It's Not Easy Being An Elf

The Age

Monday December 8, 2008

JIM MURPHY

THEATRE REVIEW: THE SANTALAND DIARIES By David Sedaris

Auspicious Arts Incubator, 166 Sturt Street, Soutbank,

until December 21.

Running time: 60 minutes.

www.santaland.com.au

A WELCOME antidote to escalating Yuletide hysteria is David Sedaris' amusing, lightly jaundiced tale of being one of Santa's elves - an expose of what really goes on in Santaland when public and pixies collide.

Sedaris' reading of his work was a hit on American public radio and it readily adapts to the stage in John Paul Fischbach's colourful presentation at Auspicious Arts Incubator, the new, government-funded space that will be shared by several companies.

The monologue is a blow-by-blow account of how Sedaris became a full-time elf named Crumpet at Macy's department store in New York City, starting with the screening process and the indoctrination he had to go through before being allowed to don the shiny green-and-red costume.

He had to learn to be an Entrance Elf and an Exit Elf and be able to handle any number of other elf duties as the queues were shuttled through to visit Santa, where the youngsters sit on his knee for a photo before being trundled out the back door.

"Other elf duties" are things such as cleaning up when an overexcited child vomits - not what you might expect to find in a job description for a little Santa helper.

Sedaris detested the "forced merriment" of the Santaland operation, and his behind-the-scenes observations of the people involved make the best stories: the elf who fancies himself a ladies man and chats up attractive young mothers; the Santa who scarily never steps out of character; the day Phil Collins visits with his daughter; the African-American mother who demands a black Santa for her child; other mothers who whisper that they want "a white Santa ... like us".

As Sedaris/Crumpet, Russell Fletcher is assured and engaging. The writing seems to call for a more waspish, even camp approach, but Fletcher's genial, low-key approach is an amiable alternative.

© 2008 The Age

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