Deathly humour

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The Oldham Coliseum kicks off the New Year with a close - in more ways than one.

New production Absent Friends (Jan 28-Feb 20) officially closes the theatre’s winter season - and is about closure of a different kind, that of leading character Colin, seeking comfort after the death of his girlfriend. Or is he?

The classic Alan Ayckbourn tragi-comedy, written in 1974, is often described as the “tea party from hell”.

The plot walks a fine line between comedy and tragedy. Colin actually doesn’t seem that bothered about his loss, and the friends who gather at a party to give him some support, realise their own unresolved tensions, disappointments and lost dreams are actually weighing more heavily. The result is an agonisingly funny evening.

Director Nikolai Foster, who returns to the Oldham Coliseum following his production of Dead Funny two years ago, believes the play will remind theatregoers that the well-loved satirist of middle-class manners can be just as nasty to his characters as some of today’s more overtly “serious” writers.

"Everyone seems to think Ayckbourn is quite cosy and suburban, very English and light, but 'Absent Friends' is pretty savage stuff.”

The director, — born in Copenhagen but raised in Keighley, and who has directed Evita in Beirut — says the fine line between the comedy’s tragic and comic elements is the play’s biggest challenge.

“It’s about the way people respond to death and how we have a stock response,” he explained.

“Audiences aren’t going to come away loving any of the characters — but they will realise that one of our leading living playwrights still has a powerful voice.

Mr Foster added: “The play is about relationships, how you treat people you love, friendship and death, which are themes everyone can understand.”

Among the six well-known actors playing the main roles is David Crellin, best known for playing Billy Hopwood in farming soap “Emmerdale”, as Colin.

He said: “I normally play quite evil people, so Colin is a good character to play. He’s there to show the other characters’ flaws.

“Colin is someone in touch with himself and where he is in his life — someone who understands what matters in the world and has gone beyond worrying about the material things his friends have latched on to.”