Livingston’s Blue Slipper Theatre plays host to a special holiday run of Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol this month. Performances are set for December 6th–22nd. Friday and Saturday shows will begin at 8pm, with Sunday matinees to follow at 3pm.
Jacob Marley was Scrooge’s business partner in life, and the closest thing he had to a friend. In death, he returns to issue Scrooge a warning, serving as a manifestation of the consequences of greed. He has earned his punishment due to the sins he committed in life and explains that Scrooge can expect the same, unless he changes his ways.
Marley’s presence kick starts a series of events that lead to Scrooge’s transformation, and it also instills into the story a sense of urgency right from the beginning as Marley explains the depth of his suffering. He is weighed down by the chain of his sins – the links are forged of cashboxes, padlocks, ledgers and steel purses, things the greedy businessman valued most highly when he was alive and which now constitute a fitting sort of eternal comeuppance. Marley informs Scrooge that he too has fashioned himself a chain, though his is invisible, and consists of an additional seven years’ worth of greed.
Part of Marley’s punishment has been to watch Scrooge make the same mistakes he did, unable to warn him, and although Marley is granted no means of escaping his own fate, he capitalizes on the opportunity to warn his only friend.
From Tom Mula, the play was inspired by his desire to rehab A Christmas Carol, the annual theatrical standby, after performing the role of Scrooge on Chicago stages for nearly a decade. Katie Mangett directs the local production, who helmed last year’s hit Tiny Beautiful Things.
Tickets for Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol are $20 or $15 for students/seniors and are available at www.blueslipper.org. Seating at the Blue Slipper, located at 113 E Callender St, is limited. Please call (406) 222-7720 for more information. •
