PREVIEW
Oh! Christmas Tree
Blunt Entertainment and Theatre of the New Heart
Dec. 13 to Dec. 23
Roxy at the Gateway
8529 Gateway Blvd.
Tickets: $22 adults, $18 seniors/students. Visit www.theatrenework.ca
Christmas is meant to be a time of good cheer, relaxation and celebration. But even in the best-organized households, it’s never completely stress-free.
In playwright Conni Massing’s new play Oh! Christmas Tree opening Thursday, Dec. 13, for a 10-day run at the Roxy on Gateway, we see tensions develop between a couple who view the holiday very differently.
In this two-hander starring Lora Brovold and Collin Doyle, a real-life couple, Lucy is a bubbly, ambitious party planner. She loves everything about the holidays and wants to share deeply embedded family traditions with Algar, who hates Christmases and tries to make a stand against decorating a tree.
“Lucy comes from a large Scandinavian family, the youngest of five sisters and she’s very close with them. They celebrate family events and even more so during holiday celebrations. She’s used to spending a lot of time with her family,” said Massing.
“Algar instead is an only child of immigrant parents who live across the country, which suits him just fine. He’s a high school teacher and is comfortable in large groups. But he’s quite cynical and has a dark perspective whereas Lucy is cheerful and optimistic.”
Massing wrote the comedy for Calgary Theatre’s 2012 Lunch Box Christmas show. It was a short production, 50 minutes tops. Theatre-goers loved the sleeper hit and asked Massing to write a longer version.
A bazillion projects later, she is unveiling the world premiere of a two-act with former Edmonton Opera artistic director Brian Deedrick directing the play.
Deedrick, now a freelance globe-trotting director, spends the winter season directing opera and plays. Living the best of two worlds, he departs to Germany as a summer tour guide, a way of sharing his enthusiasm and passion for a country that is his second home.
Massing is from Ponoka and Deedrick is originally from Lacombe, two towns that share a good-natured rivalry. As students at Red Deer College’s theatre program, a friendship that continues today sparked between Massing and Deedrick.
As friends, the duo has followed and supported each other’s career sharing many similar challenges. Deedrick describes his colleague’s writing style as “an Alberta style. I hear such reality in her characters. Her people talk like real people. Her people make sense.”
Growing up in Lacombe, his family and the town did Christmas in a big way – the trees, the lights, the food, the presents. It was all there.
Naturally, his sympathies veered towards Lucy. However, the play also afforded Deedrick the opportunity to explore Algar’s point of view.
“Christmas becomes the No. 1 obstacle in what is a successful relationship. We’re all trying so hard to have a good time, for some people it’s painful. There are some incredibly real moments in the play.”
Deedrick predicts there will be laughter as well as a few bittersweet moments.
“It’s timely. It’s intimate. It’s people dealing with people. The Christmas spirit is there, but not in the traditional way one likes to think of it. It deals with reality. The characters explore Christmas in a different way.”
