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by Steven Berkoff, directed by Brian Murray

Michael Kash and Bridge Productions, Alley Theatre Workshop, Toronto

November 10-December 10, 2005

British playwright Steven Berkoff’s 1985 downer of a play Harry’s Christmas could also be called It’s Not a Wonderful Life since there are no angels to save people from despair.  Most of the play’s 75 minutes are very funny until the mask falls and its serious intent stares back at us.

It’s four days before Christmas and lonely 40-year-old Harry Glebe (Michael Kash) has received only six cards.  As the days count down to “D-Day,” two sides of Harry compete for dominance.  The optimistic side tries to convince him to phone people and get out.  The pessimistic side tells him there’s no point.  The optimistic side thinks the problem is outside, in the false camaraderie the Christmas season calls forth.  The pessimistic side sees the problem is inside his head where there is no escape.

Kash gives a superb performance as a man struggling to break free from a thought cycle that is wearing him down.  He makes Harry’s destructive debates with himself all too plausible.  Director Brian Murray understands Berkoff’s provocative strategy--our laughter at Harry’s optimism and its continual defeat only makes us complicit in Harry’s failure.  If “loneliness is a disease,” as Harry says, Berkoff wants us to know how much we fear it.

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2005-07-07.

Photo: Michael Kash. ©Tim Leyes.