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Culture Theatre

The Story

THE STORY by Martha Ross, directed by Jennifer Brewin (Theatre Columbus). At the Evergreen Brick Works (550 Bayview free shuttle from Broadview station). Runs to December 30, Tuesday-Friday 7:30 pm, matinees December 21, 23 and 28 at 4:30 pm. $25, stu/srs $20, child $10. 416-504-7529 theatrecolumbus.ca. See listing. Rating: NNNN

You’ve likely never seen have the Nativity story the way Theatre Columbus presents it, as a walkabout show with comical shepherds, time-confused Three Kings, a ranting, clownish King Herod and a loopy angel Gabriel.

Even Mary and Joseph seem initially mismatched, she a practical woman just evicted from her apartment and he a dreamer fantasizing about their happy life together.

Martha Ross’s delightful script is full of humour and warmth, beginning with the lost Kings who can’t get their bearings straight. But they — and we — keep following that mysterious, flickering star, which takes everyone to Herod’s court, the hillside with a pair of very cold shepherds and finally the manger where a new world, literally, is born.

Director Jennifer Brewin knows how to move the audience around the Brick Works space and, with the help of a series of rotating choirs singing Christmas carols, supplies lots of holiday atmosphere.

The talented cast includes Haley McGee’s determined, sometimes tart Mary, unhappy with the tense, chaotic society in which she lives (the few in power rule over the many who have nothing…sound familiar?) she yearns for and seeks a better, ordered world, As Joseph, determined that his vision of a happy marriage will improve his life, Richard Lee creates a big-hearted figure who finally realizes how passionate his life can be.

Sanjay Talwar, Lisa Karen Cox and Lee are the richly dressed Kings, seeking the telling of the “inevitable story” of which they are a part, a story that really starts rather than ends in Bethlehem.

Rounding out the company is Rylan Wilkie, making a fine Toronto debut as both petulant, self-impressed Herod and a very funny Gabriel, grousing that he always has the difficult messages to deliver to humankind, like telling a virgin she’s pregnant. Dressed in white, complete with Christmas lights on his halo, his mixed-up angel has trouble making himself clear, especially when speaking in an old-fashioned language that uses “shew” instead of “show.”

Catherine Hahn’s set and costumes, Glenn Davidson’s lighting and John Millard’s musical direction add to the magic of the production, which makes great use of locations in and around the Brick Works. The show is full of visual surprises, which include scenes in the enormous kiln room bursting outdoors and seeing the star-filled sky in front of us Gabriel racing down a dark hill like a plane making a bad landing, his halo the only illumination we see at first.

Then there are the laconic shepherds (Cox and Talwar) trying to argue philosophy or discovering jazz.

And speaking of shepherds abiding in the field, remember that the time spent out on the hillside can be cold, so dress for the weather and have the hot chocolate available before the show.

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