Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge, Christopher Durang’s irreverent holiday story for a morally disheveled generation, offers a not-so-subtle nod to the cultural hypocrisy of the modern Christmas celebration. Presented by the SBCC Theatre Arts Department and directed by Katie Laris, this fourth-wall-breaking explosion of Dickensianisms, Christmas unavoidables, and alternate-universe Scrooge proxies had me chortling from beginning to end. Borrowing characters from Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Durang, too, uses Scrooge’s misanthropy to comment on greed. But while Dickens’ story de-grinches an old miser, Durang merely points out that while we may flock to redemption stories of altruism and joy during the Christmas season, we go (almost gleefully) back to slinging flaming garbage at each other the rest of the year — so isn’t it a bit hypocritical to label Scrooge a villain?
The cast is strong, including AJ DeAugustine as a version of Scrooge who is a less grisly miser and more modern malcontent (in the vein of a post rom-com Hugh Grant); and Grace Wilson as the long-suffering Mrs. Cratchit, whose snarky outlook seems a combination of a dramatic personality bemoaning the misery of poverty and the absolute insult of having no one to commiserate with (her husband and children are gallingly intent on grace in the face of rotten circumstances). Other hilarious standouts are the boiled-egg Fezziwig family and the incredibly slapable Tiny Tim.
The camp factor is high as Scrooge and the ghost of Christmas Past, Present, and Future (Ciara Barnes) whirl through various yuletide scenarios. The poor ghost’s determination to rehabilitate Scrooge turns to resignation at the realization that while to err is human, she definitely can’t compete with the rebranding of “err” into “optimizing opportunity” based on the inevitable stratifications within a capitalist society. Moralizing is passé!
See Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge for a laugh at the Jurkowitz Theatre through November 23. Click here for more information.
