Seasons Greetings

This was undoubtedly the right time of year to present Alan Ayckbourn’s ‘Season’s Greetings’ and no one in the audience could have failed to recognize the many stereotypes of family behavior at Christmas. Ayckbourn is brilliant at allowing an audience to have great fun at the expense of his characters whilst making each and everyone watching vaguely uncomfortable at their extreme antics, probably a bit ‘close to home’! It takes a strong and talented cast to bring these characters to life and Athenaeum Limelight Players certainly demonstrated their talents and abilities.

The play is set in the ‘Bunker’ household where the family is hosting Christmas with an assortment of guests. Each guest has ‘issues’ and these are played out against a background of Christmas ‘time honoured’ traditions. Of course human nature gets in the way and almost destroys the festive occasion, much to the delight and amusement of the audience.

The very workable set (although looking a bit drab and unfinished) allowed the cast to move around a house and perform in different rooms, hall, lounge and dining room with ease. It was difficult to define which era the play was set, but it was almost timeless in appearance.  There were many time and day changes and lots of props to keep the stage crew busy…in almost blackout they prepared upcoming scenes quietly and efficiently. Lighting was fairly basic as the play was set indoors, but I must comment on the ‘night scene’ set in a darkened house, it takes skill to represent complete darkness whilst allowing the audience to see the action…. Well done.

The whole cast appeared at total ease with moves, set and props, performing very naturally. This is a sign of very good direction and natural ability of the cast.

In this play each character is unique and each maintained their extreme distinctiveness throughout, even when on stage with very little to do or say... Neville and Eddie huddled over a broken toy, Phyllis watching TV and miserable Pattie realistically clutching her ‘bump’.

There were no weak links in this cast and everyone performed with talent and enthusiasm. There were a few real highlights when the audience rolled with laughter. The exquisite amorous scene between Belinda and Clive made me laugh out loud, their antics real enough to imagine, were pure farce and their timing excellent.

 I don’t know why the shooting of Clive came as a surprise to me, as on reflection there were many signs that this was coming. References to guns, violence and the police should have warned me, but surprise me it did. This event brought the play to an speedy and untimely conclusion, vaguely unsatisfying for me, but the audience left having given the cast a great ovation and all of us very well entertained.

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