It’s an old one, Charles Dickens’ story of Ebenezer Scrooge. This miserly junkie, from whom Uncle Skrue takes his name, is one of the ugliest from children’s literature.
Perhaps that is why the story about him has survived for almost 200 years?
When the National Theater chooses this as this year’s Christmas story, they are right.
FULL OF JOY: Anne Krigsvoll as Ebenezer Scrooge in “A Christmas Story” at the Nationaltheatret. She fits that role well.
Photo: Erika Hebbert
Not only have they taken steps that bring history closer to our own time and put into words very real issues we struggle with – such as expensive time and our willingness to share.
They have also made major changes to the story itself so that it is easier for a child audience to follow. In addition, they have cast Anne Krigsvoll in the role of the old curmudgeon and grumpy Scrooge.
A good choice, because Krigsvoll is a delight when she is ugly.
“They sing Christmas carols”
The original title of Dickens’ story is “A Christmas Carol”, often translated as “A Christmas Carol”.
Singing “carols” at Christmas time is one old English traditionand in “A Christmas Story”, well-known Christmas carols run like a red thread through the play.
TOKT: Singing and collecting money for the poor in Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Story”. Scrooge is not interested, to say the least
Photo: Erika Hebbert
They both maintain the Christmas carol tradition and make the lyrics important and charged, the songs become a kind of clues into Scrooge’s story.
On Christmas Eve, Ebenezer Scrooge is haunted by the ghost of his old business partner. This ghost will warn Scrooge:
If he doesn’t become a better person, things will go badly for him in the afterlife.
The ghost then sends three spirits to him. They show Scrooge Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Future.
The spirits show choices he has made and their consequences. At the same time, he gets the opportunity to change while he still can.
UNEXPECTED VISITORS: With spirits from Christmas past, Christmas present and Christmas future, Scrooge, played by Anne Krigsvoll, is forced to realize who he really is.
Photo: Erika Hebbert
Family focus
Director Maren Bjørseth has made radical moves in Dickens’ text. Much has been removed, and much of the language is new and fresh.
Certain old-fashioned phrases and terms still linger.
MONEY OVER LOVE: Ebenezer was so in love as a young man, but chose his lover for the money – and only realized it when it was too late. Here: Hanna-Maria Grønneberg as her girlfriend Isabella and Jacob Jensen as young Ebenezer Scrooge. Jensen does a good interpretation of Ebenezer and gets to utilize his fine-tuned comic talent.
Photo: Erika Hebbert
The character gallery is also carded in, so that Ebenezer’s journeys with the three spirits (to Christmas past, present and future) center around his own family and upbringing.
The performance places great emphasis on Ebenezer’s possibilities, that the good has always lived in him, and that he himself has opted out of everything he misses in his life: love, community and closeness.
Instead, he chose the money.
Among other things, Scrooge’s sister Fanny, played by Maria Kristine Hildonen, is central to the story. She is the spirit of the future, and she is gentle but brutally honest with him.
SIBLISH LOVE: The Spirit of Christmas from the future is Ebenezer’s late sister Fanny. She shows him the possibilities he has – and puts him in his place with love. From left: Maria Kristine Hildonen and Anne Krigsvoll.
Photo: Erika Hebbert
By letting family members, the children’s anchors in life, take a large place in the performance, sympathy is created for Ebenezer. That way, it becomes easier to understand the old grudge, how difficult it can be to choose to change – and to bring about a change that lasts.
On a Christmas visit
The scenography is adventurous and consists of small and large houses where Scrooge and the audience can visit, it almost gives a feeling of visiting Santa Claus.
The aesthetics are reminiscent of Tim Burton’s films “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “Alice in Wonderland” with crooked angles and surprising perspectives, including Scrooge sleeping upright in his bed.
SCENE ADVENTURE: Imaginative scenography, including Ebenezer sleeping standing up. Smart and fun!
Photo: Erika Hebbert
Inside the houses it is colorful and overwhelming, and from the top of the stage comes lighted stage smoke which helps to emphasize the supernatural experience in the play.
And in the middle of this stands Anne Krigsvoll in her last role at the National Theatre. That she can play an old man, even a grumpy one, is no surprise to anyone who has seen the film “Munch».
But it takes something to show Scrooge’s radical change through his old body.
Krigsvoll works well with the nuances, and shapes the character Scrooge not only with mimicry, but with well-thought-out physics and a lively shoulder area.
WORKING OVERTIME: Ebenezer Scrooge (Anne Krigsvoll) works day and night with his assistant Bob Cratchit (Jan Gunnar Røise). The two have very different views on life – but it is Scrooge who has the power – and the money.
Photo: Erika Hebbert
The fellow man
“A Christmas Story” is a performance that will be most popular with families with older children, aged eight or thereabouts.
The story is extensive, even with the moves that have been made, and to get the most out of everything that happens in parallel at the different time levels, it requires a bit of the viewer.
Moreover, the show stops itself when it seems to be moving towards a simple but happy ending and says: It’s not that easy. Because if you want to change yourself and the world, it requires effort every day.
Only when Scrooge realizes this is he truly relieved and free.
CHRISTMAS JOY: Sharing brings double happiness in “A Christmas Story”. Here George (Bernhard Arnø with the Christmas turkey), and Scrooge’s nephew Fred (Jacob Jensen) with a bunch of Christmas presents.
Photo: Erika Hebbert
The way the National Theater plays out Ebenezer Scrooge’s story, how they go into the memories, illuminate them from different sides and show how complex the world can be in the life of an ordinary person, makes this a very good performance.
In a time when many are struggling and children are suffering, the show lifts the human responsibility of individuals without pointing moral fingers.
At the same time, it is a performance that makes the audience want the good.
And then – yes, then it will be Christmas.
NRK reviews
Photo: Erika Hebbert
Expand/minimize fact box
Title: “A Christmas Story”
Of: Charles Dickens
Dramatized by: Jack Thorne
Location: Hovedscenen, Nationaltheatret, Oslo
Given: October 21, 2023
Game period: October 21st–30th December
In the roles: Anne Krigsvoll, Jan Gunnar Røise, Jacob Jensen, Ågot Sendstad, Petronella Barker, Per Egil Aske, Maria Kristine Hildonen, Hanna-Maria Grønneberg, Bernhard Arnø, Marika Enstad, Kasper Holt Ekeberg, Matheo Emile Olausen, Oskar Maximillian Wifladt Blomseth, Alma Louise Hovland-Larsen, Mina Svendsen Hubert and Simone Dahl Husby
Playwright: Olav Torbjørn Skare
Translated by: Kristofer Grønskag
Director: Maren Bjørseth
Composer and sound designer: Alf Lund Godbolt
Scenographer and costume designer: Katja Ebbel
Choreographer: Ida Wigdel
Lighting designer: Norunn Standal
Masker: Rebekka Louise Refsnes
2023-10-23 12:53:00
#Anne #Krigsvoll #delight #shes #ugly
