A horrid gift turns Colin, Lisa, and Brian’s world upside down in this absurdly funny production.
Colin is a relatively average guy in his mid-forties. He works a decent job that pays him a decent wage. He lives in a decent flat. He hangs out with his sister, Lisa, and her husband, Brian, who is also his best (and only) friend. To use kind language, Colin could be described as quirky. He has some habits that may rub people the wrong way. He is obsessive, obstinate, and a tad relentless. He seems to be unaware of what others think of him, or perhaps he just really does not care. However, when the obsessive-switch flips, he has the potential to tediously and religiously pick apart every action he has ever enacted, detailing with minute detail every factor at play. Grievances his childhood-peers may have from thirty years back weigh as heavily on his mind as those of his current colleagues. Thus, when a shockingly unsavoury package finds its way to his doorstep, disguised in a cake box, he is sent on a dizzying journey to discover who the foul-handed culprit is. Lisa and Brian get swiftly swept up in the chaos of the journey, which has a surprising number of twists and turns, a topography nearly as perilous as the sanctity of their own relationship.
The Gift, written by Dave Florez, is a delightfully humorous play that offers a lighthearted take on the whodunit-esque variety of theatre. The play is joyfully self-aware and incredibly tongue-in-cheek. While it relies on a familiar structure, there is no shortage of surprise. It does not seek to make a broad, powerful statement of any socio-political nature, for its purpose is to provide a brief stretch of comic relief from this decidedly dreary world. Director Adam Meggido captures its tone perfectly, crafting an energetic and idiosyncratic atmosphere in Park Theatre’s Park200 space. The ensemble, made up of Nicholas Burns (Colin), Laura Haddock (Lisa), and Alex Price (Brian) have exciting chemistry, and truly draw the audience in. Burns serves Colin’s chaotic-good energy with commendable vehemence, a fire that is enthusiastically kindled by Price’s nature as his best friend who cannot help but push him to the edge just a bit. Haddock’s mature essence balances out the energy perfectly, without sacrificing her own kind of concealed mischievous nature that bonds the group as a whole.
The Gift is a decidedly fun watch and most certainly offers a great way to spend an evening absorbed in something that takes your mind away from the deluge of the human experience. In this sense, the play takes us back to the theatre of yore, intended to serve as a means of escape.