A well-intentioned tea party will descend into chaos when Absent Friends, by Alan Ayckbourn, comes to the stage of the Assembly Hall Theatre, Tunbridge Wells from Thursday 2nd – Saturday 4th July. The production is staged by London Classic Theatre who, with 31 critically-acclaimed productions since their debut in April 2000, have established a reputation for producing bold, imaginative work of the highest quality.
Wealthy, unfulfilled housewife Diana arranges a gathering of old friends to cheer up bereaved Colin, whose fiancée drowned two months earlier. Paul, her bullying, self-absorbed husband, has recently had a dalliance with Evelyn, the glamorous wife of his friend and incompetent business associate, John. The party is completed by long-suffering Marge, who has left Gordon, her hypochondriac spouse, ailing at home.
Preparations for the party spark tensions and open old wounds. As lingering resentments and deep-rooted jealousies surface, an unexpectedly cheerful Colin strolls into the mayhem.
Acerbic and painfully funny, Absent Friends explores friendship, marriage and what it ultimately means to be happy. In one of his finest plays, Ayckbourn’s craftsmanship and acute social observations have never been sharper or more biting.
Alan Ayckbourn is an Olivier and Tony Award winning playwright who has written 79 plays, more than half of which have been produced in London’s West End as well as around the world. Notable successes include: Absurd Person Singular, The Norman Conquests, Relatively Speaking, Bedroom Farce, A Chorus of Disapproval and Communicating Doors.
Recently he spoke of his memories of the production’s debut, in June 1974…
“I remember being rather nervous at the time. It was quite a departure for me at that stage of my career. It was very low key compared with earlier plays like Absurd Person Singular, How the Other Half Loves or The Norman Conquests. One of its central themes also concerns the death of a loved one, possibly not the most obvious topic for a comedy.”
You were in your mid-thirties when you wrote Absent Friends, how much do you feel your age and life experience at the time of writing has impacted on your work?
“In general, as many have observed, the work has gradually grown darker in tone. I put this down less to an increasing pessimism about human nature brought about by old age (though there’s certainly a bit of that) but more to the plays favouring exploration of character over plot. The deeper you dig, the darker it tends to get.”
It has been said that all the characters, perhaps with the exception of Colin, are fairly unpleasant. As a playwright, do you like your characters, even those who seem to have no redeeming features?
“I don’t agree at all. They all have their faults as people. There are victims in the women, Diana and Marge and even in Evelyn, who has to need our sympathy married, as she is, to an amiable wally like John. I concede that Paul isn’t the most pleasant of men and Colin is a nightmare. Imagine spending an afternoon alone with him! But four out of six isn’t bad. Besides, I love all my characters, even the awful ones. If you don’t start out writing them with affection, they’ll never hope to breathe off the page.”
As a very early example of “comedy of embarrassment”, made so popular in recent years with The Office and its imitators, Absent Friends was very much ahead of its time. Were you aware that you were breaking new ground?
“No, just looking around for a new approach, fresh characters, same as I have always done. My nightmare is always a horror of repeating myself. But, after 79 plays, my options are narrowing!”
Absent Friends appears at the Assembly Hall Theatre, Tunbridge Wells from Thursday 2nd – Saturday 4th July, at 7.30pm, with a Saturday matinee at 2.30pm. Tickets, from £15.50 each, are available from the box office on 01892 530613 or you can book online at www.assemblyhalltheatre.co.uk
