Absurd Writers Plural
Feb. 10th, 2006 12:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
major_clangerJust back from seeing Improbable Fiction, Alan Ayckbourn's new comedy currently playing in Cambridge as part of its national tour. I became an Ayckbourn fan whilst based in Scarborough - home of the theatre where he's resident director - and his latest effort is as well worth seeing as any of his classics.
This review pretty much sums up the overall plot, but doesn't do justice to the quality of the writing. Act 1, played pretty much straight, contains much painfully wry observation of the social backstabbing of a faltering writers' circle, presided over by the nice but ineffectual Arnold, epitome of every mild-mannered club chair for whom papering over the cracks with a nervous laugh has become a way of life. But Act 2 swaps the winces for laughs, as the dreadfully flawed creations of Arnolds's fellow writers come to life around him.
Even here, amidst what is on the face of it slapstick farce, Ayckbourn's observation is spot on. Jess is blunt in person but a hopeless prevaricator as a writer; as her Victorian melodrama comes to life, the viewpoint character is equally paralysed and passive. Vivvi, by contrast, can't stop writing, not to mention being hopelessly besotted with her own 1930s detective (whose female sidekick is the most blatant Mary Sue in theatrical history); manifested on stage, he is as long-winded as his writer. And when Clem's fellow writers complain that they can't distinguish the characters in his sub-X-files conspiracy thriller, it's hardly surprising that they end up appearing as generic jumpsuited bimbos spouting meaningless technobabble and hideous malapropisms. As these three plots intertwine, the audience can't help but wonder what's in store for Grace and her saccharine children's fairytale, or Brevis's half-written musical. Fear not, their time will come...
A delightful piece, Improbable Fiction works well as comedy but underneath the laughs has some painfully accurate observation of the way in which aspiring writers seek to escape the character stereotype they see in the mirror every morning. One thing's for sure: I am never, ever, hosting a writing circle as long as I live.
This review pretty much sums up the overall plot, but doesn't do justice to the quality of the writing. Act 1, played pretty much straight, contains much painfully wry observation of the social backstabbing of a faltering writers' circle, presided over by the nice but ineffectual Arnold, epitome of every mild-mannered club chair for whom papering over the cracks with a nervous laugh has become a way of life. But Act 2 swaps the winces for laughs, as the dreadfully flawed creations of Arnolds's fellow writers come to life around him.
Even here, amidst what is on the face of it slapstick farce, Ayckbourn's observation is spot on. Jess is blunt in person but a hopeless prevaricator as a writer; as her Victorian melodrama comes to life, the viewpoint character is equally paralysed and passive. Vivvi, by contrast, can't stop writing, not to mention being hopelessly besotted with her own 1930s detective (whose female sidekick is the most blatant Mary Sue in theatrical history); manifested on stage, he is as long-winded as his writer. And when Clem's fellow writers complain that they can't distinguish the characters in his sub-X-files conspiracy thriller, it's hardly surprising that they end up appearing as generic jumpsuited bimbos spouting meaningless technobabble and hideous malapropisms. As these three plots intertwine, the audience can't help but wonder what's in store for Grace and her saccharine children's fairytale, or Brevis's half-written musical. Fear not, their time will come...
A delightful piece, Improbable Fiction works well as comedy but underneath the laughs has some painfully accurate observation of the way in which aspiring writers seek to escape the character stereotype they see in the mirror every morning. One thing's for sure: I am never, ever, hosting a writing circle as long as I live.
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That sounds superb.
Date: 2006-02-10 11:35 am (UTC)