Christmas V Mastermind: Quotes by Other People

This page includes quotes about the play Christmas V Mastermind by people other than Alan Ayckbourn, predominantly drawn from books and articles about Alan Ayckbourn or British theatre; it does not include quotes from reviews, which can be found in the Reviews pages.

"[Christmas V Mastermind] sank without trace and the author looked back on a career which appeared to have gone downhill since [his first play] The Square Cat."
(Paul Allen: The Pocket Guide To Alan Ayckbourn's Plays, 2004, Faber)

"One also has to concede Ayckbourn's point that it [Christmas V Mastermind] is not a terribly good play. It consists of a running battle between Father Christmas and a criminal mastermind known as The Crimson Gollywog. That's fine for starters. But the play gets bogged down in a barrage of plot.... Obviously it is the work of an agile mind. But children's theatre requires clarity, a straight-driving narrative and an obvious focus for sympathy which this, for all its deft touches, does not have."
(Michael Billington: Alan Ayckbourn, 1990, Palgrave)

All research for this page by Simon Murgatroyd.