Play #5: Christmas 'Cracker by Kelly Copper*
I really seem to be landing on some strange plays so far in this little endeavor. This is a sort of weird, postmodern musical that takes place in a tenement building around Christmas. Central to the "plot" seems to be a young girl named Carla, her scientist father, and the three super-smart, plague-ridden lab rats (Melchior, Balthasar, and Caspar... get it?) who escaped from his lab. Clara's mother is sleeping with the superintendent, and her father is never home, and it seems that she (and probably several other party guests) have just contracted the bubonic plague, so things are looking pretty bleak. But Clara is trying to find a way to save Christmas... a way that somehow involves the magical chicken heart that her father promised her for Christmas. Of course, Donald Trump makes a couple of appearances, dressed as one of the heavenly host. And even Arnold Schwartzenegger is having a hard time with the cold. This manic, strange Christmas story somehow retains a playful, even slightly joyful mood in the face of its rot and mold and apocalyptic tendencies. It paints a picture of a world that is full of discontent and sadness and crumbling magic, but it doesn't seem to forget about the beauty that still exists amongst the decay. I think this would be a very strange, but very fun Christmas offering for the right theatre!
*So far, all of the plays I have read have been by women. So I'm going to try to stick with that! Let's see if I can read 365 plays by women in one year! Sounds like fun to me!
I really seem to be landing on some strange plays so far in this little endeavor. This is a sort of weird, postmodern musical that takes place in a tenement building around Christmas. Central to the "plot" seems to be a young girl named Carla, her scientist father, and the three super-smart, plague-ridden lab rats (Melchior, Balthasar, and Caspar... get it?) who escaped from his lab. Clara's mother is sleeping with the superintendent, and her father is never home, and it seems that she (and probably several other party guests) have just contracted the bubonic plague, so things are looking pretty bleak. But Clara is trying to find a way to save Christmas... a way that somehow involves the magical chicken heart that her father promised her for Christmas. Of course, Donald Trump makes a couple of appearances, dressed as one of the heavenly host. And even Arnold Schwartzenegger is having a hard time with the cold. This manic, strange Christmas story somehow retains a playful, even slightly joyful mood in the face of its rot and mold and apocalyptic tendencies. It paints a picture of a world that is full of discontent and sadness and crumbling magic, but it doesn't seem to forget about the beauty that still exists amongst the decay. I think this would be a very strange, but very fun Christmas offering for the right theatre!
*So far, all of the plays I have read have been by women. So I'm going to try to stick with that! Let's see if I can read 365 plays by women in one year! Sounds like fun to me!
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