There cannot be a more fitting end to a Saturday evening, than watching a mellow musical drama to hide away into a lazy Sunday. Mellow Circle, a Chennai-based social service group, hosted The Rented Christmas, a musical play based on the short story by J Lillian Vandervere, in the city recently. The Rented Christmas is about John Dale, a rich middle-aged bachelor and businessman, who is also a loner and recluse. Ever since he lost his parents years ago, John has chosen to live a bland life, preferring isolation to company. Just around Christmas time, John decides to do something that perplexes everyone, especially his protective servants Martha and Briggs.John Dale hasn’t enjoyed a “real good Christmas” for years. Walking back home from work, his eyes fall on a signboard that reads ‘Weston’s Rentals: We Rent Anything’. So, on the spur of the moment, he decides to ‘rent’ a Christmas from Anne Weston, who owns the rent shop. Anne is at first flustered with the requirements: a tree with presents, Christmas carols and also a wife and five children. She accepts the rent order after some thought. Anne’s desperation to fulfill Dale’s Christmas rent order forms the rest of the story.The subtle arrangement of props, especially furniture, takes the viewer back in time to an unknown classic era of near-Archaic English. Having said that, the language used is as simple as it can get. With abundant expressions with dialogues, the play never goes down on the ‘interesting scale’. The warm lighting that falls on the characters is a pleasure to watch. Lighting is accompanied by well-composed music by Augustine Paul and live singing that engages the audience and adds to the visual pleasure. The core cast of The Rented Christmas is a rare glimpse of singing talent combined with acting skills. The main characters of the play - Anne Weston and John Dale - played by Pallavi Raj and Yohan Chacko deserve special mention. Pallavi’s singing rivals her acting skills. As a dilemma-struck Anne, she portrays a playful young woman who seems to be hiding an untold fear of sorts. Yohan, on the other hand, plays John, a reserved and restrained man, who is obviously venting up years worth of anxiety.Directed by Becky Thomas, The Rented Christmas goes beyond the idea of renting a Christmas. It is about loneliness, hope, memories and finally, celebration. Somewhere inside, there is a John Dale inside us all - the insatiable need for special company, and the resulting inability to express it. At the end, however, there is light at the end of the tunnel. This was the twelfth annual Christmas play by Mellow Circle. The proceeds of The Rented Christmas have been given to Prathyasha, a home for HIV affected children.
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