Imagine Charles Dickens runs into William Shakespeare in a London pub late on a snowy Christmas Eve. After five or six pints, they’ve drunkenly forged an idea for a new Christmas play – a little bit Charles, a little bit William, and all of it hilarious.
The Red Barn’s opening show of its 46th season unveils the madness such a collaboration could yield.
“Scrooge Macbeth,” by the award-winning playwright David MacGregor, is a mash-up that keeps audiences in the Christmas spirit for 80 minutes. The show runs Dec. 9 through Jan. 3, with all curtains at 7:30 p.m. There will be no performances on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or New Year’s Eve. There will be a performance on New Year’s Day.
The story centers around a small community theater about to open a holiday production of Shakespeare’s “A Winter’s Tale.” The hope is that the show will save the financially strapped theater. But most of the cast is laid low by food poisoning mere moments before curtain time, leaving the last four actors standing to pull some kind of holiday entertainment together on the fly for the waiting audience. What they come up with is Shakespeare running headlong into Dickens as they try to combine two tales into a single production – complete with improvised turns on the best-known carols of the season.
“It’s one of the funniest plays I’ve ever been a part of,” said Red Barn managing director Mimi McDonald, who also directs the show. “It has a surprise a minute and takes advantage of the intimacy of the Barn’s space – the audience will feel they’re right in the craziness as part of the show. And I think it capitalizes on the strengths of the Red Barn – we love the offbeat, the off-kilter here, and we’re lucky to have cast some of the great comedic actors Key West has.”
Imagine hearing “I’m Gettin’ Nuttin’ for Christmas” sung from the point of view of Richard III. Or Ebenezer Scrooge showing up on Juliet’s balcony. Or Hamlet going Christmas shopping.
One of the characters – an over-the-top diva – adds a bit of drama by refusing to do the show until he’s allowed to play Othello, who gets pulled into a very odd and lyrical holiday Shakespeare cabaret.
“Scrooge Macbeth” stars Key West’s Dominic Paolillo, Nina Pilar, Mathias Maloff, Cassidy Timms and Gerri Louise Gates.More information is at redbarntheatre.com or from the box office at 305-296-9911.
