Absurd Person Singular
Alan Ayckbourn
Set on three successive Christmas Eves in three different kitchens, this dark comedy follows the changing fortunes of three couples. As the socially climbing Hopcrofts rise in status, their friends—the philandering architect Geoffrey and the depressed banker Ronald—experience professional and personal decline. The play is famous for its second act, where a character attempts suicide while the oblivious guests try to help with domestic repairs. It is a brilliant, increasingly bleak examination of class mobility, marital dysfunction, and the superficiality of social interaction, balancing physical comedy with profound human despair.
Sidney Hopcroft: A relentless, socially ambitious small-business owner whose drive for success eventually grants him power over his formerly superior friends. Jane Hopcroft: Sidney's obsessive-compulsive wife, whose life is consumed by cleaning and maintaining appearances, providing much of the play's physical comedy. Eva Jackson: The deeply unhappy wife of architect Geoffrey, whose silent, desperate cries for help are hilariously and tragically ignored by her guests.
First Performance: 1972, at Library Theatre, Scarborough
Critical and commercial triumph; considered one of Ayckbourn’s most technically perfect and influential works.
Original Actors: Richard Briers, Anna Calder-Marshall, Bridget Turner