THUNDER BAY – Magnus Theatre is bringing familiar spirits to its stage this holiday season in the upcoming production of Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol by Tom Mula.
This spirited tale of redemption tells Charles Dickins’s beloved holiday classic from the perspective of Ebeneezer Scrooge’s former business partner, Jacob Marley, who must free his immortal soul from hellish eternity by settling his accounts and redeeming the heart of the miserly old Scrooge.
“This is what’s happening in the next room while a Christmas Carol is going on. So we get snippets of a Christmas Carol. We see the ghost of Christmas past, we see the ghost of Christmas present, we see the ghost of Christmas yet to come, we see a spectacular Jacob Marley, but we only get snippets of scrooge because we already know that story,” said artistic director Thom Currie.
“We don’t know Jacob Marley’s story, so this is kind of a cool flip side to a Christmas Carol and that’s why I picked this show. The fact that it’s a one-man show I think is a great bonus to it.”
Currie also would like to stress that this show is not intended for children, as it’s definitely more of a ghost story than a Christmas story.
“I have to stress that this is not a Christmas Carol for little kids. If you think back on a Christmas Carol, the scariest moment in Christmas Carol is when Jacob Marley comes into the room. There’s a lot more of that in this show,” said Currie.
“So if you’ve got an eight-year-old or a six-year-old and you’re thinking, hey, I’m going to take them to the Magnus to see a Christmas Carol. I don’t recommend that at all. This is a ghost story and we have an amazing crew here at Magnus that’s unpacked an incredible amount of special effects to tell this ghost story.”
Jacob James is making his return to Magnus Theatre to star as Jacob Marley and 16 other characters in this one-man show. James made his Magnus Theatre stage debut in the farcical BOEING BOEING in 2019.
“It’s been two years where the theatre has been basically shut down, you know, and so luckily the film and TV industry has maintained in a very safe way and I’ve been lucky. I had a lot of work during the time, but returning to the theatre, it’s a very different feeling all together,” said James.
“I was saying to an old mentor of mine I was talking to recently that you know, it’s a bit of an Ebeneezer Scrooge experience for myself.”
Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol is directed by Thom Currie, with lighting and projection design by Joe Pagnan, and stage management by Gillian Jones.
The show runs from Dec. 2 to 18, with evening performances starting at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday matinees start at 2 p.m. and Wednesday matinees at 12 p.m. Tickets for evening performances are $40 ($20 for students) and matinees are $35 ($15 for students).
There will be a Pay What You Can matinee performance on Dec. 5.
Tickets are available on Magnus Theatre’s website at magnustheatre.com or through the box office by phone at 807.345.5552.
Magnus Theatre will be observing all public health and safety protocols and patrons will be required to wear masks at all times while indoors.
The auditorium has been reconfigured into an alleyway stage arrangement to keep audiences safely spaced out, but tickets are limited as performances are restricted to 65 per cent capacity for the safety and comfort of all theatre patrons.
In accordance with the provincial mandate, all Magnus Theatre patrons will need to provide proof of full vaccination status to attend a performance.
