Taking Steps

Synopsis

Roland, a rich bucket manufacturer, is considering buying a house with a somewhat colourful history. Taking Steps follows the lives of its eccentric occupants over the course of a frantic 24 hours. A Solicitor, a builder, Roland's neurotic wife Elizabeth, her boring brother and his fiancee all contribute to the confusion which ensues, resulting in a hilarious melee of suicide notes, mistaken identities and fights!

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 29 March 2010

Taking Steps, first seen in London 30 years ago, is Alan Ayckbourn’s only outright farce, and the Orange Tree revival is doubly significant: it’s jaw-breakingly funny, and it’s directed by the author, making his debut in that capacity at the little Richmond in-the-round that is like a squashed version of his own back yard in Scarborough.

The play is dedicated to the grand old man of British farce, Ben Travers, and sure enough the action takes place in a creaky old cavern of a house, as in Thark, where a desperate fiancée is locked in an attic, and a hapless solicitor called Tristram is unwittingly seduced by the desperate housewife of the man trying to seal a deal on the place.

That man is a classic Ayckbournian suburban entrepreneur, Roland Crabbe, big in buckets and expanding into rubbish bins, who brings round a balding building buddy, Bainbridge, to test the spring in the floor and case the joint. At the same time, Roland’s wife, Elizabeth is trying to e...

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Latest User Review

Nicky W - 11 May 2010:

This is simply very funny. And so well executed in such a small space. Hats off to all concerned....

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