Season's Greetings skilfully deals, in an often comic way, with all kinds of prejudices: class, wealth, artistic snobbery, male chauvinism, ageism, homophobia. The characters are emotionally 'coloured-in': Rachel, sensible in the extreme, endlessly over-analysing her emotions, yet occasionally hysterical; Eddie, attempting, but giving up, tenderness with Patti. As a guest, Clive endlessly suffers the mad family. The play's slow, imperceptible build in drunkenness and madness is impressive.
The play shares much with Mike Leigh's 'Abigail's Party' (BBC, 1977), particularly its mix of the humorous and the awful. Like 'Abigail's Party' you never see the children.
Is Season's Greetings 'just' comic, or more serious? Like Eddie, we believe, perhaps because we want to, that Neville has offered him the managership of his new branch - this turns out not to be the case. Time after time we find ourselves involved in the drama, taking it very seriously, only for the scene to end with a wicked comic punch line. Phyllis crying with pity for Bernard is very moving, while Bernard's blistering attack on Harvey - "all that they can really say about you is that you're a snob, a bigot, a racist, a chauvinist..." - almost deserves applause. But in a moment of high farce at the end the G.P., Bernard, a man riven with lack of self-worth, solemnly examines the shot Clive, pronouncing him dead. Clive promptly wakes up.
The dysfunctional family can cope with anything. When Neville takes the gun from Harvey, he is asked if Clive will be alright. "Oh yeah," he replies, "he'll be alright; he's got Rachel" - Rachel being the one sensible member of the family. Examining an electronic toy that one of the bullets has passed through he says, "It's alright, it missed the motor".
Monday, April 16, 2007
Season's Greetings Synopsis
Christmas Eve. The adults drift about the house, making first inroads into the drink. Uncle Harvey, a retired security guard, watches a succession of violent action movies on TV, rooted to a large armchair. Bernard, near-retirement General Practitioner, fusses about, talking about the puppet show that he performs for the children every Christmas. The rest of the family groan at the mention of it.
The heavily pregnant Patti, Eddie's wife, joins Harvey in front of the TV. Eddie and Neville are long-term friends; Eddie once worked for Neville in his electronics retailing business; Eddie has since tried, less successfully, to go it alone.
Neville's wife Belinda and Patti try to get their kids to go to sleep. There is tension between them and Neville and Eddie, who do little except plan their next escape to the pub. Belinda's single, sister Rachel turns her nose up at the Christmas TV that briefly unites most of the family. A male guest of hers, Clive, a writer, arrives late, while Rachel has gone to look for him at the railway station. An instant mutual attraction forms between him and Belinda. Meanwhile Phyllis, Bernard's wife (they are childless), is drunk, trying to cook the Christmas Eve dinner.
Christmas Day. The couples argue increasingly. Bernard is crashingly inappropriate as he endlessly unloads his puppet show. Harvey shows the bemused guest Clive a foot long dagger that he has strapped to his leg and informs him that he has a gun. Belinda flirts with Clive; Rachel is jealous. Tension mounts as Harvey is increasingly rude about Bernard's puppet show and about his competence as a GP. Neville offers Eddie a job at his new branch and they escape to the pub. Patti is upset about how "useless" Eddie is. Belinda comforts her.
Christmas Night. Eddie is blind drunk, snoring. Rachel watches, fascinated and repelled as Patti matter-of-factly tries to bring him round. Neville fiddles with electronic toys and gadgets, oblivious to Belinda's conversation as she tries to talk to him about love and friendship. When everyone has gone to bed, Clive and Belinda try to have sex under the Christmas tree. Setting off an electric toy they wake up the whole family who discover them.
Boxing Day. With the help of Patti and Harvey, and with Phyllis as the only audience, Bernard attempts a dry run of his puppet show before the kids come back from a walk. He is tense and irritable, and shouts at Patti, who goes off crying. Harvey becomes angry and damages the puppets and kicks down the sets. Phyllis cries.
Early morning the next day. Clive leaves the house for the early train home. Rachel gives him her balaclava against the cold. Wearing the balaclava he goes back into the house to pick something up. Seeing him, Uncle Harvey, who is convinced Clive is a criminal and has stayed in the living room with his gun all night, shoots him.
The heavily pregnant Patti, Eddie's wife, joins Harvey in front of the TV. Eddie and Neville are long-term friends; Eddie once worked for Neville in his electronics retailing business; Eddie has since tried, less successfully, to go it alone.
Neville's wife Belinda and Patti try to get their kids to go to sleep. There is tension between them and Neville and Eddie, who do little except plan their next escape to the pub. Belinda's single, sister Rachel turns her nose up at the Christmas TV that briefly unites most of the family. A male guest of hers, Clive, a writer, arrives late, while Rachel has gone to look for him at the railway station. An instant mutual attraction forms between him and Belinda. Meanwhile Phyllis, Bernard's wife (they are childless), is drunk, trying to cook the Christmas Eve dinner.
Christmas Day. The couples argue increasingly. Bernard is crashingly inappropriate as he endlessly unloads his puppet show. Harvey shows the bemused guest Clive a foot long dagger that he has strapped to his leg and informs him that he has a gun. Belinda flirts with Clive; Rachel is jealous. Tension mounts as Harvey is increasingly rude about Bernard's puppet show and about his competence as a GP. Neville offers Eddie a job at his new branch and they escape to the pub. Patti is upset about how "useless" Eddie is. Belinda comforts her.
Christmas Night. Eddie is blind drunk, snoring. Rachel watches, fascinated and repelled as Patti matter-of-factly tries to bring him round. Neville fiddles with electronic toys and gadgets, oblivious to Belinda's conversation as she tries to talk to him about love and friendship. When everyone has gone to bed, Clive and Belinda try to have sex under the Christmas tree. Setting off an electric toy they wake up the whole family who discover them.
Boxing Day. With the help of Patti and Harvey, and with Phyllis as the only audience, Bernard attempts a dry run of his puppet show before the kids come back from a walk. He is tense and irritable, and shouts at Patti, who goes off crying. Harvey becomes angry and damages the puppets and kicks down the sets. Phyllis cries.
Early morning the next day. Clive leaves the house for the early train home. Rachel gives him her balaclava against the cold. Wearing the balaclava he goes back into the house to pick something up. Seeing him, Uncle Harvey, who is convinced Clive is a criminal and has stayed in the living room with his gun all night, shoots him.
Season's Greetings
Set build Oct 19th
Strike Oct 28th
The Show 25 26 27
http://www.alanayckbourn.net/
http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/443066/index.html
Strike Oct 28th
The Show 25 26 27
http://www.alanayckbourn.net/
http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/443066/index.html
Season's Greetings - Review
Mr. Ayckbourn is a keen student of family life in the suburbs. His plays generally take place within the walls of modest, self-consciously gracious homes, the kind that make ideal settings for a sitcom. And Mr. Ayckbourn can be very funny. But then he has this habit of, without warning, becoming sour, if not downright menacing. His amusing people suddenly turn pathetic or nasty, just like in real life. Americans, evidently, find these transitions jarring. The British apparently feel right at home.
''Season's Greetings,'' produced by Shaun Sutton for the BBC, begins on Christmas Eve and ends on Dec. 27, the morning after Boxing Day. The home belongs to Neville and Belinda, who have been married for eight and a half years and have already reached the stage of wondering if they can possibly spend the rest of their lives as good friends. Neville is a successful retailer who seemingly prefers to spend most of his time with Eddie, his old boyhood chum, who is married to Pattie, who is pregnant again and not very happy about it. Both couples have children who, although the supposed beneficiaries of the Christmas exertions, are never seen.
Also visiting for the holidays are: Bernard, a wimpish doctor who, with good reason, has concluded that he is a failure in life; his wife Phyllis, a rather dotty tippler who traditionally cooks a leg of lamb that is universally loathed and Uncle Harvey, a security expert partial to violent television shows (''You just missed a damn fine shark fight, you lot''). Finally there is Rachel, a sensitive, repressed virgin at age 38. She has invited Clive, a youngish novelist, as her guest for the occasion, and he becomes the plot catalyst as Rachel, Belinda and Phyllis vie for his attention. Everybody in place, the wheels start spinning furiously.
Mr. Ayckbourn prefers working on the periphery of things. Key scenes are always taking place off stage or between the acts. Throughout the first scene, we keep getting reports of Phyllis's apparently disastrous progress in the kitchen with the leg of lamb. There has been an accident with a can of flour and some mention of a nosebleed. Neville tells his wife that he has just seen Phyllis sprawled on the kitchen table with ''three yards of kitchen towel stuffed up her nose.'' But Phyllis doesn't actually appear until the very end of the scene and the dinner itself is skipped over completely. The second scene simply begins with several disparaging references to the lamb.
So too, there is Bernard preparing his annual puppet show that invariably leaves both children and adults monumentally bored. This year, it's ''The Three Little Pigs'' and the audience is fervently hoping that it won't be as interminable as last year's ''Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves.'' We do get to see part of the rehearsal, complete with its confusion about which pig is which, but the show itself is, no doubt mercifully, left to our imagination. Meanwhile, old Uncle Harvey is slowly making a transition from seemingly harmless old bully to someone decidedly more nasty and sinister.
As Mr. Ayckbourn's characters circle each other, sometimes warily, sometimes with undisguised contempt, there is little room for consoling compassion. The most that can be expected to help cope with life's endless absurdities is a determination to see our gloriously puny selves clearly. Directed by Michael Simpson, a British cast provides several outstanding performances: Anna Massey as Rachel, Bridget Turner as Phyllis, Geoffrey Palmer as Bernard, Barbara Flynn as Belinda, Nicky Henson as Neville, and Shawn Scott as Clive. While not as successful as the wonderful version of Mr. Ayckbourn's ''The Norman Conquests'' that was done for television several years ago, ''Season's Greetings'' is an effective demonstration of a gifted playwright at work.
''Season's Greetings,'' produced by Shaun Sutton for the BBC, begins on Christmas Eve and ends on Dec. 27, the morning after Boxing Day. The home belongs to Neville and Belinda, who have been married for eight and a half years and have already reached the stage of wondering if they can possibly spend the rest of their lives as good friends. Neville is a successful retailer who seemingly prefers to spend most of his time with Eddie, his old boyhood chum, who is married to Pattie, who is pregnant again and not very happy about it. Both couples have children who, although the supposed beneficiaries of the Christmas exertions, are never seen.
Also visiting for the holidays are: Bernard, a wimpish doctor who, with good reason, has concluded that he is a failure in life; his wife Phyllis, a rather dotty tippler who traditionally cooks a leg of lamb that is universally loathed and Uncle Harvey, a security expert partial to violent television shows (''You just missed a damn fine shark fight, you lot''). Finally there is Rachel, a sensitive, repressed virgin at age 38. She has invited Clive, a youngish novelist, as her guest for the occasion, and he becomes the plot catalyst as Rachel, Belinda and Phyllis vie for his attention. Everybody in place, the wheels start spinning furiously.
Mr. Ayckbourn prefers working on the periphery of things. Key scenes are always taking place off stage or between the acts. Throughout the first scene, we keep getting reports of Phyllis's apparently disastrous progress in the kitchen with the leg of lamb. There has been an accident with a can of flour and some mention of a nosebleed. Neville tells his wife that he has just seen Phyllis sprawled on the kitchen table with ''three yards of kitchen towel stuffed up her nose.'' But Phyllis doesn't actually appear until the very end of the scene and the dinner itself is skipped over completely. The second scene simply begins with several disparaging references to the lamb.
So too, there is Bernard preparing his annual puppet show that invariably leaves both children and adults monumentally bored. This year, it's ''The Three Little Pigs'' and the audience is fervently hoping that it won't be as interminable as last year's ''Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves.'' We do get to see part of the rehearsal, complete with its confusion about which pig is which, but the show itself is, no doubt mercifully, left to our imagination. Meanwhile, old Uncle Harvey is slowly making a transition from seemingly harmless old bully to someone decidedly more nasty and sinister.
As Mr. Ayckbourn's characters circle each other, sometimes warily, sometimes with undisguised contempt, there is little room for consoling compassion. The most that can be expected to help cope with life's endless absurdities is a determination to see our gloriously puny selves clearly. Directed by Michael Simpson, a British cast provides several outstanding performances: Anna Massey as Rachel, Bridget Turner as Phyllis, Geoffrey Palmer as Bernard, Barbara Flynn as Belinda, Nicky Henson as Neville, and Shawn Scott as Clive. While not as successful as the wonderful version of Mr. Ayckbourn's ''The Norman Conquests'' that was done for television several years ago, ''Season's Greetings'' is an effective demonstration of a gifted playwright at work.
Friday, December 08, 2006
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