REVIEWS:

The Akron Beacon Journal - December, 1999
Evoking holidays in gaslight era
Actors' Summit puts real families onstage for nostalgic Christmas
By Russ Musarra

We've all sat around the dinner table after a holiday meal and reminisced about holidays gone by.

Such reminiscences are the threads of a lush tapestry titled A Child's Christmas in Wales, adapted for the stage by Jeremy Brooks and Adrian Mitchell from poet Dylan Thomas' children's book and presented by Actors' Summit at the University of Akron's Sandefur Theatre.

Thomas' tale captures the essence of family life in Swansea, Wales, in the years after World War I, when gas stoves were new to the home and electricity wasn't yet available. In these simpler times, families gathered in living rooms and entertained each other with stories, poems and songs.

Keith Stevens heads the 14-member Actors' Summit cast as Dylan, the young man who shares memories of one Christmas past and as Dylan, the child, from the moment he awakens on Christmas morning until he says his prayers at the end of the festive day.

Two families provided nearly half of director Neil Thackaberry's cast for this family story.

Lawrence Cook plays Dylan's Uncle Glyn. Cook's son, Colin, plays Dylan's pal, Tom, and the town fireman. Cook's daughters, Caitlin and Elizabeth, play Dylan's combative cousins, Glenda and Brenda, who don't let their Christmas party attire stand in the way of a good after-dinner scrap.

Kari Kandel and her brother, Dan, play Dylan's Aunt Elieri and pal Jack, respectively. At 12, Dan is the youngest member of the cast and a first-time performer, although that wasn't apparent at Friday's opening performance.

Thackaberry's cast is long on experience, beginning with veteran Cleveland actor Wayne Turney, who deftly plays Dylan's father, and Sara Showman, whose portrayal of Dylan's mother marks her return to the stage after a three-year absence.

The cast is also long on musical talent, displayed in the singing of a variety of Christmas songs, some familiar, others less so, from the Welsh tradition, all beautifully presented in flawless harmony without accompaniment.

Two solo numbers of note were Kari Kandel's Calon Lan (that's Welsh for shining heart) and Colin Cook's Adeste Fidelis in Latin. Both were performed in the context of the family's after-dinner entertainment.

Poet Thomas' dialogue flowed as richly as the music in vignettes that presented realistic people, warts and all, such as the aspirin-popping Aunt Bessie (Linda Wyler), who is seldom without a headache; Uncle Tudyr (Scott Davis), whose unpleasant demeanor provokes headaches; and Aunt Hannah (Lisa Ortenzi), who drinks spirits only on special occasions.

Davis also plays the town constable and the postman, who happily accepts a glass of holiday cheer as he makes his rounds.

Rounding out the cast are Frank Jackman, who doubles as Uncle Gwyn and a town character named Smoky, and Julie Anne Carlson as Aunt Nellie.

Life wasn't perfect in the Thomas household that Christmas Day. A fire in the kitchen ruined the turkey (and provided an amusing cameo for Colin Cook as the fireman). But the family made the best of a bad situation. That's what made the day memorable.

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The Cleveland Plain Dealer - December 07, 1999
Delightful adaptation of poet's memories
By Marianne Evett

If you're tired of Scrooge and his ghosts this holiday season, try a modern classic: poet Dylan Thomas' memories of his Swansea boyhood, "A Child's Christmas in Wales." The Actors' Summit, a new professional company in Akron, offers a lively, thoroughly engaging production through Dec. 30 at Sandefur Theatre in Guzzetta Hall at the University of Akron.

The adaptation, by Jeremy Brooks and Adrian Mitchell of the Royal Shakespeare Company, sticks close to Thomas' prose poem, with its mouth-filling images and sly wit. Not much plot there, except for the presentation of an archetypal Christmas day - from the moment the child Dylan finds his stocking in the dim morning light to his bedtime prayer to the "close and holy darkness."

When this adaptation was presented at the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in the early 1980s, I found it nice but rather slow going. The Actors' Summit production, however, expertly directed by Neil Thackaberry, is a treat. You feel part of the family in the intimacy of Sandefur, and their holiday spirit is catching. This production does shortchange the poetry, and not everybody in the large cast is equally good. But the whole has such a merry pace that you don't mind.

Furthermore, Thomas refuses to get sentimental. Aunts and uncles squabble and gossip; Dylan detests his girl cousins, who return his scorn; the new gas oven burns the turkey (the day is saved by the mysterious and magical Aunt Elieri). Christmas carols can be sung straight, such as a lovely "In the Bleak Midwinter" that starts the show, or parodied - "Adeste Fideles" becomes a tirade against bad boys. Robert Stegmiller's three-tiered set allows the story to flow, and MaryJo Alexander's costumes look just right.

Keith Stevens carries the show as Dylan. Rather tall, he looks (and acts) boyish enough, and can create a gentle innocence as well as a mischievous streak he shares with his friends Tom (Colin Cook, with a sweet boy soprano voice) and Jack (Dan Kandel, a tenor who also sings well). Their walk down to the sea with cousins Brenda (Caitlin Cook), who is secure in the knowledge of her superiority, and Glenda (Elizabeth Cook), who is the youngest and a perennial loser, is a high point of the show.

Most of the grown-ups get a little solo turn, in which Thackaberry has encouraged them to be over the top - but the material demands it, and it fills the show with exuberance. Scott Davis' postman is wonderfully drunk; Frank Jackman's park guard (who has an incredible moustache) trembles with rage. Wayne S. Turney makes a benign Father, always ready with tales of his own youth, and Sara Showman is a placid and loving Mother (except, of course, when her turkey burns).

Auntie Hannah (Lisa Ortenzi) likes to lace her tea with rum; Uncle Glyn (Lawrence J. Cook) is the family radical, whose revolutionary opinions are either tolerated or ignored. Uncle Tudyr (Scott Davis) likes to be a spoilsport; Auntie Bessie, his wife, has migraines (no wonder). And Kari Kandel, slim and pretty as Aunt Elieri, does capture the mystery that makes Dylan's crush on her feel true.

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The Review - December 23, 1999
'A Child's Christmas in Wales' an affectionate celebration of family
by Thomas Harper

"A Child's Christmas in Wales" is poet Dylan Thomas' nostalgic evocation of a boyhood holiday spent with friends, and in the warm and pleasurable eccentric embrace of family.

Several years ago the piece, which can be recited in about 15 minutes, was expanded into an evening's entertainment for the Great Lakes Theater Festival by Jeremy Brooks and Adrian Mitchell.

That expanded work can currently be seen and heard in a beautifully rendered production by Actors' Summit, Akron's new professional theater group.

Performances through Dec. 30 are in Sandefur Theater located in Guzzetta Hall on the campus of The University of Akron.

The great deal of love brought to this production is also a reflection of Thomas' obvious love for the people of his childhood.

The poet serves as both narrator and participant in the action. Given that dual role, the choice of a college-age actor to portray the adult and the boy Thomas was a wise one especially as Keith Stevens performs with intense conviction and an enormous sense of confidence.

The action is set mostly on Christmas Day in the small seaside town of Wales (Giamorganshire) that is Thomas territory. The young Dylan shares in the anticipation of the big day with his parents, engaging played by Wayne S. Turney, a Cleveland Playhouse veteran, and Sara Showman.

After that initial scene on a small upstage platform that seems too limiting for the actors, the play opens up as Dylan roams the town, accompanied by best pals Tom (Colin Cook) and Jack (Dan Dandle), and head for the frozen beach (magically conjured with the simplest of means) where boyhood adventures are convincingly played out.

Later in the play, a pair of young female cousins, Brenda (Caitlin Cook) and Glenda (Elizabeth Cook) winningly take their feminist innings on the beach. In case you're wondering about the similarity of last names, all three Cooks are siblings in real life, knowledge of which adds an extra ingredient to the fun.

But the heart and soul of "A Child's Christmas in Wales" is found in the gathering of several aunts and uncles who bring to the celebration their gifts for Dylan, including a "pirate's wig" and an outrageous knitted head warmer, along with loving quirky personalities.

Does every citizen of Wales speak in such poetic terms on a high holiday, even if not on a daily basis? And with such harmony? Under A. Neil Thackaberry's direction, the Actors' Summit offering is a superb exercise in ensemble playing, with the added factor of some improvisation.

In addition to the above mentioned actors, the ensemble is made up of Lisa Ortenzi, Frank Jackman, Julie Anne Carlson, Lawrence J. Cook (real father of the siblings), Scott Davis, Linda Wyler and Kari Kandle, and our affection for them grows through the evening.

They don paper party hats from traditional party "crackers," sing carols and other fold-flavored songs, and in one extended sequence they take turns telling ghost stories in a funny can-you-top-this fashion.

At the end, the relatives depart and the young Dylan is left alone to speak some words to "the close and holy darkness" before he sleeps.

The production works very well in the intimacy of Sandefur Theater, pulling the audience into the celebration. Robert Stegmiller's simple, uncluttered set and fine lighting, and MaryJo Alexander's handsome costumes of the 1920s add greatly to the picture.

"A Child's Christmas in Wales" is a carefully-wrapped gift. Its giving properties extend beyond the less than two hours running time (including one intermission), and adds to the "scrapbook" of our own holiday memories.