Martha And Marvin's Really Quite Exciting Christmas Adventure

The Christmas show ran for four nights last week, after a reasonably intensive rehearsal period and you could argue and even more intense writing period before that. A day after it finished, back in the office, a friend accused me of 'lacking in the festive spirit' as I sat wearing a Santa hat but refusing to even offer a glimmer of cheeriness. I'm sure my lack of festivity was relating to the show - but not because the show can't be considered anything but a complete success - I really don't have any complaints at all - but because I've been doing the whole Christmas thing since early November and if anything I probably hit my peak too soon. Bugger. Because Christmas Day is on Tuesday - somehow I need to get that feeling back, and quick.

But back to the show. We ran for four nights, and when talking previously about this production my fear was that it was all going to be a bit too easy, a bit too safe. Maybe that's because subconsciously I felt the script may very much have been all of those things, but the production itself was far from an easy ride. Due to everyone elses commitments rehearsals were barely featuring a full team, in fact - on the Sunday, the day of the opening, when we had a full 6 hours worth of rehearsals booked in before the first performance, we'd only rehearsed twice as a full cast beforehand. The rehearsals were beautifully manic, messy but with so much energy, lines were dropped and remembered all over the place but the enthusiasm was always going to make up for it, and although it did look like we were cutting it fine there was always the sense that we would be okay, in the end, somehow. And we were, of course. Four nights; really good turnouts throughout (especially for the first and last shows), the first performance was slightly too messy for my liking, the middle two were perhaps too tight and if anything lacked the nervous excitement, the final one was as close as it was ever going to be despite a slow-ish first 10 minutes or so. The guest bands were all equally outstanding and I'm indebted to them for going along with it all because, you know, this isn't an easy gig - but they 'got it', and were each rewarded with healthy applause from our little crowd. Izzy, Steve, Hind, Paul and Elisa, plus Alan our legendary soundman, all worked incredibly hard to make their characters as likable as possible, we've all worked together before, we know how this works, and it does, very nicely indeed. Not wishing to single out praise or anything, but I did realise over the last week or so how fun Hind Shubber is to be in a show with, and not entirely sure why that was the first time in ages we've worked together because there's a really nice understanding there. Audience-wise I feel very lucky to have so many friends able to make it - from my long-term regulars Marcus, Jack, Andy, the Gamlingay lot, Vicky, Rachel, Rob to people who have only started seeing my work this year - Liz, Cathy, Rohan, Cara etc, lots of people, happy Paul.

My only reservations coming out of this run were the safety of the script. My close friend Jack was (typically) brutally honest when he said that - whilst he laughed throughout the show and found it very entertaining, it was the third Paul Richards Christmas production he's been to and he's starting to see the formula. He's right - there's the family element to it, the (intentional) mass of cheap jokes, the slightly dodgy Santa, the crisis, the happy ending, the big singalong. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this at all - it's all brand new material, a lot of work has gone into it, and each year they are better because each year I am a better writer. More jokes, more twists. And people enjoy it - which is probably the most important thing. As this year progressed I've started to experiment more as a writer, the tour show in particular demonstrated a darker side - but the Christmas show was back to what I know will please people. It pleases me too, to a certain extent, but I'm still not entirely comfortable with it. Or maybe, just maybe I'm no longer as festive as I used to be hence why I'm not enjoying it? That's a horrible thought, I'm off to see some friends and act childish, that normally helps.