A Long Christmas Ride Home Play Analysis

For starters, I really liked the play. It was not boring or hard to read. When I first heard the title “A Long Christmas Ride Home,” I am not going to lie, but, I thought it was going to be a cheesy, holiday play and I was completely wrong. For some reason, I loved how dark and twisted it turned out to be. The events that occur really come out of nowhere and that grabbed my eye. However, the events that occur, sadly, are realistic and are problems that families face daily. As a result, we have a play with themes such as sexuality, effects of an unhealthy marriage, violence and abuse.

I think Paula Vogel did an excellent job in stating which character was directly speaking especially in the beginning when it is just mainly the man and woman
characters. The script was not confusing to read. The language was simple and all the events that take place happen with good timing so I was not bored reading through it. The play is non-linear. Therefore, we go from the present to the future and I think that gave the audience a neat perspective as to how dramatically the scene in the car affects the children’s adult life.

The only thing I disliked about the play was how long it took for the actors who manipulate the children puppets to start narrating. I can’t logically explain why it bothered me, it just did. In addition, I am confused about the dancer and The Ghost of Stephen’s scene. That is one of the scenes I am looking forward to seeing. I hope that it will clarify the confusion I still have.

All of the children are dynamic characters. However, as an audience we do not get to see that change happen. We only get the scene that impacted all three of them and we just infer a change over the years. As a result, the interaction they have when they are older is interesting. All of them are shown outside of an apartment trying to get in but their loved one denies them. The three of them then struggle to stay alive or be happy. We see Stephen hopes to stay happy and forget Joe but ends up attracting AIDS, while Claire and Rebecca struggle with staying alive (i.e. suicide or finding a place to sleep). I think all these scenes and the character’s choices can be drawn back to the one night in the car.

The ending kind of just hits you and it took me a while to figure out how I felt about it and I finally have come to a conclusion.
It sucks. It does not suck in the way that it was badly written or that it is a terrible ending. It sucks in the way that it is realistic. We see this dysfunctional family about to die and for one moment you think “Okay, they’re about to die. No, wait, they’re alive and the mother and father are about to have this important moment and have a happy ending and turn their marriage and home life around and…no.” The man thinks about his mistress after all of that fear and distress and you want to hate him for it, and you can, but at the same time you can not because that is life. We know this man is no longer in love with the woman. He has had multiple affairs and is currently in love with a woman named Sheila and after an emotional experience like that you want to see the one person you love. Sadly, it is not the mother of his children, it is Sheila. This is so realistic because if you think about it nothing has changed. Yes, they escaped death but nothing changes in a sense of their marriage, or character, or the situation. They went right back to the people they were before they started sliding on ice, as they
should.

Like I said before I am really excited about the scene with The Ghost of Stephen and the dancer. I don’t have any expectations for that. I am just curious about decisions were made regarding that scene. In addition, I don’t have many expectations for this production other than the puppet sex scenes. I am expecting them to be humorous to help take the edge off of the idea of sex. I am also curious to see how the puppet and actors interact and if it will feel realistic or kind of fake and forced. Other than that, I am really excited to see this production and to see what I read come to life.