Fancy a live video session with Santa, anyone?
Santa Clause has gone viral
— and this might bring some Christmas cheer to children who will get the personalised attention of four leading South African theatre-makers.
Athena Mazerakis, Gerard Bester, Craig Morris and Renos Spanoudes on Wednesday launched The Santa Call, the
Covid-Safe Way for your Children to Connect to Santa this Christmas ”.
Mazerakis, a renowned SA theatre-maker and performer, said times were tough for the four.
They had managed to hold down teacher and other jobs to get through the lockdown and were motivated by a genuine desire to spread goodwill.
“This kind of online service is offered in theUSA for a starting fee of R1,520 so we are making it far more affordable in SA,” she said.
“Their fee is up to R500 for a live video session with Santa.”
Parents can book a live Zoom call with the great Santa Clause himself between December 16 and 24.
The interactive video chat is personalised to the little ones ’ “nice list ”.
There is also a R350 Early Elf “special ” from December 3-15.
Mazerakis told the Dispatch the actors theatre income had
’ been badly affected by the pandemic, but that the performers were mainly motivated by a desire to spread happiness.
As corny as it sounds, they “were thrilled to be able to bring a bit of joy to this really k*k year, she said.
” Her job was main administrative elf who directed business to the actors homes where each had set up a Santa corner with decorations and a comfy chair for Santa to give off an air that he had taken time from his busy schedule in the North Pole to talk to the children."
“We keep the shots close.” An adult must be in the room with the child and would do the introduction to Santa.
Test pilots had produced different results.
“The first boy was not convinced Santa existed but after the call was tipped into believing, saying Santa is real!’
‘
“A little girl told Santa Oh, of
‘ course you know that because you see everything ’.”
Mazerakis said inside information on a child s Christmas
’ desires was gathered from the booking forms and was subtly
“dropped into the narrative.
One child was totally surprised that Santa knew they had a cat called Snoes.”
The chief elf will have a crazy time if the service gets busy because the crew will have only 24 hours to customise an interaction.
“We have a rough structure for the Santas to follow but it is open to the live interaction with the child.
“It helps to have incredible performers who can improvise so beautifully.
“We approached this with [the] fullness of [our] professional selves and professional engagement.”
"There would be less cheese and corn from Santa and more positive and talking about the message that gifts are not always material but can be how we are with others, how we express acts of kindness and the good wishes we put out ”.
She said: We did this on a
“zero budget and so that meant approaching people I know very well who will be working on spec for a percentage of each call.
“Call Santa is built on years of relationships and friendships. We are thrilled to bring a little joy into the lives of others.”
Call Santa at thesantacall.