Who Killed Santa Claus? by Terence Feely Directed by Ian Bernard

'Who Killed Santa Claus?' by Terence Feely. Directed by Ian Bernard. Reviewed by Philip Buckingham.

So this is your usual work Christmas party set up. Everyone is smiling and drinking but underneath it all there are dark thoughts of bloody murder. We are introduced to a cosy group of 'friends' who we soon realise have plenty of reason for wishing their hostess, "Santa Claus", otherwise known as the Children's TV star Barbara Love, dead. Enter the spurned director, the bitter writer, the bitchy stylist, the ambitious producer, and in the midst of it all an undercover policeman invited along because Barbara Love has been receiving intimidating death threats. The stage is set for a good Agatha Christie style Christmas romp, with more twists and turns in the closing minutes than any whodunit fan could wish for.

I thoroughly enjoyed this production. It was festive, funny and performed with enough professionalism to ensure it was never in any danger of turning into am-dram. As the programme notes pointed out it is very much a TV drama and is therefore difficult to stage. A difficulty I don't think the director always managed to overcome. The problem was that the play constantly moved between two handed and group scenes. Were this television the director could have placed the quiet duologues in another room while the party continued elsewhere but this being theatre the director had to deal with the problem of bringing the party on and off the stage - an unenviable task. I generally found these moments clumsy.

While Ian Bernard's direction of these moments was off the mark, the direction of the play's quieter moments were bang on target. One of the highlights of this production was the scene between Barbara Love, played by Alix Hearn, and her son, played by Will Parson. In the midst of the play's chaos there is this incredibly touching scene beautifully downplayed by both actors. It was a scene that reminded me once again that Terence Feely is an unashamed Television writer. As all good television actors like to tell us - less is more. Hearn and Parson showed us in this scene what that phrase really means.

I felt in general that this production would have done well to live more closely by this motto. There were some other lovely performances. I enjoyed Sarah Chapman's Connie and was sorry to see her untimely end and I thought Simon Mirza was a believable and competent Christopher Moore, but too many of the other performances relied on clichés. I wanted the actors to show us less so that we could see more.

There was a moment in this production when Barbara Love is left alone on stage. It is a wonderful moment and in it I saw the best and worst elements of this production. The worst moment was Hearn demonstrating her anxiety with over active hands and sighs. The best moment was Hearn sitting still and allowing us to see the emotional turmoil in her thoughts. The latter was infinitely more believable.

I know this is a comedy, and a far fetched one at that, but comedy is all the more funny when it is true and this tremendously enjoyable evening lacked a little truth for my taste.