Trinity Repertory Company's 34th production of "A Christmas Carol," directed by Michael Perlman '05 MFA '10, proves to be a unique play of breathtaking artistic accomplishment.
The play opens to an exuberant crowd singing on Christmas Eve. It's a contagiously effervescent and charming atmosphere filled with running, delightful children and dancing adults.
Of course, old Scrooge (Mauro Hantman) tries to shatter this lovely mood with his misery, bad temper, selfishness and unfriendliness. Scrooge refuses the kind offers of others, including his inherently jubilant and optimistic nephew Bob (Brandon Drea), who only wishes to have Scrooge join his family for a holiday celebration.
It is only through the lessons imparted by the three Christmas ghosts that Scrooge acknowledges his own problems and their effects on people. Through reflection on his past, realization of his present and concern for his potential future, the old stubborn one admits his wrongs and faces the consequences of his actions.
Yet Scrooge's negative interactions with people barely have any impact on the community. People's love for their families, loved ones and caring friends binds them together in enduring, unblemished joyfulness for the holiday.
This year's production is distinguished by its seemingly simple yet breathtaking set.
Grand surprises seize the audience at every turn, as swings with Christmas-ornamented branches appear from the sky and the ghost Jacob Marley (Matt Clevy) flies threateningly and suddenly from a hidden door.
The significance of the lamps' role in the set is belied by their simplicity — each flickering of lamplights responds with accuracy and rhythm to the music and the smooth transitional moments between illusion and reality. The lamps also coordinate perfectly with and emphasize the changing myriad colors of the flurrying, glittering costumes and the set.
But the show is more than a pleasure to the eyes.
As Associate Artistic Director Tyler Dobrowsky said, the play "does what any great work of art should do — it entertains, while asking us to examine how we live and to determine what is ultimately important in our lives."
"It's about what's important to us as humans connecting to other humans, and what our priorities should be," Perlman wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. He hopes that people who watch this play unfold glean a "sense that they have the ability to change what they don't like about themselves and about the world. That we are all part of a larger community, and that is what makes life worth living," he added.
Scrooge's stubborn obsession with materials and money isolates him from everyone around him. But reflections on his past and his relations with people reveal a man who is deeply saddened and in need of love, a man who loses sight of not only the world but also who he truly is inside.
But it's never too late — as long as one realizes one's mistakes, there is always an opportunity to make remedies, as shown by the kind and forgiving people in Scrooge's community. The Christmas spirit of warm, tender kindness and appreciation gives him the opportunity of reflection and self-realization.
This play, with the combination of a marvelous set, a talented and enthusiastic cast and a beautiful classic story, thoroughly and perfectly embodies this pure Christmas spirit.
