London Classic Theatre Announce UK Tour Of Absent Friends

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

BOOK ONLINE NOW Blackpool Grand

5-9 May

BOOK ONLINE NOW Wyvern Theatre, Swindon

11-13 May

BOOK ONLINE NOW Aylesbury Waterside Theatre

14-16 May

BOOK ONLINE NOW Civic Theatre, Chelmsford

19-20 May

BOOK ONLINE NOW Theatre Royal, Winchester

21-23 May

BOOK ONLINE NOW King's Theatre, Southsea

26-27 May

BOOK ONLINE NOW Connaught Theatre, Worthing

28-30 May

BOOK ONLINE NOW Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds

2-6 June

BOOK ONLINE NOW Belgrade Theatre, Coventry

8-13 June

BOOK ONLINE NOW Richmond Theatre

15-20 June

BOOK ONLINE NOW Lyceum Crewe

22-24 June

BOOK ONLINE NOW Greenwich Theatre

25-27 June

BOOK ONLINE NOW Theatre Royal, Margate

30 June-1 July

BOOK ONLINE NOW Assembly Halls, Tunbridge Wells

2-4 July

BOOK ONLINE NOW Derby Theatre

7-11 July

BOOK ONLINE NOW Cheltenham Everyman

13-18 July

BOOK ONLINE NOW