This was Ayckbourn at his brilliant best, but, why oh why did Roger Glossop, his set designer, get in such a muddle?

The world premiere of “Things We Do For Love” was Alan Ayckbourn’s 52nd play and he was back writing about the things that he does best, people’s relationships, without being influenced and sidetracked by things that he has read. The play takes place over twelve days in October, at 56 Bloom Street, London, SW, in a house which has been divided into three flats.

The owner is Barbara, played by Joanna Van Gyseghem, a single woman who has never found love and subsequently finds fault with all around her and lives for her job. The play opens with Barbara clearing up after the tenants of her first floor flat have left. In this she is assisted by Gilbert, played by Barry McCarthy, a postman who lives in the basement flat who would do anything for her and in this instance is wrestling with a problem radiator. The play revolves round Barbara who has promised the vacant flat to a younger girl from her old school called Nikki, played by Sally Giles, who has had a disastrous marriage and is now on a new relationship with an older man, Hamish, played by Cameron Stewart. Nikki is not one of the world’s intellectuals and this, and her physical relationship problems, cause situations to develop.

As with all Ayckbourn’s plays it is called a comedy, but Ayckbourn writes plays about the situations that people find themselves in and the humour comes from those situations which are often tragic. His finely observed characters and situations are the key to his success and in this play he has surpassed himself. The plot is beautifully constructed and the pace is maintained from the first second. Once Hamish enters the flat the relationships are pulled out of kilter and situations result that one can only imagine go on behind closed doors. Ayckbourn, as usual, takes things that have annoyed him, or he has found funny, so he plays on their comedy aspects with great skill; as shown in one instance when the character Gilbert, not a person used, if ever, to being invited to dinner is told to come to dinner at 7.30 for 8.

The actors’ performances are faultless, with Joanna Van Gyseghem’s fight with Cameron Stewert being one of the best. This would account for Miss Van Gyseghem’s bruises, but this apart, their actiong is superb. Barry McCarthy’s drunken scene is priceless, as are so many of his other exploits on stage. Sally Giles attention to character gives her a sparkling part.

So why was the play not staged in the round? Why was it staged in the McCarthy? The main theatre in the round was empty and one expects Ayckbourn’s plays to be staged in the round. This omission may well be why part of the audience went home with a stiff neck and feeling that they had been watching a television show whilst listening to the radio. This all being due to the way the stage set was put together. Some patrons may well have felt threatened from stage props falling from the upper storey of the set. This is a fault that can and will be solved with later productions of this play which deserves to be quickly exported to London with the same actors. © BA

“Things We Do For Love” was in repertory until the 13th of September, 1997.