No need to worry, it's all there. Actually, there is more there.
Whenever I hear a classic has been adapted, I cringe. I worry that the guts have been ripped out, or important bones have been removed. I wait to see how it looks, like a beloved celebrity taking off plastic surgery bandages.
The Heather Davies adaptation of A Christmas Carol is an exact fit. On now at Theatre North West, it's such a seamless reworking of the old Dickens classic that most will be unable to tell where her language and his language come together - as she merely writes a new frame around the story, leaving most of his original wording intact in the middle.
Davies, both the writer and director for this production, has so aptly captured Victorian English that some might actually not know this isn't the original at all.
I actually felt myself wishing, at times, that Davies hadn't been so true to the old Dickens text.
It's in a form of English that adults will be able to move with (I frankly love the cadence of it) but kids will struggle, and it is absolutely a family show worthy of bringing the children to share.
It wouldn't have hurt my feelings if she had modernized the Dickens stuff and just wrote her attachments in plain 21st century parlance.
But for those who strain against the language (it isn't nearly as outdated as Shakespeare, and most can follow that just fine) there are the visuals and the sounds. The set is conceptual - giant machine cogs and Dickensian imagery interspersed with the furniture and trappings of the 19th century - and wondrous in its size, layers and shapes.
The special effect lighting is jaw-dropping (the direct lighting on the actors was too dim at times, for my visual appetite), the sound effects reach into your ears then zap your spine, and the costumes transport you back in time just like Scrooge touching the robes of a ghost.
And yet, the costuming also takes you on an altogether new journey.
This version of A Christmas Carol has a dash of steampunk to it. This historically-based science fiction aesthetic typically offers a parade of pop and sizzle for the eyes, with its marriage of futuristic technologies and olden-days fashions all cobbled into a new/old look.
Some of this is present on the characters when Scrooge is off on his ghostly dream-trips. The only problem at all that I had with this production was wishing with all my heart they had quadrupled the steampunk elements. I saw a bit; I wanted a lot.
Placating me were the acting performances. You can't have a professional production of A Christmas Carol, no matter how updated or traditional, if you don't have an unbelievable Scrooge.
David Warburton poured Scrooge all over the stage like gravy on mashed potatoes. Every tick of his cheek, every waver of his fingers, every crackle in his voice, every dip of his chin was authentic and personal. This was not a performance of Scrooge we had never seen before, this was a Scrooge himself we had never seen before.
Unlike the caricatures and cardboard depictions we have all seen over the years, Warburton showed us a man.
Another standout performance was projected by Roy Lewis, especially in the chilling role (all but Warburton portray several characters) of Jacob Marley's ghost. Together with the sound, costume and lighting staff, he was sincerely scary dragging his chains and carving his woe into the heart of Scrooge.
Andy Pogson was heartbreaking and heartwarming in the role of Bob Cratchit.
Greg Gale drew a humanizing and energetic picture of young Scrooge.
Eli Hamm was a dominant force as the ghost of Christmas present.
We fell in love with Beryl Bain just as Scrooge did in his younger days, and Cratchit did in latter days of the plot.
Ruby Joy gave us a riveting ghost of Christmas past, and came and went as other characters with the complete conviction of an actor who knows she can't miss.
Victor Dolhai was deliciously creepy as the ghost of Christmas future, and, like his strong peers, also gave deeply to his other characters. The audience is none the wiser, in his hands, as he teleports from persona to persona.
There are a number of child actors on the TNW stage - all of them local and all of them culled forward from a deep pool of audition talent - and each night is a different configuration of them as they share the burden and stay atop their school work. Each one is a delight in the moment and each emanates their potential for the future.
There is limited opportunity, now, to see this retooled and retold classic on the Theatre North West stage. It runs until Dec. 9, but ticket sales are strong.
Book seats as soon as possible via TNW's website to avoid disappointment. Unlike a movie, once the show is over, you'd need the assistance of benevolent ghosts to get you back to that spot again.
