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Peer Reviews A Tuna Christmas Entire contents are copyright © 2007, Craig Nolan Highley. All rights reserved.
When you enter the Victor Jory Theatre in the Actors Theatre of Louisville complex and are greeted with house music that includes songs like "Santa Got a Semi" and "Santa Looks a Lot Like Daddy," you know you're in for a different kind of holiday entertainment. One with a very redneck twist. And that is exactly what you get in ATL's latest annual production of Jaston Williams', Joe Sears' and Ed Howard's A Tuna Christmas. Two very energetic actors (Jody Cook and Diane Wasnak) perform 24 different characters over the course of the two-hour running time. It's the day before Christmas in Tuna, the third smallest town in Texas, and the citizens are attempting to cope with seasonal traumas such as a disaster-prone little theatre production of A Christmas Carol, and a yard-decorating contest that is being sabotaged by a mysterious Christmas phantom. Cook and Wasnak turn in amazing performances, and it's almost exhausting to watch. It's also interesting to note that Cook, a man, plays the most convincing female characters in the play while Wasnak, a woman, is most believable playing men!
Cook's most memorable character is Bertha Bumiller, a harried housewife with an absent husband and unruly children. The character is falling-down funny, but just real enough for us to feel her pain. Wasnak's best character is Petey Fisk, a bewildered animal-rights activist with more pets than he can handle, thanks to the town's penchant for giving him all the critters they get tired of. Each time the character appears on stage, Wasnak convincingly pantomimes an accompanying animal, usually an iguana or half-coyote mutt. Paul Owen's set is simple and charming, and Susan Neason's costumes do a lot to help the actors create their characters. In fact, the costumes are so elaborate it's amazing how quickly the performers get in and out of them. While A Tuna Christmas is actually the second play in a trilogy (the others are Greater Tuna and Red, White and Tuna), the story is self-contained and you do not have to have seen the other plays to enjoy it. And having seen both of ATL's other holiday shows currently playing, A Christmas Carol and The Santaland Diaries, I can attest that A Tuna Christmas is the best of the three.
A Tuna Christmas Nov. 22, 2007 - Jan. 2, 2008 Actors Theatre of Louisville Featuring Jody Cook and Diane Wasnak Posted Nov. 26, 2007
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