Christmas is a time to be with family. But what if your family is fractured? That’s the question at the heart of this amiable show, written by and starring Jonny Donahoe, with songs from his duo Jonny & the Baptists. The tunes include that festive classic Don’t Be a Prick at Christmas.
Donahoe and comedian Rachel Parris play siblings, Jonny and Rachel, who were raised in a car by their socialist Jewish agnostic father, a man who lived by different rules. Christmas was spent in other people’s homes, often uninvited. There was the year they sat outside the house of their mother, eating corned beef sandwiches, watching her celebrate with her new family through the window. And there was the year they turned up unannounced on the doorstep of some Norwegians briefly met at an airport.
Then there was the year their dad disappeared, leaving the siblings to be taken into care. They team up with Paddy (played by Donahoe’s musical partner Paddy Gervers) who was also abandoned by his parents, but not in a Home Alone way. In the care home, the siblings are astonished to hear the nativity story for the first time and discover that socialism is not as mainstream as their dad led them to believe.
When Rachel is adopted, the family is further divided, and the siblings fall out. Then they meet for the first time in a decade to celebrate Christmas and repair their relationship. Or at least put on a show in which they pretend that it’s Christmas, because hiring a theatre is cheaper than long-term therapy.
There’s lots to enjoy here, including some meta theatre jokes, gentle audience interaction and some sharp observations about charity singles that seem as much concerned with feeding the artists’ egos as the world. But the whole thing feels slightly inconsequential and flung together. We hear a lot about the siblings’ extraordinary childhood, but need to be told less and to see more for the final emotional payoff to really land. The 10-year gap in their relationship raises more questions than it answers. You’re left wanting something with more substance than this miniature alternative festive gift can deliver.
• At New Diorama, London, until 23 December. Box office: 020-7383 9034.
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