Absent Friends

Alan Ayckbourn’s ageless comedy of embarrassment, set in 1974, deals affectionately with familiar situations: marriages broken or breaking. Unfaithful, daft, restless, insensitive, these friends are a typical crew. Evelyn, Marge, Paul and John help or get in the way while Diana (sensitively played by Catherine Harvey) holds our attention and sympathy as she tries to bring them together, and gradually falls apart herself.

So, what did they do to deserve Colin (a shiveringly optimistic Ashley Cook) and why had they rather neglected him in recent years? As you find out, you will squirm, laugh and ultimately wish them all well.

Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne, 28 April 2015

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