5 – 14 December 2024
by Alan Ayckbourn
When families get together to celebrate a special occasion, there’s a danger that all hell will break loose. Particularly if you happen to be trapped for several days with all your relatives and copious amounts of alcohol…
Neville and Belinda are hosting their extended family over a long weekend. The presence of two tyrannical uncles – Bernard, whose ham-fisted annual puppet shows are a source of dread to young and old alike, and TV addict Harvey – promises to stir up trouble from the start. And that’s before you add to the mix broken toys, creaking marriages and guest novelist, Clive – whose relationship with Belinda’s sister, Rachel, is going nowhere – causing him to look for love elsewhere.
Cast
Neville | Jamie Heath
Belinda | Claire Connery
Eddie | Jay Rolfe
Pattie | Laura Mackie
Bernard | Robin Clark
Phyllis | Andrea Unwin
Rachel | Harriet Datta
Clive | Anthony Portsmouth
Harvey | Brian Miller
Directed by Chris Hannigan
Photography by Chris Fenton
Review | December 2024 | Theo Spring
The combination of a seasonal play by the well-known playwright Alan Ayckbourn, an excellent cast and a director who used his ‘mince pies’ to ensure nothing was left to chance ensured sell-out performances for the Miller Theatre’s final show of 2024.
Reflecting, perhaps, the familiar experience, of families who are not necessarily compatible but are thrown together for the Christmas celebrations, the characters each have their own agenda, albeit that some are married and some are friends.
The curtain opened onto Keith Orton’s gloriously designed set with its huge Christmas tree and a clever demarcation of rooms where white tape indicated walls and gaps therein meant a doorway. Thus, without any physical barriers, the action in the hallway, dining room and sitting room was clearly visible. The set was beautifully dressed with Christmas finery, right down to the enviable wreath on the front door.
Belinda and husband Neville are hosting Christmas with the burden of the arrangements heavy on Belinda’s shoulders. Claire Connery gave Belinda the perfect edge of serenity with anger simmering very near the surface as she dealt with the almost total lack of input from Neville; the weight of responsibility for a happy time for everyone, rising up through the calm veneer. Jamie Heath as Neville was, of course, oblivious to any real help he may have offered, content to create useless gadgets and spend hours talking to and impressing his friend Eddie. This disinterest is rife throughout but, in the very well-played and funny ending to Act 1 with Belinda caught, late at night, in the arms of the visiting Clive, his reaction was suddenly both possessive and threatening.
Clive, a writer who has just published a book, had been invited to join the festivities by Belinda’s sister Rachel. Undermining herself at every turn, Harriet Datta created a timid, unsure but yearning Rachel who, with Anthony Portsmouth as Clive verbally danced about each other with misunderstandings, and an inability to actually name their feelings. In spite of the pathos, their interchanges created considerable humour. The initial attraction between Clive and hostess Belinda at the start of the play was carefully underplayed but spoke volumes and we knew that there would be trouble.
Phyllis is Neville’s sister and is married to Bernard. The pair are highly incompatible. Robin Clark’s Bernard brought out all the characters instability and nerdiness. He was revealed as a doctor with little faith in his healing abilities and an uncle whose annual puppet show was dreaded by adults and children alike. Intolerance came through with his growing frustration at being handed the wrong pig puppet by his reluctant assistant Pattie – Eddie’s wife – whose pregnancy bump kept getting in his way. A scene full of recognisable comedy. To Bernard’s annoyance Phyllis is very fond of her drink and here Andrea Unwin really shone as she played an inebriated game of snakes and ladders, followed by setting her drunken cap at Clive, with a conversation full of misunderstandings.
Eddie is an erstwhile employee of Neville’s and they are still friends. Pattie, already a mother, is not at all happy about being pregnant. Laura Mackie brought real angst and anger to Pattie as she suffered a husband with no interest whatsoever in helping with the children or, like Neville, in helping with Christmas. Bringing anger from his side of the marriage, Jay Rolfe’s Eddie stuck closely to Neville, getting away with not helping out, refusing to go on a walk with the children, reading the book he had bought to give his son and hoping Neville could mend the son’s broken toy – also a gift.
Adding more chaos to the house party is Harvey – Phyllis and Neville’s uncle. Intent on violence and weaponry, he caused discontent by buying the children guns and a crossbow as their gifts. The TV film he is watching, full of fighting and explosions is cleverly set at the front of the stage, with no actual TV, and thus needed Brian Miller as Harvey, to react and look absorbed whilst gazing out at the audience. The brutishness and violence of the character were finely brought to the fore throughout the play.
Berry Butler’s costumes included some apt Christmas jumpers; Mike Bell is credited as the Prop Maker and the large set construction and set painting team should take a bow too.
Ayckbourn comedy always has its dark side and Director Chris Hannigan brought this to the fore without it overpowering the comedy, creating a mix of serious thought amongst the undoubted laughter.