This time of year, the world is flooded with versions of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” – and oftentimes, lost in the musical numbers and the production value, it is easy to forget that, at its core, this is a ghost story.  Peninsula Community Theatre’s “Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol”, told from the perspective of that first visiting ghost, won’t let that thought slip your mind.  Spookiness abounds as we explore Marley’s fate in the afterlife, consider what drives Marley to warn Scrooge of his chained and rotting future, and discover if there is hope for Marley after all.

The show is told through a combination of dialogue and verbal descriptions of the characters and the situations they are in, told by the actors while they perform the described action – adding to the feel of a campfire story, and allowing for such vivid imagery conjured by lines like the description of Marley’s face “as if he’d bitten a lemon on accident and hadn’t liked it much” and Marley getting Scrooge’s attention by (not a direct quote) “peeling the flesh off of his face like a banana.”  This style of storytelling is perfect for the skillset of newly crowned two-time HRACT Award winner John Cauthen, who is an incredibly talented tale spinner.  Cauthen will grab your attention and keep it there the entire night, with his self-declared “irresistible grin” and his ability to create the visuals on stage to match the details he describes. 

Cauthen’s Marley, however, does need a conscious, as he was, by all accounts, nearly as bad as Scrooge in life.  That is provided by a character named Bogle, a tiny creature that flits around and seems to live in Marley’s ear, who is played by Riley Brooker.  Brooker brings excellent energy to the role – creepy when appropriate, disheartened and fatalistic at times, and optimistic and pushy at others – always keeping Marley even-keeled and humble, as a side-kick should.  Meanwhile, Kelly Flick is this production’s Scrooge (taking on the other side of the famous partnership after her take on Marley at SLT a couple of years ago), and she is compelling in the role.  She is gruff and resistant, and then (spoiler alert, in case you’ve missed over a hundred and fifty years of retellings) as her heart begins to thaw, you can see her face and expressions soften right in front of you.  And the cast is rounded out by Aries Donaldson, who most notably plays the Record Keeper of the afterlife, successfully coming across as intimidating and in-charge, while also giving us one of the most entertaining and longest handshakes we’ve seen.

The ghost story vibes are supported further by the work of the technical crew, many of which are visiting this story for a second time.  Nina Anne Martin and Joey Pendleton bring a spooky and effective lighting package, filling the stage with eerie greens and blues.  Martin is also the director of the show, and stages it magnificently, allowing the descriptions in the script to come to life without making a schtick out of them or going too camp – for example, there is one line about the Record Keeper suddenly growing taller and taller, and Martin’s staging for Donaldson gets the intimidating size across shockingly well with just a couple of steps.  And the entire show takes place on a multi-level set designed by John Post (making their set design debut), which had just enough tricks to emphasize the action, from Marley’s ever-present chains to the books surrounding the Record Keeper to the void of the afterlife.  And Meg Murray’s costuming is top-notch once again, flipping us between the mid-1800s and an imagined afterlife.

Our culture of prequels and sequels demands that creators give audiences more and more information on beloved characters from classic stories.  Some are hits, some are misses.  You won’t go wrong with this addition to Jacob Marley’s story – and you’ll get your “Christmas Carol” fix in just before the holiday itself.