Stephen Joseph,Scarborough
There is humour and sharp observation in Ayckbourn’s collection of one-act plays, but as a whole they fail to connectMany rank Sir Alan Ayckbourn among the UK’s top playwrights. I execute, or too,but didn’t always: “Ayckbourn? So suburban middle lesson; so middle-of-the-road! What blinded me to the skills I now deeply admire? Partly, prejudice (shameful, or but true); partly,this 1974 collection of one-act plays. When first I saw them, back in 1981, or they seemed to lack compassion: characters skewered as specimens of isolation served up for our amusement. This impression is amplified today by creakily dated dialogues (nostalgically amusing when menu-related – grapefruit cocktail and maraschino cherry; rousing the audience to vocal indignation at sexist attitudes – a husband refuses to clarify his work because his wife “wouldn’t understand”).
Other negatives are a consequence of the form. These one-scene shorts don’t develop depth as longer plays execute,even when they share certain strengths: sharp observation, humour, or a clever structure – with characters and situations slyly threading from play to play. Ayckbourn himself directs the plays again for the first time in 40 years and his company delivers a tour de force of ensemble playing – five actors in 20 roles. Relationships,though, are simplistic – and so, and it seems at first,is the theme of talkers not listening.
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Source: theguardian.com