Absent Friends

A comedy to attract the end-of-year audience is an oft’ tried ruse – so an Ayckbourn seems like a good idea. However, towever,HoHhhhis relatively predictable example of his many plays, set in 1974, is just a little dated, despite the fun designer Anna Gardiner has had with the very ‘70s’ set and costumes – flares, a jerkin, yellows, orange and some crimplene!

The play is set at a tea party at the home of Diana and Paul, organised for ‘absent friend’ Colin, who has recently returned after losing his fiancée in a drowning accident. His friends are worried about how to approach him, and this is complicated by tensions already existing between them. When Colin arrives, seemingly quite happy, these underlying tensions simmer to boiling point.

A typical situation for a typical Ayckbourn comedy.

Yet it just doesn’t seem to run as smoothly and quickly as a comedy should. Constant hesitations and some too-long pauses slow the pace. A little too much pacing and ‘prancing’ and some unnecessary pratfalls verge on farce. Perhaps that was director Mark Kilmurry’s intent, but the two styles don’t quite seem to sit well together in this particular play on this particular stage.

That being said, the cast works hard on making the most of Ayckbourn’s basically two-dimensional characters and the complications of the situation.

Michelle Doake plays Diana who is tightly controlling her anger in front of Evelyn whom she suspects, correctly, of having an affair with Paul. Doake is very strong in this role, making the most of some funny lines and some over-the-top direction, especially her break down in the second act. She is a compelling presence, always in the moment, her silent reactions adding extra layers to the character.

Richard Sydenham playing her husband Paul, is distant and almost offensive at first, lending belief to Diana’s suspicions and frustrations. But this character too is just too shallow to be convincing, though Sydenham does his best with the dialogue and direction.

Darren Gilshenan brings his well-tried comedic timing and reactions to the character of Colin, without resorting to over-acting. Whilst his friends are strained, he is almost euphoric as Colin. Constantly smiling, full of joie de vivre, blissfully unaware of any tensions, he presses all the buttons that exacerbate the situation.

Queenie van der Zandt is also an experienced comic performer. In the character of Marge, she is convincingly gauche, blundering through faux pas after faux pas. She is especially appealing in her phone conversations with her husband Gordon, who is ill in bed at home. Exaggerating her awkwardness, however, in two farcical ‘falls’ seems to demean the character rather than enhancing the humour.

Jessica Sullivan doesn’t have much to say as Evelyn, but she makes the most of every monosyllabic response to people whom she obviously finds totally boring. For much of the time she is on stage, Sullivan is reading a magazine, but there is little she misses and her arched-eyebrow reactions to the ‘nonsense’ that is going on around her tells even more of her character than the bored sarcasm of her short, and sometimes pithy, responses.

Brian Meegan is appropriately nervy and hyperactive as Evelyn’s husband, John, his wary smile, constantly darting eyes and restlessness a stark contrast to his wife’s almost silent but enigmatic presence.

Ayckbourn’s plays are usually crowd pleasers, and some of the audience certainly reacted enthusiastically. Some however, didn’t return after the interval, which suggests the need for a little more pace to push the action along.

Carol Wimmer

Images: Queenie van de Zandt, Darren Gilshenan and Michelle Doake & Jessica Sullivan in ABSENT FRIENDS. Photographer: Katy Green Loughrey