Fast Forward Weekly review of “The Christmas Tree”
Two loners and a tree lot
Lunchbox takes a funny look at the holidays
Published December 11, 2008 by Kathleen Renne
Monday, November 24 - Saturday, December 20 Monday, November 24 - Saturday, December 20
The Christmas Tree, now on at Lunchbox Theatre, is a delightful holiday play for adults: seasonal, funny, sugary, but with a sufficient sprinkling of the serious. The play was written by Canadian Norm Foster, well-known for his comedies and one of the most produced playwrights in the country. Lunchbox artistic director Martin Fishman, who also directs the production, commissioned the play as Lunchbox’s Christmas offering.
The Christmas Tree tells the story of two people who meet in a tree lot on Christmas Eve. There’s only one scrawny conifer left, and they argue over who should get to take it home. Of course, each invents extravagant tales of woe to try and convince the other of their need for the tree. Neither wants to reveal the real reason they are there: because they are both alone on Christmas Eve and trying to capture a bit of lost Christmas spirit.
Adding to the hilarity is that each character is the opposite of the other. Heather Lea MacCallum takes on the role of Sonja, complete with expensive boots and Holt Renfrew shopping bag, while Christopher Hunt plays Daniel, a blue-collar Joe wearing a backwards cap and carrying a box of Timbits.
The most enjoyable moments of the production are the rapid-fire insults the characters throw at each other, and the perceptive observations about the differences between male and female thought processes.
In one instance, Daniel says that the possibility of “hooking up” with every attractive woman is what keeps men going. Sonja, on the other hand, tells him the first thing women think when meeting a man is, “I hope he doesn’t hit on me, because I hate being hit on.”
The dialogue is fast and furious, and keeps the show moving and the laughs coming. For example, Sonja tries to distract Daniel, so she can make a run for it with the tree, by telling him his fly is undone. Without missing a beat, he replies, “It’s always that way.”
The show is performed in-the-round, with audience members seated on all sides. The characters move around enough that I wasn’t subject to anyone’s back for any length of time.
However, my only criticism of the production is with some of the actors’ onstage wanderings. It seems like they look for any excuse to create some action by hanging shiny garlands on the tree and then removing them a short while later, or by putting food items in a stocking to place under the tree and then emptying the stocking moments later. While I did find it somewhat distracting, those unnecessary movements didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the production.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Christmas play without the two of them finding the holiday spirit in the end, and this play delivers on this tested formula.