A SAMUEL FRENCH, LTD. TITLE

Absurd Person Singular

Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy  /  3w, 3m

Absurd Person Singular
by Alan Ayckbourn

Meet three couples in their three kitchens on the Christmas Eves of three successive years. Running like a dark thread through the wild comedy of behind the scenes disasters at Christmas parties is the story of the advance of one of the couples to material prosperity and independence and the decline of the others.

Absurd Person Singular

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    3w, 3m
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult, Teen (Age 14-18)
Accolades
Accolades
  • 1973 Evening Standard Best Comedy Award

Details

Summary

Meet three couples in their three kitchens on the Christmas Eves of three successive years. The "lower class" but very much up and coming Hopcrofts are in their bright new, gadget filled kitchen anxiously giving a little party for their bank manager and his wife and an architect neighbor. Next there are the architect and his wife in their neglected, untidy flat. Then the bank manager and his wife are in their large, slightly modernized, old Victorian style kitchen. Running like a dark thread through the wild comedy of behind the scenes disasters at Christmas parties is the story of the advance of the Hopcrofts to material prosperity and independence and the decline of the others. In the final stages the little man is well and truly on top, with the others, literally and unnervingly, dancing to his tune.

"Best comedy Britain has sent us in years." - The New York Times


M3 (30s, 40s) F3 (30s, 40s)
  • Time Period Contemporary
  • Setting Three kitchen'settings
  • Cautions
    • No Special Cautions

Media

"Walks a zigzag line between comedy and farce and often manages to be staggeringly funny." - Newsweek

Videos

  • Alan Ayckbourn on Growing As a Dramatist youtube thumbnail

    Alan Ayckbourn on Growing As a Dramatist

  • Alan Ayckbourn on Comparisons youtube thumbnail

    Alan Ayckbourn on Comparisons

  • Alan Ayckbourn on How to Approach His Plays youtube thumbnail

    Alan Ayckbourn on How to Approach His Plays

  • Alan Ayckbourn on Getting Started youtube thumbnail

    Alan Ayckbourn on Getting Started

  • Alan Ayckbourn on the Difference Between Then and Now youtube thumbnail

    Alan Ayckbourn on the Difference Between Then and Now

  • Alan Ayckbourn on Ideas youtube thumbnail

    Alan Ayckbourn on Ideas

  • Alan Ayckbourn on Writing a Well Made Play youtube thumbnail

    Alan Ayckbourn on Writing a Well Made Play

Show more +

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £70 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

    Please submit a license request to determine availability.

Scripts

Available Formats:

Authors

Alan Ayckbourn

A playwright and theatre director, to date Alan Ayckbourn has written 89 plays – Family Album attracted four-star reviews when it premiered in September 2022 at the Stephen Joseph, where nearly all his plays are first staged.

However, this year he will stage his 88th play Welc ...

View full profile

Now Playing