It’s Friday the 13th, but if you’re in the mood for holiday shows, this is your lucky weekend. Just about every theater in town has something onstage aimed at getting you into the Christmas spirit, making you laugh, diverting you from the stress of being cheerful or just poking fun at the ways of the world (at least the world of commercialism we see in America today).
Perhaps you’ve already done your annual brush-up on Dickens’ A Christmas Carol at the Playhouse (another fine production, now in its 23rd season with Bruce Cromer back as Scrooge and a new interpretation of Bob Cratchit, featuring the very angular Ryan Wesley Gilreath, who seems to be all arms and legs and stringy hair — very Dickensian) or the musical version being presented by Covedale Center. With the story of Scrooge’s dark night of the soul fresh in mind, perhaps you’re ready for A Klingon Christmas Carol, presented by Hugo West Theatricals at the Art Academy of Cincinnati (1212 Jackson St., Over-the-Rhine). This is a newish theater group that knows its way around satirical work (their Don’t Cross the Streams, a goofy derivative of Ghostbusters, was a popular piece in the 2012 Fringe festival), they are giving this unusual piece its local premiere. (It’s been staged in Chicago and Minneapolis.) It’s actually a rather faithful retelling of the story with SQuja’ (Donald Volpenheim), a cowardly, money-grubbing member of Star Trek’s warrior race, taking the place of Scrooge.
It’s presented by a deadpan Vulcan narrator (Lauren Carr) who positions the work as the “original” of the tale. Klingons don’t celebrate Christmas, but they are bound by traditions, the greatest of them being the “Feast of the Long Night.” The 70-minute piece closely matches with Scrooge’s story, but it’s all through a Klingon filter — lots of angry outbursts and hearty laughter, grunting, growling, drinking and chest-thumping by characters with wrinkled foreheads, bushy eyebrows and fierce demeanors. Eileen Earnest handles timHom (a Muppet-like equivalent for Tiny Tim), son of Quachit (David Dreith), whose training as a warrior is being neglected because of greedy SQuja’. If you’ve never yearned for a visit to Qo’noS, the Klingon homeworld, you might find this production a bit impenetrable since it’s performed in the guttural Klingon language, but there are projected subtitles that add humor to the action. This won’t be a show for everyone, but if you’re a Star Trek fan, you’ll have a good time. Tickets ($20 at the door or here).
This article appears in Dec 11-17, 2013.
