This will probably be the last time posting this. It is getting long of tooth and my son is about to retire from the Army after 20 years of service. So just for clarity and full disclosure: my son is the flute player, second from the left:
A VERY DEADLY CONSTRUCTIVISTS HOLIDAY
From the Contructivists website describing A Very Deadly Constructivists Holiday: “…we’re back for the third year of this new kind of Holiday standard.” Well this certainly is a new kind of holiday play. In no way is it a holiday play that you would expect, even in your wildest fever dreams around the holidays. It is at times loud, silly, totally in your face, and often profane! No holiday sacred cow or reindeer for that matter goes ungored.
Deadly? Yes indeed. This concept was created by Jaimelyn Gray and Gray also directs. There are seven skit/sketches loosely bound to the seven deadly sins. And the cast shift roles and persona as they work their way through each one. And one beloved character actually dies during one memorable skit. The cast includes Autumn N. Green, Becky Cofta, Ekene Ikegwuani, Kellie Wambold, Libby LaDue, Logan Milway, Nate Press, Nicole McCarty, and William Molitor.
But there is plenty of music here and dance as well. Some of it very animated and engaging and some of it is just over the top silly. The plentiful humor is dark indeed and every shade of gray. The performers all bring out the best and worst of the situations. You will recognize many of the songs done here but maybe not the lyrics as the writers took great liberties with the meaning of a number of Christmas carols. St Nick narrates until… And yes there are adult themes…you can only guess…given that the opening skit is Lust and is situated in a bar…so give it your best shot.
At a brief 55 minutes with just a quick blackout between scenes for a set change, you barely have a chance to catch your breath…between chuckles or just as often groans. Unfortunately it only ran for four performances over three days so I was lucky to catch it.
So, if there is a fourth. remember: this is a short skit based play with adult language and adult situations and no subtlety whatsoever. It isn’t the holiday play that you’d expect but it might be the holiday play you deserve when the holiday stresses start to get on your last nerve.
Vanguard Milwaukee: All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914
This is a drama that you are going to hear and a drama that you are going to feel. But it is unlike any drama that you have experienced before. World War I occurred over 100 years ago. It was the war to end all wars. It was a violent and horrific war. But for one evening on Christmas Eve 1914 during the Battle of the Somme, All Is Calm. And this true story is what is being represented in All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914.
There are no featured roles here…this is an ensemble effort…entirely. Ten actors enter the stage individually, each dressed in a different bit of military uniform, but slightly unkempt and seriously disheveled. And our ensemble is more a male chorus than a cast. And the arc of our story moves from the troops shipping out from Great Britain and arriving in Europe and finally facing the real facts of war. And the ensemble takes turns recounting the experience of each side in the conflict, troops from Great Britain and then again the German troops that they face across the wire.
Most of the story is told in song. From patriotic tunes to more popular songs of the time to Christmas carols. There are interludes throughout where an individual actor is spot lighted, and then provides a brief description of how a soldier feels and then identifies himself by name and rank and unit. So the under story is clear and strong and so so apparent. And you realize if the leadership of either nation listened, the troops have a solution to the fighting.
The opposing forces are close enough to each other’s trenches that they can hear the singing. And as they start to celebrate Christmas and carols are sung, the competition to drown each other out succumbs to the joy of carols and the meaning of the season. And at this point each side finds the courage to leave their trenches and move into no man’s land and celebrate a personal and local peace with each other. Cigarettes and alcohol are shared, a game of soccer is played, and the dead are buried. And we continue to hear the under stories of the troops and feel what they are feeling. And finally they sing a joint rendering of Auld Lang Syne.
But of course, this is war, and this couldn’t last.
Director Jill Anna Ponasik has precisely identified what makes this story so poignant and telling and brought out those points on stage. The ensemble or men’s chorus, is absolutely engaged in this presentation. Set and lighting design was done by Antishadows Theatrical Design, and as you can see, the set is spare and the lighting dramatic. And as the story requires at times we have subdued flashes of light representing cannon flash in the distance to the entirety of the star filled sky for Christmas Eve.
This is the fourth season that Vanguard Milwaukee has presented All Is Calm. It his a holiday play but it isn’t the holiday play that you would expect. It is something beyond that.
Vanguard Milwaukee is presenting All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914 at Calvary Presbyterian Church at 935 West Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin from now through December 22nd, 2025. Additional information (including a FAQ section) and tickets can be found here!
