• Home
  • About On Stage
  • Contact On Stage / Request a Reviewer

On Stage Ottawa: Should you see it?

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Featured Articles
  • Reviews
  • Reviews from the Road
  • Ottawa Fringe
    • Fringe 2016
    • Fringe 2015
    • Fringe 2014
    • Fringe 2013
    • Fringe 2012
    • Fringe 2011
  • Calendar

So This is Christmas: A Double-Header of Holiday Shows for Grown-Ups

November 29, 2015 by Caitlin Oleson

So This is Christmas presents a different perspective on the upcoming holiday: one that is more appropriate for adults than families, with a focus on what Christmas means instead of how we celebrate it. Both plays could have easily taken place at any other time of year but fit nicely together as a start to the season.

The evening opened with Jim Holt’s “Sleeping Indoors”, a one-hour play about a family that invites a destitute stranger into their home for Christmas dinner. From that description, one can expect a mushy diatribe on the values of generosity and charity. What emerged was a much more complex and interesting investigation on homelessness. The houseguest has written a literary masterpiece and our well-meaning hosts pressure him to publish, thus trading the only life he’s ever known for the chance to sleep indoors on a regular basis. As educated, cultured, and well-employed people, do they really “know best”?

So This is Christmas, presented by Phoenix Players

I really enjoyed this play. The interactions between the characters were believable to the point that I forgot I was watching actors on stage. I particularly liked Bobby Robert’s turn as the immensely personable Nora: the sweet, thoughtful, almost effervescent woman of the house who welcomed a stranger into her home without coaxing – or approval from her husband! There were lots of light moments, laughter, and music in “Sleeping Indoors” as well as amazing costumes and really stellar acting. If you excuse the warm weather cliché, Phoenix Players really knocked this one out of the park.

After intermission, So This is Christmas continued with Norm Foster’s two-hander “The Christmas Tree”. Dan and Sonja both arrive at a tree lot on Christmas Eve where there is only one tree left. Each tries to convince the other they are more deserving of the tree by trading outrageously pathetic holiday stories. The problem is that each of these stories is made up so we don’t really get a sense of who these characters are until the very end.

The audience and my companion clearly found the never-ending banter between Dan and Sonja charming since the theatre was full of laughs. I found it tedious and predictable. I didn’t care about these characters and frankly, I really didn’t like Dan. I thought he was oafish, annoying, and flat. By contrast, Lisa Moore’s Sonja was sarcastic, lively, and fun to watch but even she couldn’t salvage this play for me. That said, I may just be a Scrooge.


But that’s just my opinion and I’d like to know what you think. Would you ever invite a stranger into your home for the holidays? Is a literary masterpiece property of society or its author? And was The Christmas Tree touching or tiresome? Join the discussion in the comments below.

So This is Christmas is presented by Phoenix Players. It runs now through December 5th at The Gladstone. Visit their online box office for show times and how to buy tickets.

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Bobby Robert, Craig Miller, Dan Smythe, Grace Davidson, Jennifer Bond, Jo-Ann McCabe, Lisa Moore, mike kennedy

Your Guide to What’s On Stage

Do you want to know what's going on On Stage in Ottawa? And not have to come looking for it? Drop in your name and email below and we'll send On Stage Weekly right to you every week.

Caitlin Oleson

About Caitlin Oleson

Caitlin is a bilingual communications, administration, and information management specialist with an unwavering love of the performing arts. Most of her free time is spent taking in shows, dreaming about being in shows, and hanging out with people who make shows. When she's not too busy being a theater-geek, Caitlin enjoys creative writing, aerial arts, dance, yoga, and science fiction television shows. She loves the city of Ottawa and is always excited to go on an adventure exploring its many hidden gems.

Recent Featured Articles

Odyssey Theatre’s Lysistrata and the Temple of Gaia — The Slaves Called It.

Dogfight: the Musical battles its rocky first act to come away victorious.

Vaccinate yourself against boredom and conformity with Theatre Kraken’s Cry Baby

A little romance, some family turmoil, and a bunch of laughs in Odyssey Theatre’s The Amorous Servant

Movin’ Melvin Brown, A Man, A Magic, A Music: To Ottawa Fringe with love — #OttFringe 2017

Luna: A journey into the abstract fantastic — #OttFringe 2017

The ADHD Project: A charming look inside the life and mind of a neuro-divergent. — #OttFringe 2017

Do You Want To Live Forever?: Delightful dance and poetry but no real investigation into the question. — #OttFringe

Hootenanny! Popular Australian children’s entertainers come to Ottawa, hilarity ensues — #OttFringe 2017

Your Princess Is In Another Castle: The reality of loving mannequins, and other meta-cultural absurdism — #OttFringe 2017

The Full On Stage Archives

  • Featured Articles
  • Fringe 2011
  • Fringe 2012
  • Fringe 2013
  • Fringe 2014
  • Fringe 2015
  • Fringe 2016
  • Fringe 2017
  • On Stage Weekly
  • Reviews
  • Reviews from the Road
  • Theatre Talk

On Stage Needs You

Do you care how theatre is promoted in Ottawa? Do you want to see Ottawa theatre continue to get the best publicity possible? Is seeing Ottawa theatre get the exposure it deserves worth an hour a week of your time?

Visit our Join the Team page to find out ways you can support On Stage, Ottawa's Theatre Arts Magazine.

Copyright 2016, On Stage Ottawa. All Rights Reserved. · Website maintained by Valley Wind Productions · Log in