Yellowknife (Dec 15/06) - Every family has its problems, from broken relationships, prodigal/returning children, mystery illnesses, weird quirks and Christmas stress.

They just don't usually happen all at once.

In Lunch Pail Theatre's Some Assembly Required, which opened last week and continues tonight and tomorrow at NACC, we get them all, and then some.

The play journeys straight into the heart of seasonal dysfunction, touching on the pain, humour and pure ridiculousness the Christmas holidays brings out in the best - and worst - of us.

Set in three parts of a family home on Christmas Eve, the plays kicks into gear when Walter (Paul MacDonald), the eldest son, returns just in time for the holidays. He finds his borderline obsessive-compulsive father (Ken Woodley) and his hypochondriac mother (Karen Leyk) ignoring Christmas, while his younger brother Gordon (Malcolm Walsh) has holed up in the basement with a vat of homemade eggnog and a BB gun. His "recovering" sister, Stacey (Brenda Lowen) soon returns, resulting in a Christmas with the kids hiding in the basement, the parents hiding upstairs, and no one quite sure how to salvage the fractured holiday.

These plots are offset with a slew of ridiculous moments, from Walsh's malfunctioning Gordon, to Woodley's quirky-but-oddly-wise Dad. With eccentric eggnog preparation methods involving a Makita power drill, a bout of father/son primal roaring, and Christmas carols at gunpoint, the laughs come hard and fast.

The silliness moves between three sets: the parents' bedroom, the living room and the basement, as the characters explore their problems, air old grudges and try to get their act together.

The action takes up the whole of the NACC stage, with impressive sets, well-timed lights and music and strong acting, all of which immerse the audience in the madness of the season.

Check it out. It's the next best thing to a trip home for the holidays - for better or worse. The dysfunction continues tonight and tomorrow at 8 p.m. at NACC.