Kings Langley Players

Send in the Clown! -
Ayckbourn comedy takes to the stage in Kings Langley.

Ah the celebrity culture! We love it, loathe it, can’t get enough of it - and it’s coming to the local stage in Kings Langley Players’ next production: Drowning On Dry Land. Alan Ayckbourn proves once again that he’s the master chronicler of modern mores and manners as he takes his writer’s scalpel to a very funny dissection of the ups and downs of life in OK/Hello land.

Fame and fortune have thrust themselves on Charlie. He is a star. Thanks to his inept performance in a TV quiz show the public has taken him to its heart - loving him for being completely useless. ("I was a useless baby" he candidly admits.) His genius at being charismatically talentless has won him money, country estate, trophy wife and TV contracts. He has it all. Then Marsha, a children’s entertainer and besotted fan, fatefully crosses his path. It’s with her alter ego, Mr Chortles, that Charlie has a rather physical encounter... From then on everything goes haywire for Charlie. Ayckbourn takes well aimed pot shots at the cult of celebrity for its own sake in this very smart, farcical comedy.

"I’m a late convert to Ayckbourn" confesses Jean Balmforth, who is directing for the Players. "I used to dismiss him as a prolific craftsman and entertainer who charted a particularly English middle class landscape. But his work resonates with people all over the world. No wonder - he reflects society as it is for most of us today and makes us laugh at ourselves (or at least the fella down the street), albeit a mite ruefully. His use of language is superb (not a word is wasted) and the way he sets up jokes is exhilarating. I was lucky to see a number of his plays at Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre, directed by Ayckbourn himself – including Drowning On Dry Land at which I laughed helplessly, especially at events getting hopelessly out of hand at a children’s party. If we can induce our local audience to laugh half as much as that I will be happy. I’m confident that we can. I have a cracking cast including two talented newcomers to the KLP: Zoe Rollinson and Caroline Sexton who both play TV presenters, one Charlie’s wife and one his nemesis. Andrew Knight plays Charlie. He’s fresh from directing a massively successful Cinderella for us and doesn’t have any problems in playing an endearing celebrity – as long as I can get him to stop saying ‘he’s behind you’! I have a brilliant creative team including Sally-Anne Rafferty, who’s designed a set that includes an impressive Victorian folly (she’s also playing Marsha, the children’s entertainer aka Mr Chortles the clown) and Ron Balmforth (who designed the atmospheric lighting and soundscape for last October’s Hound of the Baskervilles) will be dousing the stage in warm summer sunshine. So Drowning On Dry Land will delight your eyes whilst it’s hitting you on the funny bone!"

Drowning On Dry Land is on stage at Kings Langley Community Centre 8-10 March.
Box Office 07906 695959.