Ruby And The Reindeer At Here For Now Theatre
Ruby and the Reindeer by Mark Crawford, Here For Now Theatre’s holiday gift to Stratford, is flat out terrific. Heartfelt, warm, effortlessly charming, and with a sweetly powerful feminist message, it is destined to become a Christmas classic.
Ruby and the Reindeer is a memory play narrated by the grown-up Ruby (a marvelous Maev Beatty). Beatty also plays a reindeer called 2B, but I’m getting a head of myself.
Grown-up Ruby takes us back to 1989. Twelve-year-old Ruby (Tabitha Campbell) lives with her widowed father, Dave Klasson (Gordon Miller), on a dairy farm near Stratford. Ruby’s mom died from complications of childbirth shortly after Ruby was born, and Ruby tends to blame herself.
Christmas is approaching and Ruby, who is far too old to believe in such things, writes a letter to Santa. Her desires are modest. She wants a mom. Oh, and a yellow Walkman.
Things get interesting when Ruby learns that her grandfather Gerald (Benedict Campbell) who lives somewhere “up north” has stopped by to drop off an ailing reindeer from his “petting zoo.”
Ruby has never met her grandfather, save for a brief visit when she was four days old, and she is devastated to have missed him since his absence in her life wounds her deeply. It seems that Dave and Gerald had some sort of falling out which led him to head south to the Stratford area and cut off contact.
The vet is summoned to attend to the reindeer who wears an ear tag that says simply “2B.” Dave, chauvinist that he is, is taken aback when Kathy (Ijeoma Emesowum) shows up. Turns out she’s a doctor of veterinary medicine who quickly identifies the problem: 2B is pregnant.
Ruby immediately sees Kathy as a potential mom and young Campbell’s attempts to engineer a romance are adorable. Spoiler Alert: She succeeds.
While Dave is away, Gerald shows up much to Ruby’s surprise. He is desperate to get 2B back to his place “up north.” Before Christmas! He and Ruby hit it off and it isn’t long before he whisks her away to drive his pickup. “That’s what grandfathers do,” he explains.
If by now you have a sneaking suspicion of exactly where that “up north” might be and why Ruby’s white-haired grandfather is so eager to get his prize reindeer (whose actual name he tells Ruby is not 2B but Blitzen the Second) back home, then perhaps I have already revealed too much.
But if you’ve figured it out, please don’t tell your kids. Just bring them to see this altogether magical show.
Everyone in Ruby and the Reindeer is excellent but a few observations are in order.
First, Tabitha Campbell is a gem. She is turning in one of the best child performances I have ever seen. She seems to be exactly the age of the girl she is playing, but with a level of self-assurance and psychological insight most actors don’t acquire until they are much more mature – if indeed they ever do. If this kid wants to have a career she can go far.
Second, it is worth noting that all of the adult performers in the show have long histories with the Stratford Festival and/or the Shaw Festival. So why are they working in this modest, 50-seat black box theatre?
To me the answer is obvious. Here For Now has in a remarkably short period of time established itself as one of the finest producing entities in Ontario’s theatrical ecosystem. What actor worth their salt, who cares about their craft, wouldn’t want to work here?
The same can be said of Irene Poole, who has directed Ruby and the Reindeer with an invisible hand, which I believe is as it should be. She, too, has a lengthy list of credits with major theatres.
And a nod to Beatty as the puppeteer who brings 2B to life. It’s never a mystery who’s manipulating 2B but Beatty quickly disappears and the reindeer springs to life.
And while we’re on the subject of reindeer let me point out one of Crawford’s nicest gestures to the little girls in the audience. It turns out that reindeer (or caribou as they are also called) are unique in that both males and females bear antlers. But males shed their antlers in the Fall, while females retain them through the winter and shed them in the Spring. That means that the eight reindeer who pull Santa’s sleigh are all girls!
(Rudolph is a boy and, of course, he’s the one who gets the song. Bah humbug!)
I am also glad to have had another opportunity to see Benedict Campbell on stage. The last time was in the late, great Marti Maraden’s 2019 production of Twelve Angry Men at Drayton. I was aware of Campbell’s reputation as a Canadian stage legend but by the time I discovered the riches of Canadian theatre, the major festivals seemed to have found no further use for his services, which frankly baffles me.
I have frequently noted Here For Now’s penchant for finding meaty roles for older actresses. It’s nice to see they’re extending the same courtesy to old codgers. (And I mean that in the nicest possible way.)
Ruby and the Reindeer marks another milestone for Here For Now – it’s most elaborate set ever! Francesca Callow (who also did costumes) has created a two-story farm house on Here For Now’s postage-stamp stage. It works wonderfully to encompass the action of the play, including a lovely image of Ruby looking longingly to her future from her bedroom window.
I gather that Ruby and the Reindeer is sold out, even through its extension, but there is always the possibility of cancellations. Make the effort to keep in touch with the box office and take solace in the expectation that the play will almost certainly be remounted next year, if not at Here For Now then elsewhere.
Finally, a shout out to Mark Crawford: If your agent isn’t presenting Ruby and the Reindeer to Disney, Hallmark, Netflix, and every other major motion picture production company you need a new agent.
Ruby And The Reindeer continues at Here For Now Theatre through December 24, 2025. For more information and to purchase tickets visit the Here For Now Theatre website.
[image: Here For Now Theatre]
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