We went last night to see Alan Ayckbourn's Absent Friends at the Mercury Theatre in Colchester. It was very funny and we had a great evening and it's on until 10th March so there's still time to go and see it. And that's about it, really. You can skip the rest of the post if you like.
I have said it before, but if you live in the Colchester area the Mercury is a wonderful theatre. The staff are pleasant, the seats are comfy, service at the bar is quick, the multi-storey car park is a few minute's walk away, tickets are a third of the price of London theatres. There's nothing not to like, provided the play is any good. As we enjoy Ayckbourn's brand of sharply observed, near-the-bone comedy then given a half-way competent production we were practically bound to be happy.
The Mercury's version is not merely competent, but good. Absent Friends is a play in real time about a man who has tragically lost his fiancee in an accident, who is invited to tea with a group of old friends who haven't seen him for a while and never met his fiancee, but think they ought to be supportive. This is a classic Ayckbourn set-up, with a group of people whose relationships are already strained or simply in the past, a major taboo subject (death), and an outsider (the bereaved and out of touch former member of the group) to tip things into motion. They move. It would spoil it to say how, but it is a deliciously funny, minutely observed play, and the cast do it justice. The set, a 1974 domestic interior, is a masterpiece, from the furniture down to the tiniest details like the pair of wooden gazelle on the fitted modular shelves, and the two stereo speakers at different heights. And the spider plants. It was uncanny, like being there (and being in 1974 was quite bad enough the first time round).
Ayckbourn writes cruel plays. I've thought so before. There is some knockabout comedy, and there are some brilliant bits of dialogue as people say the things that they shouldn't, or that are madly inappropriate given circumstances they don't know about but that the audience does. It isn't fluffy, though. Absent Friends was first performed in 1974, the same year as Porridge first appeared on TV, but is far nastier than Porridge's gentle, compassionate humour.
There were a few empty seats last night, but the auditorium was pretty full. I originally tried to book for Tuesday, just because Tuesdays are slightly cheaper than Wednesdays, but was late getting round to it, as the Mercury spring brochure is yet another piece of mail that never reached us. By the time I thought it must be out by now and looked at the website, Tuesday was almost a sell-out. The Colchester audience likes its acid comedy.
Absent Friends is a good choice for the Mercury in that regard, and because it is a six hander with only one set, and so comparatively economical to stage. It's a tough choice for regional theatre directors in these difficult times for the arts. Put on too many plays that are perceived as middle-brow, middle class humour and you risk losing your Arts Council funding like Exeter's Northcott did, even if they do delight the local audience and fill the house. Put on too many modern-dress re-creations of Greek myths intended to challenge us and tick the funding boxes and you risk playing to empty seats. The Mercury's production of Iph featured in Charles Spencer's list in the Telegraph of the top ten worst plays of the year a few years ago, and we didn't go to see it, even though the Mercury did write to us offering us free programmes and ice-cream if only we'd give it a go. Sorry, but we know what we like, we provincials. I'm rather hoping that in the current climate they will play it a bit safe, and we might get some JB Priestley, or a Tom Stoppard revival.
Regrettably, the next company production is by Arnold Wesker, and after being bored out of my skin at the National Theatre some years ago by a play of his about national service, that had practically no plot and not much to commend the dialogue, I'm not inclined to risk it. I'm more of a natural theatre-goer than the Systems Administrator, so the deal is that I try to choose things we'll both like, and the SA puts up with the duds with a good grace provided the long term aggregate experience remains positive. Absent Friends was a big plus in the theatre-going enjoyment account. We're planning to try Dancing at Lughnasa in the summer, and while I hope that will be another positive, it might require the SA to draw on accumulated reserves of goodwill, so I'm not chancing my luck with Arnold Wesker.
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