My Purview to Review

D and I went to see "The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge" yesterday. Knowing that Linds and James and my parents have yet to see it, I'll try to give away as little as I can of the plot.
As much fun as I might poke at Theatre and Company, I think that they put on a spectacular show, and this play was no exception. Whomever is in charge of set design there does an absolutely marvellous job.
The play begins before the audience has even seated. The theatre is transformed into an eighteenth century courthouse, so that upon entering you feel as though you are in fact entering said courthouse, and the seat you take is your place in the gallery where you will bear witness to the proceedings. A faux parquet wooden floor and a wooden judge's podium and witness stand have been laid out before the audience, with two gas lantern chandeliers hanging from ropes close to the ground. It became immediately apparent that at the beginning of the play someone would come to light these lamps and raise them up to brighten the courthouse, which I thought lent a sense of authenticity to the play.
I'll say right now that I thoroughly enjoyed the play, and I think it would be difficult not to. I would call it a "comedic homage" to Charles Dickens' classic, not a satire since it had not the tongue in cheek criticism for Charles Dickens' story that a true satire would require. Rather, the play seemed to be intended as a reminder to those of us who have grown up with Scrooge and the ghosts of Christmas and have become used to his story what in fact that story was trying to teach us. Namely, the play reminds us that Charles Dickens meant for all men and women to show good cheer and charity to their fellows all the year around, and not to restrict ourselves to being good to each other merely one day out of three hundred and sixty five.
At times the play was sad, but never became maudlin. At times it was funny, but never farcical. At times it was downright scary, though the joy with which it was written soon banished fear and turned it into delight. One can easily detect Mark Brown's own feelings towards Christmas, or more pointedly the Christmas Spirit in the passionate speeches given by the witnesses at the trial, in the criticisms levied by Scrooge towards those same witnesses, and in the warm hearted advocacy of the defense attourney working on behalf of the Ghosts of Christmas.
What really stood out was Mark Brown's command of language. I found myself enthralled by the speeches and engaged fully in the trial, truly feeling that I was part of it and that I should give every word my full concentration. I paid careful attention to every turn of phrase, every joke, and never felt a moment of my attention wasted or squandered. The writing was so good I think I would have enjoyed it as much had it been performed as a radio play, with only my mind upon which the images evoked by the actors' stirring words could dance and play.
I had but one criticism, and a small one at that. On several occasions Mark Brown takes quotations directly from the popularized film versions of Charles Dickens' "A Chrismas Carol". They are used to great effect and well, and seem intended once more to make clear that this is an homage, but at times I felt the play suffered from the use of these quotations. I think that these quotations were a crutch upon which the playwright leaned, though like Tiny Tim after Scrooge's interventions the crutch was unnecessary. The reason for their use was clear, but I think "A Christmas Carol" is popular enough and well known enough that most men, women, and children know it nearly by heart already, and it would have been better to focus on the story at hand than to worry about drawing our minds back time and time again to the original tale with anything other than allusion.
I highly recommend seeing this play, be it at Theatre and Company or some other playhouse. I would see it again myself, but I think I've finally given away all the tickets I had available. And I would like to congratulate Mark Brown on recreating a fantastic world in which I happily spent two hours of my life, and which left me and D warm for the rest of the night.
On a side note I would like to suggest perhaps writing this as a radio play, as I mentioned above, because I think it would translate quite well, and perhaps broaden the audience to whom it could be delivered. Just a thought.
Merry Christmas.