Bedroom Farce: A Comedy In Two Acts

by Alan Ayckbourn

Trevor and Susannah, whose marriage is on the rocks, inflict their miseries on their nearest and dearest: three couples whose own relationships are tenuous at best. Taking place sequentially in the three beleaguered couples' bedrooms during one endless Saturday night of co-dependence and dysfunction, beds, tempers, and domestic order are ruffled, leading all the players to a hilariously touching epiphany.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Fiction, British Literature, Humor, Drama

93 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Sir Alan Ayckbourn is a popular and prolific English playwright. He has written and produced seventy-three full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their first performance. More than 40 have subsequently been produced in the West End, at the Royal National Theatre or by the Royal Shakespeare Company since his first hit Relatively Speaking opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in 1967. Major successes include Absurd Person Singular (1975), The Norman Conquests trilogy (1973), Bedroom Farce (1975), Just Between Ourselves (1976), A Chorus of Disapproval (1984), Woman in Mind (1985), A Small Family Business (1987), Man Of The Moment (1988), House & Garden (1999) and Private Fears in Public Places (2004). His plays have won numerous awards, including seven London Evening Standard Awards. They have been translated into over 35 languages and are performed on stage and television throughout the world. Ten of his plays have been staged on Broadway, attracting two Tony nominations, and one Tony award.

Reviews

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

My local community theater has this on their upcoming slate. It's a two act play about four couples. Although there is offstage action taking place in other parts of their homes, the play takes place entirely in three of their bedrooms, thus the title.

There's a rather carefree younger couple who like playing practical jokes on each other. In a second younger couple, the husband has hurt his back and is confined to bed, a circumstance that obviously suits his personality poorly. An older couple is on the fussy, bumbling side. The problem children are the fourth couple (whose bedroom is not one of the sets). The husband in this couple is the child of the older couple, and he was once involved with the wife in the couple with the injured husband. He and his wife are having major marital difficulties, which are aggravated by the fact that both of these two are extremely childish and seem to have no care for others.

The humor here is situational, it doesn't particularly come from the dialogue itself, but from the droll events that keep these people wandering in and out of each other's bedrooms (and no, they're not the activities a modern audience associates with the bedroom). The play is strong enough that it has given me more curiosity about Ayckbourn, whose Table Manners was revived so successfully a year and some ago at Lincoln Center. That said, I feel like either this is not his best work, or that cultural differences or the passage of time have dulled the farce. There are some clever scenes, such as one where the young wife is fresh out of the shower, interrupted by arriving guests, and trapped hiding unsuccessfully under the bed clothes by the guests as her husband brings one couple after another up to the bedroom to leave their coats. Or the scene where the feckless husband in the troubled couple comes to the house of his ex-girlfriend and expects to be comforted by her and her husband in their bedroom late at night (while the poor husband is trying unsuccessfully to recuperate.)

I've moved on to Absurd Person Singular, another Ayckbourn play, and it's a dozen times sharper, using a similar tactic of confining all the action to a series of Christmas Eve kitchens. There is some dead funny black humor in that work. I can't help but conclude that the thinking at my local community theater is influenced too much by what they think they can stage easily on their small stage.

[Ginevra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sembrava quasi impossibile strutturare un'opera teatrale utilizzando quattro famiglie e facendole muovere esclusivamente in tre camere da letto.
Il risultato, però, è molto più che soddisfacente: non solo il testo è molto dinamico e accuratamente bilanciato, ma all'interno raccoglie anche moltissimi dettagli che, se analizzati, darebbero luogo a molti spunti di riflessione (dall'incapacità di alzarsi dal letto di Nick alla mania di Malcolm e Kate di infilare oggetti dentro il loro letto, fino allo strano rapporto con il cibo di Delia e Ernest).
Molto molto carino

[Evan James · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED IT!

[Anton Segers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ayckbourn is troostliteratuur: hij toont je dat de gemiddelde mens in Groot-Brittannië even waanzinnig ineen steekt als die in onze onmiddellijke omgeving - dus dat wij niet de enigen zijn die ermee zitten en moeten leren mee leven, met contactarmoe, complexen, behaag- & bedilzucht, egocentrisme enz.
In dit stuk wordt het net iets minder grappig en verrassend uitvergroot dan in zijn meesterwerken, maar het blijft zeer amusant.

[Brian McCann · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read. The play is just okay; seems a bit rehashed, like a poor man’s ABSURD PERSON SINGULAR (which I loved!!)

[Stuart Aken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alan Ayckbourn, in Bedroom Farce, has written another in his series of very funny and insightful farces. A play, of course, is intended to be seen in order to be fully appreciated, but, as a playwright myself, I have an interest in reading the scripts.

This one is staged using three sets that appear together: three bedrooms, which allow the action of the interrelated couples to indulge in the farce of the title. However, what could so easily have descended into smut and exploitation of sexual mores, is instead a complex and well-observed comedy about English suburban life. Ayckbourn is a superb recorder of the idiosyncrasies of his family of English characters. He portrays them with love but doesn’t hold back in showing them for what they are. Often silly, sometimes selfish, frequently lacking in understanding, but never stereotypical, boring or trite.

He uses his sets to make points, giving the locations roles that place them as mute characters on stage to comment silently on the peculiarities, peccadillos, personalities and preferences of his flesh and blood characters. Imagination permits the reader to experience the text in much the same way as the theatre-goer might experience the performance. Though this is not to say that talented actors fail to raise more and greater laughs from the audience than the reader can develop from imagination alone.

Should this play be produced on a stage near me, I shall certainly attend and watch as the text is brought to life by performers who will undoubtedly enjoy the experience as much as the audience. And I’d recommend you to do the same. It’s a play full of laughter for the audience and brimming with under-stated and sometimes subtle asides at the characters. Well worth the reader’s and the viewer’s attention.

[Andrew Lawston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bedroom Farce is a fantastically funny Ayckbourn comedy, full of shockingly believable characters behaving in a plausibly ridiculous fashion. I recently played Malcolm Newton in an amateur production of the show, and thoroughly enjoyed showing the character's chirpy easy-going facade gradually disintegrate to reveal the furious manchild within, storming out of the house, and venting black rage on to a hapless MFI flatpack. One of the greatest comedies I've ever had the fortune to act in, and highly recommended.

[Jojo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Summary: Another play involving several sets of couples. Malcolm and Kate are hosting a little get-together. Ernest and Delia are a bit older and the parents of Trevor, who is married to Susannah. Then there's Nick and Jan. Nick is currently incapacitated so doesn't leave the house. Jan, meanwhile, once dated Trevor. There's rumors about how Trevor and Susannah are struggling in their marriage. At the party, the two get into it a bit and then Trevor kisses Jan which Susannah catches. The party ends. Susannah goes over to her in-laws (aka Ernest and Delia). Kate offers to let Trevor stay but then he winds up going over to Jan and Nick's. Nick wants nothing to do with him but Jan says he can stay the night. Eventually, Susannah and Trevor make up and give it another go.
Review: Lots of antics here. This author certainly has a knack for writing unlikable characters. I mean who would put up with these two? Anyway, it says it's a comedy but there was only one moment I recall being amused by. So yeah I think it was okay.
Grade: C-

[Zach · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd rate this play 3.5. The farce is better in the first act, and while I liked some of the characters, the story loses its steam before the end. As the couple at the center of the story come into focus, they reveal that they aren't that likeable (or even charmingly dislikeable), and I wasn't invested in their romance.

There were moments I enjoyed, but the story taken as a whole was underwhelming.

[Liralen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The gender dynamics here are wildly outdated, but the whole thing is hilarious and (yes) farcical and a lot of fun to read. The characters aren't exactly lovable creatures much of the time, but it's more interesting that way. This is one that I'd love to see performed, because there's so much snark and repartee, and it seems like there would be a lot of options for staging.

[Brice Fuqua · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gimmicky play satirizing middle-class Brits.

[Bobby Sullivan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful. Pointless. Stupid. I need to stop reading farces; I think I just don't like the entire genre.

[Fern · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read it because I wanted to audition for it. I ended up really liking the play.

[Gillian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing and not up to Alan Ayckbourn's high standard

[Maddy Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s definitely a show that’s funnier on its feet than on the page.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really funny moments, but is probably better to actually see on stage.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, funny, doesn't take itself too seriously.

[Steve · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you're going to make your title Bedroom Farce, make sure it's actually funny.

[Andréa Lechner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious play about couples'antics, a treat to stage and act in. Timing is everything, of course, and when done well it is an absolute treat.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this play for my British Drama class. Interesting. Rather funny.