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Absurd Person SingularReview“I must clean that oven if it kills me!”
They have done it again! PADS put on a very polished performance of
Alan Ayckbourn’s comedy Absurd Person
Singular. I went on the Thursday
night. It was most entertaining, very
funny and I am very impressed with the increasingly high standard of the
Company. It was a good idea to extend
to four performances when such hard work was put in by all, and no first night
glitches. Congratulations to Director,
Jack Burgess for a truly inspiring production and our grateful thanks to his
very efficient production co-ordinator, Jackie Herbert. This brilliant, sharp comedy is about the singularly absurd personal stresses that can occur at Christmas. It takes place in each of three couples’ kitchens, at three consecutive years’ Christmas Eve drinks parties. Opening the play, the up-and-coming Hopcrofts are nervously entertaining the Brewster-Wrights, the superior bank manager and his snobbish wife, and the Jacksons, a philandering architect and his neurotic wife. Jane Hopcroft has polished the gadget filled kitchen but forgotten to buy enough drinks and a very funny scene ensues. The second act takes us to the now failing architect’s tasteful, yet neglected kitchen when neurosis has taken over Eva Jackson, who spends the whole scene attempting to commit suicide. The others seem quite oblivious to her distress (her head in the oven is thought to be an attempt to clean it!) and they sort out domestic matters that she has failed to attend to, providing highly amusing episodes. As always with Ayckbourn we laugh until we ache at bitter truths about relationships, but there is a darker thread running through the very humorous situations, as the play reveals the rise of the Hopcrofts to prosperity and the downfall of the other two couples. In the third act the Brewster Wrights are enjoying less opulent circumstances with Marion now an alcoholic. The Hopcrofts whose fortunes having superseded the others, arrive and take control. All parts are demanding as each character
undergoes a dramatic change. Andrew
Leach played Sidney Hopcroft very convincingly, as a man full of cliché and the
pompous manner of one trying to impress. He changes from old-fashioned and rather grovelling to a strident,
confident controller. His
ever-polishing wife, Jane was played brilliantly by Lesley Wolowiec, who depicted
perfectly the ill-at ease hostess who becomes a confident acolyte to her
commanding husband. Kevin Parker
portrayed the gradual deterioration of the bank manager’s lifestyle excellently.
The role of his wife Marion was played
beautifully by Maggie Drake, who had to change from a patronising, well groomed
woman to an alcoholic mess, drifting unsteadily around in her negligee. Grant Minnes played the architect in a very
accomplished manner and his soliloquy, in particular, explaining away his
philandering to his wife Eva, was superb. Lynne Gibson, who took the part of Eva with great sensitivity and
vigour,
had to rely on acting alone in the second act as she responded silently with
amazing facial expression to her appalling husband. So convincing were her attempts at scribbling suicide notes and
taking her life by hanging from the light flex, leaping from the window and
swallowing the pills! Well done,
Pauline Foreman and Pat Daly, the off stage audibly, jolly partygoers who we
did not actually meet. The technical effects by Jacek Wolowiec were excellent. The rainstorm throughout the first act was very authentic, and the barking dog (thanks Major Herbert) had us all convinced that there really was a ferocious beast guarding the kitchen door. The ‘Kitchens R Us’ team (Tony Gibson and Russ Herbert), designed and built a terrific set, which involved three very solid, super kitchens – each one separately built - and no wobbling when doors were vigorously slammed! Maggie Drake again artistically painted the set with a band of other members of PADS. The costumes and make-up by Lynne Gibson, which took us back to the 80’s, were great. Sneaking behind the scenes I noticed the endless props that were required for this production, managed most efficiently by Jean Burgess. Well-presented programmes by Kevin Parker and publicity by Elaine Howell added considerably to the production. If you missed this play you really missed a treat. Naomi Dunn PADS next production will be J B Priestly’s An Inspector Calls, on 18/19/20 May 2000. For more details about Painswick Dramatic Society, contact Jean Burgess on 01452 812167. |
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