ALAN Ayckbourn's triptych of plays in the Stephen Joseph Theatre summer season in Scarborough continues with the opening of his bite-sized lunchtime shows, Consuming Passions, today in the Bistro.
Already up and running is his interactive new play cum party game, Alan Ayckbourn's Karaoke Theatre Company, and his revival of his future-world dark comedy, Henceforward, will follow in The Round from September 8 to October 8.
Consuming Passions is divided into two 50-minute shows, Part 1: Premonitions and Part 2: Repercussions, that can be seen separately or together, first in The Bistro until September 8 and then in the McCarthy from September 16 to October 8.
What happens in Consuming Passions? Melanie believes she has foreseen the future, but has she really? Or is it all in her mind? True or false, she has seen events which threaten the life of one she secretly loves and whose life is in terrible danger. What can she possibly do or say to prevent things happening and who on earth will even believe her, asks Ayckbourn.
"They're two separate plays but nevertheless it's best to see both of them," says Ayckbourn. "They're a Technicolor light thriller where you wonder whether a woman really can see into the future or is she in fact nuts?"
He is delighted to have restored the tradition from the days of his artistic directorship of the SJT of presenting lunchtime plays in the restaurant, a fruitful artistic policy that saw both Tim Firth and Torben Betts take their first steps as a playwright.
Alan Ayckbourn
"I've been keen to return to presenting lunchtime shows as what I call 'theatre for people who aren't quite sure they like theatre'," says Ayckbourn. "It can introduce people to new writers, and it's a great art is the short play. I've always loved them, but I hadn't done any for a long time, not since the Ten By Ten season, until I did Farcicals two years ago. I always thought I wasn't a writer of short plays but now I discover I am.
"It's a great skill writing one-act plays; the great thing is to get the play going, otherwise it might have finished when you have only just started! So it's an exercise in brevity and being concise without being like a flicker book. You need a twist in it too."
Consuming Passions will be set in a bistro in a seedy part of London where the waiters are hostile and the woman in the story, Melanie, has a habit of ordering only a glass of water. "She suddenly realises she is seeing tomorrow night's couple at the table: a married woman and her boyfriend, who are planning to murder her husband."
Sounds intriguing? You better make a reservation promptly.
Alan Ayckbourn's Consuming Passions: Premonitions & Repercussions, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, lunchtimes in the Bistro, where they can be seen individually on different days or both together, on various dates from today until September 8; price includes soup and a sandwich, served from 12 noon to pm. Then in the McCarthy, both plays, Premonitions & Repercussions, September 16 to October 8. Suitable for age 12 and over. Box office: 01723 379541 or at sjt.uk.com
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