One man, one woman and one sad, Charlie-Brown-like Christmas tree.
The way these three collide on Christmas Eve is the premise of the Central Alberta Theatre one-act comedy — Norm Foster’s The Christmas Tree, which opens Friday, Dec. 2, at the Nickle Studio, upstairs at Red Deer’s Memorial Centre.
The play starts with Sonja and Daniel both arriving at a tree lot to discover only one Christmas tree left — and a mangy one at that.
While the seasonal thing to do would be give up the scrawny tree to the other person, neither character — played by real-life husband and wife Deb and Dennis O’Brien — is feeling particularly charitable.
Director Mary Lou Armstrong said the two instead take turns coming up with one sad-sack story after another to try to wrestle the tree from each other. “They are total lies.”
Sonja starts on about being an impoverished single mother, who couldn’t afford to get her kids a tree until her paycheque came in just before Christmas. Noticing she’s dressed like a fashion plate, Daniel doesn’t buy it.
Then he tries out a sob story about needing the tree for his seniors facility. But this doesn’t soften Sonja’s heart.
Eventually, Sonja gets the feeling that Daniel is after more than the tree, said Armstrong. “The man wants to spark some romance but the woman is only interested in the tree.”
There’s even a line in the play about how all males are ever hopeful that they can score with an attractive woman.
A chuckling Armstrong added, “I asked Dennis about this and he said, ‘It’s true’ . . . I told him, women don’t think like that at all. It wouldn’t cross my mind!”
While the play only hints at the two middle-aged characters’ backgrounds, Armstrong gets the feeling that both are pretty lonely, which is why this play should strike an empathetic note at Christmas time, when it’s difficult to be without a family or a significant other.
It’s obvious that both Sonja and Daniel have pasts and come with emotional baggage, said the veteran director, who added the “hilarious” play contains several touching moments.
“It has quite a bit of heart to it.”
The ingredients are there to put an audience in the right mood for Christmas. “It’s a feel-good play,” said Armstrong. “The people who go will have a chuckle” — especially over the light-hearted ending that leaves some strings untied.
The cabaret evening will also include a monologue delivered by Fred Anderson and some seasonal songs performed by Airyn Striet and Cynthia Edwards.
Tickets to the 7:30 p.m. show, with a cash bar, are $12 from Ticket Central.
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com