My current directing project is Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters for Oregon State University. The process so far? Challenging, tiring, and pretty darn rad.
Chekhov is so delightfully dense as he probes into life’s most heartbreaking moments with sensitivity and humor. For more in-depth information, dramaturgy, and a rehearsal blog on this production, please check out OSU Theatre Plays: http://osutheatreplays.blogspot.com/
The beautiful and fully realized set design by the amazing Cristie Johnston.
Opening Night has always been a bittersweet experience for me. It’s satisfying to see everything come together (and it truly did for Season’s Greetings) but it also means saying “good-bye” to a show and to a great group of people. When I direct at home, I get a more drawn out farewell because I see the show more than once and I get to be a part of the cathartic experience of strike. For Season’s Greetings, I came to Opening Night excited, but knowing it would be the last time I’d see the silliness and that twelve hours later, I’d be on a plane back to Oregon.
Bernard (Philip Bozich) performs his ill-fated puppet show for Harvey (Jason Grubbe) and Pattie (Wendy Greenwood).
I am happy to say, that in spite of a few unplanned detours, the show came together delightfully - as far as I am concerned the Opening Night was pretty flawless. With the exception of a malfunctioning prop the show went off without a hitch, the audience enjoyed it, the cast was full of inventive energy, and that’s all I could have asked for. The show did what it was supposed to do, made a room full of people laugh while making them feel a little uncomfortable watching all the familiar dysfunctional relationships. What more could you ask for of a holiday production?
I go into every production wanting to learn something … and once again I wasn’t let down. This was a blocking challenge! How am I ever to create multiple acting areas (and believable multiple rooms) in a postage stamp-sized space? Luckily, the brilliant Cristie Johnston was up to the task for transforming the Gaslight into the warm and welcoming Bunker home. For me, this became a play about people desperately searching for private moments in an impossibly public area … and (thankfully) comedy comes from that tension.
Clive (Stephen Peirick) and Belinda (Emily Baker) try to steal a moment together underneath the Christmas tree.
I am very happy with the show and thankful that the audiences and critics are also responding positively to it. The cast has worked hard in our short time together in order to bring it together. They stepped it up! And people are responding!
The cast is now in the midst of their second week of performances and I am cheering them on from afar. I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with this gifted group of artists and I look forward to my return to St. Louis come spring time for the upcoming La Bute New Theater Festival and for next season’s auditions! For now, I need to move on to preparing for Three Sisters. I have a wonderful cast lined up and I’m eager to being this next journey.
Thank you to STLAS for a wonderful November! Happy holidays!
Rachel’s ill-fated attempt to seduce a man. Poor Rachel.
And in the blink of an eye … the journey is nearly complete. In all honestly, after spending some time with them … the Bunkers have really grown on me. This is certainly due to, in large part, the wonderfully talented cast I have been lucky enough to work with over the past few weeks. While on the page this collection of socially awkward misfits seemed terribly unlikeable, here on the night of the preview performance … they have come to life with warmth and a surprising amount of familiarity. Perhaps they will be reminiscent of your own familial dysfunction amidst the annual holiday chaos.
Last night’s run was one of the first times I could sit back and watch the show for the sum of its parts. I was reminded about the personal nature of making theatre. There are pieces of me infused throughout this play from my own personal experiences and aesthetic. And the same is true for every person who contributed to this production. Certain moments ring particularly true … much of Rachel’s characterization, for example, was directed to be painfully autobiographical of my own ill-conceived attempts at impressing men. I guess that’s one of the tricks about theatre … in order to make these stories authentic directors, designers, and actors must empathize with the world and characters in it. We must find ways to facilitate and communicate those stories, so it only makes sense that we draw from personal experience in combination with imagination and creative innovation.
Neville faces his ultimate rival.
Watching last night’s rehearsal, my suspicions were confirmed … they are ready (and pretty eager) for an audience. The element of laughter and live response will push this show to its next (and desirable) level for performance mode. Peter sat with me through about half the run last night and as a completely fresh set of eyes, he enjoyed the show. So … that’s quite encouraging.
Bernard sets up his beloved puppet theatre while Harvey delivers a dire warning to Neville and Eddie.
There were some notes from last night. As always, I don’t want to let go completely until the very end. I came by the theatre this morning to paint some props and help with the final details. Deep breath! One night left and then tomorrow … this little bird will fly!
The first night in the Gas Light Theater.
It’s remarkable to me how suddenly a show can experience a growth spurt. Our first night after transitioning from the rehearsal space onto the stage was met with challenges. It’s totally normal for actors to get a little thrown off when you introduce new elements into the process. You take steps forward and backward at the same time. On the one hand, they were clearly excited to be on a set with doors and levels and much more space than we were working with next door. This led to discoveries about how to use the space as performers and to “live” in it as the “Bunker family.” At the same time, in learning how to move in the space, the rhythm we had developed in rehearsal was disrupted.
Monday night’s first dress rehearsal.
I went into Monday’s first dress with high hopes and my fingers crossed. There were, again, challenges involved. This is an extremely complicated show involving numerous props. There are numerous bits of action reliant on having various props - tools, toys, food, puppets, drinks, and weapons are a few items from the long list and each of these elements needs to be worked with and worked into the world. While we had much more to work with Monday night, we were still lacking some key elements.
Apart from missing props, we were introducing other technical elements for the first time - lights, costumes, and new sound cues. It would be a miracle for everything to work perfectly the first time … and it certainly did not. Everyone left that night feeling tired, raw-nerved, and slightly disheartened at a less-than-smooth run. Through the fog of glitches and nervous performers, I could see the shape of the show was there … we all just had to come together with the confidence to bring it to the next level
Milt had watched that rough and rocky run, he could tell I was ragged around the edges afterward. But he turned to me with his laid-back Oklahoma charm and said, “It’s actually in good shape. Besides, there’s not much you can do now.” He was right. As much as it pains any high-strung control-freak director, tech week is a process of letting go and handing off responsibility to others. I quickly downed two large glasses of pinot gris at the bar, talked through notes with JC, Jonathan, and Amy, and went home knowing that tomorrow was another day, another rehearsal, another chance to get things on track. My nervous tension was dealt with the next, frigid morning with a run along side my beloved Forest Park, shoe shopping, and cupcake baking. Sometimes there is nothing to be done but bring in a batch of morale-boosting baked goods.
The Bunkers coming together as a family around the TV.
Something magical happened last night. Maybe it was the cupcakes. Maybe it was the fact that everything that could possibly go wrong had already gone wrong. Maybe it was just bound to happen given where we were in the process. But, we had a show last night! The performers showed confidence, energy, and focus in their characterizations and surrounding. The technical elements ran much more smoothly. The show was funny. I found myself laughing at pieces that I hadn’t found funny in a long time. Something else occurred to me … even though my initial reaction to this family was on of distaste, I’ve actually grown to like them very much in their self-centered displays of dysfunction.
There is work to be done, but Monday to Tuesday was like watching a completely different play. I think we all breathed a sigh of relief as we keep moving toward opening night. We are in excellent shape. I really think people are going to enjoy this play … and I’m not just saying that!
Rehearsal for Act II, scene 1. Puppet show chaos is about to erupt!
One thing I can say about these extremely short rehearsal periods is that growth happens in sudden spurts. Not that I should find it terribly surprising given we simply don’t have the luxury to allow things to sit and marinate. We had a couple of rough days and after the Thanksgiving respite, I was anxiously anticipating Friday’s run through - the first run through of the entire show. Before we began, I reviewed a couple of short sections and then ran through the two most difficult portions of the show: the puppet show and the Snakes and Ladders sequence. The actors approached the sections with a nervous energy lacking in confidence which led to slow cue pick-up and an uneven pace. It was not what I was hoping for.
I took a deep breath, there was nothing to do but be encouraging, remind them to pick up the cues, to stay focused, and be confident.
We set up for Act I with all the little makeshift props we had gathered over the past week - empty water bottles, paper coffee cups, and other bits of garbage that were being endowed into puppets, wine glasses, Christmas ornaments, and fine china. I braced myself for the run. In all honesty, Act I was what I had expected given we hadn’t approached the material for about a week. The blocking ran smoothly and some of the moments really clicked - Phyllis’ ill-fated seduction of Clive and Rachel’s constant lurking around corners stood out as particularly memorable moments. While the pace was slow and sometimes uneven, I could see the shape emerging and felt very encouraged that we were on track.
Act II was another story entirely. It clipped along at a breezy pace and built to a logical comic climax. After the first run of the puppet sequence earlier in the evening, my hopes were not high - but that section came together with a ferocious energy and a good sense of the overlap. It was all a bit magical quite honestly. Something seemed to click for the first time. I could see the elements gelling together nicely and the continuity of the show.
Clive (Steven Peirick) tries to let down Rachel (Rachel Hanks) gently while Bernard (Phillip Bozich) tends to his beloved puppet show.
And now it’s time to throw more complicated elements into the mix. Yesterday was spent working through sound cues which will help bring the Bunker’s holiday home to life. The sound designer, Robin Weatherall, is meticulous and extremely skilled in adding that layer of realism into the world of a play. He came with an appropriate television underscoring and a wonderful selection of saccharine holiday pop music. I’m very eager to add this in at tonight’s rehearsal.
Construction of the Bunker home.
Tonight will also be a huge step forward as it means our first night in the space! I could jump up and down I’m so excited to see everything on the stage with levels, doors, and real props. No doubt this will lead to complications and problems to be solved … but that’s my job. We are at a good place in terms of characterization and movement on the part of the actors. Time to take that next leap forward!
One of the unsung heroes of the show.
For those who don’t work in the theatre, the process of making a play can seem rather mysterious.When people hear what I do for a living, they tend to ask the same types of questions. Last night, spending Thanksgiving with a lot of new faces, the questions cropped up. What do you do all night? How is the show going? Is the show going to be good? Have you ever had to fire an actor? Do the actors just do what you say? What kind of director are you? How was rehearsal last night? How do you get actors to do what you want? Am I going to like the show?
Let’s face it, I have kind of a weird job. I take an imaginary world constructed by a playwright I have never met, draw out narratives and emotional content from words on a page, and imagine my own version of that world. Then I spend each evening attempting to get other people to communicate the visions I have about imaginary people for the purpose of manipulating the emotions of paying customers. It’s a weird job indeed. It requires the focused and energetic collaboration of an ensemble willing to work and play together. At their best, rehearsals can be an incredibly satisfying period of growth and creative discovery … at their worst, they can be torturous and unproductive exercises in frustration.
In my experience as an actor and a director I have been involved in rehearsal processes ranging from extremely short (a few days) to over six-weeks long with everything in between. No matter the length of a period, the processes all follow similar arcs with the same outcome of a looming opening night date. Rehearsals are about growth and the shape of a show taking form. Quite honestly, sometimes this can be a painful process. Rough rehearsals happen. People get frustrated. Problems arise. And yet out of these bumps in the road, solutions develop and bonds forge within the ensemble.
This particular process is shorter than I get when I direct university theatre, but it has experienced the same feelings of excitement when things go well and satisfaction when moments take shape between characters. It has also experienced the same bumps in the road that happen in more lengthy processes - actors getting sick, scheduling conflicts, and frustration in dealing with tricky bits of staging. It can be slightly terrifying when the plan for the evening does not run as smoothly as imagined, however, there is nothing to do for every person in the group but shake it off, work harder, and move on.
The cast faces their greatest nemesis: Snakes and Ladders.
For the most part, the process of Season’s Greetings has run fairly smoothly, but the unplanned illness of an actor through a wrench in the works. It happens. Like I said, there is nothing to do but move on and find other ways to be productive. The other major challenge has been what I will put under the category of “actor confidence” over a couple of difficult scenes. The human element of making theatre is simultaneously exciting and terrifying because of the amount of trust one simply has to put in the hands of others.
The cast at large was nervous about two particularly challenging moments in the script: the Snakes and Ladders scene and the puppet scene. In both cases, the challenges lie in the way that Ayckbourn has woven together two separate but simultaneous scenes with different characters. When it works, it’s amazingly naturalistic and funny. When it doesn’t, it’s disastrous. It requires of the actors intense focus and listening to two scenes at once. It also requires them to know their lines and cues absolutely cold. Without complete confidence in words and action from every performer in the room, the chipper rhythm of the scenes break down and it’s difficult to recover. At some points during these difficult rehearsals I could see the paled panic on their faces, but there was nothing to do but repeat, repeat, repeat to work though the moments again and again.
Progress was made. Character growth occurred. Pacing improved. It’s all part of that mysterious process. We took last night off for turkey and Thanksgiving shenanigans. Tonight we resume with a run through of the entire show. I have pretty thoroughly examined all the pieces of this machine … now it’s time to reassemble to see if it will fly.
Emily Baker (Belinda), Rachel Hanks (Rachel), and Stephen Peirick (Clive) working through blocking rehearsal.
It’s amazing and extremely gratifying how quickly plays come together when working with a group of talent and motivated performers. Beginning the process (oh so many days ago), I found myself a little nervous approaching this script in this challenging space, but after one smoothly-run blocking rehearsal, it occurred to me: “Yes, this show will be very, very funny.” Blocking rehearsals can be a giant pain in the ass, so my goal is to get through them as quickly as possible and to ask the actors to be off book as quickly as possibly so that the real (and much more fun) work can begin.
We are now well into that “work” and I am seeing delightful details developing between characters - from Rachel’s “lurkiness” to Neville’s charmingly self-absorbed neglect of his wife. Everyone has found a clearly defined approach to his or her character. This is an eclectic group of self-involved misfits and although I personally disliked them on the page, I am growing quite fond of watching the dysfunctional family discord play out on stage. I’m finding now that the petty squabbles and childish behavior exhibited by the character is, in fact, what makes them so incredibly human and identifiable. While this may not be a heart-warming romp through Santa’s workshop, it will certainly make people laugh about the best and worst parts of the holidays.
Teresa Doggett (Phyllis), Phillip Bozich (Bernard), Stephen Peirick (Clive), Wendy Greenwood (Pattie), and Eric Dean White (Neville) working through the infamous “Snakes and Ladders Scene.”
The way I like the make a play is a process of taking it apart, examining the pieces, messing with them, putting it back together again, and then repeat. Getting the details just right is incredibly satisfying, but it takes time. The past couple of rehearsals have required frequent stops and starts and, quite frankly, patience on the part of the actors.
One of the most difficult pieces of the play is the “Snakes and Ladders Scene” where one group of characters engages in a rowdy and drunken round of a child’s board game, while another group of characters has a more intimate heart-to-heart about relationships. This requires intense listening for cues and a good sense of timing and coordination between six actors engaged in two different scenes. Honestly, from my perspective, it all came together much easier than I ever anticipated that it could.
A drunken Rachel (Rachel Hanks) makes an ill-conceived move on Clive (Stephen Peirick).
Since we are working the scenes all out of order at the moment, the next step is going to be seeing if, once the play is reassembled, the arc of the scenes will still make sense in terms of character development. After spending a great deal of time on a Rachel and Clive section last night I am eager to see how it fits in with the rest of Act I.
Tonight will we work with the last little bits of Act I and then run the whole act - theoretically straight through. Act I is significantly longer than Act II, so we only get two days to work with the last two scenes in the play. Friday, after a much-needed Thanksgiving respite, we will return to rehearsal to run the whole show.
Our teeny, tiny rehearsal space at the 11.
Blocking rehearsalsalways take a leap of faith. While I spend ample time preparing and envisioning how I want any show to look and move before I get to rehearsal, I inevitably come into the space with nervous anticipation that what I see in my head might not actually work in three dimensions. Seasons Greetings is particularly challenging to put together because of the farcical elements and the Gaslight’s physical limitations.
Due to the small physical space of the Gaslight stage, some concessions had to be made in the set design- thankfully Cristie was up to the task. Where the script requires at least four distinct acting areas (the dining room, a hall, a sitting room, and the Christmas tree nook) and various stairs and exits, we simply could not accommodate that. The “hall” was the first thing to go and we basically have two areas: the sitting room and the dining room with tiny “areas” within them. This creates a couple of challenges for staging. First of all, the risk of getting really crowded at certain points in the play. Second, and more importantly, it limits how “private” moments can develop and occur at key moments. As written, for example, Belinda and Clive can steal off to the hall to enjoy their coffee in relative privacy. Here, I have staged them in the landing by the front door with Harvey deeply asleep in the armchair downstage.
Much of the written business also revolves around characters looking for each other and just missing one another as they move though the house - upstairs, into the kitchen, outside, etc. Ideally, I would have liked to use the escape stairs into the audience to create more “space” into the house. It wasn’t going to work, however, because then we wouldn’t have a good alternative to place the tv.
Doing my homework.
With all that in mind, we plunged into blocking on Sunday without a full cast. Scheduling conflicts led to the actors present moving about the space talking and responding to invisible characters while Amy read their lines. Steven (while he was not on stage as Clive) did make a suitable Harvey substitute. In spite of this, I was extremely encouraged and went home Sunday evening with a deep sense of relief. The showisfunny and I am working with a wonderfully creative and talented group of actors.
Steven Peirick (Clive) and Emily Baker (Belinda) working through a bit of blocking.
In seeing things on their feet, even with scripts in hand, relationships are developing on stage and hierarchies are being discovered. The close quarters led to a discovery about Rachel’s awkwardness that will, hopefully, pan out into some effective comic business about her sense of personal space. I am absolutely encouraged.
The show, as of last night, is blocked! We will run through the remainder of scenes we didn’t get though last night with a full cast this evening. I am eager for Thursday, the first rehearsal where the actors are scheduled to be off book. Last night Eric (Neville) asked if we were going to run through the first scene a second time. There wasn’t much need. I have always been of the mindset that only so much can be accomplished while actors have scripts in their hands. Deep relationships and timing issues can never effectively worked out as long as there is a physical script between the actors.
Very much looking forward to seeing the entire cast assembled for the first time tonight!
A model of the set with the recent addition of a dividing wall.
The Look and Sound
Saturday’s production meeting was an exciting time back at the West End Pub and Grill for two of my favorite things … the steak sandwich (rare) with coleslaw and talking about the show with the rest of the production team. Conceptually speaking, there is nothing too crazy about my vision … I’m not planning on setting it on the moon or anything. It isn’t a script so much bound in time and place as it is bound within a series of unsatisfying relationships. The original play was set in the 1980s, but with the exception of one reference to a rotary phone, there is nothing dated about the script.
Steak sandwich. A thing of beauty really.
Talking with the designers, I articulated the need for the production to feel fast-paced and showcase characters obsessed with the image of happiness, rather than having genuine happiness. It’s set now. (One of the jokes at the meeting was for the “better hair” 2012 had to offer.) The visual and aural tone of the show is also decidedly secular, these are not people concerned with attending Mass or the birth of Jesus, but with the endless series of dinners, teas, and gift distribution. The musical component, therefore, goes from the tolerable pop of the 1950s to the tinniest, most manufactured tones the 90s and onward have to offer … I hear Justin Bieber has a Christmas song.
The meeting went smoothly enough. The biggest design challenge from my perspective is the props for this show. Quite frankly, it’s a props nightmare: food, special effects toys, a working puppet theatre, guns, and a thousand of other bits and pieces that the jokes and blocking are dependent upon. Big sigh. It will be a challenge, but just like Neville … I like a challenge.
The Read-Through
Time moves quickly around here, but that time has been productive. Friday’s read-through brought new ideas about the characters and their relationships. I felt a little odd walking into rehearsal, the cast having met without me on a couple of occasions earlier in the week. It’s always interesting to hear early character interpretations where the performers act on impulse rather than a deeply developed study. Neville’s complete indifference to everyone (and nearly everything) rang out especially true. I also noticed the distinct personality contrast between siblings Neville and Phyllis. While Neville floats easily above any disaster that erupts in his home, Phyllis is an emotional tornado whirling around and infusing chaos wherever she lands like the Tasmanian Devil from the Loony Toons.
The read-through also helped me organize more clearly the complicated network of competitions that exist between this group of people. Each “rivalry,” however, is completely one-sided as the opponent is fighting a battle with someone else. Five of the nine characters engage in constant one-sided rivalries. The other four are oblivious to the rivalries and are the clear “winners” - Neville who is too narcissistic to notice or care much for the needs of others, Phyllis who has the attention span of a small child or over-excited terrier, Harvey who has long since given up on caring what others think, and Clive, the outsider to the family, whose presence as a new element into the group dynamic allows tensions to ignite in new ways for the Bunkers.
A Web of Rivalries
Rachel versus Belinda: In this classic sibling rivalry we have an older, awkward sister in a constant rivalry with her younger more alluring sister. Belinda has everything that is supposed to make a woman happy - she’s married, she has children, and she and her husband live a comfortable middle-class suburban life together. At one point, in her terribly painful explanation to Clive about her sudden (and unwanted) sexual advances, Rachel refers to “the Belindas of the world” effortlessly turning a man’s attention toward her. This seems to indicate that this “love triangle” isn’t a new experience for Rachel and she has, in fact, “lost” male attention in the past to her more charming sister. Belinda, however, does nothing to attract Clive. It occurs easily from the moment they meet in front of the Christmas tree in the first scene leaving Rachel’s efforts to attract him all the more futile and comically pathetic.
Belinda versus Eddie: Suburban wifery is not suiting Belinda, as becomes apparent through the play. While she makes an effort to trim the tree and create a holiday fantasy for the household, she is in a constant (and tense) battle for Neville’s attention with Eddie. Eddie does not work for Neville’s time just as Belinda does not work for Clive’s advances. Clive and Eddie are practically joined at the hip as they fiddle with broken toys or sneak off to the pub for a quick pint. Both husbands shirk familial responsibilities to be with each other. Belinda loses to Eddie every time.
Pattie versus Neville: Like with Belinda, Pattie lacks any apparent devotion and attention from her spouse. While Belinda has the opportunity to act out her frustration in a tryst with a handsome stranger, pregnant Pattie is most often left alone in corners crying to herself or tending to the children. Neville so easily wins the rivalry that Pattie’s existence barely even registers on his radar.
Bernard versus Harvey: This is the least subtle battle between characters in the play because while the others interact passive-aggressively, Bernard and Harvey stage an all-out war of ideals. Both are older, both are childless, and yet Bernard seems to fight for the respect of the younger generation while Harvey seems to win it easily. Bernard takes care to build and stage elaborate (and terrible) child-friendly entertainment, while Harvey sends them out unchaperoned to a gravel pit for a Texas-style shoot out. The middle generation also gives Harvey respect - bringing him drinks, paying him mind - where they completely ignore Bernard.
Eddie versus Neville: While Eddie follows Neville around like a helpless stray dog, he is in a rivalry with him for respect. Eddie is a failure and Neville is not. Neville frequently sweeps in to save Eddie from more failure and embarrassment. He holds the power without effort and Eddie is completely beholden to him.
My delightful home away from home for the next three weeks.
I made it in one piece - an encouraging start to my work here in St. Louis with the Actor’s Studio. I was in an absolute frenzy in preparing to leave this time around, with a full schedule of classes, meetings, and casting Three Sisters for Winter term at OSU, I left Corvallis with my head spinning and feeling a little nervous about jumping in so quickly. Thankfully, when my feet hit the ground in my beloved adopted city, I fell right back into step.
Peter, class-act as always, picked me up and we met up with William at the West End Grill and Pub (yum) for drinkies and shop-talk. William presented me with a stack of play proposals for the upcoming Labute Theatre Festival and we chatted about some of the challenges for this current production. Really, it’s the same things I’ve been feeling all along about Season’s Greetings- short rehearsal period, rather large cast, small space. I’m especially anxious about working out the intricacies of the “Snakes and Ladders Scene” and the extensive props list in the show, but I am also certain that these challenges will be worth the work in their potential for laughter.
Tonight is the first read-through. I’m a bit disappointed conflicts and other issues won’t allow the entire cast to meet as I was looking forward to hearing all the voices blend together. Alas, sometimes that’s the nature of the beast. Although my runs in the past couple of weeks have allowed me to think through a lot of the blocking, I haven’t yet committed much to paper. There is something about hearing everyone together that helps me envision what a particular production will look and feel like. I expect to hammer out a lot of the details late tonight after the read-through and even more so tomorrow afternoon following the first production meeting.
The amazing Cristie Johnston is once again at the helm for creating the set design. The Gas Light Theatre stage always presents challenges because it is narrow and very tall - rather chimney shaped. The challenges of staging this piece, in particular, are doubled because of the farcical elements. Cristie found an effective way to use the vertical space in her design - hopefully this will accommodate some of the more difficult pieces of blocking.
Cristie’s model for the set.
I’m very excited to get the actors playing in this space. I imagine blocking will go fairly smoothly at the rehearsal space, but the transition into the theatre is always an interesting day. Fingers crossed that we will get in there early on in the process.
I have some ideas to share with the production team tomorrow. I feel that part of this play is about a group of people whose lives, on the surface, seem very idyllically middle-class. In this attempt to embrace the holiday season with games, drinking, and puppet shows they are trying to construct and live in an image of what they think the season should be, however, the facade slips rather easily. Neville and Belinda’s home should look “perfect” - at least in the beginning, as she is making an effort to create a Christmas worthy of being featured in a Martha Stewart publication. The mood at the beginning should be festive, cheerful, and somehow suggest the “magic” of the holidays. But, as things go on, I would somehow like to show the cheap plastic reality about this family’s relationships and lives.
