NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release 30th October 2016

Chesil Theatre Winchester gets into the Christmas spirit with their production of Season’s Greetings, Alan Ayckbourn’s hilarious classic comedy. Bookings have proved so popular that, with the original performance run sold out, an extra preview has been scheduled for Friday 18th November 2016.
 
First performed in 1980, Season’s Greetings concerns a gathering of family and friends in a typical English suburban household over the three days of Christmas. Unsurprisingly, amongst this disparate group of people forced to spend time together, squabbles break out – some petty, others not so.  There are the remote-controlled tree lights to fix, mechanical toys to repair, a puppet show with sixteen scenes to rehearse and, after a drunken game of snakes and ladders, what could possibly go wrong?  Ayckbourn combines cynicism with humour to provide superb entertainment.
 
Season’s Greetings runs from 18th to 26th November 2016 with tickets available here.

Reading Friday November 4th
 
Auditions Saturday November 5th 2pm, Sunday November 6th 2pm
 
Production Dates  Saturday January 21st - 28th Matinee Saturday 28th 2.30pm
 
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus  by Mary Shelley published in 1818 relates how Dr Frankenstein brought his grotesque but sentient Creature to life in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Since then it has inspired hundreds of plays and films.
 
The story of how a young woman came to write such a terrifying narrative is the subject of the January 2017 play at the Chesil Theatre, Winchester.
 
Blood and Ice by Liz Lochead relates how Mary looks back on the stormy night in 1816 in Switzerland when four young romantics passed the time by having a competition to write a spine-chilling tale.
Byron and Shelley were then England's most famous poets. Mary, had eloped with Shelley two years earlier, even though he was still married. Claire Clairmont, her step sister, accompanied them and became infatuated with Byron.
 
Director, Alec Walters says: " There are five superb roles in this play: three women and two men.  Rehearsals will be fascinating as the complex web of relationships is explored together with the origins of this seminal novel."
 
The reading is on Friday November 4th at 7.45pm, followed by open auditions on Saturday November 5th at 2pm and Sunday November 6th at 2pm - all at the Theatre. Newcomers are always welcome.