Alan Ayckbourn
Looking at Edward Gray's three daughters and their unsuitable husbands, it is difficult to disagree with his pronouncement that we all marry the wrong person. It is also impossible not to laugh at the results hilariously portrayed in this early play by the master of English comedy that is being published for the first time. Indeed, even Edward's marriage to mousy Emma isn't all clear sailing, or why would the daughters who are visiting for their parents' wedding anniversary suspect that they are trying to kill each other! Just as that plot thickens, the younger couples change partners and keep changing until each possible combination proves more outrageous than the last. As funny and theatrically daring as any of the author's better known works, Family Circles is as much fun to stage as it is to watch.
A playwright and theatre director, to date Alan Ayckbourn has written 89 plays – Family Album attracted four-star reviews when it premiered in September 2022 at the Stephen Joseph, where nearly all his plays are first staged.
However, this year he will stage his 88th play Welc ...
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