Grandmothers are typically filled with age-old wisdom and are always there when you need a shoulder to cry on.
For two loathing sisters, however, they don’t have that common fuzzy feeling for their grandmother. In fact, they are counting down the days until Granny kicks the bucket.
In “Let’s Kill Grandma This Christmas†playing at the Theatre at St. Clement’s, uptight Jen (Brandi Nicole Wilson) is set to inherit her Grandma Cathy’s antiquated home while her adored sister Leigh (Katie Webber) awaits her $2.2 million inheritance.
Jen’s husband, Brett (Kevin O’Donnell), is lackadaisical, unemployed and resented by his wife. His brother, Ray (Adam Mucci) is a war veteran who now uses a wheelchair. The confident temptress Leigh is married to her polar opposite Carl (James Wirt), a nerdy and spineless coward.
Grandma Cathy (Roxie Lucas), however, is a geriatric vulgar pothead whose 80th birthday falls conveniently on Christmas Day. Brett and his sister-in-law Leigh plot how they can speed up the healthy and fit Cathy’s demise. They coerce the easily influenced Carl into lacing her drink with rat poison.
The play starts out very slow and characters take a while to develop since they initially seem unoriginal and a bit clichéd. Once Lucas enters the building, the mood of the play lifts. She is snappy, quick-witted and delightfully potty-mouthed. Lucas begins to steal the show.
Granny turns on her cougar charm and falls for the much younger Ray. He and Brett joke around and their interactions are classic of brothers. Leigh goes out of her way to display her villain role. Jen goes on a drunken tirade and learns to stand up for herself, a high point later in the play. The show is chock-full of different personalities, profanity and almost exaggerated characters.
Mucci and Lucas, while unconventional, are easily the most likeable couple of the play. Wirt does a credible job at being the whiny pushover that the family tries to take advantage of. Wilson’s character is especially rigid until her drunken words show her suppressed sober thoughts. Lastly, although they are both married to other people, Webber and O’Donnell have a sexy and raunchy chemistry together.
This dysfunctional family is one most people can probably relate to.
While the writing is a tad lazy and relies mostly on crude jokes to achieve laughs, the play charms and wins you over. Every character is vital and an essential part to orchestrating the Christmas from hell. There’s no denying the talent of the actors and all the roles have a purpose in the story’s progression.
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