Blooming heck – Janie and I took Pauline with us on this occasion, to see an Ayckbourn play about a family with three daughters…
…and yet our logged verdict on the event was:
Very good.
It must REALLY have been very good.
The play was subtitled “The Story So Far aka Me Times Me Times Me” and is one of those lesser-known Ayckbourn plays. Possibly it is lesser-known precisely because it is less predictable, glib, farce-oriented comedy than many of his works.
My friend, Michael Billington, clearly liked the play and this production:
Family Circles Billington 10 Dec 1996, Tue The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
After reading that Billington review, I am for some reason (“Dance Of Death played for laughs”, perhaps, or “three sisters in comparison with whom Lear’s daughters look like balanced and beneficent progeny” reminded of one of my favourite Peter Cook quotes:
I go to the theatre to be entertained. I don’t want to see plays about rape, sodomy and drug addiction – I can get all that at home.
Nick Curtis in the evening Standard was less sure about the piece:
Family Circles Nick Curtis Standard 12 Dec 1996, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
We would no doubt have dined at Don Fernando’s after the show. Families, eh?