The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge

This evening I went to the Tacoma Actor's Guild to watch their performance of Mark Brown's new play The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge. The "TAG" as it's called is a cozy place on Broadway, next to the Rialto. These actors are extraordinary, with wide-ranging talent, great British accents, and are even so bold to embrace audience-participation.

This is a trial and, of course, everyone in the audience is expected to stand when the Honorable Judge walks in to take his seat at the London Court. The audience is treated almost like jury, the way we're asked to approve of statements made by the defendant and plaintiff. Scrooge is his own defense, by the way, and the prosecution is Jewish lawyer, Solomon Rothschild. But both parties make allegations, shedding further light on Scrooge's past and reinterpreting the events of A Christmas Carol with modern wit and satire without poking fun at it.