Crackers Xmas Two

New writing, 2 short plays about Xmas directed at Southwark Playhouse part of Directors’ Cut Crackers Christmas 2019.

The [crackers] WHAT:

1. Humble Pie by Adam Young performed by Ben Fensome (Santa) and Alex Wooley (Elf)  — December 2019
   

   Two young actors working in a mall over Christmas as Santa and Elf. Afterhours they unwind over a bottle of vodka asking if there’s any point to who they are and what they do as ‘actors’?

2. Who is Santa? by Rob Slater performed by  Richard Harfst (Santa), Tania Monteiro (Bubbles) and Lydia Cashman (Anna) — December 2019
   

   Santa is getting ready to do his rounds and Bubbles the elf is there to help him or more likely to do all the work. Anna, ‘a stranded child’ simply doesn’t know who Santa is. Is the last icon of patriarchy about to fall (into obscurity) or can he survive the test?

The [crackers] WHY:

Is there such thing as a ‘register’ where the director should bring his own contribution or creative baggage in relationship to the writer and the text of a play? Is the job of the director to identify that register, the writer either created for him or left open ‘to interpretation’… and work his way from there regarding the text? From the angle of the director, every ‘good’ writer creates an interesting dramatic ‘what’ invested with a bit of a flexible ‘why’… then the role of the director is to create ‘the how’ and dispute if not rewrite the whole ‘why’! Everybody hopes the two align naturally of course, and once in a blue moon they do.

1. In Humble Pie the background of the two actors – not written in the play – became the engine of their dramatic interaction. One is an over-trained shakespearo the other a working-class jobbing actor. Both have a different understanding of the world around them, coping mechanisms and expectations as ‘actors’. The moment they both come together over a drink is when they understand the function they performed together as entertainers.

2. In Who is Santa? Bubbles the elf, Santa’s little-big helper, becomes an extension of him – not written in the play – who does most of the work and reacts in a pantomime fashion when Anna ‘the lost child’ challenges Santa to prove who he is. The dramatic conflict between Anna and a vain, grumpy Santa gains more weight and depth being played between Anna and Bubbles at the same time, at a different level. It becomes also a battle between two feminists in their own way at each other’s throat, which is meant to be comedic.