It is no stretch to suggest that Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol reminds many Wisconsinites of the current governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker. A devotion to business and profit coupled with hostility toward the poor and suffering are synonymous with the names Scrooge and Walker. Walker defends his cuts to education, health care, rape crisis services and other basic human needs while he steadfastly claims that Wisconsin is "Open for Business" despite 4 straight months of job losses. Scrooge dismisses solicitors collecting donations for the poor by asking "Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?"
Scrooge repented. So far, Walker has not. Walker even ordered the use of prison labor to decorate the state holiday tree simply to spite the state union workers who traditionally did the job.
When a friend of mine mentioned that he had a role in a local production of A Christmas Carol, I went online and purchased tickets. The Christmas classic has been produced annually for 34 years by the Children's Theatre of Madison. The cast includes professional actors and local youth.
My wife and I attended a matinee performance Saturday at the Capitol Theater inside the Overture Center in Madison. This year CTM debuted a new adaptation of A Christmas Carol...and it was stunning. In some sense a very traditional telling of the tale, the playwright and the artistic director created a very effective narration device that framed the familiar story perfectly while the beautifully designed visual and sound effects added emotional punch.
Really, if you're near Madison, go see it. It has gotten well-deserved rave reviews from local critics.
The Madison audience, including me, needed no reminders of the similarities between the story of Scrooge and current political events, but the playwright did honor the obvious by making a quick reference to "the Fitzgerald brothers" and "the bankers."
Of course I went in to the Overture Center knowing that the subject matter of the play would not allow me to mentally escape the political turmoil that has been so much on my mind this year, but I didn't expect to be reminded of Scott Walker by artwork hanging on the walls outside the theater. As I waited for my wife to use the restroom, I browsed the art exhibit titled "Free Speech, Speech Free."
Nothing subtle in this display of political art. There were references to ALEC, corporate greed, and "GITMO Jesus." There was an image of riot police, and another of a political protest.
This is how the Overture Center describes the exhibit:
Michael Duffy, Aralina Ferrella, Thomas Ferrella, Eric Hagstrom, Kelli Hoppman, Lewis Koch, Enrique Rueda, & Kevin Schaefer
This group of artists came together because of their shared interest in the way art and politics intersect. Paintings, prints, photographs and altered objects are used to define their idea of “free speech” in relation to the current political climate and to consider the way graphic images can convey what words cannot. Free expression of ideas and how this can be achieved through art is at the core of this exhibit.
Just before my wife rejoined me and we entered the theater to do some ghost-watching, I looked at one more painting. It had images of wolves and sheep, some human forms, and lots of masks. It was more abstract than the other works. It reminded me a bit of Picasso's "Guernica", perhaps the most controversial political painting of all time:
(Guernica by Pablo Picasso. I have a print of "Guernica" hanging on the wall above my desk.)
I checked the name plate of the painting with the wolves and the masks. The artist is named Kelli Hoppmann. The painting is titled "The Ministry of Truth". Of course it is. As the giant, jovial Ghost of Christmas Present loomed over Scrooge in the second act, forcing him to view the plight of Bob Cratchit and his crippled son Tiny Tim, I imagined Jesse LaGreca doing the same at Zuccotti Park to some heartless 1 percenter.
If you go to the theater, the works are displayed on the 2nd floor just outside the Mezzanine level doors to the Capitol Theater. There is no charge to view the exhibit.
There are also links on the Overture site to the artists' web sites.