Alan Ayckbourn’s play How The Other Half Loves is the perfect comedy entertainment to brighten up a winter’s evening. Three couple’s lives and marriages entwine. It’s the morning after the night before and two have been playing away from home. There’s no mystery about who they are from the start of the play develops around their secret coming out.
‘Definitely an ensemble piece’: BEDROOM FARCE – BBC Sounds (Online review)
One of Alan Ayckbourn’s biggest ever successes, 1975’s Bedroom Farce, has only just made the transition in an entertaining production from Martin Jarvis and Rosalind Ayres which premiered in two parts across New Year’s Eve/Day. It is now available via BBC Sounds.
‘For all its polish, the play feels oddly dated’: WOMAN IN MIND – Chichester ★★★
in Woman In Mind at Chichester Festival Theatre Susan finds herself in mid-life with a dull clerical husband (Nigel Lindsay really enjoying it), obsessed with his dreary parish history pamphlet. His gloomy beige sister lives with them; Muriel (Stephanie Jacob equally relishing every stumping step and grudge). She believes she can conjure up the spirit of her dead husband, and cooks the worst possible food (for an Alan Ayckbourn play this one is short on big laughs, but the good ones are about her omelettes and coffee). Their son has run off to join a cult in Hemel Hempstead.
‘Every beat of comic bewilderment hits home’: RELATIVELY SPEAKING – Jermyn Street Theatre ★★★★★
We always knew that among the first sproutings of recovery would be a few Alan Ayckbourns, popping up as welcome as snowdrops. I am always fond of this early one, with its deadly-accurate eye on the British qualities of embarrassed, pained civility and insane reluctance to ask the straight and obvious question.
NEWS: Michael Pennington returns; Sian Phillips & Oliver Ford Davies join Jermyn Street autumn
London’s Jermyn Street Theatre has announced its first full season since reopening with the Footprints Festival earlier this year. The Encounters Season, which runs from mid-September to the end of the year, features some of the UK’s best-known stage names.
‘A crack team of acting talent has been assembled’: THE GIRL NEXT DOOR – Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough (Online review)
The piece in question is Alan Ayckbourn’s The Girl Next Door which harks back to earlier plays such as Whenever, Miss Yesterday, Surprises and especially Communicating Doors in its central conceit of time travel.
20 of the things that inspired, moved, amused & delighted John Chapman in 2020
I’ve selected 20 of the things that inspired, moved, amused and delighted, which have pushed the boundaries of what it possible and continued to fly the flag for theatre in the UK.
‘A ghostly tale which delivers so much more than its initial premise’: HAUNTING JULIA – Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough (Online review)
It is sometimes possible to get a better perspective on a play through experiencing it as a piece of audio drama rather than seeing it live on stage and I found this to be the case with Haunting Julia by Alan Ayckbourn.
‘It has all of the hallmarks of classic Ayckbourn’: ANNO DOMINO – Stephen Joseph Theatre ★★★★ (Online review)
Perfectly pitched: Anno Domino has all of the hallmarks of classic Ayckbourn – razor-sharp observation, subtle skewering of preconceptions, and exploration of murky hidden depths.
NEWS: Alan Ayckbourn premieres 84th play Anna Domino, directs & performs in online release
The Stephen Joseph Theatre will present the world premiere of a new play by Alan Ayckbourn, Anno Domino, which will be available as an audio recording free online for one month.
‘Given a new lease of life’: TEN TIMES TABLE – Touring
A review of Ten Times Table by Alan Ayckbourn currently at Richmond Theatre . Still has resonance.
‘Streaks of compassionate melancholy under the sparkles of hilarity’: BIRTHDAYS PAST, BIRTHDAYS PRESENT – Scarborough ★★★★★
Underneath Birthdays Past, Birthdays Present beats Ayckbourn’s sorrowful, understanding heart, showing us that comedy is just tragedy on its way to happening.
Four shows for the family in London this August: which to see?
A rare summer in the city for me means I can take in some of the family shows on in the West End right now – including Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear the Musical, The Scarecrow’s Wedding, Where is Peter Rabbit? and Monstersaurus.
To be (onstage) or not to be (onstage)
Last night I found myself both onstage and in the audience at the same time – neat trick if you can do it and I have done… on more than one occasion.
‘Lovely to hear these charming stories again’: WHERE IS PETER RABBIT? – West End ★★★
Where is Peter Rabbit? is a charming family musical with some beautifully designed puppets – maybe Peter Rabbit needs to be found a bit sooner next time.
‘The main joy is in the puppetry’: WHERE IS PETER RABBIT? – West End ★★★★
My one grudge against the Old Laundry’s loving Beatrix Potter production Where is Peter Rabbit? – first aired three years ago – is that they waited till my youngest toddler was 31.
Mark Shenton views the latest week of news & openings in the West End, across the UK & in New York
News, reviews, controversies and commentary from the West End and Broadway, including the first West End job share and the re-opening of the Kiln Theatre (formerly the Tricycle).
WATCH: Terri’s show vlogs on Julius Caesar, Beginning & Foul Pages
I’ve been raving about Julius Caesar to everyone over the past few weeks, and particularly the experience of seeing it in the pit of the staggeringly versatile Bridge Theatre.
‘All futuristic dystopias are commentaries on the present’: #TheDivide @oldvictheatre
Alan Ayckbourn’s epic, very, very long satire on religion and sexual segregation prefers comedy to tragedy.
Album Review: Janie Dee at the BBC
30 years or so into a career that has seen her win two Olivier awards (so far – I’d watch out for her to be at least nominated for Follies, if not more), it seems remarkable that Janie Dee at the BBC is actually Dee’s debut album.