PROLIFIC dramatist Sir Alan Ayckbourn is at his inventive best this week, with his 88th piece receiving its world premiere in the Lake District.
He provides an age-old topic – an intended being presented to possible in-laws – a modern, if not future, spin.
For in Welcome to the Family, the in-laws have been deceased for ten years and only exist within The Capture.
Their son’s girlfriend meets the deceased aristocratic couple five years before their sad death in a plane crash, thus fifteen years before the play’s setting, which is a few years in the future.
Don’t worry if that seems confusing. Everything becomes evident as the play progresses, thanks in part to Sir Alan’s superb writing and in part to a talented cast of five performers.
Consider a three-dimensional video game in which real people may immerse themselves and interact with avatars.
Sir Alan is able to use this method to transform a standard comedy about human relationships into an investigation of how humans will interact with the metaverse in the very near future and the influence it will have on our psyches.
It also allows him to play with generational, gender, and socioeconomic differences.
The premiere took place in Bowness-on-Windermere’s Old Laundry Theatre, where a near-capacity 280-strong crowd enjoyed the hilarity.
Sir Alan was present, together with his wife, Lady Heather, and their two boys, as well as other Scarborough friends. He was claimed to be pleased with the performances.
From opposing ends of the social spectrum, Antony Eden as the key naive former public school pupil Josh Meizner and Tanya-Loretta Dee as his intended Sara Coote lay up the intricate plot idea with skill.
But the drama truly comes to life when they and we meet Sir Peter Meizner, portrayed by Terence Booth, and Caroline Langrishe, who plays Lady Vivica Meizner. They prove to be the stereotypical in-laws from hell.
Bill Champion rounds out the cast as Lance Meizner, the appropriately smarmy inventor of The Capture.
To explain how the humans interact with the avatars and the narrative unfolds would ruin the play’s delight, but suffice it to say that uncertainty prevails, especially when the long-dead couple begins to recognise and become outraged about what is going on.
Sir Alan debuted All Lies at the Old Laundry last year, marking the first time in 35 years that one of his plays has not been shown outside of Scarborough.
This play was about Fake News and the Pandemic. The impact of falsehoods on relationships is revisited as a topic in Welcome to the Family, with even more severe consequences.
Sir Alan has a strong relationship with The Old Laundry Theatre, a theatre-in-the-round similar to Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph.
Roger Glossop, director of The Old Laundry Theatre and set designer for Welcome to the Family and All Lies, has been creating sets for Alan Ayckbourn’s world and West End debuts since 1986.
Welcome to the Family plays at the Old Laundry through May 27 before moving to his local theatre, the Stephen Joseph, in Scarborough.
Constant Companions, Sir Alan’s 89th piece, premieres at the SJT in September before moving to the Old Laundry. As a result, the 84-year-old author is able to keep his two beloved theatre satisfied.
Kath Beattie studied Journalism at The University of Central Lancashire and now writes for several Travel publications. She recently moved to The Lake District and enjoys walking her 3 dogs every day across the fells.
