RolePlay (play)

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RolePlay
RolePlay.jpg
Written by Alan Ayckbourn
Characters Justin Lazenby
Julie-Ann Jobson
Paige Petite
Micky Rale
Derek Jobson
Dee Jobson
Arabella Lazenby
Date premiered 4 September 2001
Place premiered Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough
Original language English
Series Damsels in Distress
Subject Romance, class difference
Genre Comedy
Setting Justin Lazenby's flat, London Docklands, 2001
Official site
Ayckbourn chronology
FlatSpin
( Damsels in Distress )
2001		 Snake in the Grass
2002

RolePlay is a 2001 play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn, the third in a trilogy of plays called Damsels in Distress ( GamePlan and FlatSpin being parts one and two). It is about an engaged couple, Julie-Ann Jobson and Justin Lazenby whose engagement party is interrupted by unexpected intrusions.

Alan Ayckbourn English playwright

Sir Alan Ayckbourn, is a prolific British playwright and director. He has written and produced more than seventy 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 1969.

<i>Damsels in Distress</i> (plays) play written by Alan Ayckbourn

Damsels in Distress is a trilogy of plays written in 2001 by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. The three plays, GamePlan, FlatSpin and RolePlay, were originally performed as a set by the Stephen Joseph Theatre Company (SJT). The plays were written to be performed by the same seven actors using the same set. Although the plays loosely shared some common themes, the three stories were independent of each other and unconnected.

<i>GamePlan</i> (play) 2--1 play by Alan Ayckbourn

GamePlan is a 2001 play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn, the first in a trilogy of plays called Damsels in Distress The darkest of the three plays, it is about a teenage girl who tries to support herself and her mother through prostitution.

Contents

Background

Damsels in Distress was originally intended to be only a pair of plays: GamePlan and FlatSpin . However, during early preparations, Ayckbourn had an idea for a third play, RolePlay. When the cast agreed to the third play, the end of the Stephen Joseph Theatre's 2001 season was altered to accommodate this third play. [1] [2] Like the other two plays, this drew some inspiration from the London Docklands, where Alan Ayckbourn has a flat, and people often do not know each other well. [2]

Stephen Joseph Theatre theatre in Scarborough, England, a former cinema

The Stephen Joseph Theatre is a theatre in the round in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England that was founded by Stephen Joseph and was the first theatre in the round in Britain.

London Docklands area in east and southeast London

London Docklands is the riverfront and former docks in London. In east and southeast London, it forms part of the boroughs of Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Lewisham, Newham, and Greenwich. The docks were formerly part of the Port of London, at one time the world's largest port. Following the closure of the docks, the area became derelict and poverty-ridden by the 1980s. The Docklands' regeneration began later that decade; it has been redeveloped principally for commercial and residential use. The name "London Docklands" was used for the first time in a government report on redevelopment plans in 1971 and has since become virtually universally adopted. The redevelopment created wealth, but also led to conflict between the new and old communities in the areas thus designated.

Characters

As part of the Damsels in Distress trilogy, RolePlay was written to use the same seven actors as the other two plays in the series. In this play, the characters are:

Setting

The entire play is set in Justin Lazenby's flat, on the riverside in the London Docklands. As part of Damsels in Distress, the play was written to use the identical set to the other two plays. As with most Ayckbourn plays, it was originally performed in the Round for its original production at the Stephen Joseph Theatre. However, it was adapted for the Proscenium for subsequent performances elsewhere.

Theatre in the round

A theatre in the round, arena theatre or central staging is a space for theatre in which the audience surrounds the stage.

Proscenium

A proscenium is the metaphorical vertical plane of space in a theatre, usually surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch and on the bottom by the stage floor itself, which serves as the frame into which the audience observes from a more or less unified angle the events taking place upon the stage during a theatrical performance. The concept of the fourth wall of the theatre stage space that faces the audience is essentially the same.

The play is performed in two Acts. The first Act is divided into two scenes, and the second Act is one continuous scene.

Synopsis

Act 1

Scene 1

The play opens where Justin Lazenby and Julie-Ann Jobson are busy preparing for a dinner party. Julie-Ann's parents are expected, as is Justin's mother with her current "man-friend". It is intended Justin will announce their engagement but, there are already warning signs that they are perhaps not fully compatible. Julie-Ann's desperation to get every detail perfect isn't a good sign, neither is Justin's reaction to her suggestion of living chastely apart until their wedding night. In the meantime, Justin receives a series of phone calls from his mother, Arabella, indicating that she will be both drunk and late.

However, after Julie-Ann leaves in search of a replacement for a missing fork, a bigger problem emerges: a woman falls into Justin's balcony. She is Paige Petite, who climbed out of the window of the penthouse she lives in, on the run from her violent gangster boyfriend, Rudi, who mistakenly believes she cheated on him. Before she can leave, Paige's "minder", Micky Rale, enters, having gone in search of her. Paige refuses to go back with him, and Micky refuses to leave without her. Julie-Ann returns to discover Paige (having earlier taken a bath) wearing the dress she was intending to wear. Julie-Ann demands Paige takes off the dress, but it ends with Micky pointing a gun at Justin and insisting Julie-Ann helps herself to one of Paige's dresses upstairs. After Julie-Ann leaves, Micky acknowledges Justin is holding a party this evening and asks "Is there anything we can do to help?"

Scene 2

In the second scene, Justin, Micky and Paige are still waiting for Julie-Ann's return. Julie-Ann's parents from Doncaster, Derek and Dee Jobson, arrive first. They instantly warm to Justin, but whilst it is clear they regard Julie-Ann (nicknamed "our apple") with far more fondness than their other two daughters. When Julie-Ann finally returns, it is in one of Paige's revealing dresses, much to her parents' horror.

When Justin's mother, Arabella, finally arrives, it is without her "man-friend" Olaf, who was ditched en route. Very drunk, she mistakes Paige for Justin's fiancée and says Justin has finally struck gold. When Justin eventually manages to point out which girl Julie-Ann really is, she says "He's done it again! Another bloody dog." Julie-Ann leaves in tears, Arabella collapses on the sofa, and the Act closes with Justin cheerfully saying "Soup anyone?"

Act 2

The second act takes place after the dinner. In spite of Arabella spending the entire dinner unconscious, and Paige and Micky joining the meal and messing up the cutlery arrangement, things have evidently gone well. Julie-Ann, having swapped dresses with Paige at some point, attempts to make things up with Arabella, although Arabella never seems to grasp which girl is which. However, things start to go downhill when Derek has a private word with Justin. Derek suggests Justin should move up to Doncaster to take over his garden centre business, oblivious to Justin's hints that he is not interested. Furthermore, Justin learns from Derek that the reason Derek and Dee fell out with Julie-Ann's two sisters was because one of them is a lesbian and the other married a Chinese man.

Meanwhile, Micky takes the occasional phone call from an angry Rudi, now returning from a boxing match in Birmingham (where all his fighters lost). Paige gets increasingly fearful of what he will do to her when he returns, but Micky refuses to change his mind – not because he wishes this on her, but because he is doing his job. In spite of this, Paige rescues Micky when Arabella takes an interest in his boxing career, claiming he was brilliantly successful when in fact he was a dismal failure. After Arabella falls and breaks fourteen glasses, the evening starts to fall flat. Derek makes a few lame jokes that his family find hilarious, then attempts to start a couple of racist jokes. Undeterred, Julie-Ann insists on Justin's speech. Justin attempts to start with "It's with great pleasure ..." but keeps stalling on "It's ...", and instead breaks into It's a Long Way to Tipperary.

Its a Long Way to Tipperary song

"It's a Long Way to Tipperary" is a British music hall song written by Henry James "Harry" Williams and co-credited to Jack Judge. Originally it was credited as written by Jack Judge and co-credited to Henry James "Harry" Williams. It was allegedly written for a 5-shilling bet in Stalybridge on 30 January 1912 and performed the next night at the local music hall. Now commonly called "It's a Long Way to Tipperary", the original printed music calls it "It's a Long, Long Way to Tipperary". It became popular among soldiers in the First World War and is remembered as a song of that war.

The conversation then moves to Paige's common-sounding voice, and she says it was down to a motorbike accident she had when she was younger – a story that Justin correctly suspects she made up. Arabella then suggests Paige does a dance as her party piece, (having earlier misunderstood what kind of "dancer" she is). Paige, having been incensed by the Jobsons over the evening, agrees and gives Justin a lap dance, before Julie-Ann attacks her. Considering the evening a write-off, Justin gets his mother away into a taxi before Julie-Ann talks to him. She forgives him, but in a way that implies that she expects Justin to take up Derek's garden centre offer to stay together.

The doorbell rings, which Justin believes to be Rudi. He is all set to deny everything, but it is only Arabella, having only made it a few hundred yards instead of to Godalming. Micky, having warmed to Arabella, and moved by Paige's story of her accident, not to mention fear of his getting hurt too when Rudi returns, offers to take Arabella home in Rudi's favourite car, thereby setting Paige free. Justin gives Paige some money to get on her way, but by now he wants an escape from his own life. He persuades Paige to take him with her. They leave together, and the play ends just as Rudi's gangsters are trying to force their way through the door to a surprised Derek and Dee.

Godalming town in the Borough of Waverley in Surrey, England

Godalming is a historic market town, civil parish and administrative centre of the Borough of Waverley in Surrey, England, 4 miles SSW of Guildford. The town traverses the banks of the River Wey in the Greensand Ridge – a hilly, heavily wooded part of the outer London commuter belt and Green Belt. In 1881, it became the first place in the world to have a public electricity supply and electric street lighting.

Productions

See also: Productions on Damsels in Distress (plays) page.

The production at the Stephen Joseph Theatre had an opening night on 30 August 2001 and a premiere on 4 September 2001 [3] (the late performance in the season due to the play being a late idea). It featured the following cast: [4]

The production team was the following:

The production then toured, including a return to the Stephen Joseph Theatre in November to make up for the short run earlier. [5]

The first West End performance was made at the Duchess Theatre on 7 September 2002, featuring the same cast and production team. [4] The success of this play over the other two Damsels in Distress plays eventually led to this play dominating the run. This caused considerable upset amongst Ayckbourn and the cast who had expected the plays to be performed equally. Eventually, Ayckbourn expressed his frustration with West End Theatre in general. [1] [2] This was interpreted by many as a threat to boycott the West End altogether. [6]

In 2004 and 2005, the play received three further professional productions by professional theatre companies. [5]

Critical Reviews

In spite of RolePlay being the afterthought of the trilogy, it earned the most praise of the three plays, throughout the original Scarborough run, the tour, and the later West End production. Whilst the critics were unanimous in praise of the play, opinions varied as to how they saw the play. Some saw it a revival of 'Classic Ayckbourn', and Paul Taylor of The Independent wrote that it "returns to vintage Ayckbourn territory: the dinner party from hell." [7] Others, however, saw the play as having more depth Michael Billington of The Guardian wrote about the trilogy as a whole: "It shows Ayckbourn moving beyond his familiar terrain of suburban angst to deal with metropolitan madness and moral confusion.". [8] Jeremy Kingston commended the play for the collision of three different worlds, and scenes where six of the characters remain immobile whilst the seventh speaks. [9]

There were a number of niggling criticisms, including questioning why Julie-Ann did not call the police whilst she had the chance, [8] but none of them bore any weight on the overall verdict of the plays.

Alison Pargeter won Best Newcomer in the Critics' Circle Awards for her role as Paige, along with her roles as Kelly in GamePlan and Rosie in FlatSpin . [10]

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References

  1. 1 2 Damsels in Distress history on official Ayckbourn site [ dead link ]
  2. 1 2 3 Allen, Paul (2004) A Pocket Guide to Alan Ayckbourn Plays Faber & Faber ISBN   0-571-21492-4
  3. ↑ Plays at a glance on official Ayckbourn site [ permanent dead link ]
  4. 1 2 Production details on Alan Ayckbourn's official website [ dead link ]
  5. 1 2 Arts Archive UK performance listings
  6. ↑ BBC News Online, 24 October 2002
  7. ↑ The Independent review, 12 September 2002 [ dead link ]
  8. 1 2 The Guardian review, 11 September 2001
  9. ↑ The Times review, 6 September 2001, as retrieved from official Ayckbourn site [ dead link ]
  10. ↑ List of 2002 Critics' Circle awards on British Theatre Guide Archived 20 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine .
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