Holiday comedy packs plenty of edge

Review

Santa lovers had better watch out. Playwright and director James Rayfield has shown the "man" no mercy in the premiere production of "Christmas Stopping." Now playing at Gorilla Theatre, this acerbic bitch-slap to Christmas and all its trappings is subversive and mostly original. It's just edgy enough to cut the saccharine-sweet taste of yuletide without totally trashing the generally jolly holiday.

Therapist Grant Taylor (Alvin Jenkins) has written a book titled "Christmas: Silent Night or Silent Killer." It's a how-to guide for eliminating all things Christmas at home, the intention being to inoculate the public against the holiday and see it dry up altogether. Grant, a modern-day Scrooge, disdains the commercialization, the materialism, the tinkling bells and all those ho ho hos.

He has coached his wife, Alice (Jessica Alexander), and son, Baxter (Chris Jackson), on his anti-Christmas rules. Alice plays along but can't help secretly buying one little gift for the office party. Baxter is happy to forgo gift buying, but only because he can't afford to treat all five of his girlfriends. Grant's 24-year-old daughter, Meredith (Lauren Allison), inexplicably still believes in Santa Claus.

Then the mall elves catch wind of Grant's activities and begin bombing his house with tiny crutches. What Grant doesn't understand is that if it weren't for Christmas, those elves and many others would be out of work. The irony is that he, too, would be knocked off the grid because without Christmas he couldn't have written his book. His epiphany comes after enduring a bizarre but imaginative Dickensian dream sequence.

Rayfield has baked a treat that is more palatable than any fruitcake. His sharp insight into seasonal celebrations, their meaning and manipulations, elevated this piece beyond the usual ho-hum Christmas fare.

Jackson and Allison gave fine performances, with Jackson especially excelling at his surprise extracurricular role at the end. The actor is only 21, but he exuded a confidence and professionalism on stage that belied his age.

I found it hard to believe that Jenkins bought into his character's dogma. He was only faintly arrogant when he should have been obscenely full of himself to pull off the part. Alexander's acting was mild, as well.

"Christmas Stopping" proved a fun, cynical diversion from the inevitable spectacle of Christmas in July and beyond.