Reviewing the world premiere of Alan Ayckbourn’s Bedroom Farce in Scarborough in 1975, the Yorkshire Post’s theatre critic hailed it as a “masterpiece of comedy”. Desmond Pratt’s review also noted the “astonishing” phenomenon of Ayckbourn’s output: “it is his 17th [new play] in 16 years”.
In the intervening half a century, Ayckbourn has continued to premiere plays in Scarborough at a rate of at least one a year; his 90th, Show and Tell, opens there next month. Meanwhile, Bedroom Farce has become a worldwide favourite of amateur as well as professional stages: this latest production deliciously demonstrates why.
Michael Holt’s period-perfect set neatly juxtaposes three bedrooms belonging to three very different couples: one older, two younger. The action spans one hectic night; there is no “S-E-X”. The longest-serving couple, Ernest and Delia, conclude a wedding anniversary by eating pilchards in bed (they’ve run out of sardines). He worries about a leaking roof, she about their son, Trevor – the spoiled product of his neglect and her overcompensation.
Over at lovey-dovey Malcolm and Kate’s house-warming, the party is broken up by a violent argument between Trevor and his highly sensitive wife, Susannah. Trevor ricochets off to former lover Jan and her temporarily bedbound new partner, Nick; Susannah takes her troubles to Trevor’s parents.
Director Robin Herford and his excellent ensemble deliver powerful characterisations, strong, comic rhythms, plenty of laughter and also, that core Ayckbourn ingredient, a pinch of pain. The impositions of the nightmare couple’s self-probings open up cracks in the other relationships. We are left wondering, which is better: the emotion-numbing accommodations of compromise, or incessant interrogation of the nature of engagement? The performance closes on Susannah’s desperate expression of self-reassurance, simultaneously funny/sad, truthful/exaggerated: “People are not frightening.”
