MANSFIELD – Few things are more iconic emblems of the holidays than evergreen trees, twinkling lights and the Charles Dickens tale of “A Christmas Carol” showing this weekend at the Mansfield Playhouse.
The timeless Christmas classic tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge as he meets the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. Along with the Cratchit family and beloved Tiny Tim, it’s a play that inspires nothing but good feelings upon leaving the theater.
“This is always a classic, and one that seems to be a favorite,” said director Doug Wertz. “Everybody knows the story, it’s classic Dickens.”
Presented as a straight play, “A Christmas Carol” takes place in many different vignettes including Scrooge’s office, Scrooge’s bedroom and the Cratchit household. This presented a challenge technically, as Wertz decided to create three moving set cubes that reveal each scene.
“I think it’s more interesting to watch on a technical level because it gives the audience something to see during the changes,” Wertz said. “We’re making this as interesting to watch on a technical level as it is on the story level.”
“A Christmas Carol” showcases the talent of more than 30 local actors, including a handful of children. Most of the younger roles go to the children in the Cratchit family, and most of the Cratchit children actually come from the Stefaniuk family of Ashland.
“It’s more fun to see them,” said mother Rebekah Stefaniuk. “Sometimes I forget I’m their stage mom and not their real mom.”
Bringing Scrooge to live on the Playhouse stage is Bruce Jacklin of Mount Vernon, who first directed “A Christmas Carol” as a musical at the Playhouse nearly 15 years ago. He described himself as now “age-appropriate” to tackle the challenging role.
“It’s a story of redemption,” Jacklin said. “What’s your life like, what contributions did you make, what decisions could you have made and how do things look if you don’t take a different path? Everybody looks for that at Christmastime.”
According to Jacklin, Scrooge becomes slowly embittered through the choices he makes in life and what he’s tethered himself to, such as the fear of being poor.
“He’s not actively trying to grasp money, he just fears of being poor since he grew up poor, and he never wants to live that life,” Jacklin said. “I think that motivates a lot of wealthy people as opposed to just humanity.”
The audience is transported through Scrooge’s journey of self-discovery thanks to the three ghosts that appear at his bedside. Wertz explained the ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge the kind person he once was, the ghost of Christmas Present shows him how much he’s changed and diminished his personal qualities for likability, and the ghost of Christmas Future shows Scrooge his path if he doesn’t change, without saying a word.
With the heavy involvement of ghosts in “A Christmas Carol,” Wertz is mindful of playing the ghosts too dark and scaring the children that might otherwise come to this family-friendly show.
“You’ve got to find those levels, find a balance to make it a little mysterious,” Wertz said. “Part of what I’ve seen in the story of Scrooge is, the norm is to treat things angrily – like, as a spirit I’m here to teach you a lesson and you’ll do what I tell you. But you soften things up in order to tell the story, and you have builds in each spirit as well.”
Actor Jim Childress of Lexington takes this responsibility very seriously as the ghost of Christmas Present. His ghost’s role is particularly important as Christmas Present is the one to introduce Scrooge to Tiny Tim, played by 7-year-old Sullivan Stapleton.
“The central part of the play is Scrooge’s relationship with Tiny Tim,” Childress said. “I have to be the bridge between the past and the future to say, you have to turn things around. You can’t do anything about the past, present is happening right now and you can do something right now to avoid the future.”
This is Childress’ eighth Christmas play throughout the years. The presence of family around the holiday keeps him coming back to the Playhouse during this season.
“We have a lot of regulars come to our shows, and we get a lot of people who if they only come to one show, they’re going to come to the Christmas play,” Childress said. “They all speak to you. For most people, Christmas is the biggest holiday of the year. It’s good to be here at Christmas.”
Indeed, both the cast members and Wertz himself expressed that the hoped audience members would leave the Playhouse with both a renewed sense of the story, and the warm feeling of the Christmas spirit.
“Hopefully the audience still learns humanity,” Wertz said. “Scrooge is a terrible human being in his current state of mind, but what he’s learning is it’s not too late to change and recognize it’s not too late to make a difference. A little humility goes a long way.”
Performances of “A Christmas Carol” at the Mansfield Playhouse will be on Dec. 2, 3, 9 and 10 at 7 p.m. and on Dec. 11 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Mansfield Playhouse at 419-522-2883 or by visiting www.mansfieldplayhouse.com.
