Miss Witherspoon and Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge: Two Plays

by Christopher Durang

Christopher Durang, the criminally funny author of Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, returns to the scene of his prime with two raucous new plays about death, religion, and a creamy Christmas pudding. In Miss Witherspoon—named one of the Ten Best Plays of 2005 by both Time and Newsday—Veronica, a recent suicide whose cantankerous attitude has not improved in the afterlife, discovers that the one thing worse than the world she left behind is having to go back for seconds. Ordered to cleanse her “brown tweedy aura,” Veronica resists being reincarnated (as a trailer-trash teen or an overexcited Golden Retriever), only to find that she may be mankind’s last, best hope for survival. In Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge, a sassy ghost once again attempts to shake Scrooge from his holiday humbug, but the whole family-friendly affair is deliciously derailed by Mrs. Cratchit’s drunken insistence on stepping out of her miserable, treacly role. Morals are subverted, starving yet plucky children sing carols, and somebody’s goose is cooked as Durang lovingly skewers A Christmas Carol, It’s a Wonderful Life, and many more to create a brand-new, cracked Christmas classic.

Genres: Drama, Theatre, Plays

160 pages, Paperback

First published November 13, 2006

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Better than the other nominees for 2006, Miss Witherspoon is an interesting commentary on life and reincarnation. I liked it more than expected, but similar to Jenny Chow, the play hasn’t aged well. It’s another play written by a white dude featuring a female protagonist and lots of characters of color. Durang does a decent job of creating a diverse cast – and I do think it’s possible for writers of all backgrounds to create diverse and engaging casts of characters – but I never escaped the feeling while reading that this is a play about a woman written by a man who thinks he understands women.

Wild Christmas Binge only compounds that feeling. Despite being the titular character and Durang having a pretty interesting idea about Mrs. Cratchit hating her life and her naïve, idiotic husband, she spends much of the play on the sidelines. I absolutely love the concept of rather than being the angelic support to Bob Cratchit, Mrs. Cratchit is a person of her own, who has her own feelings and opinions about her life and her husband’s lack of ambition. There’s an amazing story to be written – and yes, it could be done as a parody – but Durang misses it by a mile. Not recommended.

[Jillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two unique plays that explore death, morality, and alternate lives with irreverent dark humor and sharp-witted curmudgeonly protagonists.

Miss Witherspoon is quite the existential roller coaster. I thought the concept of a woman aggressively resisting reincarnation was genius, and I was hooked early. Then the story took some unexpected turns, but remained intriguing and ultimately worth the wild ride.

Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge sounded like a fantastically subversive romp in theory, but the execution felt uneven for me. There were some genius comedic moments, but also a lot of precariously stacked references, excessive bitterness, and saccharine songs, so I'm not sure how enjoyable it would be to sit through a performance of the full show, even though seeing Scrooge and Mrs. Cratchit take on the ghost would be a hoot.

[Shane Hurst · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christopher Durang is indeed one of the most brilliant writer of comedies to straddle our most recent two centuries/millennia. His work is fast-paced, somewhat manic, and it always has a deeper level to it. Durang thwarts our expectations not only with ribald parody but also a certain questioning of our expectations, concerns, and values. Although the occasional bias or opinion seems apparent, he rarely tries to blatantly steer his audience into a particular direction.

Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge is a wonderful example. Parodies of Dickens's A Christmas Carol are plentiful, yes, but this is one of the best. When things go wrong with the Ghosts of the tale, the aim shifts from a reformation of Scrooge to a puzzling out of the Romanticization of poverty, attitudes towards tradition, and the mish-mash of our collective Christmas consciousness.

My only criticism is that the specific references to early 2000s people and events may date it now that we're over a decade away from the play. Leona Helmsley, Kenneth Lay, and even "Touched by an Angel" are quickly receding from societal recognition. This is highlighted even more by the reality that the references to other Dickens characters and the It's a Wonderful Life nod are so immediately familiar.

Still, I MUST direct this play!!!

Durang's Miss Witherspoon is a bit more challenging as it deals with life, death, suicide, existence, religion, epistemology, phenomenology, ontology....

So maybe you catch my drift. Miss Witherspoon is a lot heavier and potentially more controversial than Durang's other plays. The playwright's own Catholic upbringing manifests itself in various ways, all of which are hard to pin down. How autobiographical is this play? What are you actually trying to say about belief and existence?

While I admire Durang's facility in raising questions as much as I enjoy his almost legerdemain way of avoiding answers, I think his attempt to tackle Life and the Afterlife feels at times a bit too heavy-handed and at times a bit too glib.

[David Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of Durang and was actually lucky enough to see this show in 2005 at playwrights horizons. Reading it now, for the first time, I am struck by how really wonderful it is. Not just funny but moving and smart. Maybe Durang's best work.