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A delicious comedy set in the 70’s, about friendship, relationships, death and love. This has enough drama to make you wish to be a fly on the wall… and we are!Summary
Rating
Unmissable!
Absent Friends is a delicious comedy. Set during an afternoon in the 1970s, it all takes place in a living room complete with a pink leather sofa and psychedelic wallpaper. We follow a group of friends caught up in reminiscing about their past, and through this, they unintentionally examine their present lives and unfulfilled dreams.
We learn that Paul, John, and Marge’s husband were old-school friends of Colin. And as is the way of life, they have lost touch with the bachelor in the group, while the others have married and moved on. However, the recent loss of Colin’s fiancé, whom none had met, triggered Paul’s wife, Diana, to stage an intervention of sorts. Being a well-intentioned friend (and we all have one of those!) Diana, played by Polly Smith, arranges a tea party to re-introduce Colin into the fold. Smith steals the stage with her upper crust mannerism, which is humorous. The barely concealed cracks in her facade are evidence that perhaps this party is more a distraction for her. Diana’s husband Paul, played by Eoin Lynch, is detached, always working or playing squash, and the fractures in their marriage slowly unravel over tea and sandwiches. As it does.
Oh to be a fly on the wall when the curtains come down..and we are!
Smith’s stoic but perfect hostess performance is closely followed by Bridget Lambert’s Marge, the ever-helpful friend, with a hypochondriac husband whom she nurses daily and so has no time left for herself. Yet through this, her constant optimism prevails. Her left-foot comments are cringeworthy but endearing as she strives to maintain the status quo as the tensions rise.
The nervous twitch from John (Kieran Seabrook-France) every time death is mentioned is ingrained in the audience’s mind from the start as we notice it even when he is not part of the dialogue. His wife Evelyn (Liv Koplick), stays in character as the bored stay-at-home parent with non-existent social skills. And how she maintained her frown the entire time while chewing gum is impressive!
Alan Ayckbourn’s writing is masterful, examining human nature at its most vulnerable. The cast, with no exception, truly does it justice. From the irritatingly cheerful Colin (Thomas Wiltshire) to the motherly Marge, each of the characters is well-rounded and distinctive. Particularly impressive as they maintained these distinctions during the jumble of multiple dialogues with tensions rising. The audience is cleverly propelled along, while hanging on every word with morbid excitement, heads swinging left to right like watching multiple tennis matches on one court to see what happens next. And it does not disappoint.
People’s lives move on, we lose touch, life gets in the way… and in this case, death brings them together. Bereavement is difficult to address with anyone, let alone a friend. It often conjures feelings of fear, terror, and our own mortality. This is a poignant moment for these friends, not only as it addresses a taboo subject, but it gives rise to introspection, to realise that Colin, with his loss, is still by far the happiest of them all.
I’d been looking forward to attending this show and OSO Arts Centre, with its lovely picturesque setting overlooking Barnes Pond. I’m very tempted to visit again just to sit outside and watch the world go by. Even though the seating in the theatre was perhaps a little uncomfortable (one of the unavoidable downsides of many fringe venues), the performance itself is splendid.
Written by: Alan Ayckbourn
Produced & Directed by: Claire Evans for OnBook Theatre
Absent Friends has completed its current run at OSO Arts Centre.
