Fyling Hall’s year 10 and 11 drama students had the chance to see the revival of Season’s Greetings by Alan Ayckbourn. Staged at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough the play tells the story of a family at Christmas which Alan Ayckbourn describes as  ‘the worst Christmas in the world’. The long four days slowly descend into chaos with puppet shows, wayward sisters, new boyfriends and far too much alcohol.

Attending a packed showing in the last week of the show’s run, we were lucky to get tickets, 20 students attended with Mrs Jeeves and Ms Mitchell; here is what they thought:

I liked the puppet show because I thought it was very humorous. I’ve been ‘ah-snoring’ all day! JJ YR10

I liked the lights especially when the actors used a visual cue to show the lighting designers when to turn a light on or off. CAMERON YR10

I liked the rude bit! When the two actors both said they wanted each other and started jumping on each other! JOE YR10

I really enjoyed the end of the play when the writer got shot because the acting was very good. They were all really convincing and when the doctor said he was dead and then he wasn’t it was very funny. ELLIE YR10

It was really good to see the actors and how they played their characters. I liked how they all stayed in character. KAJA YR10

It was really professional. I loved how the actors were perfectly organised and how they stayed totally still in the blackouts. HARRIET YR10

I thought that the play was amazing, the use of the staging was very effective and well thought out. The actors portrayed their characters amazingly well, and really got to grips with how their characters felt and thought and showed this throughout the entirety of the play. The actor who played Bernard did this particularly well: he used intonation and proxemics incredibly well to show the different layers to his emotions all the way through the play.  SOPHIE YR13.

Our next theatre trip runs on the 1st October to see Alan Ayckbourn’s latest play Birthdays past, Birthdays present. There are still a few places available, see Mrs Jeeves as soon as possible to book your place. And remember to follow fylinghall_musicanddrama for more insights into the music and drama departments.

Lizzie Jeeves
Head of Drama and English as a Second Language