Season’s Greetings

You need to be made of stern stuff to attend the Hambledon Arts Society Drama Group’s productions at the moment because major road works, installing “The Big Pipe” through the centre of Hambledon (to prevent flooding), have closed the main road and split the village in two. But this did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm or the size of the audience as I joined them, torch in hand and with rather muddy shoes, for the first night of this Alan Ayckbourn play.

Season’s Greetings, written in 1980, is a rather black, though often farcical and very amusing, comedy about a dysfunctional family enduring the Christmas break together in an average English suburban house. By the reactions of the audience right from the start, you could tell that the well-defined characters were familiar to many households. A lot of people can relate to the way their Christmas progressed, with arguments, toys that don’t work and everyone having a bit too much to drink and saying and doing things they really shouldn’t.

Director Teresa Encke has extended the compact stage with an apron, providing an excellent box set in the centre for the hall, where most of the action takes place, allowing plenty of room on either side of the apron for the living room and dining room. The set was impressive and well dressed with all the usual Christmas trimmings including a large tree.

The entire cast gave excellent performances, bringing out the humour of the characters and keeping up a good pace throughout, despite a few first night fluffs. They were particularly good at keeping the action going in their area of the stage when the focus was on the action in another part.

It is such an ensemble piece that it would be invidious to single out individuals, but the ill-fated puppet show was handled so well by Tony Smith (Bernard), Sarah Maker (Pattie) and James Batchelor (Eddie) that it deserves a special mention. Their perfect timing made it utterly excruciating! And what a superb prop that puppet theatre was – it looked so professional that I was convinced it had been hired, but was told it had been made by members of the group.

As I ventured back into the night with my torch, I felt that I had been well entertained by a small group with big talent. Well done to everyone involved.

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