To date, British Playwright Alan Ayckbourn has written over 79 published and/or performed full-length plays. Absurd Person Singular is his 12th play. It first premiered off-Broadway in 1972 and on-Broadway in October of 1974 and received very solid reviews. Variety called the play "audacious" and said that the play is "faultlessly constructed" by Ayckbourn. Alfred Hickling of The Guardian also very much liked the 2012 revival of the play, awarding it a rating of 4 out of 5 stars and calling its message "prescient" despite it having been written in the 1970's. In that sense, Absurd Person Singular is timeless. It is not a classic play just yet, but it is a very good one which will be remembered for years -- and decades -- to come.
The play is told in three acts and from three different perspectives -- the perspectives of three different married couples at Christmas celebrations at their homes in successive years. The couples are: Sidney and Jane, Geoffery and Eva, and Ronald and Marion. The film is a dark comedy and documents the couples' changing fortunes -- their highs and their lows and everything in between.
The play has often been compared to an earlier work of Ayckbourn's, Relatively Speaking, which was written in 1965. Both plays have a similar comedic style, one which blends dark and light humor together. The play also has an underlying moral message about the dangers of not being able to stand up for oneself -- a message which is still relevant today. In today's world, where 'mobbing' is becoming more and more of a problem, Absurd Person Singular speaks to a modern audience in a way that few other plays do. The play has been revived numerous times, and is still popular today -- testament to its relevance and timelessness.
Absurd Person Singular was also later adapted into a TV film of the same name in 1985. It was directed by Michael A. Simpson and received very solid reviews (on IMDb, users gave it a rating of 8.5 out of 10 stars). Few people know about the film, but those who do like it.
