In the southern hemisphere, Christmas arrives in sunny summer, and Saint Nicholas brings children gifts in a boat rather than a sleigh. We learn this and many other holiday factoids—the history of candy canes, say, or how the annunciation would sound if the angel Gabriel were a Hamilton-style rapper—in the course of this irreverent, but never blasphemous, comedy from the writers of Late Nite Catechism (still running without a break nearly thirty years after its premiere). We also learn that portions of the proceeds from its performances are donated to convents for the care of elderly nuns barred from receiving social security, and that ticket sales for this particular online-stream documenting a 2018 performance at Chicago's Royal George Theater will go toward repairing damage inflicted upon the bookstore operated by the Daughters of St. Paul during the recent upheaval in the downtown Loop district. You don't have to be Catholic, or Christian—or even know how to play bingo, for that matter—to feel at home within the dynamic invoked by this cozy replication of a recreational event occupying the fictional Our Lady of Good Fortune parish hall. The cozy atmosphere shared by all such community celebrations is reproduced in detail right down to the actual bingo games played, and the Holy Cards that accompany the "vintage" prizes, along with suggestions for re-gifting to kinfolk. (These include the St. Valentine card for the longest married couple, St. Michael for the inevitable siblings pursuing a career in the police force, and St. Dymphna for loony uncles and noisy hecklers.) Though Bingo Caller Mrs. Mary Margaret O'Brian arrives armed with an array of RC jokes and hagiographical trivia at the ready, there's no denying the major part of the humor arising from the participation of the evening's audience—including, at the online performance, a few Protestant and Jewish groups (the latter prompting a reminder that Baby Jesus was Jewish—not to mention puzzled to find Himself sleeping in a barn surrounded by farm animals). Spectators viewing the merriment in solitude from the safety of their sofas during this socially straitened time might take comfort in the hope of a return to fellowship in December to begin planning their own staging of this popular family-friendly entertainment.
