It’s Dickens, interrupted at Dad’s Garage Theatre Company. Their show “Invasion Christmas Carol” is now onstage. The theater’s long-running holiday tradition took a break for a couple of years and it’s back with ensemble member Megan Leahy in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge.
The show is a hybrid of scripted comedy and improv, with the cast performing a trimmed-down version of Charles Dickens’ classic, only to be “invaded” by an unannounced character with their own agenda.
“Last night, we had a hockey player,” Leahy tells City Lights host Lois Reitzes. “Cookie Monster invaded a few years ago.”
Once the invader is onstage, it’s up to the cast to incorporate them into the story at the same time as they try to “right the ship” so to speak, and make sure Scrooge still meets with the three spirits and is redeemed.
“We can’t plan anything,” Leahy says. “That’s what makes it fun and interesting for us.”
But having the well-known Dickens tale at the center of the show both grounds the action and frees the actors to stretch the show to its limits.
“We can assume that everybody knows this,” Leahy says. “It’s a classic story of redemption, that’s what makes it so fun to play around in.”
Dad’s ensemble member Amber Nash is one of the rotating cast of invaders. She played the role of Scrooge in the theater’s 2008 production.
“I grew up loving Christmas Carol, so I got really into it and threw myself into the role,” she says. “And I think that’s why ‘Invasion…’ works, because when things do get thrown upside down, people can always go back and rely on their character work.
“So they know what Scrooge would do when the A Team show up.”
“Invasion Christmas Carol” is onstage now at Dad’s Garage Theatre and runs through Dec. 30th.
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