Birmingham Weekly - December 22 - 29, 2005
Vol.9, Issue 17

coverstory

Skewering Santa

Christmas myths reconsidered in The Eight: Reindeer Monologues

By Glenny Brock

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Doner and Blitzen. Or do you? If you've ever sung "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" or read "A Visit from Saint Nicholas," you've probably got some preconceived notions about the team of reindeer who spend Christmas Eve dashing to the top of the porch and the top of the wall. You've probably got even more fixed ideas about the guy driving the sled. But I bet none of them sound anything like this:

"It's better to believe that your own mother is committing a federal crime than to believe in a grotesque, libidinous troll of a man, who knows when you are sleeping, who knows when you're awake, knows how to get into your house, into you room, and knows that no matter what he does to you, you won't tell, because no one in the world will believe you."

That's a reindeer talking. Specifically, it's Blitzen, who despite her place of prominence on Santa's team, is outraged - sick of being treated like livestock, sick of having to make the Christmas run wearing only leather straps and jingle bells, sick of walking through a herd of bucks during mating season and feeling like a piece of venison.

She's one of "The Eight," Santa's elite team of flying, sled-propelling animals alluded to in the title of the play opening this week at Birmingham Festival Theatre. Running only five nights, The Eight: Reindeer Monologues is an end-of-the-season, end-of-the-year extra production at BFT. It's a lighthearted romp through all the usual Christmas themes - sexual assault, affirmative action, denial, alcoholism, family dysfunction, cultural conservatism, religious fundamentalism, celebrity worship, consumerism and bestiality - with reindeer as the guides. Directed by Judy Jones, the cast includes Amy Donohoo, Dwayne Johnson, Kimberly Kirklin, Douglas O'Neil, Beth Kitchin, Saxon Murrell, Aaron White and Tom Wofford.

Festival feeling

Written by Chicago-based playwright Jeff Goode, The Eight premiered in the Windy City in 1994 and has become a holiday season standard in American theatre in the decade since, with more than 200 productions nationwide, plus productions in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Theatre companies in Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Chicago and a half dozen other cities have already staged productions this year.

The premise, slow-built through eight monologues delivered by members of "the elite" that pull Santa's sleigh, is that the jolly old man who has been the face of Christmas forever may actually be a lecherous, sadistic, reindeer-raping, elf-exploiting meanie. One of the eight tiny reindeer has accused the jolly old man of sexual harassment, and everybody has a different version of the way things actually went down. It's a sort of Rashomon of the Rudolph story, an Oleanna with elves and sleigh bells.

The truth is, by the play's end you feel conflicted about the truth. In fact, The Eight almost didn't make it to the BFT stage. The play selection committee first considered it three years ago, but never reached a unanimous verdict on whether regular season ticket holders would appreciate the show.

"I think there was a certain amount of resistance to lampooning and skewering these icons of the culture," says Judy Jones, director of The Eight and artistic director of BFT.

Tom Wofford, who plays Donner in the play, remembers the struggle much the same way.

"We could not get consensus," Wofford says, "to put it mildly."

But Jones and BFT board president Carl Sosnin made The Eight a last-minute addition to the season when they realized that Dec. 26 through Jan. 1 was a "dark week" at BFT.

"We average seven shows a season," Sosnin says. "Between rehearsals, sets being built and actual performances, the theatre really isn't dark a lot."

And the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve isn't just a "dark week" in the theatre world, anyway. The cast and crew decided that the show might be an excellent time to cultivate new theatre patrons, considering that entertainment options between Dec. 26 and Dec. 30 are pretty much limited to channel surfing on the sofa or paying $20 for popcorn at the multiplex.

"Theatre is at its most exciting when just the actor moves you," Sosnin says. "You don't get to experience anything like that moment in the movie theater, ever. You can have a great moment even when all you've got to rely on is the words they're saying. It just takes one good experience like that to get you hooked on theatre."

At $5 per ticket, the preview performance of The Eight scheduled for Monday night actually costs less than matinee. Consisting of just eight monologues, the show clocks in at about 90 minutes.

"These things are roughly eight to 12 minutes," Jones says. "That's not a long time at all if you're fully engaged with the characters."

Oh dear, oh deer

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the way The Eight is written is that two of the most important characters - Santa and Rudolph - never appear on stage at all. Vixen, the one of "The Eight" whose accusation has set the investigation in the first place, delivers the final monologue of the show. The set, lighting and costumes are minimal, placing the onus on each actor to build tension through almost nothing but narrative: his or her version of what happened.

"It's similar to a courtroom character show in a lot of ways," Wofford says. "Each character has a perspective on the Santa myth and a motive - either to destroy it, to uphold it or to escape it."

According to Jones, each monologue builds on the one that precedes it.

"And each person that delivers a monologue has to carry the audience alone," she adds. "I've spent a lot of time in the theatre and it's really hard for me to be transported by a play. But this show - the performers in this show have done it."

Although the premise of the show is certainly somewhat humorous, it's still tough to call The Eight: Reindeer Monologues a comedy.

"It has a lot of gravity to it," Wofford says.

Jones agrees, but laughs as she does so.

"Even the discomfort in calling it a comedy is funny," she says.

The Birmingham Festival Theatre production of The Eight: Reindeer Monologues opens at 8 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 26, with a special $5 preview performance. Regular performances begin at 8 p.m. each night Tuesday through Saturday, Dec. 27 - Dec. 31. Tickets cost $15 (except for season ticket holders, who pay $5). Make reservations by calling 933-2383. Visit www.bftonline.com. Contact Glenny Brock at glenny@bhamweekly.com.

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