Word: ayckbourn
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...PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES, by Alan Ayckbourn...
...Ayckbourn, the great British playwright who doesn't get enough respect in America, brought over his own Scarborough troupe to present the U.S. premiere of his chamber piece about the interconnections among six lonely London souls. Ayckbourn's delicate, understated direction showed, once again, that laughs are the least important thing in his vision of the sad comedy of ordinary lives...
...play. In each the three variations, Reza skips the key scene in which the couples discover the mistake; she jumps straight to later in the evening, when they're scarfing down cheese snacks. (What, no takeout restaurants in Paris?) You only have to imagine what a playwright like Alan Ayckbourn - or even Neil Simon, in his better days - could have done with the same device, to get impatient with "Life X 3" long before the guests file out for the last time...
...Obvious Rule No. 11: Never sell your characters short in order to meet the requirements of a gag or even the plot." Here, Ayckbourn occasionally breaks his own rule. Usually, it's the production trying too hard, as when GamePlan's putative prostitute is confronted with a client who won't stop talking. The fact that her first trick is a crushing bore is funny, but the ludicrous poses she strikes to lure...
...Obvious rule number 5: [The audience] needs to care about your characters." One of Ayckbourn's great gifts is the ability to create people whose flaws are both maddening and charming. Best of all is the boyfriend's mother in RolePlay, superbly performed by Jacqueline King. Perpetually drunk, she mortifies everyone with alcohol-drenched insults. Yet among the hypocritical company, her honesty is refreshing. Which brings us to Rule No. 54: "Casting is everything." Ayckbourn's ensemble is uniformly fabulous. In particular Alison Pargeter moves from sniveling schoolgirl through Bridget Jones-style lonelyheart to damaged woman, impressive in each incarnation...