Relatively Speaking

Ayckbourn’s comic brilliance set to lift COVID-19 gloom

Prolific mirth-maker Alan Ayckbourn’s smash-hit play Relatively Speaking is coming to the Abbey Theatre care of the Company of Ten.

Exhibiting his usual flare for comedy entanglements and outrageous misunderstandings, this play is considered to be amongst Ayckbourn’s very finest work.

Things get a bit sticky for cohabiting couple Ginny and Greg when mysterious gifts of flowers and chocolates start arriving hourly. Greg’s suspicions intensify when Ginny tells him she has decided to visit her parents for the weekend without him. But Greg is not one to be put off, and when he arrives to ask for her hand in marriage the fun really starts.

Director Angela Stone says: “I’m so pleased to be directing an Ayckbourn comedy. The chance to entertain an audience and make them laugh is always a delight, but especially now, when we all need a jolly good laughter more than ever.

“I have form directing Ayckbourn having previously co-directed his House & Garden for the Company of Ten which was one of the most rewarding theatrical experiences I have had.

“Now, working on Relatively Speaking, one of Ayckbourn’s early plays and his first West End success, has made me appreciate his excellent craft all the more. He was just 26 when he wrote it but, even at such an early age, he showed not only comic brilliance but consummate skill in constructing a complex yet highly satisfying plot. Comedic brilliance which, to my mind, is the equal of any of the classic comic writers such as Goldoni, Goldsmith, Sheridan, or Moliere.

“There is a saying: ‘If you remember the Sixties, you weren’t there’. Well I do remember and I was there, so working on a play set in 1963 is great fun, as is introducing our younger cast members to how life was back then when cohabiting was deemed deeply shocking and pre-decimalisation money was a rather complex matter of pennies, farthings, shillings, florins, crowns and pounds.”

As London Theatre says: “Relatively Speaking is more complex than a simple comedy. Underlying the humour are issues about trust, honesty and commitment… themes which are as challenging and relevant today as ever they were.’

This will be an in-theatre and live-streamed production fully in accordance with present social-distancing and hygiene requirements.

Performances take place on the Main Stage from Friday 6 – Saturday 7 November at 7.30pm; Sunday 8 November at 2.30pm, and Tuesday 10 – Saturday 14 November at 7.30pm. To book tickets go to www.abbeytheatre.org.uk.

Dates and times

Friday 6–Saturday 7 November 2020, 7:30pm
Sunday 8 November 2020, 2.30
Tuesday 10–Saturday 14 2020, 7.30pm

Tickets £13
Concessions £12

Booking closes 2 hours before the start of the performance and tickets will not be available on the door.

• Show: current/future_show
• Society Name: 40242
• Venue Name: Abbey Theatre (Main Stage), Westminster Lodge, Holywell Hill, St Albans
• Opening date: 06/11/2020
• Venue Postcode: AL12DL
• Closing date: 14/11/2020
• Region: East of England
• Credits ( author / playwright ): Alan Ayckbourn
• Website: https://www.abbeytheatre.org.uk/whats-on/relatively-speaking/
• Tickets cost per person (£): £13 (Concessions £12)
• Box Office phone number: 01727857861