Another aspect of Ayckbourn’s comedy is the unexpected or the unconventional. Ayckbourn uses this throughout the play, especially when studying Lucy, whose behaviour is generally unconventional throughout. This can be shown when she is offering Rosemary a drink
‘…Why not? A little one.’
‘Orange or lemon?
‘I beg your pardon?’
Rosemary’s expectation of an alcoholic drink and surprise at what she is offered shows Lucy’s withdrawal from social interaction from people her own age has had a detrimental effect on her personality. The situation she finds herself in makes Rosemary feel embarrassed, while Lucy is totally oblivious. Ayckbourn has written in a number of pauses in the script so that the actress playing Rosemary clearly shows her uncertainty.
Until Terry enters the play the audience has started to become acquainted with the bond developing between Rosemary and Lucy. They begin to understand the ways in which they react to each other. However, the point in which Terry decided to make a mature, adult joke it seems highly inappropriate:
‘after something quite different these days, eh?’
The way he seems unaware of the situation he out himself into makes him seem slow and even dense, demonstrating a complete lack of awareness or sensitivity to the two people he is talking to.
Throughout the play Ayckbourn builds up the character of Terry so much it brings great satisfaction and comedy to the audience when he is finally shown up by Lucy after making a comment that men should not be ‘put in a cage, which seems to offend Lucy:
‘That can apply, to women too surely.’
Stereotype is the main foundation of most of the characters. Development of character is shown to some extent when Lucy puts Terry down in such a way, showing how he isn’t as strong and authoritive as he would like to think.
Ayckbourn uses various techniques when writing the dialogue between the main characters in the drama. He uses of language and vocabulary for the character of Lucy draws different responses from the audiences depending on the situation.
In the early part of the play where we are introduced to the character of Lucy, and to a lesser extent her children, Ayckbourn uses childish vocabulary to show the interaction with a younger generation with the use of words such as ‘dinkie and ‘toothipegs’.
Although not necessarily considered funny in this context. It is however a lot more effective when Lucy uses it when interacting with another adult, her guest: ‘lovely choccy, look. Milk choccy’. The change in context makes the use of language more, unexpected and therefore funnier.
When considering the character of Terry, one can immediately see that Ayckbourn uses language that emphasises terry’s somewhat juvenile and truculent character. He combines this with an exaggerated use of flamboyant gestures to create a more visual element to the comedy
‘(finishing his glass with a giant swallow). All gone (he wipes his mouth)’
In this situation, the comedy is derived form Terry’s obvious childish, socially unconventional, and somewhat unexpected behaviour coupled with his choice of sarcastic language. The blatant rudeness of this character adds comedy to what would normally be considered a socially embarrassing situation.
Rosemary however comes across as more timid and less sure of herself. She seems almost conflicted, perhaps wondering if she has crossed a line:
‘We heard the children, of course. Not to complain of, mind you, but we heard them but we didn’t see you.’
The Playwright uses a range of language techniques, including the deliberate use of short phrases to make it sound as if the character is worried or uneasy. Rosemary doesn’t seem to want to cause offence to this slightly out of the ordinary neighbour and her hasty addition of ‘not to complain of’ to her initial phrase highlights her insecurity.
Ayckbourn’s use and clarity of stage directions promotes an element of humour. For example, with Terry Ayckbourn writes in a lot of gestures to draw the attention of the audience to his rather aggressive tendencies and emphasise what he is saying.
‘He throws the biscuit down…he grabs her orange juice and drains it in one.’ It is slightly unusual for a grown man to behave in such a childish manner and this generates a degree of comedy. Ayckbourn’s use of words such as ‘throws and ‘grabs’ enlightens the audience as to the physical/ brute power he has over Rosemary and how he uses this to intimidate her. Although entertaining, it leads the audience to speculate as to the stability of their marriage
Lucy’s unconventional habit is strange as one would think she would want to find out who it was that was ringing the doorbell and it is this fact that makes it seem comical to an audience
‘The door chimes sound again. Lucy ignores them and goes off to the kitchen.’
It is Lucy’s peculiar action of going to the kitchen when there clearly someone waiting the other side of the door which leads on to wonder what thought processes are going on with this character which also adds to the amusement at this point.
In contrast, the stage directions given to the character of Rosemary are used more as a means of expressing her shyness and less assertive nature:
‘Laying the slip gingerly on the table.’
The playwright’s use of the word ‘gingerly’ shows how uncomfortably she appears to be which could be used to generate a response of laughter from the audience. The use of the actresses timing could also assist this response
Ayckbourn uses some of the comments that the characters make in the play to develop the character’s personalities:
‘I haven’t been anywhere for weeks.’
This seems ludicrous to most normal people. It would be difficult to comprehend isolation for such an extended amount of time and could also be used to generate a feeling of empathy and sympathy towards this evidently mentally unstable young mother.
Terry’s position is different altogether. He is more domineering and controlling in his role as a husband and obviously takes advantages of his wife’s inability to assert herself and obvious kind and passive nature:
‘And we’ll have less of that too, if you don’t mind.’
Here, Ayckbourn’s deliberate condescending tone on Terry’s part creates a sense of doubt regarding their marriage.
The reason he waits for Lucy to leave the room can be interpreted as either an act of sneakiness, treating rosemary badly in private or Terry’s sense of inadequacy which he is too macho to display in front of their neighbour.
To compensate for Terry’s bombastic behaviour Ayckbourn has created, in Rosemary a character who has been almost ‘conditioned’ or ‘trained’ into obeying orders without protest even if the orders are of an indirect nature. This is demonstarated when Lucy enters the room when Rosemary is stamping her foote in anger because Terry has drunk her orange juice:
‘…what are you doing jumping about?’ Rosemary sits’
Rosemary’s response here suggests that she is intimidated by any kind of authorative/ imperative speech.
On a more serious note, Ayckbourn uses the comedy to stimulate people to think more seriously about their own issues and the issues faced by others in their day to lives which relevant within the play. These issues include Terry’s male dominance and the feminism still present in some women’s lives today. There is also Lucy’s isolation which is very concerning. It becomes apparent by the end of the play that she is forgetting how to interact with people her own age. The issue of a young mother, cooped up inside the house all day is also one relevant in society at the moment. This method of approaching problems by inciting humour with an audience helps them to become more deeply connected with the characters due to the knowledge of the seemingly funny yet serious in real life problems. His highly developed skills as playwright offer one the ability to laugh at something yet come back and wonder as to why you find character situations which develop into problems of a quite serious nature, so funny.
In my opinion, although many of the issues Ayckbourn has chosen to address are very sensitive, the way in which he chooses to address them make it easier to understand. Although I cannot relate to the situations these characters find themselves in I think that Ayckbourn does a very good job in encouraging the audience to feel a degree of empathy towards them.
I feel that the comedy within the play appeals to a wide a range of audiences with some of it childish and some more adult. The use of Mr Poddle, the faces exchanged between Rosemary and Terry make me laugh in particular as it is so juvenile I find it comical.
