British playwright Sir Alan Ayckbourn has said he wishes theater were more like a holiday.
Just not necessarily an American holiday.
“In America, you all are so gung-ho, whatever the holiday is,” said Claudia Cragg, an itinerant Brit who reviews theater with husband Anthony for KGNU community radio.
“Even if you are going to a Broncos tailgating party, it’s all upbeat and we all have a good time regardless. But in Britain, Christmas can be a very dark and depressing time of year. There are a lot of suicides.”
Now, that’s an Ayckbourn kind of holiday.
Ayckbourn, who has been called the world’s most produced playwright behind Shakespeare, once told The Denver Post that theater has gotten too stern an image. “It’s the job of theater to make you laugh and disturb you,” he said. “Ideally, a play should do both.”
That’s certainly what he attempts with his nonsensically titled “Absurd Person Singular,” which the Denver Center Theatre Company is billing as an antidote to its own “A Christmas Carol,” which it will reopen for something like the 167th straight year on Dec. 3.
Ayckbourn’s 1972 class comedy marks the changing fortunes of three upwardly mobile British couples on three successive Christmas days. Oh, it’s got lots of laughs. It’s also got alcoholism, mental breakdowns and, for the entire second act, one woman trying to commit suicide.
“It actually resonates with the British public that Christmas is a time of year when you are forced together with people you don’t really want to be with, even though you’re all being jolly,” said Claudia.
“That may be hard for you to understand, particularly in the Colorado sunshine,” added Anthony. “But days are very short. It’s just gloomier.”
Ayckbourn, now 70 and the author of 73 published plays, is regarded as one of the world’s best and most prolific comic writers. But the Craggs believe he is a deeper and braver playwright than he has ever gotten full credit for.
“He’s a clever playwright who took the genre of farce and used it to subvert the whole class structure of the day,” said Anthony. “Some might think of farce as a witty sort of light entertainment. But he used it for much darker purposes.”
When Ayckbourn started writing, there was very much a two-tiered hierarchy in the British theater. “At one end you had the sort of dropping-pants, laugh-a-minute theater,” said Anthony, “and at the other you had the intellectual theater of Beckett and Pinter, who didn’t make any concession at all to being populist. Ayckbourn dared to tread the middle ground.”
American audiences might not recognize the inherent sabotage at play — both theatrically and socially — in “Absurd Person Singular” without understanding the “pre-Maggie” politics of 1972 London.
“The upwardly mobile builder gets richer as the banker gets poorer, and that’s clearly a reflection on what was happening more generally in society at the time — and would happen with a vengeance under Maggie Thatcher,” said Anthony.
“The old notion of a banker was that of an upper-class caricature, and now they were becoming classless. Under Maggie, there were East End boys making a gazillion dollars trading currencies for Goldman Sachs, so the whole social pecking order broke down. And the new royalty very much were people like property developers, like the builder in the play.”
It was particularly daring for anyone to attack class on the stage, Claudia added, because of who was attending West End theater in 1972.
“The people who were going from the provinces to see these stories all aspired to be conservatives,” she said. “They were very loyal theatergoers, and yet here was this man writing a play attacking class in front of these people who all aspired to be invited to the conservative garden party. You just didn’t dare talk about that type of thing — but Ayckbourn did.”
Still, “don’t at all think this is dry and boring and turgid and pretentious,” Anthony added. “But I think people are only realizing now that there was a pretty serious message hidden in there, as well. So he was combining both sides of the equation.”
Claudia Cragg is a 35-year theater journalist who comes from a theatrical family. Her mother, Diane Hart, was a well-known British actress who appeared often on stage and in more than 25 films. “I grew up in the fireplace on the set of ‘The Mousetrap,’ ” she said. “I am the only one in the family who’s not an actor because they are all barking mad.”
If the globe-trotting Craggs see themselves in any of Ayckbourn’s three couples, they’re not telling. “But I do work in a bank,” said Anthony, a theater historian and foreign-investment manager for Wells Fargo. “Hopefully, I’m not too much like the banker here — and Claudia is not an alcoholic, as far as I’m aware.
“But I guess any couple will see something of themselves in one or more of those three couples.”
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
“Absurd Person Singular”
Dark British farce. Presented by the Denver Center Theatre Company, at the SpaceTheatre, 14th and Curtis streets. Written by Alan Ayckbourn. Directed by Sabin Epstein. Starring Megan Byrne, Chris Mixon, John Hutton, Jeanne Paulsen, Kathleen McCall and David Ivers. Through Dec. 19. 2 hours, 40 minutes including two intermissions. 6:30 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays; 7:30 p.m. Fridays; 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays; 1:30 p.m. Sundays. $18-$51. 303-893-4100 (800-641-1222 outside Denver), at all King Soopers or
Video: “Absurd Person Singular” preview
Best bet: “Riverdance”
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You may think of “Riverdance” as an Irish step-dancing phenomenon but in its final (they swear) eight performances ever in Denver, the cast will include Bill Kanaly, a 2009 graduate of Cherry Creek High who left the University of Colorado at Boulder three weeks after the start of his freshman year to join up with this final Riverdance American tour. It’s full circle time for Kanaly, who tool up Irish dancing in 1998 after seeing “Riverdance” tour through Denver. He’s competed for the 11 years since. In its 13 years since debuting in Dublin, “Riverdance.” has staged more than 10,000 live performances for than 21 million people in 32 countries – not including a worldwide TV audience of 2 billion more. “Riverdance’s” appeal is rooted in its precision, energy, spectacle and sensuality while drawing on centuries-old Irish traditions. Tickets $2. Performances 7:30 p.m. Nov. 24-25 and 27-29. Also 2 p.m. Nov. 25 and Nov. 28-29, all at the Buell Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex. Tickets $20-$60; 303-893-4100, King Soopers stores or
This weekend’s other theater openings
“The Accident” Australian solo artist Jonno Katz, who melds the worlds of theater, mime, dance and stand-up, performs an unusual tale of two brothers. Through Nov. 21. Manitou Art Theatre, 1367 Pecan St., Colorado Springs, 719-685-4729 or
“The Christmas of the Angels” This original take on the Nativity story, written by Michael R. Duran, is told through the eyes of three watching angels. This staging is accompanied by the Aurora Symphony Orchestra. Through Dec. 20. Shadow Theatre, 1468 Dayton St., Aurora, 720-857-8000 or
“A Christmas Carol” Charles Dickens’ classic tale of Scrooge, Jacob Marley and redemption. Through Dec. 23. Lake Dillon Theatre Company, 176 Lake Dillon Drive, 970-513-9386 or
“A Christmas Story” Stage adaptation of the popular film about 9-year-old Ralphie, who only wants for Christmas a genuine Red Ryder BB gun. Through Dec. 20. Aurora Fox, 9900 E. Colfax Ave., 303-739-1970 or
“The Comedy of Errors” Shakespearean romp about two sets of identical twins who are accidentally separated at birth. Through Dec. 5. Upstart Crow at the Dairy Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder, 303-444-7328 or
“Plaid Tidings” A holiday variation on “Forever Plaid,” the popular revue of 1950s pop standards. Through Dec. 31. Union Colony, 802 Ninth Ave., Greeley, 970-352-2900 or
“Slut Energy Theory” Return engagement of jazz singer Rene Marie’s one-woman musical play about the harrowing life experiences of the fictional U’Dean Morgan. Based on Marie’s songs and essays. Through Sunday. Crossroads Theatre, 2590 Washington St., 303-832-0929 or
“Who Wants to Murder a Millionaire?” Interactive mystery dinner theater, where your presence is requested at the reading of the will for a recently deceased multibillionaire. Through Jan. 23. Adams Mystery Playhouse, 2406 Federal Blvd., 303-455-1848 or
Complete theater listings
Go to our complete list of in Colorado, including summaries, run dates, addresses, phones and links to every company’s home page. Or check out our listings or
The Running Lines blog
Catch up on John Moore’s roundup of theater news and dialogue.
