- In Absurd Person Singular we are looking at three different kitchens of three different households. It is Christmas Eve, but every time a year ahead. The couples fail to keep the Christmas spirit, which is not surprising, because I discovered that the English playwright loathes Christmas. Happy Christmas? Not for Ayckbourn. This is a significant reason as to why he purposely sets each scene at Christmas and effectively portrays it in a bad light. His characters are unmistakably in unhappy marriages which evidently go downhill as the years go on.
- Ayckbourn’s drama attacks on political correctness or feminism, but it raises political and moral issues through comedy. Ayckbourn’s characters savage each other, and in doing this they comment upon the structures which hold English society together. He writes about the middle classes, and criticises aspects of our society through his plays. The critic John Peter describes him as a domestic political activist, and another critic describes his plays as a disturbing vision of middle-class England that has been poisoned by economic ruthlessness and the collapse of ethics. This suggests Ayckbourn has feministic opinions, which we feel is a focal aspect running through the play. Ayckbourn said that he hopes that he is ‘presenting real-life situations, but hopefully with a different angle on them’.
- In each scene in Absurd Person Singular, Ayckbourn moves his characters from the comfort zones they know and throws them in to deeper waters, watching them make utter fools of themselves while they think they are retaining their dignity. I think the reason behind this links to Ayckbourn’s past and the vast range of characters that feature prominently in Ayckbourn’s life. He writes just about as clearly as possible, given the complexities of some of the intrigues and controversies he addresses. His comedy treads that thin line separating it from the most vicious tragedy, and a particularly English form of surreal humour. I feel that is it apparent that Ayckbourn was writing from personal experience in his life and of the people he met.
The play is set in England in the late eighties, early nineties however it was actually first premiered in 1972 in Scarborough and a year later in London. It was first produced at the Library Theatre, Scarborough in June 1972 and subsequently by Micheal Codron at the Criterion Theatre, London. This is typical of Ayckbourn’s plays as their success in his base theatre in Scarborough, often leads to London productions; however I think that the small theatre in Scarborough would have highlighted the naturalism and involve the audience. The interaction between the audience and character adds to the realism of the play. Ayckbourn had no official training and just simply worked his way up from stagehand to playwright. Ayckbourn discovered that he could write effectively about ‘normal’ situations, instead of trying to be different.
To find out what could have initiated his ideas at the time, I researched any important events that occurred around the time it was written.
- Similarly to the 60’s people were still quite open about sex, throughout the restoration period relationships between sexes was finally allowed to be explored by men and women on stage. So we also see a lot of sexual innuendo for instance the men talking about Lotties legs. However he is writing for the early nineties where perhaps he believes the treatment of women will begin to change. As a feminist, he highlights in this play how disrespectful men can be towards women.
- I found out that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh celebrated their silver wedding anniversary in London in 1972. Ayckbourn could be implying that this case in marriage is unusual and he could be questioning whether or not it is a happy marriage or maybe it is purely for the purpose of publicity or their reputation. This is much like the style of the couples he has represented in Absurd Person Singular.
- My last point is that the 70’s was the introduction of the nuclear family; husband, wife and 2.4 children. It was the time period in which new gadgets such as the washing machine and dishwasher were the height of sophistication. This is very much touched upon by Ayckbourn, illustrated through Sidney and Kane as the up and coming family as he was writing for the 80’s and 90’s, he very much believed this would be the main focus in life.
In 1959 when Ayckbourn’s plays were first performed he was condemned and criticized for not being conventional and traditional to the ‘political playwright’ representation of the time. In contrast to most of the other playwrights, Ayckbourn did not centre on working class life and environment; instead he portrayed the middle class situations. He predominantly portrays relationships and disagreements with apparently humorous middle class circumstances. On the outside the play is extremely amusing, however it contains more serious undertones – which are typical of all his plays, these run throughout this play. The distinctive style and idea of Ayckbourns plays is what made them so popular. After his initial success, it was considered that he would give in to the money-making side of theatre, but it quickly became apparent that he wanted to carry on working in the small theatre in Scarborough where he started in 1957. As we know he did maintain working in this theatre as Absurd Person Singular was performed there in 1972.
By keeping to Scarborough I think he maintained his success and powerful plays. Ayckbourn wanted to create a feeling of intimacy and involvement. The Scarborough theatre is a smaller environment and in the round which helps him bring the characters and audience together which also allows him to create realistic and believable characters. In a play like Absurd Person Singular the focus is the characters, Ayckbourn stated that his plays are about the people, not places. The natural and simple sets that he uses allow the focus to be entirely on the characters which also allows the audience to relate to the characters. It is obvious that Ayckbourn is particularly focused on the reality of performance, as he explained that he gets pleasure so much from theatre because it has challenges which television doesn’t.
In Absurd Person Singular I feel that Ayckbourn is showing how misinterpreted a religious festival such as Christmas can be. He portrays the reality that lies behind closed doors and represents Christmas as he feels it will be in a decade’s time. There is no longer a religious issue behind Christmas as people are simply materialistic. He says that he hopes he is presenting real-life situations, but with a diverse perspective on them, which I think he successfully does as he simply presents he reality behind closed doors. Ayckbourn’s plays are as influential as is his capability to scrutinize predictable, everyday middle class people, and nevertheless to truthfully identify their fight to uphold these idyllic lives, at the same time as clearly living the conflict and situations that so many have to face.
