I was fortunate enough to see a one man CHRISTMAS CAROL that blew my mind. It starred Patrick Stewart. He wore a green modern dress suit and played all of the parts himself. He used a few pieces of furniture as props, and that was it. The rest was all him.
Now Dickens himself did readings of A CHRISTMAS CAROL on tour, so the conceit wasn’t new. And I have heard of other one man versions. That said, Stewart made the piece his own. That one man could capture the entire Fezziwig party may not be believable, but it happened. Each character existed onto him or herself, and together they filled the imagination. It was a moment that truly exemplified the magic of theater.
When TNT announced Patrick Stewart was playing Scrooge in a new version, I hoped it would be the one man version. Alas, it was not (though it was a fine production which I will talk about later on this month).
There is a CD of Patrick Stewart performing (for it transcends a reading) A CHRISTMAS CAROL which is well worth listening to. You won’t have the physicality of his performance, but you do have the vocal storytelling. Do yourself a favor and give it a listen.
[…] have blogged before about Patrick Stewart’s brilliant CHRISTMAS CAROL on stage, and the wonderful CD of his reading. In 1999 he played Scrooge in a full version on TNT. So in love with the stage version was I that I […]