Three married couples. Three kitchens. Three Christmas parties.
London Classic Theatre’s Absurd Person Singular UK tour opens at The New Wolsey theatre on 5 March and tours until 19 July.
Sidney Hopcroft, a small-time tradesman, persuades wife Jane to throw a party hoping to find favour with a bank manager and local architect. As celebrations begin, class differences and naked ambition combine to hilarious effect as, one by one, the characters seek refuge in Jane’s kitchen.
Over the next two years, the Jacksons and Brewster-Wrights take turns to host festivities. But Sidney’s star has begun to rise and roles are increasingly reversed as the cracks in the other couples’ marriages begin to show.
Helen Keeley plays Eva Jackson. Helen’s previous credits for the company include Private Lives and The Importance of Being Earnest. Other theatre credits The Picture of Dorian Gray (Trafalgar Studios/UK tour), Yap Yap Yap (Battersea Arts Centre), Half, To the End (Southwark Playhouse) and A Summer Day’s Dream (Finborough Theatre).
The Artiscape spoke with Helen Keeley about her role in the play
What attracted you to the script?
Keeley: I didn’t realise how funny it would be as the title really doesn’t give much away.
It’s about social climbing in the 1970s and everyday relationship politics and I was attracted to the female characters, who all have their own complete journey and are really well written.
I also loved that although there is a party happening in the lounge in each act, the audience only gets to see into the kitchen, and let’s be honest, that’s where the juiciest things happen at parties – in the rooms they aren’t supposed to!
Can you tell us about the character you play?
Keeley: I play Eva Jackson, she has some fairly bad mental health which comes to a head in Act 2 and it isn’t helped by her husband who is constantly having affairs with other women.
She is rather blind to social convention so frequently and quite unconsciously, makes others feel uncomfortable when she opens up too much and she never shies away from the truth.
Other than your own character, what other character do you enjoy and why?
Keeley: I think my favourite character is Marion Brewster-Wright. She is a hilarious and incredible woman, in some ways the opposite of Eva, a proud snob who lives her life by the lines of social convention but who is also an undervalued wife and deals with her disappointment with one too many gins!
What are you most looking forward to about performing in this play?
Keeley: It is a real joy to act as every character is funny, but they are funny because they all have their own struggles and demons to deal with. Then somehow bizarre events happen out of an utterly ordinary situation; electrocutions, a tea cosy on the head, climbing out of a window and they all happen completely plausibly!
What do you think audience members will enjoy about the play?
Keeley: I think the audience will enjoy the comedy and the amazing seventies set and costumes. Although technology and time have moved on, the play serves as a pertinent reminder that social politics are slower to change.
Absurd person singular is showing from Tuesday 4 to Saturday 7th of March at The New Wolsey Theatre – Book tickets.
