"A Christmas Carol" a la Patrick Stewart: some thoughts
Timothy W. Lynch
"A Christmas Carol", this can't possibly be considered a spoiler. But I'll put
in one form feed anyway, for those of you who are worried of dying of envy. :-)
Wow.
I can die happy now.
For those who aren't quite sure what I'm talking about...this weekend, in
Caltech's Beckman Auditorium (Pasadena, CA), Patrick Stewart gave a dramatic
reading of "A Christmas Carol". (In fact, he did it twice...and since I saw
both performances, I'll probably mention both. Hmm...guess I just did. ;-) )
I don't know precisely how much I can say, since the performance is of such an
evocative nature that words don't really suffice. But I've never let that stop
me before, right? So...
He was magnificent...but then, you knew that. For starters, I never realized
before now just how versatile he is with his _voice_. His expressions on-
screen (on and off TNG) have always been magnificent, but I don't believe I've
ever seen him in a situation where his voice had to be used to differentiate
between characters.
He did it quite well. Off the top of my head, I can think of at least ten
different characters who had to be distinctive: Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Mrs.
Cratchit, Tiny Tim, Marley, the Ghosts of Christmases Past and Present,
Scrooge's nephew Fred, Fezziwig, and of course the narrator (who gives all the
details of what's happening). He pulled it off effortlessly--to the extent
where I could have attended the entire performance blindfolded and still
understood what was going on.
This, my friends, is not an easy task. I don't know how many of you have ever
tried reading any sort of book or story (or play...whatever) aloud to someone,
using many different characters--but I have. While I like to think I'm not
all that bad at it, there is no way that I could hope to live up to the stan-
dards Mr. Stewart set last night and this afternoon. I feel very humble right
about now.
However, there is one other person I must mention, despite the fact that this
was a one-man performance: Fred Allen, the lighting designer for the show.
The show was a very minimalist one, with Mr. Stewart wearing a black jacket and
white shirt straight through, no sets apart from a couple of desks chairs, no
music, no sound effects, etc.--so one thing that was important was that the
lighting, at the very least, not get in the way. It not only didn't get in the
way, it often eased the way. When the prose mentions a group of beggars
huddled 'round a fire, and then the lights are dimmed and reddened (and
directed) until all we can see is Mr. Stewart down on his knees on center stage
warming his hands over a dull red glow, it's hard not to be swept away and to
start believing that this isn't just someone on stage. (I gave the fire as an
example because it was the first time I noticed the lighting effects, but there
were many others.)
But the lights weren't the only thing that made the show worth watching from a
visual standpoint. Mr. Stewart used the paucity of the sets to full advantage,
even using the papers he was reading from as a prop a fair amount of the time.
As Fezziwig in a Christmas Past, he danced with his invisible wife effortless-
ly. From the way he turned his head or changed even slightly the way he looked
at something, you could tell which character it was even before any words were
spoken. (...and keep in mind that I was in the NINETEENTH row, saying this!)
The dance was one of the two occasions I can think of in the "normal" course of
the performance which were interrupted by applause (the other being when the
newly-reformed Scrooge starts coughing and wheezing, which slowly transforms
into a hearty laugh, his first in years--you could feel the weight lift from
everyone's heart).
He also closed the performance on an interesting note. After being clapped
back onto the stage for the third time, he raised his arms for silence, and
we all stopped. He then said: (more or less exact...I didn't exactly tape the
thing, right?)
"Nowadays, in the late twentieth century, particularly in southern California,
it's easy to feel removed from the Dickensian London of the nineteenth
century...but a great deal of it still exists. And I could take each and every
one of you by the hand and lead you to places in London which Dickens would
swear hadn't changed very much. Bob Cratchit lived in Camdentown [???], where
even today many children live lives as precarious as Tiny Tim's. A recent
survey in London showed that more than _five thousand_ families live below the
poverty line...and a Congressional survey in your own country showed that
forty-five percent of all black children, and one in five of *all* children,
live below that same line. The solicitor who came to Scrooge's door said that
this is the season where Want is most keenly felt...and it's still true today.
The children Ignorance and Want are still alive, and still suffering. But none
of us are shackled, as was Marley's ghost. We all still have the power to
intervene for good. Thank you all very much."
Amen.
I'm not sure there's much else I can say about the performance. It was well
worth every penny I paid, and I know of no one who left the theater disappoin-
ted. He does this every year, or so I gather, so if you can manage to see him
next year, do it. If not, the loss is yours. For myself I can only say this:
I intend to see the show as often as possible, because not only am I finally
glad for once that Dickens was paid by the word :-), but I find myself finally
in a position to appreciate Christmas when it comes...something I haven't
really done for a number of years. (Of course, that may change as soon as I
go out Christmas shopping...;-) )
However, that's not all. I also had the good fortune to attend a reception
following Saturday evening's show in Mr. Stewart's honor, which was quite
pleasant. While he didn't stay long (his agent had to quickly whisk him away
before he lost his sleep and his voice, considering he had today's matinee to
give), he hung around for a little while, and said a few interesting things.
For example:
--This performance originated in his home parish church some years ago, it
seems. At the time, though, it was much different--he wore an old Dickensian
costume, and read from the pulpit alone, trying to read it much as Dickens
would have. He also read every word, as opposed to the slightly edited version
we had here--which made it, in his words "_interminably_ long--in fact, I think
the only reason I was allowed to finish it at all was that the audience was
mostly family and friends..." Then, a few years ago, when he was looking for
something to do in southern California while TNG wasn't filming, he dug up the
idea, played around with it a while, and voila!
--Someone told him "you must be _great_ at bedtime stories..." (I won't comment
on whether she had any ulterior motives...) He said that he was lousy at
making stories up, but he enjoyed reading them, although he said there were a
few of them that he simply wouldn't read: "Like the one...oh, what is it...the
French elephant..." "Babar?" "Yes! Babar! I've always HATED Babar!" :-)
--Someone (okay, me) asked him about playing Karla in "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier,
Spy" and "Smiley's People", since it was almost the opposite of what he did
here (saying absolutely NOTHING in a significant role vs. saying everything)--
he said it "was the easiest job I ever had--no lines to learn!"
--Obligatory TNG news: When someone asked him if he thought the lack of flaws
in the main characters was a problem, he said that he thought it _used_ to be,
but that now it's been mostly taken care of. He said "we've just finished
shooting an episode that LeVar [Burton, aka Geordi, who was also at the
reception] stars in, which I don't think we even _could_ have done in the first
season..." We shall see, I suppose.
Well, that's about it for me. In fact, that's *really* it for me, since I'm
getting on a plane home in about 14 hours. So, I wish you all Happy Holidays,
and I'll see you with a slightly tardy review of "The Loss".
Tim Lynch (Cornell's first Astronomy B.A.; one of many Caltech grad students)
BITNET: tlynch@citjuliet
INTERNET: tly...@juliet.caltech.edu
UUCP: ...!ucbvax!tlynch%juliet.ca...@hamlet.caltech.edu
"Really, for one so long out of practice, it was a splendid laugh!"
--P. Stewart, reading Dickens
Claudia Zornow
> Caltech's Beckman Auditorium (Pasadena, CA), Patrick Stewart gave a dramatic
> reading of "A Christmas Carol". (In fact, he did it twice...and since I saw
> both performances, I'll probably mention both. Hmm...guess I just did. ;-) )
Aha, THAT'S why I couldn't get tickets!
I admit that my friend who lives in that area didn't call for tickets until
late the week before, but he was told that both performances had been sold
out almost since sales began. There was something about waiting in line
for possible standing room, but we didn't try it. How early did you
obtain your *MULTIPLE* tickets? (:-))
Claudia