'Season's Greetings' is an Alan Ayckbourn play set, unsurprisingly, at Christmas. I thought it would be a bit odd watching it in March but, even though a large family Christmas is the sit in this sit-com, it doesn't feel at all festive. Almost anti-Christmas in it's depiction of people forced together in an annual struggle to endure each others company.
It's sometime in the early 1980s, Belinda and Neville are hosting the large gathering for family and friends and Rachel's sister has invited a new friend, up and coming author Clive, to join them. Bernard wants to do his annual puppet show for the children. His wife, Phyllis, has a drink problem. Pattie is pregnant again but stuck with a loveless, useless husband in Eddie. And Harvey, with his enthusiasm for the more violent of life's pursuits, takes up houseroom.
As the characters bounce off each other, concerned very little by their drink fuelled actions, the comedy becomes bigger and sillier but never looses its perceptive quality. This is classic British farce in many ways but with a rigorous intellect behind it. The second act had a more fevered quality, the laughs coming thickly as things spun splendidly out of control.
Catherine Tate plays the brash and dominating Belinda broadly and goes for the big laughs while Nicola Walker, as her put upon sister, shuffled through the proceedings with an air of someone apologetic to even ask the air to move around her. Tate and Walker played to their strengths and I don't think anyone would accuse the performances of being subtle but when you have this much skill with a punchline it really doesn't matter. Both character's interactions with Clive being particularly funny.
It's always fun to watch drunk acting and Jenna Russell was no exception. I found the husbands less interesting but Mark Gatiss must get a massive round of applause for his collapse in Act Two. Just the right amount of frenzy and pathos as his puppet show hysterically fell apart.
And the set! I'm used to seeing amazing stage craft in the Lyttleton theatre but this beautiful three floored house sliced down the middle was something special. Not just in the extraordinary believability of the fixtures and fittings but the gorgeous touches around the edges - loft lagging in the roof and drainage pipes underneath. It's not often you get property envy from a theatrical set but this one managed it.
This was a superior slice of British comedy performed by a cast at the top of their game. An absolute treat.
Bill Count: 4
No comments:
Post a Comment