Absurd Person Singular

They say all the best parties end up in the kitchen, writes Peter Cargill.

In this case at Pitlochry Festival Theatre, it is usually to get away from the excruciating guests Dick and Lottie Potter. We have to take their word for it, because we never actually see them.

On the surface, Absurd Person Singular is a very silly play, but, with Alan Ayckbourn, all is never as it seems and he has the knack of making the viewer dig deeper without realising it.

For this is the boom and bust 70s, and we follow the rise of the Hopcrofts, entertaining on Christmas eve so the ambitious Sidney (Alex Scott Fairley) can proposition architect Geoffrey Jackson (Alan Mirren) and bank manager Ronald Brewster-Wright (Dougal Lee).

The following Christmas, we are at the Jacksons and the Hopcroft fortunes are on the rise, while the other two marriages are disintegrating.

Then, another year later, it’s on to the reluctant BrewsterWrights where they are all dancing, literally, to Sidney Hopcroft’s tune.

It’s all about the ladies really. The Hopcroft party sees the obsessive Jane – an enthusiastic Serena Giacomini – locked out in the pouring rain only to regain entry after the party is over and display her indomitable spirit despite suffering under the clichéridden Sidney’s influence.

Then there is the emotionally-scarred Eva with her philandering husband, and Marion (Margaret Preece), who seeks solace from alcohol because of a distinct lack of interest from banker Ronald.

The play continues on various dates until October 12.