The ghosts of Triad Stage

                I have a confession to make: I don’t understand how someone could not be obsessed with the theater.  It’s just so awesome.  Why isn’t it everyone’s favorite thing?  Okay, okay.  I know, everyone is different and that’s really awesome, and it’s what makes the world go ‘round.  Also, if everyone only loved theater, there would be nothing to make theater about.  But still.  My best friend, who I love dearly, doesn’t love the theater.  She thinks it’s fine.  But she doesn’t love it like I do.  Nonetheless, I asked her if she would be interested in seeing A Christmas Carol at Triad Stage, which is in Greensboro, where she lives.  She said yes!  Hooray!

                I really like Triad Stage.  This was my second show there, the first being Educating Rita.  I admit, it’s been awhile since I’ve partaken of A Christmas Carol – I read the book with my dad when I was a kid, but I have to admit that most of what I remember about the story is from (my secret favorite version) A Muppet Christmas Carol.  I was excited to see what Triad Stage would do with the story.

                So, overall, the production was AMAZING.  Get yourself to Greensboro immediately and see it – you won’t regret it.  And I’m proud to report that my best friend, who was willing to go to the theater with me on my recommendation of Triad Stage as excellent, enjoyed the show very much.  She found it as haunting and profound as I did.  Days later, I’m still thinking about elements of the show.

I think the Muppets may have clouded my memory from the fact that A Christmas Carol is, ultimately, a ghost story.  A ghost story with a happy end, sure, but a ghost story no less.  Triad Stage presented it unapologetically as such.  Kudos.  There were some small children in the audience, who had to have been scared by some of the elements.  I know this empirically because I, a 24-year-old, was scared.  I completely, 100%, do not believe in ghosts, and yet I found the show eerie and resonant.  At the very beginning, the narrators (a woman and a group of beggar children) talk about ghosts – the woman says “you may not believe in ghosts,” and then all the children turn and say “we do.”  Goosebumps ran up my arm.  Jacob Marley scared the daylights out of me.  That is one talented actor!

                As much as I still love the Muppet version of Dickens’ holiday tale, the creepy, haunting elements of it make it so much more powerful.  It’s not just about appreciating Christmas and those around you (including the less fortunate).  Representing it as the true ghost story it is makes it serious social commentary on those who refuse to see the world for what is it: a place of immeasurable woe and limitless joy.  Scrooge cuts himself off from both compassion and indulgence, which, as Jacob Marley makes quite clear, is disastrous.  In order to lead a fulfilling life, one must allow themselves to care for those less fortunate and to delight in their own life.  These lessons truly came to life at Triad Stage – the gravity of the story’s lessons were accurately represented by the haunting and real nature of the ghosts.  And it is painfully obvious that these lessons aren’t just for Ebenezer Scrooge.

Well done, Mr. Dickens.  And well done, Triad Stage.