Absent Friends

Synopsis

The play is about Diane, who is unhappily married to Paul, a bullish control freak. She throws a tea party for one of their old friends, Colin, whose fiancée has recently died, and invites her daffy best friend Marge. Whilst one of the significant absences onstage is straightforwardly humorous - as Marge takes a series of telephone calls from her husband, who manages to suffer endless misfortunes even when confined to his bed - the tone is primarily set by Colin's rhapsodising about his recently deceased fiancée. Into this come John, his new wife Evelyn and their baby Wayne. Stage by stage things start to go wrong and ultimately Diana loses it and has a breakdown both on and off stage. In true farce style she leaves a trail of wreckage behind her, both physical and emotional.

Our Review:

31 January 2010

Look no further than the programme artwork to encapsulate the Coliseum’s new production of Absent Friends: that most refined of desserts, Mr. Kipling’s French Fancies, toppling from a cake stand. The cake stand is yet to hit the floor but the smash is thrillingly inevitable.

And so it is with the relationships on display during a Saturday afternoon in spring 1974. I have always been taught that theatre which picks apart themes such as failed marriages, shattered dreams and middle class identities is real theatre. Now, theatre that does so whilst treading the tightrope of comedy and pity is the work of a master. In this case the playwright is Scarborough’s beloved Sir: Alan Ayckbourn.

The afternoon’s events unfold in Colin Richmond’s meticulously detailed cream, orange and lime green 70’s lounge: rain coats on hooks, patio doors, dining table piled high with buffet food and an open cabin...

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