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Iron County Record | 1981-12-17 | Page 1 | Small Crowd Attends Evening with Dickens
Article Title Small Crowd Attends Evening with Dickens
Small crowd attends evening with Dickens .' J - ' a.Vf A i tnim. -t , ..nin.inn.i-ir - - --fa . By BRUCE LEE Record Editor CEDAR CITY "Go with me now as we go back to the time when we listened and we pictured in our minds," and with that Michael Jesse Bennett invited his small, but delighted, audience to go with him to the world of Charles Dickens and to enjoy. Bennett's one-man show, "An Evening with Charles Dickens," came to Cedar City Monday and Tuesday evening. Unfortunately, a small - group was all that showed up to partake of the readings of the novelist's works; but those who came certainly can consider themselves among the few lucky ones, I must admit right away that this type of performance, dramatic readings, is not exactly my favorite type of evening. I am afraid I am least somewhat one of those who Bennett said had softened up their brains with too much idle entertainment. But Bennett surpised me somewhat, not by his great ability (I had already been convinced of that through his performances in "The Guardsman" and the Utah Shakespearean Festival), but by his ability to make me enjoy something a little different, a little different than the type of thing I generally enjoy. The program started with a brief explanation by Bennett, dressed in coat and tails as Dickens would have been, explaining what he was about to do. He set the mood immediately, as earthy, homey, a bit funny. He spoke directly to his audience, asking them questions and responding to his own whims and fancies. After that, he began reading a variety of Dickens' works: the fast and tragic description of a shipwreck from "David Copperfield"; the comic trial from "The Pickwick Papers"; and the innocent and touching "Boots at the Holly Tree Inn." Yet, the best of the show was saved for after the intermission, when Bennett came back on stage carrying a goblet and a handsome book, "The Christmas Carol." The popular novel was one of Dickens' favorites, and was certainly a special one for Bennett, who also made it a favorite for his audience. Whether speaking in the gruff voice of Ebeneezer Scrooge ("Bah. Humbug.") or the higher, happier voice of Bob Cratchit, Bennett made the production, with only a skeleton set and one actor, come alive, as if everybody was there, Tiny Tim, the ghosts and every character. As Bennett said in his Michael Jesse Bennett introduction, readings were popular and still can be because the pictures we must imagine in our mines become more of what we want them to become with no distortion. "We conjured up pictures in our minds pictures that were perfect," said Bennett about the days before television, when readings and radio were a major source of entertainment. In fact, I think I saw, on the SUSC stage, the ghost of Scrooge's departed partner, with his chains rattling and weighing him down. And I believed him when he asked Scrooge, and Bennett asked. me, "Why do you doubt your senses." Indeed, Bennett made my senses deceive me, or, better yet, come more alive. And before the production was over, I had to echo the works of Dickens, when Scrooge became convinced that happiness was better, "and found that everything could bring him (and me) happiness."