THEATRE REVIEWS

All the Ayckbourn ingredients are here; observation, time travel and the group of individuals who are going to be done over. This time it is writers' groups. Does it come from being invited to speak at their monthly meetings or does he just pluck the ideas out of the air. Wherever he gets his ideas the result is always worth watching. This send up is a challenge for Ayckbourn to say what he thinks about today's society.

Slow to start, the author's trademark, we see Arnold wanting to please all, nicely played by John Branwell, in a characterisation that has been seen before in many of Ayckbourn's plays, busying himself in the family home, on the outskirts of a small country town where the monthly Writers' Group meeting is to be held. The first arrival is Ilsa, Laura Doddington, who has come to sit with his mother who is in bed and who would be otherwise knocking on the floor whilst the meeting is in progress. Other arrivals are Brevis, the overbearing retired schoolmaster, played by Terence Booth. Vivvi, with her nervous laugh, played by Clare Swinburne, Clem (Giles New), a sci-fi fanatic. Jess (Becky Hindley) arrives in wellies from the farm where she dreams of writing that novel. Nervous Grace (Eileen Battye), in fear of Brevis, brings her drawings for a children's book to show the group. The group slowly go through their meeting with numerous encounters between those present.

“Improbable Fiction” is in repertory at the Round, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough from the 27th May until the 17th September, 2005. This is a No Smoking theatre.