London Classic Theatre announced the full cast for their UK tour of Alan Ayckbourn’s Just Between Ourselves as the company celebrates its 25th anniversary. Michael Cabot, the founder and Artistic Director of London Classic Theatre, directs Joseph Clowser (Neil), Helen Phillips (Pam), Tom Richardson (Dennis) and Holly Smith (Vera) and Connie Walker (Marjorie).
Five birthdays. Two unhappy marriages. One possessive mother.
It is 1976. Dennis tinkers in his garage, cheerfully indifferent to wife Vera’s impending breakdown. Marjorie hovers in the background, making tea and finding fault. Neil has planned a birthday surprise for his wife, but Pam doesn’t share his enthusiasm, preoccupied by frustrations of her own.
In perhaps his most emotionally charged play, Alan Ayckbourn masterfully evokes a world of hidden tensions and suppressed hostility. He expertly navigates the tightrope between comedy and tragedy, guiding us towards a hilarious, yet chilling finale.
Connie Walker (Marjorie), says, “It is a play about couples who don’t or can’t commit with each other. Dealing or more importantly, not dealing, with their own personal struggles and their fractured relationships – adding to that a possessive, domineering mother/mother-in-law living with one of the couples with the personality to potentially tip people over the edge.”
Cabot said, “I’m delighted to be directing Just Between Ourselves as the centrepiece of LCT’s 25th Anniversary celebrations. Alan Ayckbourn seems to have become a regular feature for us when we hit a big milestone – we produced Absent Friends for our fifteenth anniversary and Absurd Person Singular for our twentieth! Alan’s ambition, as a writer, both in terms of the worlds he creates, and the nuance of his writing is quite unparalleled. Ostensibly, his plays are comedies, dealing with marital tensions, aspiration and that very British preoccupation with class. Just Between Ourselves explores this familiar territory with aplomb, but under the surface lies another dimension, sometimes dark and often painful. Ayckbourn treads the tightrope between comedy and tragedy with an expert hand and makes extraordinary discoveries in the tension between them. Now in his 86th year, with 91 plays under his belt, Alan Ayckbourn is not only our most prolific playwright, but a genuine British institution. It’s a genuine privilege to be bringing Just Between Ourselves, one of his finest and most fascinating plays, to life in 2025.”
Churchill Theatre, Bromley
25 – 28 June
Box Office: 0343 310 0020 / www.trafalgartickets.com/churchill-theatre-bromley/en-GB
