Carol’s Christmas at Arctic Playhouse Puts the Community Back into Theater

I must admit that my jaw dropped when I opened my program and saw there were over 30 people involved in The Radioactive Theatre Company’s holiday show Carol’s Christmas. While the cast was, to borrow from our President-Elect, “YUGE,” the Artic Playhouse is most definitely not, and I was wondering how director David McLoud, Jr. had managed to fit the entire cast backstage, forget staging scenes on the tiny performing area.

The night I saw the show with my 4^th grade son, the theater’s comfy couches and chairs were packed full of folks of all ages. We grabbed our complimentary popcorn (thank you again, Arctic Playhouse!) and took our seats among the local children, parents and grandparents who made up the audience.

Written by Radioactive Theatre’s Artistic Director Shannon McLoud, the show is billed as “the story behind the story” of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Anyone fearing that the evening will be a dull, retelling of historical facts need not worry. Director McLoud has cast the playwright (also his wife) as the show’s Narrator, a brassy Shannon McLoud, who commands the stage with the most forceful Christmas spirit I have ever seen. She soon is shoo-ing her employee Carol off to Victorian London to give poor Charles “Chuck/Charlie” Dickens inspiration for his next story. Carol (played as a perpetually eye-rolling slacker by Kathleen Seagriff) begrudgingly takes on Dickens’ writer’s block — he doesn’t have a “ghost of an idea” — and takes him on a journey through the past, present and future. (Sounding familiar yet?)

Thomas Morey is back as Charles Dickens, playing the writer as a put-upon schlub whose pregnant wife is about to “pop” while he is under pressure to write the next great novel.

While the first act weaves in plot points and familiar Dickensian characters, Ms. McLoud’s script also offers commentary on how Christmas is celebrated today. One of my favorite lines was from a young boy who asks his modern mall-shopping parents for a phone, a tablet and a new gaming system “so I know that I’m loved.”

As I mentioned, the cast is quite large, a veritable village upon itself, and in many instances made up of entire families acting together onstage (I cannot begin to imagine the “child-wrangling” that must go on before curtain!). The show’s cast members run the gamut in age from kindergarten to teens to adult actors. The youngest, 5-year-old Lily Werbecki, has my vote for the cutest Tiny Tim ever and she is joined onstage by her dad, Steve Werbecki (Bob Cratchit) and her sister Ella (Belinda Cratchit).

Reading through the program, I was surprised to see how many families were treading the boards together. Working alongside the younger set were more seasoned actors working for the company for years.

The second act brings out Bill Pett, a familiar face to theater-goers throughout the state in the role of Scrooge. Playwright McLoud takes us through the actual Dickens story of the cold-hearted miser who is rewarded with a second chance by the visits of Ghosts on Christmas Eve. All of the “usual suspects” soon appear, played with commitment and appropriate gravitas. First to appear is Jennifer Mensel’s serious spectre of Marley, followed by Jillian Govoni’s straight-from-a-Japanese-horror-movie Ghost of Christmas Past, then Caitlin Robert’s perky Christmas Present and finally Don Shurtleff as the heavily masked figure of Christmas Future.

With its ever changing-scenes and timelines, showcasing of local talented kids, a veritable songbook of Christmas carols, and the playwright’s irreverent take on all things Dickensian, the show kept its audience fully entertained. My son (a very typical 9-year old whose tastes run to Minecraft and YouTube videos) declared that it was the funniest Christmas show he has ever seen (and trust me, he’s seen a few of the “big” ones) and thought the Narrator and Carol were “hilarious.”

My takeaway was a definite case of the “warm and fuzzies” from seeing so many people of all ages working so hard together to create the show. Radioactive Theatre Company’s Carol’s Christmas is indeed true community theater – with a strong emphasis on the creation of a welcoming, multi-generational community.

The Radioactive Theatre Company presents Carol’s Christmas by Shannon McLoud, directed by David McLoud Jr. Performances are December 8, 9 and 10 at 8pm at the Arctic Playhouse, 117 Washington St, West Warwick. Ticket prices include the yummy chocolate chip cookies AND free popcorn.