Jacob Marley Essay

This year the Citizens Theatre, which is a professional mansion, performed the well know dumb evidence Scrooge. I have been to the Citizens Theatre many clock previous to seeing Scrooge. The Citizens Theatre is internationally recognized theatre with a proscenium arch stage and shows a variety of various stand fors, some genuinely traditional and some very contemporary. As a child I was always amazed by the distinguish and costumes use in the Citzs pantomimes, it seamed that no corners were cut.So with this in headland I expected, not so much of a panto, but much of a theatrical performance with great visuals and I would say I was correct to say this. I am fairly familiar with the pantomime Scrooge adapted from the Charles Dickens book A Christmas Carol as I have seen it in other theatres prior to this year at the Citz. The Citzs, I thought was maybe not as traditional as the other versions but it was equally, if not more so, entertaining. I went to the pantomime in two wa ys whilst it was on, first with my peers and then with young children. IT was very interesting to see how they twain reacted.The Story of Scrooge is about a man called Ebenezer Scrooge, a affluent business man full of rapacity counting every cent entering and parting his pocket. On Christmas Eve he is visited by the frequent of his deceased business partner Jacob Marley, who has come to warn Scrooge of what awaits him if he carries on with his greediness. That neverthelessing Scrooge is to be visited by the three ghosts of Christmas past, gravel and future. Firstly the ghost of Christmas past comes to show him of the happy times forwards his self-inflicted l wholenessliness ca employ by his greed, as a child and as a young man.Then the ghost Christmas present shows Scrooge the Cratchit family. The Cratchit family is very piteous and consists of Bob Cratchit, Scrooges employee, his wife and their four children including their son small Tim who is extremely ill. Scrooge is for ced to realize that all the flock rough his fine it difficult to speak well of him. The ghost of Christmas future tells skinflint nothing but shows him of his death burdening all the people around him with the greed he left behind as they celebrate his death.Seeing this abysmally future that he himself could be creating, Scrooge decides to change for the better, rewarding workers with a pay rise and giving money to charity he had previously changed and donating a rich Christmas feast to the Cratchit family. The quality of the set was amazing as it was very grand and the size of the stage meant that the set could be rather big without being pretentious. All around the stage is painted Scrooges prefer rubor phrase Bah Humbug in italic writing.At first there was just an office set up with a window finished which you could see all the Characters entering the scene, I thought that this made the achieve more realistic and was quite a interesting. The window was also used for ca rol singers and the audience could just faintly hear then which made it musical note like you were actually in the office. When Scrooge goes home the office fence in is raised to reveal a whole new set which is even more spectacular. A set of stone stairs lead up to Scrooges bedroom, luxuriously decorated compared to his office that is on a 15 foot tall platform.The most exciting part of the set was when Christmas present arrives with his set, a whole new room painted red into which he is camouflaged, just rolling on moving Scrooges room away. This room is decorated with lots of Christmas decorations. The one prop used by Scrooge a lot was a short electric light which showed how grudging he was because he would remove it with such care whenever expiration the room. Obviously the main character in the play was Ebenezer scrooge. He was an old, selfish, grumpy, rancor old man. We could tell this by his facial expressions that were always very twisted.Although polished in a suite his long scraggly hair and unshaven face showed that he wasnt all that concerned with his appearance. This rugged behavior indicated his age as well as his movement which was hunched oer and slow. At the end however we see a very diametrical scrooge that stands up tall with his head in the air to show his confidence has been gained and he is proud of his changes. I presuppose this couldve been shown by do a greater contrast as I didnt think the change in Scrooge was very dramatic.At the end of the play we are made aware that Scrooge does care about the people around him. He may have realized in a selfish manner, but he changed before it was too late which is what matters, leaving us with a fairy tale ending. I think one of the most dramatic characters in the play has to have been Jacob Marley, Scrooges deceased business partner. He appears from the floor when Scrooges light suddenly cuts out. His costume is amazing with a death gown tear with blood smeared across it to signi fy that he is dead and has been tortured for his unhallowed life.Although impressive, Jacob Marleys entrance was quite alarming and younger children found it quite scary, especially along with the bonds on his wrists and ankles acting as the chains binding him to hell. Compared the quietness of the room before, this huge explosion of noise is very effective. He comes to warn scrooge and is desperate to get the message to him, we fag tell this by the way in which he attempts to get closer to him but the chains stop him, there is also wind blowing against him tenia him making contact with Scrooge.