No holiday season would be complete without a viewing of Charles Dickens’ 176-year-old classic, A Christmas Carol. And while my heart will forever hold true to the George C. Scott movie-version of my youth, audiences around the world will suffer no shortage of options: from Scrooge McDuck, to Bill Murray, to a mostly-Muppet cast, there is a retelling for all tastes and ages.
At DC’s Keegan Theatre—the staging of An Irish Carol, written by company member and Dublin native Matthew J. Keenan, has been a tradition 9 years running. Its taste? Flagrantly foul-mouthed and darkly funny. And decidedly adults-only. (Keegan suggests 16 and up).
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In Keenan’s take, the soot-filled streets of Victorian London have been swapped for the warmly shabby interior of a traditional Irish pub on Christmas Eve. While we are told that the action takes place in “modern Dublin,” the audience never glimpses a world outside of the bar which, itself, feels trapped in time. The set (designed by Keenan himself) features a spare and tidy bar, uncluttered and unadorned, surrounded by well-worn wooden stools. Not even a display of liquor bottles, bar napkins or bar implements adds color to the drab atmosphere—much less any signs of impending holiday cheer. Yet, crammed in an attic space just above the stage are several lifetimes’ worth of stashed possessions: a child’s tricycle, forgotten musical instruments, Christmas decorations left to molder, a multitude of clocks and several pieces of precariously stacked furniture threatening to crash down, unbeknownst to the patrons’ below. It is as if the joyous clutter of childhood and messy exuberance of holidays past have been exiled from sight – and therefore from mind.
Pub-owner David (Kevin Adams) darkly broods at the one stand-alone table just out of the whistling draft of the outside door. As regulars begin to straggle into the bar, they remark that the confirmed “grumpy old man” (i.e., ‘Scrooge’) seems in lower spirits, and fouler mood, than ever. Indeed, Adams’ portrayal of the penny-pinching miser is more downtrodden, pitiable, and thereby more human than the traditional hard-nosed Scrooge. David seemingly takes no glee in relieving his clientele of their hard-earned money. While one regular grumbles over David’s sudden price hike on a pint, surmising that the owner probably has a “mattress stuffed with money,” David’s business is clearly dwindling and his concerns about making ends meet seem legitimate.
When he orders his young Polish bartender, Bartek (Josh Adams) to report for work the following morning—depriving him of Christmas morning with his wife and young daughter—it is unclear whether this is an act of malice, a rejection of the holiday, or a desperate chance to save his business.
Josh Adams brings charm and light humor to the role of Bartek, toeing the line with puppyish obedience. Much of the laughs come at his expense, in the bullying, slightly uncomfortable vein of foreigners tripping over an unfamiliar language. The sheer flood of profanity—particularly the “f-word”—employed by the cast accounts for a lot of the snickering and guffaws. As an Irish lass myself, I winced a little at the common stereotype of Irishman-as-drunkard, their slurred speech and lack of bodily control a source of great humor. The audience, however, clearly disagreed, guffawing at the actors’ increasingly silly antics.
Timothy Hayes Lynch is a standout as Frank, a longtime patron and affectionately dubbed ‘town drunk,’ who also provides a kind of institutional memory for the town and its inhabitants, David in particular. Lynch’s devilish delivery of quick comic barbs, playful penchant for the ladies, and steady decline into drunken buffoonery makes him an audience favorite.
An Irish Carol closes December 31, 2019. DCTS details and tickets
While the basic plot elements of An Irish Carol hew to Dickens, Scrooge’s revelation and ultimate redemption are far less evident. When Simon (Josh Sticklin), David’s former bartender and protégé who successfully launched several trendy Dublin bars, pays a visit to the pub, there are clear echoes of David’s past in the young man. First introducing his fiancée Anna (Jessie Power), Simon then spends most of his time on his phone conducting business. When Anna learns the visit was only a ruse – Simon’s attempt to buy the bar from David on Christmas Eve—she storms out, unable to condone his rapacity for money above all else.
After David is visited by his “ghosts,” confronted with the avarice that deprived him of a lifetime of love and happiness, he appears shaken to the core, destined to become a new man. Yet, moments later, in the guise of offering Anna some fatherly advice on Simon’s relentless ambition, David gently pleads that she “not be so hard on him” suggesting that it is she who must bend and not Simon who must change or avoid a fate similar to his own. Thus, while An Irish Carol may be a “modern,” adaptation—it falls short of feeling enlightened.
In the end, An Irish Carol succeeds as a light-hearted, potty-mouthed, tongue-in-cheek romp through a tale that has become synonymous with not only Christmas, but the possibility of redemption and hope for a better future. And who among us (particularly in DC) couldn’t use a little of that, and some whiskey-fueled belly laughs, this holiday season.
An Irish Carol by Matthew J. Keenan. Director Mark A. Rhea. Assistant Director Sheri S. Herren. Featuring Kevin Adams, Josh Adams, Dave Jourdan, Mike Kozemchak, Timothy Hayes Lynch, Jessie Power, Josh Sticklin, Mick Tinder and Jon Townson. Running time approximately 90 minutes with no intermission. Reviewed by Meaghan Hannan Davant. Set Designer Matthew J. Keenan. Lighting Designer Dan Martin
Sound Designer Jake Null. Costume Designer Kelly Peacock. Properties / Set Dressing Designer Cindy Landrum Jacobs. Hair Designer Craig Miller . Stage Manager Alexis J. Hartwick. Produced by Keegan Theatre . Reviewed by Meaghan Hannan Davant.
