Artistic Director of London Classic Theatre, Michael Cabot announced today that they would tour a production of Absent Friends by Alan Ayckbourn as part of their 15th anniversary season.
Summer 1974. A well-intentioned tea party descends into chaos.
Wealthy, unfulfilled housewife Diana arranges a gathering of old friends to cheer up bereaved Colin, whose fiancée drowned two months earlier. Paul, her bullying, self-absorbed husband, has recently had a dalliance with Evelyn, the glamorous wife of his friend and incompetent business associate, John. The party is completed by long-suffering Marge, who has left Gordon, her hypochondriac spouse, ailing at home.
Preparations for the party spark tensions and open old wounds. As lingering resentments and deep-rooted jealousies surface, an unexpectedly cheerful Colin strolls into the mayhem.
Acerbic and painfully funny, Absent Friends explores friendship, marriage and what it ultimately means to be happy. In one of his finest plays, Ayckbourn’s craftsmanship and acute social observation have never been sharper or more biting.
Cabot directs Ashley Cook (Colin), John Dorney (John), Kevin Drury (Paul), Catherine Harvey (Diana), Kathryn Ritchie (Evelyn) and Alice Selwyn (Marge).
Alan Ayckbourn is an Olivier and Tony Award winning playwright who has written 78 plays, more than half of which have been produced in London’s West End as well as around the world. Some of his best known work includes Absurd Person Singular, The Norman Conquests, Relatively Speaking, Bedroom Farce, A Chorus of Disapproval and Communicating Doors.
ABSENT FRIENDS 2015 UK TOUR SCHEDULE
Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne
28 April – 2 May
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Blackpool Grand
5-9 May
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Wyvern Theatre, Swindon
11-13 May
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Aylesbury Waterside Theatre
14-16 May
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Civic Theatre, Chelmsford
19-20 May
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Theatre Royal, Winchester
21-23 May
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King’s Theatre, Southsea
26-27 May
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Connaught Theatre, Worthing
28-30 May
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Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds
2-6 June
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Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
8-13 June
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Richmond Theatre
15-20 June
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Lyceum Crewe
22-24 June
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Greenwich Theatre
25-27 June
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Theatre Royal, Margate
30 June-1 July
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Assembly Halls, Tunbridge Wells
2-4 July
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Derby Theatre
7-11 July
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Cheltenham Everyman
13-18 July
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