SEASON'S GREETINGS. To 21 January.

Liverpool

SEASON’S GREETINGS
by Alan Ayckbourn

Liverpool Playhouse To 21 January 2006
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat 29 Dec, 5 Jan 1.30pm, 31 Dec, 7,14,21 Jan 2pm no performance 31 Dec eve, 2 Jan
Audio-described 4 Jan
Runs 2hr 30min One interval

TICKETS: 0151 709 4776
www.everymanplayhouse.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 22 December

Muted Christmas laughs from Liverpool this year.
Liverpool Playhouse has given immaculate Christmas revivals of comedies the last 2 years; this year they have a fine young director, Nikolai Foster, in charge. But something has gone wrong. It may be Foster does not have, or has not yet developed, the particular gift for comedy that lies in timing and the ability to balance the serious with the unlikely.

Or it may be Peter McKintosh‘s set kiboshes things. Ayckbourn writes about a middle-class family whose quirks, clashes and miseries are concentrated at the ritual Christmas gathering. A sense of claustrophobia’s needed, of people’s private territories tripping over each other. Yet the set here is open and spacious, extending beyond the width of the Playhouse’s proscenium.

An upper-room is indicated, though never used, while downstairs reality’s confused by unhelpfully implying, rather than showing, where the 3 rooms lie. This means the clandestine meeting between Samantha Giles’ elegant Belinda, trapped in marriage with Philip Bretherton’s possessive if inattentive businessman Neville, and Stuart Laing’s young writer Clive (the common Ayckbourn visitor who stirs up a settled domestic nest) takes place amid an open space, undermining any sense of secrecy.

Foster seems happier with the serious side of things; Belinda’s discontent is apparent, while the more comically shown imbalance in Phyllis reduces even the fine Angela Clerkin to a wild parade of inconsequent mannerisms. Neville, forever fiddling with mechanical gizmos, is ultimately revealed in Bretherton’s strong performance as someone who imposes his view on people, making Belinda’s unhappiness understandable.

Yet, while Ian Bartholomew’s Bernard is well-observed, his comic moment, the tedious annual puppet-show that turns his mild-manner into rage, is awkwardly staged and hasn’t the preparation of relationships it needs to become hilarious rather than amusing. Colin Prokter’s benign presence doesn’t work as counter-casting for violent-minded Harvey while the usually forceful Penny Layden develops little in rejected, aging Rachel.

Individual actors aren’t to blame; things just don’t fit together. Season’s Greetings is too good to become a waste of time but compared with, say, Ian Forrest’s Keswick revival a couple of seasons back, this is a damp squib rather than festive fare.

Bernard: Ian Bartholomew
Neville: Philip Bretherton
Phyllis: Angela Clerkin
Belinda: Samantha Giles
Eddie: Stephen Hogan
Clive: Stuart Laing
Rachel: Penny Layden
Harvey: Colin Prokter
Pattie: Josie Walter

Director: Nikolai Foster
Designer: Peter McKintosh
Lighting: Guy Hoare
Sound: Jennifer Tallon Cahill
Dialect coach: Jeannette Nelson

2005-12-27 15:30:06