In a time when all things Christmas strive to make the things cheerful and bright, a short, one-man satire, The Santaland Diaries dispels the myth that everything is magical during the holiday season.
Written by David Sedaris, The Santaland Diaries chronicles one man’s journey from the desperate ranks of the unemployed to a full-time elf working in “Santaland” at Macy’s Herald Square in New York. Sedaris’s classic short story was adapted for the theater by Joe Mantello and is currently running through December 24 at Seattle Public Theater at the Bathhouse in Green Lake.
As a long-time fan of Sedaris, I looked forward to seeing Seattle Public Theater’s production last night—having seen Sedaris read live on numerous occasions had always left me doubled over with hysterical, tears-in-the-eyes laughter. His wry, sardonic humor is funny enough just reading it in print; but when you hear Sedaris actually read from his work, it’s his dead-pan inflection that elevates the obvious from ordinary to witty.
In the Seattle Public Theater production, “David” is played by Andrew Litzky, whose use of a holiday-outfitted bullhorn throughout the monologue adds to the humor. At first, Litzky seemed a bit stiff, wandering around the perimeter of the stage. But once he donned the elf apparel, Litzky morphed into Sedaris’s neurotic, get-me-out-of-here character. The only negative aspect of Litzky’s performance was that I felt he over-inflected a lot of the monologue, though to be fair, judging by the audience’s laughter, this wasn’t an issue with everyone.
It did seem that at times the props, often omitted in monologue performances, got in the way of the story. Ironically, Director Makaela Pollock’s note in the program seemed truer than her direction:
“…directing The Santaland Diaries has reminded me of some of the simple reasons that pull us to the theater time and again. Perhaps a bit absurdly in this context, Peter Brook’s famous words echo in my head. ‘A man walks across (an) empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theater to be engaged.’”
During the performance, two prop-related occurrences stood out in my mind which I found to be part of this disconnect: a paper box which supposedly contained large, bound Xerox copies of “elf manuals” was actually a box filled with odds and ends like small yellow notepads and loose pieces of paper. Similarly, Litsky empties a box of bows and ribbons when he describes a scene involving children’s vomit. Neither of these props added to the production, and in fact they were a distraction from two very funny highpoints of the monologue.
Nevertheless, the audience travels with Litzky in a downward spiral as Christmas approaches. It’s a scene we’ve all witnessed before but never quite so vividly remember, or consciously choose to forget. There are times when our stomachs churn at the thought of large crowds of overtired, overanxious, obnoxious people waiting impatiently for the chance to art direct their children and Santa for the perfect photo op. Yet, the monologue winds down on a positive note, reminding us that every one of us all have our good and bad sides.
The Santaland Diaries runs for approximately one hour, with performances on Thursdays-Sundays through Dec 24th. Tickets are can be purchased online or by visiting the box office at the Bathhouse.
We saw this last year and it’s fabulous!