Play name
Relatively Speaking
By Alan Ayckbourn
Director and Contact Details
Colleen Batson
If you would like to read a script please contact Pauline Armour until mid-November and then either Pauline or Colleen
If you would like to discuss the production please contact Pauline on : 07984722308
Scripts will need to be returned before the audition date.
Playing dates
9th to 18th April (including the charity night); There will be a matinee and evening performances on Saturday 11th April
Get-in and Strike
Get-in Monday 23rd March; Strike Sunday 19th April
Venue
Bromley Little Theatre Main House
Audition
Monday 8th December at 7:00 pm
About the play
Ayckbourn’s first big West End hit is a stunning piece of comic craftsmanship which takes a single misunderstanding and keeps it unbelievably afloat with hilarious consequences. Relatively Speaking was first produced in 1967 at the Duke of York’s Theatre starring Celia Johnson and Richard Briers and was the first of Ayckbourn’s plays to achieve widespread critical acclaim. Over half a century later it still stands the test of time.
Ayckbourn mixes the comic ingredients into what has been called a “superbly constructed meringue of a play” by choosing as his model what may be the most perfect of all well-made comedies, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance Of Being Earnest…. What characterises both plays are the standard ingredients of the well-made play: secrets known to some but withheld from others, quid-pro-quo conversations in which two speakers, actually at odds, believe they are discussing the same person, and, of course, assumed identities.
Last performed at BLT in 2003. So whether you re-aquaint yourself with a comedy masterpiece or experience classic Ayckbourn for the first time, you will undoubtedly share the joy of theatre at its very best.
Alan Ayckbourn’s Relatively Speaking is a night of marvelous discourse, mistaken identity and down right debacle. Londontheatrereviews
This early work from one of the British theatre’s greatest talents provides a welcome, and thoroughly enjoyable, celebration of the playwright’s craft. Everything-theatre
Time
Circa: 1967
Location
A bed-sit in London and a garden patio in the Home Counties.
Style and Genre
‘Relatively Speaking’ established Ayckbourn as a writer of ingenious farcical comedy, with an ear for dialogue, a penchant for complex situations, misunderstandings and intriguing plots. Expect a masterful yarn of mistaken identity leading to comic chaos. The dialogue crackles and sparkles providing us with prolonged moments of pure joy and sublime hilarity. Requires strong performances with dialogue delivered at pace.
Characters
Greg: Playing age late 20’s to mid 30’s. Very large role
Ginny: Playing age late 20’s to mid 30’s. Very large role
Sheila: Playing age50’s. Very large role.
Philip: Playing age 50’s. Very large role.
Audition pieces
GINNY and GREG: Pages 5 to 8; Ginny: ‘My God, look at the time’ to Greg: ‘Thanks’
PHILIP and GINNY: Pages 64 to 68; Ginny: ‘Philip if you mess things up for me, I’ll never forgive you.’ to Ginny: ‘Philip you belong together – much more than we ever did’
PHILIP and SHEILA: Pages 74-76; Sheila: ‘Hello dear. Been busy?’ to Sheila: ‘Now just sit quietly. Don’t move.’
GREG, GINNY, PHILIP, SHEILA: Pages 102 to 106; Philip: ‘Goodbye. Come on, cheer up, Ginny’ to Ginny and Greg exit .