Theatre Review: Archive Theater’s The Ghosts of Christmas Past

photos by Steve Rogers Photography

When I was a kid, it wasn’t Christmas until all the winter books came out. Holidays just aren’t the same without thematically appropriate reading material. Something about the season beckons a person to curl up in a soft armchair, warm drink and lovely book in hand. This held extra true the weekend after Thanksgiving, where temperatures finally plummeted. At last, summer is over and (theoretically) snowy festivals can begin.

I felt that comforting chill in my bones on Black Friday, during a night comfortably ensconced in a barn at Pioneer Farms. It was the perfect setting to sip cider and watch Archive Theater’s take on seasonal storytelling, The Ghosts of Christmas Past. The brainchild of Archive’s artistic director Jennifer Rose Davis, along with collaborators Lynn Schaffer Beaver and Adriana Fontánez, they’ve stitched together spooky seasonal stories from authors like F. Marion Crawford and Oscar Wilde. Told against a backdrop of a roaring fire and a tastefully trimmed tree, the production is the living embodiment of the word cozy.

The coziness begins before the play, with a handmade Christmas market offering Victorian ornaments and a wealth of crocheted goods, alongside tasty concessions. The musical team, which featured Davis on flute and crochet queen Vikki Schwarz on keys (the Thanksgiving holiday had the two holding down the fort while their violinist was absent), played cheery tunes and led the audience through pre-show caroling to amp up the festive spirit. Don’t fret: Books were provided to guide through some of the more antiquified lyrics.

And then the play began. The basic structure revolves around the Victorian Merriwether family gathering for Christmas Eve, three generations settling down for an evening of story swapping. Setting up that central thread was the rockiest part of the play, as there were some stiff recitations of why ghost stories fit the Christmas holiday. This was compounded by some slight volume issues, particularly balancing boisterous performances against the aged grandparent characters. But it all smoothed out after a while, particularly once the actual telling of tales commenced.

The stories, narrated by one family member and acted out by various assortments of the other players, allows for a mischievous pantomime factor. The actors get to let loose and have fun, enhanced by eerie sound effects courtesy of the musicians’ corner. The ghostly tales range from light pranks gone amok to dark parables. I was most unsettled by the story of a dollmaker – because few things are as creepy as porcelain dolls. But any horror is met with equal humor. This is best shown in the closing culture clash when a Texan family purchases a British home complete with its own Tudor-era spectre, a ghost quite distressed by how blasé the family is over his hauntings. And of course, no Christmas is complete without a showing from Santa Claus. I just appreciated that equal weight was given to his delightful European counterpoint, Krampus, who made a couple appearances throughout the night.

Each vignette offered the performers a chance to fully enjoy the thrill of playacting, heavy on the play. They all get the opportunity to mess around with several characters. Jennifer Meigs gets to be a doting aunt, a loving mother, and absolutely devours a scene as a dour housekeeper. Phillip Smith holds his own between a dull drunkard, a doting dollmaker, and the aforementioned Krampus. Perhaps the most comforting presence of all is Scott Poppaw. Whether playing a nervous houseguest or a harried ghost, Poppaw is utterly comfortable in his role. He gives the types of performances an audience member can latch onto, with a natural believability that carries a story and elevates it from sketch to cinematic.

Here, Archive is giving a perfect seasonal escape. It’s an excellent family outing, a way to embrace the Christmas spirit without having to sit through another stodgy old Scrooge. If you want some holiday cheer that manages novelty while simultaneously feeling as traditional as mistletoe, then this is an ideal outing.

Archive Theater’s The Ghosts of Christmas Past

Pioneer Farms

Through December 15