The Stage

Communicating Doors

Published Wednesday 11 August 2010 at 13:51 by Kevin Berry

The first Alan Ayckbourn play to be staged at Scarborough this year and it is a welcome revival of his time travelling comedy thriller from 1994. It was written when he had begun to explore fantasy in his Christmas plays for family audiences.

A harassed Liza Goddard tries to explain the plot machinations, half way through, to a possibly soon to be murdered wife but has to cut herself short. It is that complicated, but deliberately so.

The key element is a door in a hotel room, one of those mysterious doors that seem always to be locked. A leather clad tart, played by Laura Doddington, succeeds in opening the door to hide from a nasty chap and finds she can travel back in time. Soon everyone is busily time travelling.

Run with it and the story is hugely enjoyable. Pause to find a reason why and how and it will seem silly.

Ayckbourn ensures that the farce is well-paced and the thrills, with an appreciative nod to Hitchcock, are indeed thrilling. That said, the running time could lose ten minutes.

Ayckbourn has, as usual, gathered together a fine cast. All of whom will be in next month’s new work Life of Riley, his 74th play. Goddard is in magnificent, head prefect form, her character providing a steadying presence. Kim Wall adds excellent menace as the nasty chap determined to kill off everyone.

The actual communicating doors are a disappointment. With them being part of a knee high set, we do not see much of them.