Light up the holidays! Join us on Thursday, December 15 at 6.00 pm for a festive rendition of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, from the Independent Shakespeare Company.
This production is based on an adaption Charles Dickens made of his famous Christmas story and performed by Shakespearean actor David Melville with musical accompaniment and “dramatic interjections” by Katy Tang.
In his lifetime, Charles Dickens was recognized not only as a great writer, but as an actor. His greatest successes on the stages of Britain and the United States were his solo performances of his own work. Women were known to faint in horror at his portrayal of Bill Sikes murdering Nancy when he performed Oliver Twist. One of the first pieces he presented to great acclaim was A Christmas Carol.
Melville said, “It’s humbling how many people return every year to see it and that they’ve made it their Christmas tradition. What’s unique about it is that because it’s presented by Charles Dickens, you hear Dickens’ narrative as he wrote it. It contains a surprising amount of humor and his attitude towards his characters is perhaps not as sentimental as you might think. But it’s always moving because it’s about an act of forgiveness and redemption.”
The performance is full of the acting pyrotechnics Dickens was famous for as the two actors conjure a magical evening full of wry humor, ghosts, romance, and redemption.
The campus promises to evoke all the atmosphere of a Victorian drawing room. Come for the pre-performance Reception in the Art Salon, with wine and nibbles, and the After Party with food in the Dining Room. If you wish, you are invited to come wearing Dickensian attire (top hats suffice!), don Victorian props for a photo in the photo booth, munch on delicious fare from our Executive Chef, Tommy Bellissimo, and his crew, and enjoy the not-so-Victorian sounds of our DJ Michael Greenfield (Barbi Greenfield‘s husband).
David Melville in A Christmas Carol
