December 10, 2017 — In playwright Tom Mula'sretelling of the Dickens classic, Ebenezer Scrooge's late partner, Jacob Marley, becomes the protagonist and dominates the story, and is given his own path to redemption. In order to rid himself of "the chain I forged in life," Marley must find a way to redeem Scrooge.
In New Hamphire's Peterborough Players presentation of Mula's play, Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol, Tom Frey is Jacob Marley (and also the play's music director), Bridget Beirne is the "bogle," or guardian angel, and Kraig Swartz plays the dual roles of Scrooge and the record keeper in the strange afterlife Marley finds himself in. These three are Peterborough Players veterans and among the finest actors in New Hampshire theater. Jared Starkey plays Bob Cratchit and an assortment of other minor characters.
Directed by Charles Morey, the actors, besides portraying the characters, do their own narration to move the play along. Swartz, as usual, is over the top and hilarious in his dual roles. Frey and Beirne have the audience rooting for them in their quest to set Marley free from his condemnation to eternity in chains.
This was the first of three live plays in the Peterborough Players' second winter season. I'm looking forward to the next two, which I'm sure will be of the same high quality we've come to expect in the Players' productions. The Players also presents Arts on Screen throughout the winter and spring, this season featuring the Met Opera, National Theatre Live and the Bolshoi Ballet.
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