Improv cast puts on Dickens of a show

By the end of a thorough pantsing of poor Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” at the hands of those hooligans at Dad’s Garage one recent night, hordes of badgers were on the loose in London, two characters had been shot dead and one was pretty hammered, Tiny Tim was stylin’ in an Indiana Jones fedora, and there had been discussions about iPhones, dysentery and the 1980s kitsch rock classic “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”

By the time you see the show, however, none of that is likely to recur. “Invasion: Christmas Carol” is largely improvised. More than ever with a theater review, your mileage may vary.

“ICC” is a Yuletide extension of last year’s “Invasion: Our Town” at the Garage. A cast of six —- God bless ‘em, every one —- plays all the Dickens characters, rotating, sometimes furiously, among the roles. They’re joined —- invaded —- every show by a guest performer who surprises the cast as Christmas Past and sets some of the improvs spinning. (Christmas Present is some poor soul yanked from the audience.)

A little of the show is actual dialogue and plot points from Dickens; a little more is stuff designed to set up the improvs, and the majority is improvised. Once they leave the original, it’s sometimes hard to tell what’s semi-planned and what’s on-the-wing; the evening glides or lurches along unpredictably, sometimes hilarious, sometimes just puzzling.

Doing improv well is hard enough in short sketches, as it’s usually done. To weave it into a full-length play is fraught with danger, and “ICC” sometimes falls face down in its own figgy pudding. The night I saw it, there was a lot to laugh about, but there were too many bits that seemed like inside jokes, as if the cast was playing to each other rather than to the audience.

Among the six actors, special props to Eve Krueger and Megan Leahy, who play all the female roles. I honestly thought there were three actresses doing this and only figured out there were two after checking the program.

If it’s not already clear, “Invasion Christmas Carol” is not a family show. It’s not for kids (the language and topics can be R-rated), nor is it for traditionalists. But for theater fans predisposed to the anarchy of improv, or the ongoing antics at Dad’s Garage, it’s as much fun as a fruitcake tossed through a Currier & Ives picture window.

THEATER REVIEW

“Invasion: Christmas Carol.”

Grade: B

8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, through Dec. 23. Dad’s Garage, 280 Elizabeth St., Atlanta. 404-523-3141; www.dadsgarage.com