REVIEW: Absurd Person Singular
- Posted on November 29, 2007 10:56 AM
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Absurd Person Singular
Garrick Theatre
28th Novemeber 2007
Review By Zarina Raja
I hadn’t really done my research on Absurd Person Singular; all I knew was that it was about Christmas and Jane Horrocks ( of Absolutely Fabulous and Little Voice) was in it. I was expecting…well, I don’t know what I was expecting, something a little more jolly maybe?
Absurd Person Singular is a play written by Alan Ayckbourn, it was first staged in 1972. The play is made up of three acts, all of which are set in a different style of kitchen. Absurd Person Singular hits the nail on the head with regards to human nature and our desperate attempt to appear as the same social status – or higher – than our peers. It allows a younger audience to glimpse into a time when a washing machine was unheard of; we have all heard the stories from our parents: ‘oh, it was fascinating, we would watch the machine as it spun round and round and round….’ Fascinating, I’m sure. Ayckbourn manages to take the glee in mocking a pre-technology Britain and turn it in to something pretty funny. Does the machine iron your clothes too? Good Lord? Next thing I know, you’re shirts will be cooked. Did he build this himself? How did he know the machine would fit into it? This tickled the women in the audience, especially the older ones. I think I would have related to the play more if I was older or married. No thanks.
Despite the age gap between me and the jokes, I still got it. I still managed to feel depressed at the thought of a marriage where your husband blatantly screws about while you are knocking back valium at home (whilst looking after an over-sized dog) and then throwing the glass in the bin. Oh, did I do that? I must be madder than I thought? The marriage between the first couple, Sydeny and Jane (Jane Horrocks), was the most touching. As a pair, they didn’t share that many brain cells but were heart-wrenchingly sweet and innocent. Their kitchen dominated the first scene as they threw a Christmas drinks party to impress Sydney’s rich mates. However, as in all British comedies, this turned into something more along the lines of an episode of Some Mothers do ‘Ave’ ‘Em, with an excruciating Jane taking the role as Frank and an eager Sydney taking the role as the slightly more sane one of the couple, Betty.
All in all, it was a good play. Nothing particularly stood out but it got plenty of laughs amid the clever weaving of the sad lives of three couples. The cast, made up of Jane Horrocks, David Bamber, David Horovitch, John Gordon Sinclair, Jenny Seagrove and Lia Williams, all marvellously portrayed their crazy, desperate, sad, mad or sleazy characters.
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