In many ways this is typical early Ayckbourn, set in the kitchens of three couples on three successive Christmas Eves, charting their relative misery and frustration, growing progressively darker.

He shows us the appalling, lower middle-class social climber Sidney and his housework-obsessed wife Jane, bank manager Ronald and his dipsomaniac snob of a wife Marion and womanising architect Geoffrey and suicidal wife Eva, often hilariously contrasting how people behave in company with the private reality.

Ayckbourn's mastery of dark comedy also predates more modern fare like The Office, exposing embarrassment and social awkwardness and the sheer cringeworthiness of Sidney and Jane and their desperation to impress their "social betters."

A cast largely familiar from TV are all superb in this former West End production, particularly Deborah Grant as the haughty, superior Marion who descends into a gin-fuddled stupor and Sarah Crowe as the good-natured but dim Jane, happier when scrubbing and polishing kitchen appliances than trying to meet Sidney's expectations of her as a successful party hostess.

The comedic high point comes in the act two when pathos meets hysteria and Eva's various attempts to commit suicide are thwarted by her guests cleaning her oven, unblocking her sink and mending her light fitting.
It's as sustained and brilliant piece of black farce as you are likely to see and a reminder of Ayckbourn's unfashionable but unmistakable theatrical expertise.

MORE:
Listings Guide
Arts Guide
Film Guide
Theatre and Events
Music Guide
Front Room