Season's Greetings

Plays by Alan Ayckbourn rarely disappoint and with Christmas already looming on the horizon ‘seasons greetings’ with its wry look at the friends and family of the Bunkers as they attempt to rise above every hitch and possible catastrophe to enjoy the festivities, is to my mind one of his best.

Ayckbourn is a past master at prodding away at the weaknesses which he has observed in relationships, however, even when holding these failings up to ridicule provoking much laughter from his audiences, there persists an underlying sadness about human nature and its tendency to a lack of perception relevant to the needs of those nearest and dearest.

Keith Fraser had assembles a strong cast, all of whom were able to do justice to their given roles.  Amanda Howson gave a very assured performance as Belinda who struggled most of the time to keep the spirit of Christmas alive.  There was good support from Sarah Gibbons (Pattie) who caught her characters need for more T.L.C while their two husbands, Ted Webb (Neville) and Peter Milne (Eddie) were both happily oblivious of everything happening around them which didn’t involve tinkering and visits to the local.  They, in turn, were supported by Dave Tom as a suitably grouchy Harvey with rather violent tendencies and Ray Haresign (Bernard) made his mark as the dithering doctor who spent most of the holiday fretting about the puppet play he planned to perform to an unenthusiastic  audience.  Jim Howson contributed well as the outsider who was constantly trying to keep up.  Finally congratulations to Jacky Silverster (Phyllis) and Sarah Dawe (Rachel) who both stepped gallantly into the breach when two original cast members fell ill – not an easy task to slot in seamlessly to a production which is already in rehearsal.

Set and lighting were admirable and the back stage crew worked well as a team.  A really entertaining afternoon – thank your very much for your warm welcome.  I look forward to your next production.

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