Tim Williams has some big shoes—er, chains—to fill. This holiday season, the longtime Central Florida actor steps into the role of Jacob Marley in Orlando Shakes’ annual holiday production of A Christmas Carol, following Mark Edward Smith, who played the ghost for five consecutive years.
But Williams isn’t simply donning Smith’s costume. He’s helping to reimagine the character, working with director Jim Helsinger to hone his own take on the tortured, chain-dragging soul who returns from the afterlife to warn Ebenezer Scrooge to change his ways.
A Christmas Carol, adapted by Helsinger from the classic 1843 novel by Charles Dickens, will run from November 25 to December 24 at the Shakes’s Margeson Theater.
Williams knows the story well, having played Bob Cratchit and Scrooge’s nephew Fred in previous productions. Now, as Marley, he sees the character as the catalyst for the lessons and the change of heart that follow the holiday haunting.
“Marley gets the chance to go back and help save his friend from the miserable fate that he has suffered,” says Williams, who is also company manager at Orlando Shakes. “And that is such an act of love.”
The emphasis on redemption is part of what Williams loves about the familiar story. He also appreciates Helsinger’s respectful approach, which preserves much of Dickens’s original language and imagery. “It’s not just an adaptation,” adds Williams. “It’s almost as if the book is really coming to life.”
For Williams, the production is another chapter in a career that has included acting, directing, writing and teaching. He wrote and acted in Multitudes, earning a Critics Choice Award for Best Individual Performance in a Drama at 2024’s Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival.
Plus he teaches as an adjunct at Valencia College and UCF, from which he holds a bachelor’s degree in theater arts. Notes Williams: “To have been given the chance to be on stage, doing what I’ve loved doing since I was 10 years old, I’m lucky. And I’m grateful.”
Orlando Shakes is located at 812 East Rollins Street, Orlando, in Loch Haven Cultural Park. For more information, visit orlandoshakes.org or call 407.447.1700.
