Review: Bogan Literature: A Christmas Carol at Subiaco Arts Centre
Bogan Literature: A Christmas Carol at Subiaco Arts Centre
Friday, December 6, 2024
Perth theatre stalwarts BS Productions returned to the literary fray with their twist on the festive classic, A Christmas Carol, with Ebenezer Scrooge transported from Dickensian London to a rental agency office somewhere on our own St George’s Terrace.
Scrooge initially appeared on stage a thoroughly unpleasant fellow—his employees overworked, charity workers chased away, and his remaining family all but ignored. So far, so canon.
Dressed all in red flanno, Scrooge drifted to sleep this fateful Christmas Eve, only to be woken by the ghost of his former business partner, chained in Emu Export and VB cans, intoning that there would be three more spectral visitations that night.
Dean Lovatt played Scrooge for all but a brief minute—as the opening narrator—and was on stage almost the entire run time of the piece. Lovatt gave a subtle, nuanced performance of someone not as heartless and mean as they could have been.
Though a most despicable personality, the Ghost of Christmas Past scenes indicated a child bullied at school, a dysfunctional family life, and two specific tragedies that caused Scrooge to build emotional walls almost as high as Babel and just as unstable. Not a character to coddle, but definitely one most observers could understand.
The underlying, repressed fury at being owed by the world, of a chip on his shoulder the size of Montana, and the anger at those whom Scrooge thought didn’t take life seriously enough, including many loved ones, was palpable.
Around the core performance of Lovatt, the four other actors pulled multiple duties, splitting a total of twenty-four characters between them. With very distinct energies brought to each performance by each actor and strong individual cut-through for each role, it was quite easy to keep track of the characters on stage at any time.
Especially a credit to the cast and their production design was a four-person scene at a shopping centre during the Christmas sales. As Sarah Courtis’ glazed-over shop assistant recited loyalty programs by rote and Jess Lally as Pram Lady banged into Scrooge’s ankles every thirty seconds, the staging easily gave the sense of festive crowds, overwhelm, and chaos.
Andrew Dawson as the Ghost of Christmas Present brought the biggest barbeque tongs, the worst dad jokes, and all the chaotic larrikin energy of 1980s game shows—he was an absolute hoot in the role. Whenever things got too real during these scenes, this ghost would immediately find the next ‘look over there’ distraction.
Another highlight were the four brief vignettes indicating the rise and fall of Scrooge’s relationship with his fiancée, Belle. This part of the performance only took a few minutes, but Maiken Kruger as Belle and Dawson as Young Scrooge gave their all and brought true believability to these moments. That to Scrooge the job was more important than the relationship, as the love slid away over the years, hit hard.
With each setback or trauma in the past, Scrooge had hardened his heart but came out of this Christmas Eve a changed person. He became kind, generous, and loving, and, as much as this sudden Damascene conversion might jar, there was authenticity here, as much in the current performance as the original novella.
The ultimate tale of successful therapy, A Christmas Carol is wonderfully staged and performed by a troupe comfortably at the top of their game.
PAUL MEEK
