Some Assembly Required

Ian C. Nelson is assistant director of libraries at the University of
Saskatchewan, and président de la Troupe du Jour, Regina Summer Stage.

This zany comedy by Eugene Stickland, who is the playwright-in-residence
at Calgary’s Alberta Theatre Projects, is about a highly dysfunctional
family preparing for the onslaught of the Christmas holidays. Although
the play is amusingly quirky from the outset—Stickland has a flair for
genuinely funny lines—it does not really launch itself until a good
quarter of the way through. This slow start is due to rather frenetic
changes of subject in dialogues that take place in a series of scenes
that track family members from bedroom to living room to basement. The
second act, however, displays significantly more comedic and situational
confidence than the first.

Some Assembly Required is not as catchy or populist as a Norm Foster
offering, nor is it as absurdly or existentially significant as a play
by George Walker, though readers may see similarities to both. A cover
blurb promises that it will be an “instant Christmas classic.” A
seasonal choice, perhaps, especially for those who savor a garland of
Fringe during the winter months.