Recently we enjoyed Alan Ayckbourn's latest offering at the Old Laundry in Bowness-on-Windermere: A Brief History of Women.The play is a journey through sixty years of the life of an unremarkable man and the remarkable women who loved, left or lost him and of the equally remarkable manor house which saw and heard it all.
It was a beautiful play, a relief after Ayckbourn's recent departures into robots and dystopian futures! Both Chris and I loved it and laughed a lot as well as feeling sad at some of the more poignant moments.
“One way or another you’ve had quite a full life haven’t you? A house full of ghosts then? No wonder you look slightly haunted. Like a character out of Edgar Allen Poe. Beware!”From his first unsettling encounter as a very young man in 1925 to an unexpected reunion late in life, Anthony Spates’ romantic progress is charted in this hilarious and gently touching comedy. The fireworks, the love and loss come at the funniest moments in this brand new classic Ayckbourn comedy.
The acting was, as ever, fantastic. The Stephen Joseph Theatre executed swift and convincing costume and character changes and the scene shifters created believable spaces on a small stage.
One of the highlights of the evening, for the starstruck amongst us (that's me!), was Alan Ayckbourn sitting four seats away on our row. There was something magical about watching the play with the playwright in the theatre.