Twisted Christmas bloody good improv fun

Twisted Christmas is a holiday show tradition in Seattle. Maybe it's our short daylight hours, or our depressing, runny-nose skies. Whatever the reasons, a fair number of Seattleites like their yuletide fun slightly bent and sinister. If you recognize yourself in that last sentence, check out Blood Squad's mingling of horror and holiday spirit "He Sees You When You're Sleeping" — a one-hour improvisational comedy that is different every performance.

Blood Squad is three actors — Michael White, Elicia Wickstead and Brandon Felker — all seasoned veterans of local Seattle improv company Unexpected Productions. Their format is to choose a title volunteered by the audience and turn it into a full play-length show.

The title selected this particular evening was: "The 12 Days of Killmass!" (Exclamation point mine.)

Armed with nothing but three folding chairs and their wits, Blood Squad gives us a Christmas story filled with enough horror-movie clichés to choke a reindeer: a mom in deep denial (White), a daughter with low self-esteem (Wickstead) and an alcoholic, screw-up uncle (Felker) are the three main characters, but once the actors get rolling, a whole town of oddballs is sketched out — many who die faster than you can say: "Look out! Flying ax!"

Is it funny? Lots of it is. Some of the fun is in watching how the trio builds the story — with flashbacks, sound effects and inventive body language. Felker and White riff off each other with glee. Wickstead is a little boxed in with her passive, little-girl character, but still gets off plenty of one-liners.

The important thing is the audience leaves the theater knowing that their lives might not be as funny as the characters onstage, but their days and nights are sure a lot safer. And that's what counts at Christmas — right? — being thankful.

Of course, if you see the show, Blood Squad will be doing something completely different.