Redone Dickens: 'Carol' That's Out of Tune

Providence Version Lacks the Proper Spirit

David Whitehead plays Charles Dickens and Tina Thronson plays Catherine Dickens in the Providence Players' adaptation of "A Christmas Carol." (By Amanda Snow)

The Providence Players wrap up their first Christmas holiday program, an adaptation of Charles Dickens's durable tale of redemption, this weekend in Falls Church.

The group's production of "A Christmas Carol" is one of the few playing this late in the season. That doesn't mean you should rush out to see it.

"Durable" applies to "A Christmas Carol" because it lives on through the decades despite the efforts of playwrights and theater companies to present a "new and improved" version. Because it is in the public domain, any hack can flail away at it. And many have, with dozens of renderings floating around.

Dickens's original work, published as a short story in 1843, is in danger of disappearing. That's a pity, because it is a richly evocative and significant experience as literature and theater.

The Providence Players, unfortunately, have fallen into the trap of trying to seem fashionable by pushing Dickens aside in favor of a dumbed-down version by playwright Michael Paller. The group touts it as "a fresh approach to the classic tale" even though it's 26 years old.

Paller's pallid play wrings out most of Dickens's vibrant imagery and smooths away its soul-wrenching edges.

The central exploration of salvation, which binds the story to the Christmas season, is replaced by a flimsy and thoroughly dispensable examination of creativity and emotional connections.

This version takes the chills out of Scrooge's harrowing spiritual journey as Paller puts Dickens in the center of some post-modern psychobabble, relegating the flinty miser to a secondary figure.

Scrooge appears in the context of a play-within-a-play, the focus now on Dickens as a character who needs to use family and friends to open himself up emotionally and rejuvenate his stagnant creative powers. It's a long visit from the Ghost of Christmas Boring.

Here's how Paller sets up the story: Charles Dickens, played competently but with no distinct personality by David Whitehead, has writer's block, so he asks his family and friends to extemporize a story based on characters he will briefly describe to them. Scrooge, an unpleasant miser, will be visited by ghosts who will show him the error of his ways, and he will be redeemed.

Wearing costumes they dig up in the Dickens home, the party guests play multiple roles (which makes it something of a challenge to figure out who's who at certain moments).

Dickens, in the role of Scrooge, is sparked by the collaboration and delves into the darkness of his soul to color the character.