DON'T MISS Dickens

Charles Dickens Performs A Christmas Carol has four nights at the Atheneum next week. It's still one of the best stories ever told.

If you've seen it, you know you have to bring your extended family this year, and if you haven't, this show is the kind of holiday tradition that makes up for the socks and undies from Nanna.

Starting off in community halls in 2003, it was impossible to get tickets for seasons at The Courthouse and Spiegeltent, but the Atheneum has room for everyone.

I first saw it in 2006 and Phil Zachariah's performance was one of my favourites of 2010.

Dickens gave the first public reading of his story in 1853 and over the next 16 years, his readings attracted thousands in Britain, the US and Europe.

Zachariah and director James Adler fell have embraced the tradition and remind is how bloody gorgeous a night of storytelling should be.

After the short Melbourne season, they're is off to Germany for New Year and SM has been told the list of European dates is about to explode.

A good Dickens

Eagles Nest Theatre's production of Charles Dickens performs 'A Christmas Carol' is back at the Atheneum in December.

Here's the new promo vid or go to charlesdickensperforms.com.



2006 review
2010 favourite award

Guest Review: Charles Dickens performs A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens performs A Christmas Carol
Eagles Nest Theatre
2 November 2008
The Speigeltent

Review by Laura Hamilton

This production tells Dickens’ story in a way I imagine is close to how he would have wanted it told, staying true to the traditional English way of performance.

Conveying a tale about the values of money versus humanity, Phil Zachariah is Charles Dickens, alone on stage for 2 hours as he enlightens us with a lively, animated interpretation of Dickens’ famous Christmas Carol story. In embodying Dickens, it is obvious Zachariah has done plenty of period characters throughout his acting career – he completely looks and sounds as if he belongs in the year 1840. In what is a massive undertaking for one actor, what Zachariah does best is personify a storyteller. With hardly any props or set, the challenge is obvious, and his changes in vocal intonation and physical embodiment meant he was incredibly successful in creating the illusion, the image; a very important factor in this type of show.

The Spiegeltent is an ideal venue for hosting a show with such traditional beginnings. It made it easier to imagine the creation of this production – I could see Dickens’ reading his own prose to an adoring audience of all ages in a quaint cabaret-type venue. At times this production had me slightly restless, but I think that is more a result of the action-packed, a-scene-a-minute type theatre that we are increasingly presented with in the industry. James Adler’s production of A Christmas Carol challenges the audience to rely on nothing but the script and the actor, and that’s certainly not a bad thing.

I really enjoyed seeing such an old story told to a packed out, thoroughly modern mix of audience members ranging in age from 6 to 86 – proving that so may years on, Dickens’s appeal still remains widely varied.

This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com

Hamlet

Hamlet
Eagle’s Nest Theatre
20 May 2007
Northcote Town Hall

There is no denying that Hamlet is a fabulous story. Eagle's Nest Theatre’s version has been pared down to a tale about a royal family whose shenanigans rival the tabloid stories of our contemporary royals.

Eagle’s Next Theatre is one of Melbourne’s many independent companies. This one was formed with the goal to produce professional independent theatre and ensure schools and communities beyond the central city area have access to the work. Their program of VCE scripts, classics and original works has created a broad and appreciative audience.

This Hamlet concentrates on the family. Fortinbras has been let go, which has created a slightly different, yet beautifully strong ending. There are some original character interpretations. Bruce Woolley's Claudius is forever drunk, and Phil Zachariah’s Polonius is comical and dithery (oh dear, Ophelia/ Oh, Dear Ophelia).

James Adler knows Hamlet. His regular performances of the Danish prince have given him the insight that allows for multiple interpretations. This time his Hamlet is very controlled and constrained. There is method to his feigned madness and Hamlet can clearly see the consequences of his actions. We so wish he could make his world right. I would, however, have liked to see more of Hamlet’s internal struggle made external. Soliloquies were written to show our internal thoughts. These are the thoughts that aren’t constrained by relationships and people watching. They don’t need to be held so close.

The less experienced members of the cast struggled with the language and in consistency. This is the nature of a company that offers opportunity to all performers. It is the director’s decision about how to temper and present performers of vastly different level skill levels.

The direction was uneven. The story was told well, but seemed to have been directed scene by scene, rather than as a whole. Act Two needed much more pace and tension and the staging needed more attention to detail (Claudius could have stopped Gertrude drinking because he was so close to her).

Hamlet is about status and power; within the country, the court and the family. When the design uses velvet, crowns and pewter goblets – it is acknowledging the role of royalty and the hierarchy at play. A travelling player would not touch a prince; a daughter would not sit when her king and father stood. Using character status as an acting/rehearsal technique may have significantly helped the lesser experienced performers. We needed to see the relationships between the characters and how their status and power motivated their actions.

The relationships between some characters were also unclear. I knew Gertrude was fond of Ophelia, but had no idea if she even liked Hamlet, or if she enjoyed being regularly groped by Claudius. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern seemed to have a different motivation in each scene. Were they there because their best mate Hamlet needed them, because Claudius would kill them if they weren’t there, or because Gertrude had offered them reward? This is all in the text, but was not clear on the stage.

This isn’t a perfect Hamlet, but it tells the story with intelligence and clarity. As such, it is an ideal introduction to anyone who doesn’t know the tale and twists in some original character and plot interpretations for those who can quote along with the cast.

This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com.

Charles Dickens performs A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens performs A Christmas Carol
Eagles Nest Theatre
December 2006
Carlton Courthouse

‘Twas the week before Christmas and all through The Courthouse
There was room for no more, not even a mouse.
The people had gathered for a great Christmas tale
Zachariah’s Dickens proved too good to fail.

The Eagle’s Nest Theatre’s production of Charles Dickens performs A Christmas Carol should be on everyone’s holiday list next year.
I admit I was hesitant to see a solo reading of a clichéd tale. However I stand totally corrected and could not have been more wrong. The night was as perfect as Mrs Cratchett’s pudding.

Over 150 years ago Charles Dickens gave solo readings of his own works. Accounts of the time attest that they were theatrical events with Dickens performing every role to perfection. Under the strong direction of James Adler, Phil Zachariah has channelled the spirit of Dickens and created one of the most engaging, powerful and suspenseful nights of theatrical story telling.

The audience were not the usual La Mama/Courthouse crowd. These were people who wanted to see this play and this story. When I arrived, there were already disappointed people being turned away. Those who made it in were more used to the comfort of The Arts Centre and quite disturbed by the crowded and hot Courthouse. However within five minutes of starting, every member of the audience was transfixed.

This was due to the outstanding performance of Zachariah, and the outstanding writing of Dickens. There is a reason this is one of the most re-told tales. The original story is filled with surprises and complexities that are missing from most modern versions. It’s so much more than a parable about the value of people over money. Scrooge is forced to see his on life from an outside perspective. This is, of course, an irresistible yet terrifying prospect. Dickens tells us that own lives and experiences contain the answer to all our questions– if we look in the right places.

Hopefully this crowd may be brave enough to return to the Courthouse to see more independent productions, and hopefully, the venues that this crowd usually visit will grab this unforgettable production for next December and allow it to be seen by many more people.

This review originally appeared on AussieThearte.com.