Characters
*Matthew: Thirties, boyfriend of Carrie. *Carrie: Thirties, girlfriend of Matthew. *Sheena: Forties, married to Adam. *Adam: Forties, married to Sheena. *Edith: Sixties, married to Francis, mother of Adam and Matthew. *Francis: Seventies, married to Edith, father of Adam and Matthew, almost mute and using a wheelchair. *Emma: Fourteen, daughter of Adam and Sheena, has depression and anxiety.Plot
Act 1
Scene One
Matthew and Carrie, a couple, are talking and unpacking food in the kitchen for Christmas dinner at Matthew's parents' house. Matthew can sense Carrie is upset with something. He pushes for her to say what is on her mind. Carrie says she thinks Sheena, Matthew's sister-in-law, faked laughing at her joke. Matthew explains that it was sincere. Carrie asks what she shouldn't say to make Matthews family upset. Matthew tells Carrie to be less vulgar. Carrie overacts and is angry at Matthew at the end of scene one.Scene Two
The "rules for living" are introduced to the story. ''Rule 1: Matthew must sit to tell a lie.'' In the beginning of scene two, Matthew and Carrie make up. Carrie discloses to Matthew she is just nervous about being with his family for the Christmas holiday. Matthew consoles her, while sitting, by saying she'll fit in with his family. Shortly after, they are joined by Sheena, and she says there is still more to be done in preparation for dinner. Sheena and Matthew share jokes which makes Carrie uncomfortable for not being in on the jokes. Near the end of the scene, Sheena discloses she would rather be in this household for Christmas than her own home.Scene Three
''Rule 2: Carrie must stand to tell a joke.'' Sheena and Matthew set the table for dinner and discuss Matthew's role as the Major General in ''theScene Four
''Rule 3: Sheena must drink to contradict.'' Sheena and Adam move on from their small argument. Adam shares his father's beer with the family where it is announced that Sheena has laid off drinking and Adam has actually cut back on smoking. This comes as a surprise to Matthew. A conversation about Francis is cut short when Adam and Sheena begin arguing on whether or not they should stay the night at his parents’ house for Christmas. Edith enters having just returned home from church. She goes over what is left to do in preparations for dinner where she finds that her children and their partners have done things wrong. As the family moves their attention to the tasks at hand and the liquor, Carrie announces Matthew has been made partner at his firm.Scene Five
''Rule 4: Adam must affect an accent to mock.'' After hearing the partnership news, Edith wonders how Matthew could become partner at such a young age while Adam still hasn't at his age. Adam, irritated, is forced to share news of his article and is reminded how good of a lawyer he would have made. Adam takes on an accent and says, "I'd have hated to be a famous cricketer- it would've been a real drag!" Matthew asks about the state of his father's health which Edith says is fine. Edith pushes the family to work faster and tells Sheena she hasn't put enough place settings out for lunch; Sheena has forgotten a place for her daughter, but Emma isn't joining them for the meal.Scene Six
''Rule 5: Edith must clean to keep calm.''Scene Seven
''Rule 1: Matthew must sit and eat to tell a lie.''Scene Eight
''Rule 2: Carrie must stand and dance around to tell a joke.''Scene Nine
''Rule 3: Sheena must drink and interrupt to contradict.''Scene Ten
''Rule 4: Adam must affect an accent and name-call to mock.''Scene Eleven
''Rule 5: Edith must clean and self-medicate to keep calm.''Act 2
Scene One
Francis has health problems and only Edith really understands them. Everyone is telling Francis their good news. Edith says that Francis had a stroke. Matthew and Adam start bickering. There is a little bit of chaos at the end of the scene.Scene Two
''Rule 1: Matthew must sit and eat to tell a lie...until he gets a compliment.''Scene Three
''Rule 2: Carrie must stand and dance around to tell a joke...until she gets a laugh.''Scene Four
''Rule 3: Sheena must drink and interrupt to contradict...until she has the last word.''Scene Five
''Rule 4: Adam must affect an accent and name-call to mock...until he has deflected blame.''Scene Six
''Rule 5: Edith must clean and self-medicate to keep calm...until she gets reassurance.''Scene Seven
Thirty minutes after the food fight, the adults are gathering themselves. Rules 2, 3, and 4 disappear by the end of the show; leaving Matthew and Edith's rules still live on the board. Edith and Matthew talk. Carrie is calling for a taxi. Carrie says goodbye to Edith. Sheena is waiting for a taxi. Adam says he can change to Sheena, but she does not believe it. Edith cleans the mess.History of the play
Holcroft was commissioned to write the play for the National Theater in 2011, however, it took her a year to come up with the concept. According to Holcroft, the idea of the play struck her while drinking coffee in the window of the National Theater's espresso bar following a meeting with her literary agent.It was... born out of learning about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. I'd had lots of it, and I'd wanted to write about it for a long time. And.. and also a sort of love of... em... family comedies and... dinner-party farces. I'd seen lots of them, and I'd seen them in films, and I'd seen them on TV, and I'd seen them at the theater before, and I... wondered whether or not there could be a marriage between what- the- the- the sort of well-told of the families in a party farce that we're all quite familiar with, and whether or not I could deconstruct that in any way, or... or explain that in any way through Cognitive Behavioral techniques... And I wondered whether there was- I- as an ambition for a play, could I bring together a family and assign each one of them a personality trait or rule, and an underlying core belief that they might be struggling with, and if they lived by that rule throughout the course of the drama very strictly, would they rub up against each other, would they set each other off, would we end up in the inevitable... em... climax of the family dinner party as we've come to expect it, and would I be able to marry the two?The debut performance occurred at the National Theatre in London from March 24 to July 8, 2015. Red Stitch Actors Theater in Melbourne, Australia performed the play from March to mid April 2017.
Cast
''London Premiere''
*Critical reviews
Many of the reviewers noticed that Holcraft's play dealt with comedy in a way to reveal a larger theme about family dysfunction and how people cope with living as well as the "Ayckbourn-esque" feeling as viewers. Similar to the connection to Ayckbourn's work, many reviewers also picked up on the Cognitive Behavioral Theory implemented in the play. Matt Truman's Variety's review of the March 2015 production at the National Theatre in London believes that the music in the production is executed well with the play. At times, however, some of the play's interactions are too deliberate on set. Trueman interpreted the play as a "seriously canny satire." Truman states, "Holcroft not only ridicules our perfectionist culture, but shows the neurosis beneath and lets us feel the stress of its feedback loop ourselves." Michael Billington's review of the National Theatre production notes, "Like Ayckbourn’s Season’s Greetings, the play confirms that Christmas is often a cue for self-revelatory crisis.... this is an intelligent comedy that leaves us questioning at what point the rules for living we all adopt become a form of entrapment." Bridget Galton thinks that the play could use a "rethinking." Galton saw that Holcraft seemed "ambivalent" towards Cognitive Behavioral Theory, but the execution could have been different. Galton states, "And while there are sharp jolts of comic recognition, there is also rampant overkill." Cameron Woodword in The Age (Melbourne, Vic.) stated that the play is "wildly funny...domestic comedy in the mould of Alan Ayckbourn's Seasons Greetings." Dominic Cavendish, reviewer from The Telegraph reviewed the Dorfman Theatre production. Cavendish pulls out the "Ayckbourn-esque drama" of the performance. Cavendish states, "Rules for Living at times borders on being the funniest and truest comedy I’ve seen in ages, but it’s also the strangest and most strained. It shouldn’t really work at all. That it does, just about, is a testament to the talented array of actors." Cavendish picks up on themes of Cognitive Behavioral Theory. Cavendish states, "A serious theme about Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, and the way we get stuck in and must break free from negative patterns of thought. The contrivance, observed by us, not commented on by the players, embodies a painful, dysfunctional reality. Kate Herbert of Herald Sun reviews thought it had an Aychbourn-like feel and explored the Cognitive Behavioral Theory in Holcroft's play. While the complex characters were apparent on stage, Herbert states, "if the performances were reined in, the more complex issues of the dynamics of human behaviour might be clearer in Rules for Living, but the more reflective moments of the final scenes in this three-hour production come too late." Cameron Woodhead from The Sydney Morning Herald wrote a positive review. Woodhead states, "References
{{Reflist 2015 plays British plays