Summer play season: Relatively Speaking
Relatively Speaking is considered by many to be Alan Ayckbourn’s best-crafted piece. Through his brilliant dialogue and fascinating satire on middle-class English life, the playwright reveals how people put social graces ahead of confrontation, leading to a hilarious evening of misunderstanding and confusion.
A hit when it premiered in 1965, the play has remained a favourite of audiences ever since.
Greg wants to marry Ginny, who has only recently broken off an affair with her boss Philip. After telling Greg she’s visiting her parents, Ginny actually goes to Philip’s country home to retrieve some love letters from him. But Greg follows her secretly and, arriving before her, meets Philip and his wife Sheila. Greg believes that the couple are Ginny’s father and mother, Philip mistakenly gets the idea that Greg is having an affair with Sheila, while Sheila believes that Ginny is nothing more than her husband’s secretary.
