Christmas Eve Can Kill You – Lyric Theatre – Review by Cathy Brown

Dates & Times 24 Nov – 10 Jan – Tues – Sun – 7.45pm
Sat & Sun Matinees 2:30pm (Jan 9 & 10 only)

The Lyric Theatre Belfast’s festive production sees actors Dan Gordon and Tim Loane reunite for Marie Jones feel good seasonal play Christmas Eve Can Kill You, twenty years after they first appeared in the original production.

The majority of the show takes place in a taxi driven by Mackers (Tim Loane), a single forty-something man who is working on Christmas Eve and just wants to pick up a few fares and have a quiet night. It’s a smart comic conceit, with the six other cast members swapping between the almost twenty characters that Mackers meets during his shift. The miscellany of characters he encounters present a slice of Belfast life: the husband who can’t leave the pub long enough to get the turkey home to his long-suffering wife, squabbling sisters with tongues loosened by drink, an actor researching the Troubles, a lonely Granny and a cheating husband trying to balance his family and his young mistress.

Paul Keoghan’s simple set and lighting design featuring just a taxi, a doorway and some traffic lights is an effective way to set the scene for what is essentially a series of sketches shot through with touches of soap opera.

Like any sketch show there are mixed results, with some characters and incidents being stronger than others. Given that the play is 20 years old, a few scenes have dated and Mackers interaction with a British soldier doesn’t feel as topical as it may have done in 1992, but vignettes of drunk husbands, quarrelling sisters and broken relationships are still universally recognisable.

The play’s success relies heavily on the six actors who ably play a variety of roles. Tara Lynn O’Neill excels, particularly as wronged wife Eileen sharing the moment of the night with scene-stealer Sonny the Dog. Dan Gordon elicits most of the laughs playing a series of feckless men and as the central character, Mackers, Tim Loane’s performance may sometimes feel a little flat, but this may be a symptom of effectively playing the straight man to a revolving cast of eccentrics and comedic turns.

The comedy is broad and brash and some of the quieter, more subtle moments, as when Mrs. Duffy looks for a surrogate son, should strike an affecting note, but get lost in the laughs. The dark side of Christmas, the loneliness, fighting and pain is hinted at rather than explored.

Dan Gordon directs with light touch and though some jokes eventually wear thin, the show is undoubtedly entertaining. There is no point looking for any profound message in Christmas Eve Can Kill You, what you get instead is a lot of belly laughs, a humane look at the farcical, irreverent antics of a series of recognisable characters and Jones’ accurate ear for the lively speech patterns of working class Belfast.  This makes for an enjoyable counterpoint to the ‘he’s behind you’ offering across the rest of the city and fans of Marie Jones will not be disappointed.