Absurd Person Singular

Trinity Repertory Company's joyous production of Absurd Person Singular, Alan Ayckbourn's darkly comic tribute to arguably the most stressful of yuletide traditions--the cocktail party--is funny, touching and much like the holiday season itself, cause for celebration.

Keenly directed by Brian McEleney, Absurd Person Singular is an uproarious ensemble piece in which six Trinity Rep company veterans complement each other both purposefully and aesthetically, while the individual performances shine on their own, as well.

The first act takes place at the home of Jane (Angela Brazil), a dutiful clean freak, and her business-owner husband, Sidney (Stephen Berenson). These two social climbers are playing host for the first time, and their party guest list includes Ronald (Timothy Crowe), a stolid banker, Marion (Anne Scurria), Ronald's status-conscious wife, Geoffrey (Fred Sullivan, Jr.), a flashy architect, and his helpless spouse, Eva (Phyllis Kay).

The audience watches from behind-the-scenes, as events unfold in the kitchen, where the stage is set. However, like most house parties, each guest is compelled to enter the kitchen at some point, either to search for another guest (in Eva's case), take inventory of the room's assets and shortcomings (like Marion), or (for the husbands) to simply escape the obligatory small-talk.

Eager to please, Jane realizes she is fresh out of tonic, so she sneaks out in the rain shortly after the guests arrive, only to lock herself out. In Jane's absence, Marion becomes tipsy and voices her displeasure with the hosts, while Ronald buries himself in the pages of an appliance manual. When his wife is out of earshot, Geoffrey boasts of his way with the ladies, and Eva pops pills to help her get through evening.

The harried but mostly harmless course of events takes a serious (albeit all the more amusing) turn the following year when Geoffrey and Eva open their home to the same group. Eva remains seated at the kitchen table, quietly contemplating suicide, while her husband jovially rambles on about the impending doom of their marriage. Each earnest yet hilarious attempt to end her life is disrupted by her consoling guests, who have been told Eva is simply feeling under the weather.

Next year, the party atmosphere is noticeably absent. Eva and Geoffrey, having reconciled, pay a Christmas Eve visit to the unheated home of Ronald, a victim of the banking industry's decline, and Marion, who now spends most of her time in bed with a bottle of booze. The somber mood, however, is unexpectedly lightened with the arrival of surprise (and initially unwelcome) guests, Jane and Sidney.

Ayckbourn's dialogue is ferociously clever and the delivery, as well as the choreography, of the cast is superb. The interaction among the members of this group reminds us of similar infantile behavior that we are likely to have witnessed, or perhaps resembles our own, when trying to keep up with appearances. Yes, the events are a bit absurd, hence the title, but they're still familiar or at least relatable, and therefore, particularly amusing.

Brazil is adorable as the annoyingly pleasant Jane, and Berenson portrays the overly nervous, high-strung Sidney with remarkable ease. Sullivan's performance is strong, fun and especially impressive when delivering his litany at the beginning of the second act. Crowe nails it as the stoic Ronald, who maintains his composure despite the collapse of his career and his wife's sanity.

Both Kay and Scurria deserve special recognition for their performances as sad, troubled women who are unwittingly cause for most of the show's funniest moments. Kay holds our undivided attention throughout the second act without having to say a word, and Scurria's behavior in the final act is reckless and upsetting yet impossible to ignore.

Fine acting, superior direction, clever writing and abundant laughs make Absurd Person Singular the perfect introduction to the holiday season.

Absurd Person Singular continues through November 21st at Trinity Repertory Company, 201 Washington Street, Providence, RI. For more information, visit Trinity Repertory Company's website.