Toronto – This Christmas season, writer and performer Phil Rickaby, in association with Eldritch Theatre, brings the spooky season to the holidays with his latest solo offering, the horror play, It Sees You When You’re Sleeping.
Written and performed by Phil Rickaby, and directed by joey o’dael, It Sees You When You’re Sleeping will be presented at the Red Sandcastle Theatre, December 19 – 22, 2024 as part of Eldritch Theatre’s 2024/2025 season. This holiday horror solo play tells the story of a Christmas-loving single dad, who gives his daughter an elf-on-the-shelf-style doll, little realizing that this innocent gift will unleash a terrible force that will change their lives forever. What evil lurks behind this seemingly innocent Christmas tradition?
A Different Kind of Christmas Play
Every year during the holiday season theatre companies across Canada pull out all the stops to present heart-warming, child-friendly, saccharine-sweet offerings. A Christmas Carol. Seasonal pantomimes. Musicals. Good wholesome stuff, good for the whole family. And then there’s It Sees You When You’re Sleeping, which is none of those things.
The Victorian Christmas tradition included the telling of ghost stories. The Yule traditions of many countries include tales of monsters, spirits, elves, and fairies of the darkest sort. For writer and performer Phil Rickaby, this started with the discovery of Krampus, the devil-like creature whose wicked antics are part of the Christmas traditions in some Alpine European towns and cities.
“I was fascinated by these traditions,” said creator Phil Rickaby, “the Canadian and American Christmas traditions tend towards the feel-good and child-centric, but once I learned about these scarier holiday stories, I started to see how it was possible to see a darker side to lots of Christmas traditions that we participate in. From a mythological point of view, the most terrifically frightening was the elf on the shelf, because in a lot of folklore, elves are terrifying: unpredictable and, and essentially gives their child to it. What kind of trouble would that elf bring to an unsuspecting home? And that started me on the journey to writing this play.”
The Right Director
Director joey o’dael has a long history with horror. Through their work as co-founder of Aberrant Theatre in the creation, direction, and dramaturgy of Andrew Gaunce’s Fringe hit, Something Wrong, as well as director of 2018’s Ghost Light Anthology and its follow up 2019’s Ghost Light Anthology: Cataclysm, joey knows how to set the right kind of unnerving tone for a work of theatre horror. In addition, their deft touch brings life to both classical and modern texts. In their work with Dauntless City Theatre, which presents classical work in public parks in Toronto, they have found unique moments of connection with an audience that flows in and out of the performance space. Their insightful dramaturgical mind brings insight and depth into every project they work on. Most importantly, joey’s sly and subversive instincts are just what a project steeped in bringing a sense of horror to the Christmas season needs.
Audio Drama and Adaptation
It Sees You When You’re Sleeping began life as an audio drama during the pandemic lockdowns, being released as the second of Rickaby’s holiday audio dramas in 2021 (the first being 2020s, “Saint” Nick and the Big F*ck Up), and was released in six parts during the holiday season that year. This stage version is an entirely new work, reimagined for the stage.
The Perfect Venue
Toronto’s longest operating storefront theatre, the Red Sandcastle was reimagined and renovated into the perfect home for magic, puppets, horror and other plays that go bump in the night by Eldritch Theatre in 2021. With rotating cabinets of curiosity in its windows provided by local artists (and the immersive curiosities in the washroom), the Red Sandcastle is the perfect venue for a holiday horror like It Sees You When You’re Sleeping.
Tickets available now
Tickets for It Sees You When You’re Sleeping are available now at https://eldritchtheatre.ca/sleeping/
Show dates and Times:
Thursday December 19 @ 7:30 PM
Friday December 20 @ 7:30 PM
Saturday December 21 @ 2:00 PM
Saturday December 21 @ 7:30 PM
Sunday December 22 @ 2:00 PM
About Phil Rickaby
Phil Rickaby is a writer and performer from Toronto, Ontario. Theatrical works include The Commandment, a solo play about an atheist who discovers that he’s been chosen to deliver a new commandment, has been seen at Fringe Festivals across Canada, and was named Best Solo Show at the 2018 Fundy Fringe, and named as part of Theatre Orangeville’s (519) Best of Toronto Fringe in 2019. Phil is also the writer and Performer of The Introvert’s Guide to Life, Leaving the House, Going to Parties, and Having an Okay Time which premiered at the 2022 Fundy Fringe Festival and was named Fan Favourite. Until early 2024, Phil was also the host of the long running Canadian theatre podcast, Stageworthy.
Website: www.phirickaby.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/philrickaby
Twitter: twitter.com/philrickaby
About The Red Sandcastle Theatre
A 50 seat storefront theatre, in which anything is possible! We’re so off Broadway, we’re in Leslieville. In May of 2011, Rosemary Doyle opened the Red Sandcastle Theatre, with the intent of giving theatre artists a canvas. That feeling that anything is possible, has become a reality with 922 Queen Street East becoming an Artistic Hub to rent for creators in theatre, dance, visual art, and music.
Website: www.redsandcastletheatre.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/RedSandcastle
Instagram: www.instagram.com/redsandcastletheatre
About Eldritch Theatre
The only theatre company in the world to bring you horror, puppets, and magic in one astounding theatrical performance, we make plays that go bump in the night. Touring Ontario and Quebec, Eldritch Theatre has won 4 Dora Mavor Awards, and been nominated 25 times. Eldritch also offers youth programming such as puppetry workshops and Dungeons And Dragon storytelling camps for young and older weirdos.
Website: www.eldritchtheatre.ca
Facebook: www.facebook.com/eldritchtheatre
Instagram: www.instagram.com/eldritchtheatre
Twitter: twitter.com/eldritchtheatre
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/eldritchtheatre