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''Absurd Person Singular'' is a 1972 play by
Alan Ayckbourn Sir Alan Ayckbourn (born 12 April 1939) is a prolific British playwright and director. He has written and produced as of 2021, more than eighty full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of ...
. Divided into three acts, it documents the changing fortunes of three married couples. Each act takes place at a Christmas celebration at one of the couples' homes on successive Christmas Eves.


Production history

The play made its world premiere at the Library Theatre, Scarborough on 26 June 1972 and its London début at the
Criterion Theatre The Criterion Theatre is a West End theatre at Piccadilly Circus in the City of Westminster, and is a Grade II* listed building. It has a seating capacity of 588. Building the theatre In 1870, the caterers Spiers and Pond began development ...
on 4 July 1973, transferring to the
Vaudeville Theatre The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on the Strand in the City of Westminster. As the name suggests, the theatre held mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. It opened in 1870 and was rebuilt twice, although each ...
in September 1974, completing a run of 973 performances. Its official New York Broadway début was at the
Music Box Theatre The Music Box Theatre is a Broadway theater at 239 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1921, the Music Box Theatre was designed by C. Howard Crane in a Palladian-inspir ...
on 8 October 1974. It ran for 591 performances in its first run on Broadway (through March 1976). It starred
Richard Kiley Richard Paul Kiley (March 31, 1922 – March 5, 1999) was an American stage, film and television actor and singer. He is best known for his distinguished theatrical career in which he twice won the Tony Award for Best Actor In A Musical. Kiley ...
, Geraldine Page,
Sandy Dennis Sandra Dale Dennis (April 27, 1937 – March 2, 1992) was an American actress. She made her film debut in the drama ''Splendor in the Grass'' (1961). For her performance in the comedy-drama film ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1966), she rec ...
,
Carole Shelley Carole Augusta Shelley (16 August 1939 – 31 August 2018)Bartlett, Rhett"Carole Shelley, One of the Pigeon Sisters From 'The Odd Couple,' Dies at 79"''The Hollywood Reporter'', 1 September 2018
,
Larry Blyden Ivan Lawrence Blieden (June 23, 1925 – June 6, 1975), known as Larry Blyden, was an American actor, stage producer and director, and game show host. He made his Broadway stage debut in 1948 and went on to appear in numerous productions on ...
, and Tony Roberts. It was revived on Broadway on 18 October 2005 at the Biltmore Theatre, for 56 performances. In 1994 James Maxwell directed a production for the
Royal Exchange, Manchester The Royal Exchange is a grade II listed building in Manchester, England. It is located in the city centre on the land bounded by St Ann's Square, Exchange Street, Market Street, Cross Street and Old Bank Street. The complex includes the Royal ...
with
Trevor Cooper Trevor Cooper (born 21 September 1953) is an English actor. Background Born 21 September 1953, Cooper studied law at Kingston Polytechnic and graduated with a master's degree in law from the University of Warwick. He taught for two years at Lon ...
, Margo Gunn,
Denys Hawthorne Denys Vernon Hawthorne (9 August 1932 – 16 October 2009) was an actor from Northern Ireland who was known for his work in theatre, film, television and radio. Life Denys Hawthorne was born into an upper middle-class Protestant family in Portad ...
, Patrick O'Kane and Amanda Boxer. The
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
produced a television drama, adapted from the play, first broadcast on 1 January 1985. It was directed by Michael Simpson and starred John Baddeley,
Cheryl Campbell Cheryl Campbell (born 22 May 1949) is an English actor of stage, film and television. She starred opposite Bob Hoskins in the 1978 BBC drama '' Pennies From Heaven'', before going on to win the 1980 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for ''Testamen ...
,
Michael Gambon Sir Michael John Gambon (; born 19 October 1940) is an Irish-English actor. Regarded as one of Ireland and Britain's most distinguished actors, he is known for his work on stage and screen. Gambon started his acting career with Laurence Olivi ...
, Nicky Henson,
Lesley Joseph Lesley Diana Joseph (born 14 October 1945) is an English actress and broadcaster, best known for playing Dorien Green in the television sitcom '' Birds of a Feather'' from 1989 to 1998 and again from 2014 to 2020. Other television credits incl ...
,
Maureen Lipman Dame Maureen Diane Lipman (born 10 May 1946) is an English actress, writer and comedian. She trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and her stage work has included appearances with the National Theatre and the Royal Shakesp ...
,
Geoffrey Palmer Geoffrey Palmer may refer to: Politicians * Sir Geoffrey Palmer, 1st Baronet (1598–1670), English lawyer and politician *Sir Geoffrey Palmer, 3rd Baronet (1655–1732), English politician, Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicestershire *Geoffrey Pa ...
and
Prunella Scales Prunella Margaret Rumney West Scales (''née'' Illingworth; born 22 June 1932) is an English former actress, best known for playing Sybil Fawlty, wife of Basil Fawlty (John Cleese), in the BBC comedy '' Fawlty Towers'', her nomination for a ...
. The play was revived in the West End at the
Whitehall Theatre Trafalgar Theatre is a new West End theatre in Whitehall, near Trafalgar Square, in the City of Westminster, London. It is set to open in spring 2021 following a major multi-million pound restoration project aiming to reinstate it back to its ...
, May 1990; and at the
Garrick Theatre The Garrick Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster, named after the stage actor David Garrick. It opened in 1889 with ''The Profligate'', a play by Arthur Wing Pinero, and another Pinero play ...
in December 2007. A new production was staged during May 2011 at the new Curve Theatre in Leicester, starring
Tracy-Ann Oberman Tracy-Ann Oberman (born Tracy Anne Oberman; 25 August 1966) is an English actress, playwright and narrator. She is widely known for roles including Chrissie Watts in the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders'' (2004–2005) and Valerie Lewis or "Auntie ...
and
Louise Plowright Louise Plowright (1 June 1956 – 1 March 2016) was a British actress who trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. She first came to prominence playing abrasive hairdresser Julie Cooper in the television soap opera ''EastEnders'' from 1 ...
and directed by Paul Kerryson. The play was revived once again at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough – 40 years after its original run there, in 2012. The play returned to New York for a limited season in December 2019 with an all-British cast at Theatre Row, Off-Broadway. It was the first major revival in the city for almost fifteen years and transferred back to the UK in January 2020, at the
Lawrence Batley Theatre The Lawrence Batley Theatre is a theatre in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England which offers drama, music, dance and comedy. The theatre is named after Lawrence Batley, a local entrepreneur and philanthropist, who founded a nationwide cash a ...
, Huddersfield, in Ayckbourn's native county of Yorkshire. It was directed by John Cotgrave and starred Maria Sykes, Adam Elms, Claire Marlein, Alex Thompson, Eve Burley, and Joshua Nutbrown.


Characters


Sidney

A contractor eager for social and professional advancement, Sidney will do anything to impress his perceived superiors—at the expense of his marriage. Sidney is socially inept, and shares that innocence with his wife, keeping their marriage together. As the play progresses, he becomes wealthier and wealthier, until eventually the friends he was once desperate to impress are now courting him as their own fortunes sink lower and lower. By the final act success has transformed Sidney's innocence into something approaching macabre sadism: in the earlier acts, the other couples view him with indulgent contempt and tolerate his childishness, but as the play progresses and he acquires money and power, they find themselves compelled to take him much more seriously, until self-preservation dictates they play along with his games.


Jane

Jane is the most
sympathetic character A sympathetic character is a fictional character in a story whom the writer expects the reader to identify with and care about, if not admire. Protagonists, almost by definition, fit into the category of a sympathetic character; so, however, do ma ...
in this piece. Sidney's loyal wife, also in her 30s, she's not much brighter than he is, but she's equally eager to please. Unlike Marion and Eva, she also has a knack for housework, in which she takes refuge from the complexities and difficulties of the world. She takes most of her social cues from her lover, and would do almost anything to help him succeed, but isn't motivated by greed or social standing: she just wants a comfortable living and a happy family. In the final act, Jane seems to lose a sense of identity, parroting her husband's enthusiasm in his macabre party game. Like her husband, Jane also lacks sensitivity to others' feelings. Her habit of breaking into song when cleaning is also a clue that she is happiest when she is cleaning and that it is an escape from her real life. Jane represents the stereotypical TV commercial wife.


Geoffrey

An architect by trade, Geoffrey is initially on the way up, only to fall from grace after a design fails and collapses between the second and third acts. A confident man and something of a Jack-the-Lad, he has many casual affairs and could be said to flaunt it. His indifference towards his wife Eva may have led to her addiction to anti-depressants, and even to cause her suicide attempts in the second act. However, by the third act, he is an utterly broken man: his confidence and charisma have been dashed by his career grinding to a halt, and the prospect of Sidney being the last man on earth willing to hire him doesn't thrill him very much, either.


Eva

Geoffrey's wife. Eva's appearance in the first act is brief and whimsical, establishing only her addiction to anti-depressants and her difficulties with her husband Geoffrey. She comes into her own in the second act, as a very depressed Eva tries repeatedly to kill herself, growing more and more desperate to end it all even as the other characters prevent her from doing so. By the third act she has recovered, dispensed with her addiction to pain-killers, and appears to be teetotal (or at least a much lighter drinker, refusing alcohol even though she's not driving). She has also taken control of her relationship with Geoffrey, setting the course for his business and forcing him into situations he has typically charmed his way out of but which are now unavoidable. By the end of the play she is in perhaps the best position, being in control of her life and her relationship, neither warped by success nor embittered by failure, though she clearly has many practical challenges to overcome.


Ronald

An aging banker, Ronald takes pride in his work and enjoys the finer things in life. More conservative than the other characters, he is wry and sardonic. Initially both indulgent and disdainful of Sidney and Jane—although casually admiring Geoffrey—he is something of a side show in the second act and by the third act is clearly in severe financial trouble, unable to afford even to heat his house. Although he tries to maintain a facade of cheerful aristocratic bluster, his nerves show through, and he is forced to submit to Sidney as the holder of a large business account in Ronald's bank. (In fact, it is implied that Sidney is Ronald's only remaining significant client.)


Marion

Ronald's second wife is charming though snobbish and deeply eccentric. As the play advances more and more of her eccentricities are attributed to alcoholism, climaxing in her thoroughly drunk presence in the third act. Her main role in the play is to reflect and magnify the position of the taciturn Ronald, making his path from polite disdain of Sidney to impoverished failure more clearly elucidated than Ronald's naturally reserved personality would allow.


References


External links


''Absurd Person Singular'' on official Ayckbourn site

''Absurd Person Singular'' produced by the MTC
* * {{Ayckbourn Plays by Alan Ayckbourn 1972 plays