Acting in a Christmas Carol

Posted on Nov 29, 2006 at 11 p.m. by Beverly

Show: A Christmas Carol

Three Thoughts of Acting in A Christmas Carol at The Guthrie:

1) "The Underworld". The audience will never know the underground distinct maze that baffles the best navigator's senses of North, South, East, and West. The catacombs of Paris are easier to figure out than the confounded underworld. The underworld consists of the "Trap Room" (where all the people you see coming out of the stage floor comes from) and "The Voms" where all the entrances and exits into the audience are. It's dark down there too. I swear you can kill someone and leave them to rot and it'll take us a week to find him. Since that's improbable, imagine the more practical woe when someone leaves a sandwich to rot and no one can find where it is... I bet there's a minotaur somewhere down there...ready to gobble up the wayward actor who can't find their way to stage right.

2) "Costumes". Realizing that some of these costumes have been around since the inception of the Christmas Carol tradition at the Guthrie (okay, maybe not the INCEPTION, thats hyperbole), some of these costumes continue to smell like the 10-15 other actors privledged to wearing it prior to the current actor. Not to say they aren't CLEAN, they are all cleaned for the show. But some things are just plain difficult to remove from intricate lace and fancy trimmings. My costume for example, smells pretty ripe after I dance in it. Honestly, that dress has been thru more Christmas Carols than I have; if I let it stand, it could probably do my dance steps for me. We may all look good when we're dancing onstage, but if you got close enough, you could smell that lovely aroma of humanity wafting up from our sweaty bodies.

3) "The Hub". The hub is the new "green room" (a place where actors doing a show gather in between their scenes) and it's just plain hard to get to. Imagine finding your way OUT of the underworld and having to climb 3 flights of stairs or take an elevator...all to just grab a soda! I'm finding that more and more actors are choosing to stay in their dressing rooms which are closer to the stage and therefore eliminates the possibility of missing a cue.

We 'open' the show tonight. Very exciting! This is probably the best day of my life...barring my future wedding day and the future births of my children. We are all so ready to share the story with the audience. It's going to be a faboo night...and....AND....the Guthrie throws the best opening night parties for the cast/crew! Food, folks, and fun...gonna be drunkenly satiated...hope that Cindy (company manager) gets that kick-butt coffee tiramisu she brought for the Edgardo opening...