Review: Absurd Person Singular

London Classic Theatre's Absurd Person Singular is currently performing in the Everyman Theatre. Local theatre enthusiast, Danielle Ellis, went to check it out on behalf of Visit Cheltenham.

Please note - You'll have to be quick if you want to experience this play for yourself folks, this performance runs until Saturday 7 August.

London Classic Theatre specialise in putting on classic shows from The Importance of Being Earnest to Abigail’s Party. Absurd Person Singular was planned as their 20th anniversary touring show (in 2020). Despite receiving no grants or support, the company has pulled through a difficult year and are now touring 14 venues with the play. It features many of their core actors.

The play is set on three consecutive Christmas Eves. As is common with many Alan Ayckbourn plays, it features three different couples and is a dig at class. This play was written in 1972.

The stage is set in the first couple’s kitchen. The couple are fiercely proud of their orange kitchen units and a new ‘automatic’ washer. The wife, Jane, cleaning every imaginable speck of dirt and the husband Sidney lording it over his wife but worried about the monied guests.

After the interval, we are in a different kitchen. The second Christmas Eve is dominated by a huge dog that we never see but can very much imagine, Sidney and Jane doing what they do best - cleaning and fixing whilst Eva, wife of Geoffrey Jackson, a philanderer, falls apart.

The third Christmas is set in the third couple’s kitchen, banker Ronald Brewster Wright and his wife Marion. Marion has turned to drink. Ronald does nothing. Sidney and Jane turn up slightly tipsy and lead the others into an embarrassing game of dancing forfeits. By this time though, the tables are turned and they are the ones making the money. They have the upper hand.

There are some lovely touches of farce. At times some of the action is off set and the characters comment (often delightfully rudely) on a fourth couple we never see. The cast play up their stereotypical characters with aplomb.

It’s a play very much of its time. If you watched any old sitcoms during lockdown you probably giggled and thought to yourself, “is that what was acceptable then?” You’ll need to do the same with this one - enjoy the fun and think “thank goodness we’ve moved on”.