London Classic Theatre returns to Oldham this March

London Classic Theatre returns to Oldham this March with their production of Alan Ayckbourn’s comic masterpiece Absurd Person Singular.

Three married couples. Three kitchens. Three Christmas parties. Absurd Person Singular comes to Oldham as part of a national tour.

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.

London Classic Theatre was launched in 2000 as a touring theatre company with David Mamet’s Oleanna.

This inaugural tour lost a small fortune but doors had opened and, crucially, the work was being seen. Twenty years and forty-one tours later, London Classic Theatre is now a successful, established part of the commercial UK touring theatre scene. The company has never received any funding or sponsorship for its work. 

Michael Cabot directs John Dorney (Geoffrey Jackson), Felicity Houlbrooke (Jane Hopcroft), Helen Keeley (Eva Jackson), Rosanna Miles (Marion Brewster-Wright), Graham O’Mara (Ronald Brewster-Wright) and Paul Sandys (Sidney Hopcroft).

John Dorney plays Geoffrey Jackson. Previous credits for the London Classic include Hysteria, Absent Friends, The Caretaker and Humble Boy.

Felicity Houlbrooke plays Jane Hopcroft. Felicity will be familiar to Coliseum audiences from her previous roles in London Classic’s My Mother Said I Never Should and the Coliseum’s production of Hard Times.

Helen Keeley plays Eva Jackson.

Rosanna Miles plays Marion Brewster-Wright. 

Graham O’Mara plays Ronald Brewster-Wright. 

Paul Sandys plays Sidney Hopcroft. 

Michael Cabot directs and is the founder and Artistic Director of London Classic Theatre. He has directed all forty-one LCT productions since their touring debut in 2000, including No Man’s Land, My Mother Said I Never Should, Private Lives, Hysteria, The Birthday Party, Waiting for Godot, Absent Friends, Entertaining Mr Sloane and Equus. His freelance work as director includes three recent collaborations with award-winning playwright Henry Naylor, The Collector (Arcola Theatre), Angel and Borders (Edinburgh Festival Fringe).

Alan Ayckbourn is an award-winning playwright. Theatre credits include Absurd Person Singular (Evening Standard Best Comedy Award), The Norman Conquests (Evening Standard Best Play Award and Tony For Best Revival Of A Play), Bedroom Farce, Just Between Ourselves (Evening Standard Best Play Award), A Chorus of Disapproval (Olivier Best Comedy Award and Evening Standard Best Comedy Award), Woman in Mind, A Small Family Business (Evening Standard Best Play Award), Henceforward (Evening Standard Best Comedy Award), Man of the Moment (Evening Standard Best Comedy Award), House & Garden and Private Fears in Public Places, among others.

As Artistic Director, Michael Cabot has programmed a repertoire of classic and modern classic plays, a mixture of the challenging and the commercial, big titles and less well-known, including two UK premieres - Hugh Leonard’s Love in the Title and Joanna Murray-Smith’s Nightfall. 

As venues and audiences have become more familiar with the work, he has been able to push the boundaries of what LCT offers, both in ambition, scale and complexity.

 

---

Do you have a story for us? Want to tell us about something going on in and around Oldham? Let us know by emailing news@oldham-chronicle.co.uk , calling our Oldham-based newsroom on 0161 633 2121 , tweeting us @oldhamchronicle or messaging us through our Facebook page. All contact will be treated in confidence.