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Pacific Theatre jumps into the holiday season with a brand new commissioned work by Lucia Frangione: Holy Mo! A Christmas Show!.

Hilarious and outlandish, Holy Mo! A Christmas Show! tells the millennia-old tale of the Nativity through the eyes of a patchwork trio of travelling performers, Folly, Buffoona and Guff.

The only problem? They each have their own agenda: Folly wants to get the story exactly right; Buffoona wants as many references to Santa and Sugarplum Fairies as possible; and, Guff? She wants nothing to do with Christmas.

This isn’t the first time these three characters have taken the Pacific Theatre stage. Holy Mo and its three clowns date back to the 90’s — Frangione was a fresh theatre grad when she created the show with a couple of friends.

“We thought it would be fun to do something as epic as Cecil B Demille’s The Ten Commandments on a shoestring budget with three women and no camels,” says Frangione on the idea.

Despite its frequent appearances in children’s books, however, the Nativity story is no light fodder: with a genocide and refugee family, there’s more to it than angels and shepherds.

“The childlike innocence of these three characters are a great way for me to look at the dark underbelly of the Nativity story,” says Frangione, “These three fools tell the guts and glory side of the Nativity story with a flying reindeer and a few ho ho hosannas. The play is madness wrapped up under the tree alongside political ranting and a sprinkle of beauty.”

Directed by Kerry van der Griend, Holy Mo! A Christmas Show! stars Lucia Frangione, Marie Russell and Jess Amy Shead.

Holy Mo! A Christmas Show!

Dates: Dec 2 to 31, Wednesday to Saturday, 8 pm; Saturdays and Sunday, Dec 4, 2 pm matinees
Venue: Pacific Theatre, 1440 West 12th Ave (at Hemlock), Vancouver
Tickets: $23.95 to $34.95 (not incl. taxes or fee); available online and via phoning 604.731.5518
Pay-what-you-can preview: December 1, 8 pm