Northan drops full-scripted elf improv in All I Want for Christmas

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Forget whether you’ve been mean or nice these past 18 months – everyone deserves a gift of seasonal nonsense this Christmas. She was a bit early, but improv specialist Rebecca Northan delivers the goods, mostly with her fully scripted comedy All I Want For Christmas at the Centaur Theater through December 5.

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Like the opening scenes of the much-loved Christmas movie Elf, it is set at the North Pole. Santa’s little pointy-eared helpers Ginger (Amelia Sargisson) and her bossy booted brother Nog (Gabe Maharjan) struggle to satisfy the material desires of thousands of children. They work for the special department that covers Montreal, although Northan has undoubtedly modified the script since it premiered at Cape Breton’s Highland Arts Theater last year.

Ginger is only 115 years old, but she’s been through a number of career opportunities already, for reasons we discover as the script unravels her secrets. Nog has landed him a job in the mailroom, working the switchboard, opening letters, and trying to make the most of his undeveloped elfen magic.

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A surprise package throws up a third character, played by Mariah Inger, whose reasons for braving the Arctic climate remain a mystery. Suffice it to say that it acts as an agent of chaos and energetic order.

It all works to the level of a very edgy cartoon, and thanks to the intrepid portrayal of the cast of three, it almost works. Almost. The night I caught it, the night before the official opening, the comedy was too out of place to generate laughter.

That will most likely be remedied as the show installs, because there are some spectacular sequences of antics here, with Nog, Ginger, and whoever Inger’s character turns out to be throwing themselves around the set like pinballs.

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Designer James Lavoie’s outfit is fun too. With its towering arched iron window frames and messy shelves, it hints at the unglamorous nuts and bolts behind the business of bringing seasonal cheer. But it also makes for a wacky, fairy-lit fun house with card-throwing slides, hidden trap doors, secret hiding places, and various other amazing bells and whistles.

Northan’s script, which he also directs, is full of ingenuity and invention. Despite all the silliness of the premise, it’s ultimately quite heartfelt and poignant. As with his most famous creation, Mimi, the abandoned clown in Blind Date, there is an underlying sadness, particularly in the case of Inger’s character. Silent despair and panic over impending doom explain even his most outrageous antics. Meanwhile, Sargisson and Maharjan find a pleasant contrast between, respectively, Ginger’s insane enthusiasm and Nog’s expressionless annoyance.

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It’s no spoiler to say Santa never shows up – that was one of the stipulations Northan was given when the Highland Arts Theater asked him to write the piece. It might sound like a disappointment to the little ones in the audience, except they really shouldn’t be there – the show is aimed at people 12 and older. That gives Northan’s script leeway to indulge in some mild curses and explore occasional adult themes like perimenopause, depression, and unbridled arousal.

One wonders if the show would have worked more effectively as an example of Northan’s signature “spontaneous theater.” It’s fun to imagine an audience member taking the stage to become an apprentice in Santa’s workshop under Nog’s severe tutelage and hampered by Ginger’s well-intentioned misadventure. But that’s a possibility that is better suited to post-COVID times.

For now, this is a pleasantly eccentric and not overly demanding return to live theater at the Centaur.

TAKE A LOOK

All I Want For Christmas runs through December 5 at Centaur Theater, 453 St-François-Xavier St. Tickets $ 67, Under 30s: $ 38, Seniors: $ 57. Call 514-288-3161 or Visited centaurtheatre.com