Ayckbourn provides two plays for the price of one on his 90th show at Scarborough's Stephen Joseph Theatre

Paul Kemp and Frances Marshall in Sir Alan Ayckbourn's Show & Tell at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in ScarboroughPaul Kemp and Frances Marshall in Sir Alan Ayckbourn's Show & Tell at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough
Paul Kemp and Frances Marshall in Sir Alan Ayckbourn's Show & Tell at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough
Praising one of our most prolific and brilliant living playwrights Sir Alan Ayckbourn for churning out plays in his 85th year could be construed as patronising as a scene from sitcom Nearest and Dearest in which Nellie Pledge asks the aged Walter’s wife: “Has he been?”

He may be reaching into his 90th decade but Ayckbourn has not lost the use of his faculties – his plays are as profound and entertaining as ever they were and that includes his 90th offering – Show & Tell running at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough.

It is an amazing feat, of course, but saying “hasn’t he done well... for 89?” does not sum up Ayckbourn’s achievement with Show & Tell and everything that has come before. Not by half, it does not.

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That said – Show & Tell is not as challenging as Intimate Exchanges or House and Garden, it is not as futuristic as Constant Companions or as dark and moving as Woman in Mind or Haunting Julia. It is not meant to be.

It has the farcical elements of Relatively Speaking and Bedroom Farce and is akin to A Chorus of Disapproval – a play about the theatre.

In a nutshell, Show & Tell is a play within a play – aging retired department store owner Jack hires theatre company Homelight to put on a production for his wife’s birthday in the living room of their home.

What follows is a study in friendship, marriage, caring... and the curses of growing older including dementia.

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At its heart, are the nuts and bolts of running a theatre company with its financial challenges, artistic differences and individual rivalries.

It is also a story of redemption, retribution and revival. Though it is Jack’s need to put on the play, this is his carer’s Ben’s story.

Ben ‘stole’ Jack’s wife and has been apologising for it ever since and in becoming Jack’s carer has buried his ambitions and desires, including a passion for acting.

The arrival of a theatre company literally on his doorstep is Ben’s big chance – revealing whether he takes it and succeeds would spoil the play.

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As always Show & Tell is an ensemble piece with Bill Champion, Paul Kemp, Frances Marshall and Richard Stacey all seasoned Ayckbourn actors.

Champion is excellent as the delusional Jack. Stacey is wonderful as Homelight's pretentious leading man. Frances Marshall hovers round the edges of manic as its manager and leading lady of the struggle.

Olivia Woolhouse who plays the young actress and company dogsbody with sullen aplomb.

This is Kemp’s play – a tour-de-force performance of a man seeking forgiveness and fame. A first-half soliloquy about his unfaithfulness and guilt is as moving as his second-half turn as a wannabe star is hilarious.

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The play within a play is a French farce – a husband welcomes into his home his best friend oblivious to the fact he has seduced his wife – who when she comes face to face with her lover has to hide the fact she knows him.

The best friend then seduces the maid, who also knows about the affair with the wife. Fiddly dah, fiddly dah! It is gloriously silly and sexist – knows it and is without a care as to who and why it offends.

Show & Tell is at times laugh-out-loud hilarious. The observations and dialogue are sharp. It is entertaining, moving – and you get two plays for the price of one.

Show & Tell is on at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, from now until Saturday, October 5. Tickets from the box office on 01723 370541 and online at www.sjt.uk.com

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