Holiday Spirits

Hear the clanking of Jacob Marley’s chains, prance and dance with the festive Fezziwigs, and raise a glass of punch to Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim at the Berkshire Theatre Festival (BTF) in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, as the Unicorn Theatre is transformed into Victorian London for its fourth annual production of the holiday classic A Christmas Carol.

Once again, Eric Hill portrays the penny-pinching Ebenezer Scrooge, who time-travels with spectral visitors: the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. Scrooge is transformed from “bah, humbug” to benefactor in Hill’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s iconic tale.

Designer Carl Sprague’s painstakingly detailed set collaborates with lighting by Matthew E. Adelson and sound by J. Hagenbuckle to transport the audience to scenes from Scrooge’s life in the past, present, and future that include some very eerie special effects.

Though the Christmas ghost story is a familiar one, this BTF production makes for an ideal winter outing, from Scrooge’s first “humbug” to Tiny Tim’s final shout of “God bless us every one!” [NOV/DEC 2009]
 

THE GOODS

A Christmas Carol
Dec 10-30
Berkshire Theatre Festival
6 East St./Route 7
Stockbridge, Mass.
413.298.5576 ext. 33