London Classic Theatre’s production of Absurd Person Singular, directed by Michael Cabot, is approaching the end of its 17 venue run, rescheduled from 2020 for reasons well known to all. Alan Ayckbourn's three act comic farce about social mobility was written in 1972 and this needs to be borne in mind when watching the play as it does reflect some attitudes which nowadays seem very dated.
The play features three couples with each act being set on a successive Christmas Eve in one of the couples’ homes. Act one takes place in the relatively humble home of the Hopcrofts. Sidney (Paul Sandys) is a small time shopkeeper with big entrepreneurial ambitions whilst his devoted wife Jane (Felicity Houlbrooke) is at her happiest carrying out cleaning tasks. We meet them as they are preparing to host two other couples whom Sidney feels will be useful to him in the furtherance of his business expansion plans.
Geoffrey Jackson (John Dorney) is an architect, and on the face of it a successful one, but it is clear right from the start that his multiple casual adulteries have had an appalling effect on his wife Eva (Helen Keeley) who has developed a tranquilliser addiction as a result. Bank manager Ronald Brewster-Wright (Graham O’Mara) is perhaps the least relatable character to a modern audience more used to computerised credit-scoring and internet banking than to organising bank loans over sherry and canapés. His wife Marion (Kathryn Ritchie) is superficially charming though deeply snobbish and almost constantly drunk.
It is often said that Alan Ayckbourn is a playwright of the middle classes and in the first act this seems to ring true as the two “professional” couples make fun of the Hopcrofts and their ambitions whilst Sidney tries to join in the banter and keep up. But the tables are about to be turned…
Act two begins in the Jacksons’ kitchen, strewn with litter and completely unprepared for the evening's task of hosting the Hopcrofts and the Brewster-Wrights. Graham returns home from work to find Eva sitting silently at the table, still in her dressing gown, writing. Not a word utters she in response to his request to get Christmas out of the way in an amicable fashion before he goes to live with Sally or to the more immediate and pressing requirements of getting the house ready to welcome guests.
As the guests arrive the action takes place around Eva. She is a broken woman and the “litter” surrounding her turns out to be discarded drafts of her suicide note. Without uttering a word Keeley gives the standout performance of the whole play, the pathos of Eva’s silent tragedy taking place against an increasingly frenetic background of the other characters carrying out DIY tasks as it is clear the Jacksons’ other problems have led them to forget about the routine maintenance of their home. Thus Ronald manages to electrocute himself and Sidney gets covered in disgusting grease whilst Eva tries - and fails - no fewer than seven times to bring an end to her own torment. The surprising end to this act however hints at better times to come.
We visit the Brewster-Wright household for act three and it is clear that things are not going well for the banker. He cannot even afford to heat the house. Whilst Eva has now fully recovered from her addiction and taken control of her relationship with Geoffrey, the latter faces ruin as a result of a failure of one of his architectural designs. Both men’s hopes of any kind of professional future now rest in the hands of Sidney who is by now a very wealthy man. The wheel has now turned full circle and the Hopcrofts dish out a ritual humiliation to the other couples in the form of a rather cringeworthy party game.
Whilst overall Absurd Person Singular is an entertaining play, it has to be said that parts of it were uncomfortable to watch. The men’s jovial approval of Geoffrey’s serial sexual infidelity belongs firmly in a past era as does the complete lack of awareness of (or compassion for) Eva's mental health issues. All credit to the cast, however, for bringing these characters to life so believably and for their comic timing which makes the elements of farce within the play work well.
Reviewer - Ian Simpson
on - 20.10.21
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