Photo by Laura Heise
Acacia Theatre - Jason Will as Jacob Marley
Acacia Theatre - Jason Will as Jacob Marley
Poor Jacob Marley. Spiritually speaking, that is. He’s officially dead. But, unofficially, in purgatory. Or make that the “counting house” of his mortal life, where, ironically his “debts are very, very great,” according to the Record Keeper.
So begins Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol, Tom Mula’s excellent one-actor comedy drama told from Marley’s point of view. Acacia Theatre Company has staged an outstanding production in an intimate space best suited for such imaginative storytelling and multifaceted acting.
In this Christmas carol, Marley is going to you-know-where but he’s also been given a chance to redeem himself like his miserly partner. He must convince Scrooge to repent and change. And all within 24 hours. Or else.
With a one-actor show, everything hinges on the one actor. And here, Jason Will more than fits the bill. In fact, Will plays so many different characters throughout this one hour, 40-minute production (including 10-minute intermission), that it’s a credit to his many talents—and unlimited energy—that’s I’s easy to forget it’s just one actor.
With no costume changes or accessories, Will skillfully moves from the gruff, old Record Keeper to the spritely Bogle (spirit that helps Marley) to Scrooge, Old Fezziwig and many others familiar to us from Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol.
Director Elaine Wyler and the actor have pulled the humor out of what could easily be a very dark drama and highlighted the many funny bits that populate this Carol. Playwright Mula has cleverly created a parallel storyline to Scrooge. As the story unfolds, we learn the unimaginable cruelty Marley experiences as a child due to the death of his mother, suffering at the hands (literally) of an alcoholic father. We as an audience feel compassion tor Jacob Marley, now a fleshed-out, so to speak, three-dimensional character capable of feeling, once again.
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Simultaneously, we watch Will’s Marley slowly gain awareness of his miserly effects on others and more importantly, grow a heart of his own, especially in trying to redeem Scrooge.
“Eternity’s such a long, long time,” the Record Keeper tells Marley at the start of Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol. But there’s no time like the present to save lost souls like Scrooge. And in doing so, Marley saves himself—for the rest of eternity.
Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol runs through Jan. 8, 2022, in Norvell Commons at St. Christopher’s Church, 7845 N. River Road, River Hills. For more information, call: 414-744-5995, or visit: acaciatheatre.com
