Wise-acres offering frankincense and mirth
When it came to writing a new Christmas show, Lucia Frangione was wondering what to do next.
“I was wondering what on earth I could say that was new,” said the Vancouver writer/performer behind Cariboo Magi and Christmas on the Air.
“I’ve looked at the seasons, at community and family and the Christmas tradition. And I always like to ask a new question every time I write a play.”
Her question this time: What was happening in Galilee (a region in northern Israel where Bethlehem is located) during the birth of Christ?
“Who was there?” she said. “What was the Roman Empire doing? Who were the magi?”
These questions and others led her to write Holy Mo! A Christmas Show! It tells the story of Christ’s birth using not three wise men, but three not-so-wise travelling performers: Folly, Buffoona and Guff.
Folly, played by Frangione, is the ringleader of the group. She is the one who is most aware of what’s going on.
Buffoona, on the other hand, “just loves to take things on crazy tangents,” Frangione said.
“She gets very excitable and loses her train of thought and adds modern references and injects her favourite characters. So in the case of the Nativity, she is bound and determined to inject Santa into the story. So we do see Santa and Rudolph heading toward Bethlehem.”
Guff, played by Anita Wittenberg, is the quietest of the trio. “She gets the bit characters and the animals to play,” Frangione said.
The performer created the characters over 20 years ago for her first show and periodically brings them back to the stage. She’s acted opposite Wittenberg before in their respective roles, but is working with Jess Amy Shead, who plays Buffoona, for the first time.
“It was delightful to see the spirit of Buffoona come out in her,” Frangione said of the actress.
Initially, Frangione thought the 25-yearold might be too young for the role, “just because Anita and I are 20 years older than her. But when I saw that she had quite a bit of soulfulness and skill, I thought, ‘Oh, we’ll mesh just great.’”
The performers play music in the show as well.
But, says Frangione, “a lot of the storytelling does just happen with the actors themselves and how they transform from character to character.”
In its exploration of the Nativity, including its historical context, the play goes to some unusual places. It brings up not only Herod, ruler of Judea at the time, but also his wife, whom he had executed on charges of adultery.
“I was looking at the dark underbelly of Christmastime because I hadn’t really thought about it before,” Frangione said. “And that’s where the story came out of.”
Holy Mo! also abounds with modern references. “I quote Putin, I quote Trump — they’re easy to quote back to back, I’m not terribly sure who said what,” Frangione said. “I quote Kanye West and Gwyneth Paltrow. I’m looking at our political parallels between now and then and also the spiritual parallels — what I would call the spiritualization of narcissism that’s going on.”
For those looking for something other than standard holiday fare, Holy Mo! “is guaranteed to be something people have never seen before,” she said.
Spousal homicide aside, the actor promises a fun night out.
“Even though I’m handling serious subject matter, there’s a great deal of laughter. At one point, Anita plays a rhododendron. And I never expected a rhododendron to be so funny.”