Season’s Greetings with a difference?

 

If last year’s pre-Christmas show was not what one might have expected by way of festive warm-up, this year’s, titled “Season’s Greetings”, certainly held out more promise. We will always remember “The Arsonist” as a brilliantly staged and equally brilliantly acted production which provoked much discussion before, during and after the show.

We knew it would be a hard act to follow. Thus, full of eager anticipation our party attended the first night. I have to say that all members of our amazing Drama Club excelled once again.

The set was a true miracle cramming the ground floor of Neville’s and Belinda’s home onto the hall’s small stage. The production progressed smoothly oblivious to the lack of walls. Self-opinionated grumpy Harvey, along with fellow viewers of the thankfully invisible tele, extended the room into the auditorium with great skill without a flicker.

 

Equally, the chaotic puppet show presented by the insecure but Likeable Bernard certainly entertained us even if it would not stand a chance of engaging the expected children - yet again. It was a tale of adults misbehaving on what should be a truly festive occasion, with very convincing performances characterising most of the familiar activities for which one might have the courage to apologise the day after the night before.

Whilst most of the crises of one sort or another in the play are those which, thankfully, do not occur in real life many were a little too close to the real thing to be entirely ignored. So we all drifted away into the night resolving to do better ourselves.

The children of course were never seen or heard and maybe the play would have been better if they were to have been around - or would it? I reckon it was a pretty poor and dated script full of sound and fury signifying not a lot but nonetheless handled extremely competently by our noble players and the production team.

We hope they all had the relaxing and Happy Christmas which they justly deserved.

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Peter McKendrick

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