Season's Greetings

^{Review by Brian Slade}

Adapting a successful comedy play for celluloid is a dangerous road to navigate. The 1992 movie adaptation of Noises Off, with a stellar cast including John Ritter, Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve and Denholm Elliot, was a calamitous failure at the box office, despite the source material being hailed as the near perfect theatre comedy. So, converting Alan Ayckbourn’s work from stage to screen would seem a task thwart with danger. However, with a few of the small screen’s own powerhouse performers, the 1986 BBC production of Season’s Greetings provided a fine adaptation of the genius playwright’s 1980 piece.

Christmas family gatherings are not always for the fainthearted. Put enough people in the same home at once and there will eventually be grudges formed, grievances aired, and opinions voiced – with even the occasional ill-advised romantic entanglement. Bottle enough up for the sake of harmony and when the cork finally pops, mayhem ensues. Enter then the home of Neville and Belinda Bunker in the latter stages of Christmas Eve as they prepare for Christmas Day with various family members and some of their plus-ones.

With the kids safely tucked into bed, albeit refusing to go to sleep, Belinda Bunker (Barbara Flynn) can turn her attention to the rest of the Christmas festivities. She won’t seemingly get much help from husband Neville (Nicky Henson), whose idea of a great Christmas present is something he can take a screwdriver to and dismantle, subsequently improving its performance – at least in his eyes.

Already firmly planted in a comfy armchair of the Bunker’s lounge is Neville’s Uncle Harvey (Peter Vaughan). He is engaging in one of the most enduring of Christmas traditions – working out which of the cast members of an old film on tv are now deceased. Despite his memory struggling to fully work it out, nothing can dampen his enthusiasm for a solid war film – blood and violence are a delight for a man already being left behind in the 1980s – in his eyes, blood and guts make great viewing for the modern child!

First to engage with Harvey is Bernard, Neville’s brother-in-law. Bernard (Geoffrey Palmer) is the polar opposite to Harvey. A gentle, peace-loving man who has dedicated his life to others by becoming a doctor, while doting on his wife, Phyllis (Bridget Turner). We see very little of Phyllis for much of the programme as she spends most of her time gamely battling on with Christmas meals, Bernard regularly emerging from the kitchen with updates on her challenges and episodes – nosebleeds, dizzy spells and flour clouds etc, (drunk in charge of an oven, in the opinion of Harvey).

Next to emerge from trying to get excitable kids to sleep is Pattie (Lesley Dunlop). Heavily pregnant, she is attempting to find her husband as her son won’t go to sleep without seeing him. Hubbie Eddie (Michael Cashman) is in the dining room. As an employee of Neville’s he hangs on every word Neville says, and would rather be demonstrating his own technical skills than dealing with children and a pregnant wife, in the hope of taking over a newly opened branch of Neville’s company.

The final people to enter the fray are Rachel, Belinda’s sister, and her writer companion. Rachel (Anna Massey) doesn’t share her sister’s confidence and so is somewhat uneasy at bringing a new plus-one into the family circle in the form of Clive (Shaun Scott), a kind but mystified novelist unprepared for the family storms he is about to brave when his train eventually arrives through Christmas Eve snow. What does await him is the warm greeting of Belinda, who finds a spark with Clive from the moment she welcomes him in while Rachel has missed him returning to the train station.

With Christmas Eve done and all assembled, the scene moves on to Christmas Day – another day and more challenges. Bernard is left to balance aiding Phyllis, now recovering in her room from the previous evening’s culinary battle and bringing in the scenery for his annual puppet show for the children, of which he is very proud – Three Little Pigs (plus their wives and family). Not much unites the other members of the festive gathering, but they do all dread the lengthy productions Bernard offers.

Eddie and Pattie remain at each other’s throats, Eddie preferring to read his son’s Christmas presents before giving it to him, rather than join his wife and son for a walk. No early sign of Rachel and her guest, although suspicion is that the two are not yet to a point where they share anything more than an interest in literature.

Harvey has already been to church, and when he returns, he has his first real encounter with Clive, giving him the opportunity to give him words of wisdom, and to give him a gentle warning that at 65, he still carries a body ready for a fight of any kind (as well as a Sheffield steel knife and a gun!). Clive then encounters the battling sisters as Rachel realises Belinda already has designs on him as they rush out for a Christmas morning walk to the village.

Across Christmas night, Boxing Day and into December 27^th, much soul-searching is done by many of the guests. A drunken Phyllis is finally seen, and Rachel, Pattie and Belinda are all wondering about the relationships they are in, leading to some compromising situations.

The flashpoint of the entire few days comes in the form of Bernard’s play and the unhinged mind of Harvey, who has already decided he does not like Clive. When Harvey explodes at Bernard during his play, the two have a major confrontation that leads to the most unexpected conclusion to the festivities.

Ayckbourn’s plays always carry more than just comedy. The relationships on display in Season’s Greetings are all on the edge of breaking, and a Christmas gathering brings them all to boiling point perfectly. The production doesn’t break the feel of the play, all action taking place in the dining room, sitting room and the vast hall and stairway between them. But it takes a talented group to do justice to the work of such a fine playwright. The ensemble is excellent, but in Peter Vaughan and Geoffrey Palmer, the director Michael Simpson had two heavyweight troopers that excel, with their meltdown exchange the absolute highlight of the lengthy production. It may not bring festive cheer, but Season’s Greetings does bring a lot of laughs and more than a few unnerving moments of recognition!