Photo by Michael Brosilow
The Milwaukee Rep's ‘A Christmas Carol’
The Milwaukee Rep's ‘A Christmas Carol’
In less than 100 pages, Charles Dickens wrote one of the most enduring literary works of the 19th or any other recent century. A Christmas Carol has become essential to the holiday season, familiar to millions who have never read it thanks to countless adaptations for stage and screen. The Milwaukee Repertory Theater first produced A Christmas Carolin 1976, and it quickly joined ranks with “The Hallelujah Chorus” and The Nutcracker as a beloved performance of the season. It returns to the Pabst Theater for its 49th year.
The Rep’s British-born artistic director, Mark Clements, recalls that his “first encounter with A Christmas Carol was on the radio as a child—it was haunting yet deeply moving. I’ve always been drawn to its themes of redemption and transformation, which felt both magical and meaningful even at a young age.”
As are most of Dickens’ characters, A Christmas Carol’s protagonist is marvelously named. Ebenezer Scrooge suggests an awful looking tool in a torturer’s workshop, a vise designed to squeeze the last ounce of life (as well as the last penny) from its victims. The cruel uncaring man at the story’s onset is greedy and embittered, a Protestant whose work ethic had eaten away at his heart and poisoned his soul. He is the worst embodiment of the maxim propounded by Britain’s 19th century philosopher of industrialization, Thomas Carlyle, who wrote, “The only happiness a brave man ever troubled himself with asking much about was, happiness enough to get his work done.” Scrooge could have spoken those lines.
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A Christmas Carol begins on darkly humorous note, but Dickens’ gift as a storyteller transforms what could have been a bleak novella of misanthropy into a cheering fable of salvation. Scrooge’s dormant soul returns to life after his fateful encounter with four spirits: the shade of his deceased partner in avarice, Jacob Marley, tormented in the afterlife for his misdeeds; followed by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and yet to come who remind Scrooge of his childhood, the joy of living and the fate of dying unloved.
Kindness, Community, Transformation
“Dickens’ themes of kindness, community and transformation remain timeless,” Clements says. “As society continues to grapple with social inequalities, Scrooge’s journey toward empathy and generosity is ever relevant, reminding us all of our capacity for change.”
A Christmas Carol evokes its 1843 setting, a wintry London draped in snow and soot, a place of poverty and chill. But like the Ghost of Christmas Present, Dickens’ themes continue to haunt our own society in the story’s depictions of a population burdened by debt and low-wage earners lacking access to good health care. Scrooge’s clerk, Bob Cratchit, maintains a façade of good cheer to disguise the anxiety of scrimping from payday to payday. Cratchit can barely sustain a family that includes his chronically ill son, Tiny Tim. Nowadays, the firm of Scrooge & Marley would be a global entity, dismissive of any value outside the marketplace as “humbug.”
Clements is listed in the credits for the Rep’s production as director and adapter. “I delve into Dickens' text to distill its emotional core while enhancing moments that bring depth to characters and keep the story’s spirit vibrant for modern audiences,” he explains. “I especially had children in mind when writing as this production is meant for the whole family. There’s nothing worse than spending time and money on an experience and then your kid keeps asking to go to the bathroom because the play can't keep their attention. This story has enough heart and the right about of spookiness to keep everyone engaged.”
A Christmas Carol’s message of compassion, and the possibility that even the most wounded soul can change direction for good, continues at the Rep with a returning cast that includes Matt Daniels as Scrooge along with a few new faces. “What's so fun about bringing A Christmas Carol to life every year is the young performer cast is always changing, and they bring a sense of wonder to the play that makes it feel new every year,” Clements says.
A Christmas Carol runs through Tuesday, Dec. 24 at the Pabst Theater. For tickets, visit milwaukeerep.com or call (414) 224-9490.
