Mark Twain Comes to Life in One-Man Show

Actor Ron Jewell as Mark Twain

Jewell Portrays Twain with Wit and Sincerity

The sun was just setting outside, but it was a dark and stormy night inside the Black Box Theatre on Friday, as the famous Mark Twain welcomed 120 storm-stranded guests into the warmth of his living room. Donning a yellow rain coat and unmistakable handle bar mustache, actor Ron Jewell looked every bit the part of the 19th-century humorist as he began his one-man show, Mark Twain at Large, a special event presented by Piedmont Arts. 

Under the premise that an epic storm was raging just outside, Jewell settled into the comfort of Stormfield, Twain's Connecticut home, to spin stories from the author's life. He told of Twain's journeys as a young man, looking for a quick dollar. In a "little" town called San Francisco Jewell reminisced, "I went out there looking for gold. I found out I had to dig for it. I did not like that." He also talked of Twain's boyhood in Hannibal, Missouri, the town that inspired the setting for his best known works, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

"When I was a boy," Jewell said in a slow, deliberate drawl, "there was but one permanent ambition amongst all of my comrades. That was to become steam boat pilots." That was, in fact, a feat that Twain accomplished early in his life. He piloted steam boats on the Mississippi River while in his twenties, until he moved west at the start of the Civil War. It was also this occupation that gave him his pen name. Born Samuel Clemens, he adopted the pseudonym Mark Twain from the cry sailors use for a measured river depth of two fathoms.

Jewell also recited excerpts from the familiar Tom Sawyer, holding an over-sized book in his hands while pacing across the stage. And, with no chance for humor wasted, Jewell quipped of those who spend hours in the library reading Twain's books, "Did you ever think to buy a copy?"

In spite of Twain's humorous persona, Jewell also showed the audience a more somber side to the literary great. Speaking of the death of Twain's beloved wife Livy, Jewell's face dropped with heavy sadness. "She was the most beautiful soul that God ever created," he said. "I wish that I was with her still."

Jewell's 90-minute performance was both witty and sincere and seemed much more brief as the personable actor created the feeling that the audience was in the presence of the real Mark Twain.