Matthew Floyd Miller portrays Bob Cratchit in ACT Theatre‘s “A Christmas Carol”. This amazing production is performed in the round. It surrounds you and draws you right into the story. “A Christmas Carol” is running through December 30th at ACT Theatre. Don’t miss out. Get tickets here.
You have been on TV and stage. What is your favorite?
The stage for sure. It is an actor’s medium. When you are working in film or TV the director or editor decides what goes up on the screen. When you do stage it is all the actor, ultimately. It is a very gratifying experience.
Matthew Floyd Miller (Photo by Chris Bennion)
What has been your favorite part on stage?
Wow, that is a great question. Well it is very appropriate that I am at ACT right now because I have been able to do some of the most interesting and challenging roles of my life here. It might be a tossup between Katurian in “The Pillow Man” and Jan in “Rock ‘n’ Roll”.
What do you think of this interpretation of “A Christmas Carol”?
I am really digging it. I really like it a lot. I read the novel for the first time in the last couple of months. I think it is really wonderful that this production brings in a lot of details from the original novel. I am also working with some very talented actors. I think the show is often fluffy and cartoony. I think we are infusing a lot of the original grittiness and truth back in to this production.
So this rendition is going to be a lot truer to the novel than some of the productions targeted to maybe kids?
Yes, I think it is definitely avoiding the happy go lucky aspects. Not to say that it doesn’t have a sweet, loving and playful heart at the center of it. If it lacked that it would be a really bleak story about the poor and the rich. It is a very human story. You see the transformation of a man. I think in essence we are all Scrooge. We all have those times in our life when we are blinded by our own selfishness and fear of losing what we have and not getting what we want. Our world becomes very narrow and bleak. We stop trusting people. We close our hearts off. We close ourselves off. We start seeing the world from a very narrow survival point of view. I think this is a story of that redemption. A story of second chances. We are all ultimately offered several second chances in our lives. We are given the chance to be decent creatures to each other as we should be.
Matthew Floyd Miller (Photo by Chris Bennion)
What would you like people to take away or learn from this production?
I would like them to experience themselves in what I do. I would like them to see a good man who is doing his best to keep up during adverse times in his life. He is near penniless, working for a very difficult person, has a child that could die any day but he perseveres. I want them to see that he doesn’t give up. I would like them to not give up on their own humanity.
Is there anything you would like to say in closing?
This is really a community event. Some people have seen this show since they were children. Some people have seen it forty years in a row. It is a fun story for kids as well. It is a ghost story and ghost stories are always fun. I think it is a joyful and fun experience. It is fun for the whole family (laughter). I think there is a piece of something here for everybody.
