Catherine Tate & Mark Gatiss Have Festive Season

Talk about some festive fun at the National! Catherine Tate, Neil Stuke and Mark Gatiss will feature in an all-star ensemble in Marianne Elliott’s new production of Season’s Greetings, Alan Ayckbourn’s 1980 comedy about a calamitous family Christmas gathering, which, Whatsonstage.com has confirmed today, will open on 8 December 2010 (previews from 1 December), running in rep in the NT Lyttelton.

Neville Bunker (Stuke) has once again forgotten to buy a Christmas present for his wife Belinda (Tate). Meanwhile, sister Rachel is in her usual state about her love life, Uncle Bernard (Gatiss) is planning another interminable puppet show, Uncle Harvey is growing more eccentric, Patti and husband Eddie are at their customary loggerheads and Auntie Phyllis is drunk in the kitchen.

The cast will also include Jenna Russell (Olivier winner for Sunday in the Park with George and currently in Into the Woods at the Open Air) as Phyllis, David Troughton as Harvey, Nicola Walker as Rachel, Katherine Parkinson as Pattie, Oliver Chris as Clive and Marc Wootton as Eddie. The production is designed by Rae Smith, with lighting by Bruno Poet and sound by Mark Dickinson.