Season's Greetings

WADS December show this year is a hilarious Christmas comedy by England’s favourite playwright – Alan Ayckbourn’s Seasons Greetings.

Set in 1975, the play follows nine suburban - and uniquely dysfunctional - adults over the three days of an unforgettable Christmas.

Meet our hosts, Neville, a technology obsessed nerd more interested in the remote controls for the Christmas tree lights than in his wife, Belinda. Unfulfilled and ignored, Belinda looks for solace, first in getting the decorations just right, then in the arms of one of their guests.

They’re joined by Harvey, Neville’s knife-wearing, security obsessed and enjoyably psychotic uncle who’s brought along guns to give to the kids for Christmas. Neville's sister, Phyllis, is generally too drunk to notice much while her husband, Bernard, an unsuccessful and exceptionally boring peace-loving GP, is preoccupied with the final preparations for his excruciating annual puppet show.

The other four guests are no less socially and emotionally challenged and it should be no surprise that the festive celebrations descend into a comic climax of infidelity, recrimination and violence!

Season’s Greetings demonstrates Ayckbourn’s mastery of extracting hilarity from the consequences of human frailty. The claustrophobia and forced frivolity of a Christmas house party intensifies both the comedy and the inevitable emotional meltdown.

It’s 1970’s setting is an enjoyable and nostalgic bonus for this highly entertaining play. After all, grown-ups also deserve a treat at Christmas.