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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 20, 2003)
Holiday Highlights Dickens Condensed A CHRISTMAS TRADITION FOR THE WEE ONES. new twist on an old favorite is featured this holiday season as Lord Leebrick Theatre Company presents a one-hour adapta- tion of Dicken’s A Christmas Carol. Playwright Douglas Jones’ has con- densed the story into what director Lynda Czajkowska calls a “self-con- scious” approach. A little girl reads aloud the Dickens story, and as she does the characters come to life. All action takes place on one set, designed by Michael Lane, and only seven actors play all the characters. Each actor goes to an onstage trunk to select scarves, mufflers or hats to show their character change. Czajkowska has taken some liberties with the script, adapting the set of char- acters to each actor’s abilities, rather than follow Jones’ guidelines as to how they should be combined. The actors “tell the story obviously and directly to the audience,” says Czajkowska, and that approach has “smatterings of humor in its self-con- scious quality.” But the quick-paced show has more fun; the ghosts, the fear factor — there’s even a fog machine — are part of the experience, yet the chilling aspects of the play are balanced out by the loving, sentimental aspects to the story. What Czajkowska concentrates on in her version is Scrooge’s psyche. When 2 Holiday Happenings he has regret, she says, “I really want to take that emotion and take that through all the way — what makes his heart so bitter, what are those emotions, that fear that turned him into what he was.” In addition, she chooses to place extra emphasis on the fact that Scrooge gets a second chance. Both Czajkowska and LLTC Artistic Director Craig Willis say the show is appropriate for the youngest children, because it’s short and exciting. In years past, LLTC has presented a Holiday Vaudeville show for holiday family entertainment, but the talent that came out for auditions in recent years was not up to par, and the board chose to scrap it. Willis did some research and came upon this script, which he found to be “clever, theatrical and imaginative.” A Christmas Carol opens Dec. 4 and continues Dec. 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, and 20 at 8 pm and Dec. 7 and 14 at 2 pm. Tix are $8 children, $12 adults, or $30 for four people. 465-1506. –AS www.eugeneweekly.com
