The Santaland Diaries

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The Santaland Diaries

Blank Theatre at the 2nd Stage Theatre

Reviewed by Les Spindle

December 02, 2009

Department-store toy sections during the holiday shopping rush provide the fertile setting for a ribald satire on consumerism and human nature in David Sedaris' solo comedy. Sedaris devised this 70-minute monologue as a vehicle for himself in 1992, for broadcast on National Public Radio, where it remains a seasonal favorite. Joe Mantello adapted it for the stage in 1996. Comedic actors have plenty to sink their teeth into in this zany piece, about a desperate unemployed writer taking a job as a department-store elf. Actor Nicholas Brendon, under the adept direction of Michael Matthews, elicits plenty of fun.

When Manhattan scribe David (Brendon) discovers a newspaper ad looking for elves at Macy's, he decides that wearing a green-velvet suit and a pointed hat can't be worse than hawking merchandise on the street costumed as tacos or camcorders. He goes through a grueling audition process—including a 10-page questionnaire, personality tests, and a urine test. David is tapped to fill the boots of a Santa's helper, whom he names Crumpet. Faced with tantrum-throwing and vomiting kids, parents who threaten to have him fired for his sarcasm, adults who tell him how stupid he looks, and gay elves making moves on him, he finds that life in Santaland has its share of perils. A grin-and-bear-it attitude gets him though his adventures.

Building comic steam with his deadpan delivery, Brendon strikes the ideal mix of cynicism and dry wit to mine the material for maximum hilarity. Even when the text veers toward the tasteless, as in the segment about the "profoundly retarded" youngsters who visit the store, the anecdotes' core of resonant reality keeps the proceedings from turning rancid. Brendon boasts a likable presence that helps balance the script's uglier implications with a lighthearted sense of fun. Design elements capture the gaiety of the season as well as the satire of the episodes.

Presented by Blank Theatre Company at the 2nd Stage Theatre, 6500 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Nov. 28–Dec. 20. Wed.–Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 and 5 p.m. (323) 661-9827. www.theblank.com.