s delivery than from Sarah Rodgers’ direction. Although, her signature on the production’s overall quality is unmistakable. Lauchlin Johnston’s atmospheric lighting, the aforementioned Bryan Pollack staging and Nicole Bach’s clothes provide both period accuracy and theatrical verve.