Brasstown – For at least 20 years, Bob Grove has placed the top hat on his head, slid period glasses over his nose and ears, buttoned up his coat and transformed into about a dozen characters over an hour as a packed room enjoys the show.
Today, he will continue the tradition of performing Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol at John C. Campbell Folk School, although he’ll be in a near-empty Community Room at the Keith House. His performance will be streamed live on Facebook at 5 p.m.
He’s never missed a year since he took over reading the Christmas classic.
“It’s important from a theatrical continuity standpoint,” Grove said.
The tradition started with another gentleman who read the story to a small crowd gathered in a circle. He also wore the hat as he read the story. Once Grove took over, he added his own flair.
“I realized what I really needed was a coat for the period,” Grove said.
As he reads each character’s lines, Grove easily breaks into different voices, each with a British accent. He credits his British grandparents for his ability to break into the accent.
“I’m a one-man stage. I find it fun to do that,” Grove said. “I consider reading a work a performance art. How it is read is important.”
He doesn’t rehearse his performance – instead, he does a quick review of sequences, which he sees as more of a getting reacquainted with the work.
Nothing will be different about tonight’s performance, except he won’t be able to hear the reactions from the audience, which he said is comforting and reassuring. His performance begins with a brief talk about Dickens, then he goes through the process of adding pieces of his costume and reading.
At the end of the performance, he’s tired after performing as each of the different personalities in the story, from children to Ebenezer Scrooge. His favorite character is Scrooge.
“His presence in the story thoroughly evolves,” Grove said. “How he finally is corrected in his ways is more influential on the audience than any other character.”