The Holly and The Ivy

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All your Christmases come early to The Questors

The Holly and The Ivy
by Wynyard Browne

It is Christmas 1947 in a very bleak mid-winter. Snow has settled all around and lay crisp and even. The war has been over a little more than two years but rationing and austerity are still affecting people's lives.

Vicar Gregory's family have further problems to resolve when, to celebrate a festive season get-together, they descend upon him at his Norfolk vicarage home.

This Wynyard Browne play, described by many contemporary critics as an "English Chekovian Piece", was very successful when it was first staged in London in 1950 with Frith Banbury directing.

It became an equally successful film in 1954 when leading roles were taken by Ralph Richardson, Celia Johnson and Margaret Leighton. Subsequently, there was a television production of the play with Phyllis Calvert in one of the leading parts.

It is a play very much of its time - some may say "old fashioned", but none the worse for that. And it also provides a sharp contrast to our previous Questors' production of William Shakespeare's "Much Ado about Nothing" our upcoming 45th anniversary presentation in May next year.

November 7, 2008