There’s nothing more surprising, more unpredictable and more interesting than the truth. This is what the late Susan Hussey knew, and this is the main attraction of her play Christmas Trio, currently being given a first-rate production at Tampa’s Gorilla Theatre. This story of a family rent by all sorts of divisions is often bleak and unsparing, but it’s so artistically presented, so eloquent and even-handed, you can’t help but admire the spirit that animates it. Hussey must have been conscious of the irony of her title: not only is the family portrayed in the play far from exhibiting anything like the traditional “Christmas spirit,” but also the idea of a trio – of a musical piece in which three instruments work together – is repeatedly undermined by characters who can’t find anything in common with one another.
That these three characters – a husband, a wife and their daughter – are family shouldn’t surprise us: from Aeschylus to O’Neill, the human family has been presented as an occasion for contention and catastrophe. But somehow the image of the truly-harmonious-clan continues to mock at our discordant realities, and we need to be reminded that it’s not just in our own case that reality contradicts the stereotype. Which leads me to this recommendation: if your family’s screwed up, if your reunions never quite produce the cheer that the carols promise, you just might find yourself validated by this unusual Christmas Trio. At the very least it’ll make you feel a little less alone.
This article appears in Dec 9-15, 2009.