Artword Theatre

Scroogissimo! Artword’s festive comedy returns November 25 to December 7, 2014. Hamilton’s North End meets Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
An Artword Theatre Production, script by Ryan Sero and Charly Chiarelli, direction & dramaturgy by Ronald Weihs

with the Artword Theatre Ensemble: Charly Chiarelli, Pamela Gardner, Paula Grove, Valeri Kay, Gordon Odegaard, Jeremy Shand, with live music performed by Tim Ninehouse.

“Scroogissimo!” runs Nov 25 -Dec 7, 2014
Tues-Sat at 8 pm, matinées Sundays at 3 pm
Reg $25, Adv $20, child $12
Tuesday November 25 (preview), all tickets $10 at the door

Artword Artbar, 15 Colbourne St, is an intimate cafe-bar, with limited seating. To reserve tickets, call 905-543-8512.

(Cast photo by Adam Carter.)

“Artword Theatre is cramming a whack of seasonal fun into their tiny package of a space. Mixing local Sicilian–Canadian storyteller Charly Chiarelli and “Charly” Dickens makes a Christmas–cracker exploding with musical and comedic goodies that will make an addition to your festive season you will never forget….” Robin Pittis, View Magazine (December 12-18, 2013):

“Great fun.” … Review by Tony Kilgannon in Ontario Arts Review, December 8, 2013:
“Charly Chiarelli and Ryan Sero have teamed up to devise Scroogissimo a send-up of the story in a uniquely Hamilton way, at Artword Artbar. …Chiarelli is a Sicilian, from Racalmuto. He is not alone. Hamilton is full of Racalmutese , their numbers and contributions seeming overwhelming considering the small town from which they originate.  Artword Artbar itself sits almost literally in the shadow of the great  three-legged Trinacria symbol on the side of a neighbouring building.
Chiarelli is well-known for mining the comic possibilities in the culture and the accent of Sicilians, and Hamiltonians. With Sero, he has overlaid that pattern onto the great Dickens tale. You can imagine the results; we get words like “umbaggo” (humbug), and lines like “is there-a no prison-a onna Barton-a Street?”.  Because the story and even the lines of the original are so familiar, the send-up works. Even the tender parts of Scrooge’s journey are Sicilianized. When “Scroogi” is transported by the Ghost of Christmas Past, to the triangular island and the town of  Racalmuto of his youth, it is a very sentimental moment. I saw at least one hankie furtively raised to dab the corner of an audience member’s eye.
I’m very fond of the space in Artword Artbar. It seems so low-tech and home-made that productions have a remarkable intimacy. Everything is carried by the performers, with lighting and sets that are minimal and non-distracting.  The cast of Scroogissimo held my interest with strong comic acting and as a powerful musical ensemble. Accompanied by only a keyboard, they performed several Christmas musical numbers including a couple of classic Italian songs. Great fun at a very nice bar with craft beer and wine at reasonable prices.  (Tony Kilgannon, Ontario Arts Review, Dec. 8 2013)

And the full review by Robin Pittis in View Magazine:

Artword Theatre’s Scroogissimo!

http://www.viewmag.com/15095-Artword+Theatre%27s+Scroogissimo!.htm

by Robin Pittis
December 12 – 18, 2013

The Artword Theatre is cramming a whack of seasonal fun into their tiny package of a space. Mixing local Sicilian–Canadian storyteller Charly Chiarelli and “Charly” Dickens makes a Christmas–cracker exploding with musical and comedic goodies that will make an addition to your festive season you will never forget.

One doesn’t want to overuse the word unmissable, but if this cast keep on like they’re going, this will be the event of the season.

Ebenzu Scrugi is a skinflint with roots in Sicilia and a tightfisted grasp on the Canadian dollars he has earned while struggling from dirt poverty to the upper echelons of Hamilton society. With some help from his couginis, of course… That is, until he is accosted by (you guessed it) the ghost of his dead business partner Jacobo Marley, and three ‘spiritu’s of Natali Past, present and future.

Ron Weihs and Judith Sandiford (the Mr. and Mrs Fezziwig of James North), dispense artistic delights all year round, but they’ve really laid on a feast of seasonal fireworks to warm us through to the other side of March. The ingenuity displayed in mounting a full musical in a space the size of a one per–centers walk–in closet is a wonder to behold.

You really can’t go wrong with the irrepressible Chiarelli as Scrooge. The man is a raconteur born and bred, and anchors this piece with essential charm and humour.

It’s essential because, let’s face it, the Christmas Carol is kind of like a well–loved stuffed toy — so many generations of writers have adapted, re–written, changed locals, and otherwise mucked with Charles Dickens’ beautiful and moving prose novel, that yet another rendition threatens to burst the seams and let the stuffing out.

Thankfully this is too seasoned an artistic team, with too deep a well of talent to go far wrong. While the cast certainly slept soundly after last Saturday’s comedic and musical marathon, the audience got every penny of the ticket price.

Weihs, Sandiford, and Chiarelli are an artist team that have worked together successfully for more years than they will likely admit to, and their sensibilities interweave beautifully, as always, here, and they’ve blended seamlessly into the Hamilton scene.

A new addition to the Artword team this time out is playwright Ryan Sero, who delights in absurdity and corn-ball word play with the banter and rhythm of Vaudeville. There are quite a few groaners in the mix here, but lots of very very funny character work, and a great many subverted expectations, which is a huge blessing. You wouldn’t think this story could be retold again, and kept fresh, but this team does a fine job, and you won’t regret investing your time.

Gordon Odegaard’s simultaneous playing of Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim almost steals the show – and stealing a show from Charly Chiarelli is a little like knocking over a Swiss bank. You wouldn’t think anyone could steal what has already been stolen, but this straight–man and ventriloquist dummy shtick puts this show over the top, into don’t miss it success.

Pamela Gardener’s ditzy deconstructionist Christmas Past spirit is beautifully boho and, like, totally James North?! Paula Grove’s flirtatious Italian Christmas Present is utterly bang on archetypal man–eater (think Mercedes Ruhl in the Fisher King), while Valerie Kay has gorgeous fun with her deadpan–twinkle Christmas Future.

Newer Artwordians Jeremy Shand, as Jacobo and many essential Character Parts, is a key workhorse without whom this show simply could not go on, and likewise keyboardist Jennifer Lockman carries immense weight in this massively ambitious show for a tiny company.

Don’t think this is just hilarity and diversion. It is, absolutely, diverting, but so importantly for this show, the spirit of the Christmas Carol isn’t drowned by the frivolity or meaningless festivity. Scrugi’s Sicilian past is beautiful but hard, and the Children of Christmas Present are given their due.

Everyone onstage is having a lot of fun here, and you will too. At twenty five bucks a ticket, you’re getting a steal. In fact, you may feel guilty you paid so little. The Artword is to theatre, what Joss Whedon’s Firefly was to Science Fiction; Beautiful, brave and independent… and always flying on the edge.

Remember to bring your carolling voice, because the more you put in to this show the more you get out of it. Like any community, really. And that’s really what the season is about, isn’t it?

December 3 to 15, 2013. Artword Theatre (at Artword Artbar) presents a new comedy written by Ryan Sero and Charly Chiarelli, based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Charly Chiarelli plays a crusty Sicilian north-ender called Scrugi, and our show is called (what else?) Scroogissimo! Throw in a dash or two of zany comedy (Sero-style), some Christmas carols, and plenty of fun. Directed and dramaturged by Ronald Weihs. With the Artword Theatre Ensemble: Pamela Gardner, Paula Grove, Valeri Kay, Gordon Odegaard, Jeremy Shand, with Jennifer Lockman on keyboard.
Where: Artword Artbar, 15 Colbourne Street.
Preview: Tues Dec 3 at 8 pm, $10. Runs Wed-Sat Dec 4-7 and Dec 11-14 at 8 pm; matinées Sun Dec 8 and Dec 15 at 3 pm. Tickets: regular $25, advance $20, children $12
Seating limited. To reserve: 905-543-8512 or online www.artword.net/artbar.

PRESS RELEASE: Artword Theatre presents a new play Scroogissimo! in December 2013

The North End meets Charles Dickens in Scroogissimo!, Artword Theatre’s new play, a comedy based on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The show runs the first two weeks of December 2013 in the intimate setting of Artword Artbar.  Charly Chiarelli is featured as “Ebenezu Scrugi”, a Christmas-hating old Hamiltonian from Racalmuto, Sicily, who finds himself haunted by three ghosts of the Past, Present and Future. The zany script is by Ryan Sero, with some help from Charly and director Ronald Weihs.

The idea for the play came from Charly, in a conversation last spring with Weihs and Judith Sandiford, Artword’s producer and designer. Charly, who lives in Kingston, was in a big production there of A Christmas Carol every year for sixteen years. Charly said, “I had one line, but after sixteen years, I know all the lines.” Ron and Charly thought, “Why not do our own version here? A North End version.” Charly did some of Scrooge’s lines North-End style, and Ron and Judith were soon aching with laughter.

So Charly got to work this summer. He “translated” all Scrooge’s speeches into North-End English. He dictated them over the phone to Judith, who tried to figure out how to spell the words like “umbaggo” (humbug). Meanwhile, Ron had casually mentioned to Ryan Sero, Hamilton playwright and actor, that Ryan might write the script. Ryan replied, “Be careful what you wish for.”

Ryan took the “Scrugi” speeches, and the original Dickens story, and put them through his own zany comedic  mind. The result is great fun, “datsa fo’ shu.” There are the ghosts of course (Christmas Present is a pasta-loving ample lady named Natalia), the parties, the revelations, all with a dash of Marx Brothers, and a touch of the Dickens social criticism.

The cast also includes Pamela Gardner, Paula Grove, Valeri Kay, Gordon Odegaard, and Jeremy Shand, all experienced practitioners of the Artword Ensemble style, with music by Jennifer Lockman (piano) and Ron “the Fiddler” Weihs.

Artword’s approach to theatre is based on ensemble acting. Instead of using elaborate sets and costumes to depict formal scenes, the actors present the story in a non-realistic, storytelling manner, taking different roles as needed, surprising the audience with sudden transformations, and incorporating music, mime and dance. A high degree of skill and sensitivity is required of the performers, who all participate in the development of the production. The actors in Scroogissimo have all been in previous Artword productions, most recently in James Street and Tobacco Troubadour.

Ron and Judith have worked with Charly on all his one-man shows about Hamilton. Ron directed, and Judith designed, the first productions of Cu’Fu? and Mangiacake at Artword Theatre in Toronto – productions which were later filmed for Bravo Television. They also brought Charly’s third play in the Hamilton trilogy Sunamabeach to the stage in 2009. Last November, Charly was in his first Artword Ensemble show, James Street, performed at the Lyric Theatre.