Season' Greetings

When Relatives and friends get together to celebrate Christmas it doesn't always go to plan. The women running around making sure that everything is going to plan for a good time. Meanwhile the men "twiddle" about with mechanical toys and taking it easy.  All of this causes squabbles, things that go wrong, clash of personalities, late/hate relationships, a midnight love scene and misunderstandings that nearly causes a tragedy.    Action take place in three different rooms in the house of Neville and Belinda,  The action switches from room to room all of which moved with ease.  The cast delivered pace and timing extremely well, which was required to make this an excellently performed and well directed production.  

All the actors worked very well together and gave solid and strong performances.      Neville (Mark Hague). Belinda (Jill Connell) gave convincing performances of married couple with a stressful relationship.  Bernard (Frank Bardsley) Hopeless  GP, feeble spirited, whose aim in life was to perform his incompetent yearly puppet show, what a brilliant piece of comedy.  His wife Phyllis (Gaynor Robinson) whose bubbly character matches the wine she was always drinking. Great comedy from this couple. Eddie (Steven Cunningham) Eddie who only wants a quite life. Pattie  his pregnant wife (Fiona Connell) would love it if Eddie had a bit more drive and ambition, both gave good performances.  Rachel - Belinda's spinster sister (Sue Hirst)  who has feelings for Clive, but these are not reciprocated.  When Clive ( Neill Mather) is introduced to Belinda, it swiftly develops into mutual attraction.  Neill and Sue gave pathos and great understanding to their characters.  Harvey (Mark Stones)  just watches TV. Starts off arguments and then sits back and see what happens.  Mark did great justice to the role.

The set, props, lighting had been given lots of thought and worked well.  Congratulations to the cast, back-stage crew and the production team for an excellent production. 

However, special congratulations goes to the director Julie Webb on receiving her special NODA award - Diamond pin for 60 years' service and dedication to the amateur stage.  What an achievement.  Brilliant.

Many thanks for your hospitality and a most enjoyable evening.

 

 

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