We Never Change -- about Season's Greetings at the Wellesley Summer Theater

"Season's Greetings", a play by Alan Ayckbourn at the Wellesley Summer Theater.

This production really deserves to be seen. Ayckbourn is a British playwright, and although the play is set in England (it was written in 1980, but Wellesley has updated the play), most people here will immediately feel connected and familiar with the family members who make up the cast.

The story takes place over four days: Christmas Eve, Christmas, Boxing Day, and December 27. The adults and children of the extended family are all squashed together in Neville's house. The resentments, frustrations, and animosities reach a comic boiling point when one sister, Belinda, attempts to have a tryst under the Christmas tree with the young man invited for the holiday by Rachel, Belinda's sister. There are plenty of farcical jabs and funny bits in the Fawlty Towers tradition. The play tends to sag towards the end, as it runs out of ideas, but that's ok. In the end, it seems that each character remains in character, is no better than we thought they were in the beginning, despite having the chance to change, or to exceed expectations. It reminded me of Chekhov. As if the characters say, "We never change, we can't change, we did our best. That's life."

The cast is wonderful, with a veteran ensemble feel to their performances. Ashley Grimolini struck me as just right as Belinda, the somewhat officious wife who's willing to throw herself at Clive under the Christmas tree in the middle of the night (with the usual laughable consequences). She's all business, yet gives off enough sensual spark to make it possible. I could say good things about everybody else in the cast too, Christine Hamel as the plain Rachel, Derek Nelson as the always-defeated Bernard, and Ed Peed as the big-voiced lunatic uncle Harvey.

The set is great. I really liked the way the family occupied the open space of the house, so we could see all the action, while the actors looked around corners, giving us the sense that these were separate rooms.

This was the first time we'd gone to Wellesely Summer Theater, and we didn't expect a production this polished and professional (perhaps the name made us expect a more amateur, student production). This was really good, really funny theater as good as any regional theater we've seen. I really appreciate what the directors, Shelley Bolman and Nora Hussey have done.