ARTS

It's not Christmas, but it's still funny

by Lauren Campbell

The OSTA production of A Tuna Christmas, by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed Howard, succeeds in its purpose to be damn funny. The play is the second in a series of three Tuna shows, the first Greater Tuna, the third, released this summer, Red, White and Tuna.

Tuna is a fictional town somewhere in Texas where organizations like the Smut-Snatchers and Didi's Used Weapons thrive. Vera and Bertha, leaders of the Smut-Snatchers, advertise in the beginning their "cleaned-up Deuteronomy" Bible and discuss how they can edit a particularly scandalous production of A Christmas Carol. The slams never let up as these caricatures of down-home hicks parade through Christmas Eve.

All other Tuna plays feature two actors playing a total of 22 characters. The production in the Little Theater uses four actors instead of two, but keeps the tradition of dressing them all in drag. In the professional productions two men play all parts; here, first-year Jeremy Carlson, the one male actor, plays two central female roles with hilarious smirks, sidles and simpers, while the remaining three women in the production play everything else.

This Tuna play, like the others, crosses into the political realm in its jabs at Baptists, gun-rights advocates, Texans, and small-town folks. The characters are so exaggerated that any serious commentary gets overshadowed by the comic ruckus. The plot, which runs through every Tuna play, centers around a contest for the distinction of the town's best Christmas lawn display. The "Christmas Phantom," an anonymous prankster has the town suspicious of Stanley Bumiller, an artist whose primary medium consists of dead animals and spray paint. However, time reveals the culprit to be a big surprise. This mystery could slide by the audience unnoticed, as it functions only as a means for the playwrights to communicate one-liners and put the characters on display to be ridiculed. The dialogue stands on its own, rarely supported by action. The radio station OKKK opens the show and returns throughout, adding to the joke- and talk- based nature of the play.

Director Laura Shepherd, a double-degree junior, directed Greater Tuna two years ago in February of 1998. She said she loves the series and can't wait to produce Red, White, and Tuna when it becomes available.

The actors put on an energetic performance. Carlson is consistently hilarious in his portrayals of the middle-aged bouffanted Bertha Bumiller and the young woman winner of the contest, Helen Bedd. His scenes are the high points of the show. Sophomore Ann Schapira plays Inita Goodwin opposite Helen in the truly sidesplitting Tasty Kreme scene, and presents an amusing Stanley Bumiller and Joe Bob Lipsey.

Junior Linnea Butterfield is solid as the moral drive behind the Smut-Snatchers, Vera Carp, the flaky but kind animal saver Petey Fisk, and Pearl Burras, a sweet old lady with a pleasure for shooting at little birds and rodents. Hard-as-rock used weapons seller Didi Snavely comes aggressively alive in sophomore Annie Neary, who doubles as Bertha's suitor and radio announcer Arles Struvie. Neary and Carlson succeed the best with the twangy Texas accent, though Neary's shrill shouting is occasionally overpowering.

The costumes add much to the performance, ranging from big wigs to fake fat to tacky ill-fitting dresses with prominent shoulder pads.

A delightful element of this production consists in the original soundtrack, comprised of songs written and performed by Oberlin students just for this show. The songs mesh well with the humor in the dialogue and enliven the lengthy set changes.

A Tuna Christmas is at Little Theater Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8pm. Tickets are available in Wilder and at the door for $2.

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Copyright © 1999, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 128, Number 8, November 5, 1999

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