House & Garden (plays)
Encyclopedia
House and Garden are a diptych
(or linked pair) of plays written by the English
playwright Alan Ayckbourn
, first performed in 1999. They are designed to be staged simultaneously, with the same cast in adjacent auditoria, and were published together as House & Garden. House takes place in the drawing room, and Garden in the grounds, of a large country house. Each play is self-contained (although each of course refers more or less obliquely to events in the other), and they may be attended in either order. As is typical of his work, Ayckbourn portrays the mostly bittersweet relationships between more or less unhappy, upper-middle-class people. The title is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the magazine House & Garden
, in which country houses and gardens are often portrayed as idyllic, peaceful places.
in Scarborough, the plays were staged in 2000 at the Royal National Theatre
in London with a cast including Jane Asher
, David Haig
and Sian Thomas
, and in 2001 at the Royal and Derngate
theatres in Northampton
.
The chilling, merciless Gavin Ring-Mayne was perceived as a satirical portrait of the politician Peter Mandelson
(indeed Paul Allen reports that some people worried that the portrait was too accurate), but Ayckbourn also sees elements of Jeffrey Archer in the character. Paul Allen has observed that Ayckbourn's range is such that he has no need to limit himself to the lampooning of just one political figure.
Diptych
A diptych di "two" + ptychē "fold") is any object with two flat plates attached at a hinge. Devices of this form were quite popular in the ancient world, wax tablets being coated with wax on inner faces, for recording notes and for measuring time and direction.In Late Antiquity, ivory diptychs with...
(or linked pair) of plays written by the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
playwright Alan Ayckbourn
Alan Ayckbourn
Sir Alan Ayckbourn CBE is a prolific English playwright. He has written and produced seventy-three full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their...
, first performed in 1999. They are designed to be staged simultaneously, with the same cast in adjacent auditoria, and were published together as House & Garden. House takes place in the drawing room, and Garden in the grounds, of a large country house. Each play is self-contained (although each of course refers more or less obliquely to events in the other), and they may be attended in either order. As is typical of his work, Ayckbourn portrays the mostly bittersweet relationships between more or less unhappy, upper-middle-class people. The title is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the magazine House & Garden
House & Garden (magazine)
House & Garden was an American shelter magazine published by Condé Nast Publications that focused on interior design, entertaining, and gardening....
, in which country houses and gardens are often portrayed as idyllic, peaceful places.
Production history
After performances in 1999 at the Stephen Joseph TheatreStephen Joseph Theatre
The Stephen Joseph Theatre is a theatre in the round in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England that was founded by Stephen Joseph and was the first theatre in the round in Britain....
in Scarborough, the plays were staged in 2000 at the Royal National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
in London with a cast including Jane Asher
Jane Asher
Jane Asher is an English actress. She has also developed a second career as a cake decorator and cake shop proprietor.-Early life:...
, David Haig
David Haig
David Haig is an Olivier Award-winning English actor and FIPA Award-winning writer. He is known for his versatility, having played dramatic, serio-comic and comedic roles, playing characters of varied social classes...
and Sian Thomas
Sian Thomas
Siân Thomas is an award-winning Welsh actress who trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama.She has appeared on stage, on TV and in films such as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in which she played Amelia Bones. She also appeared in the classic 1992 Spanish television series...
, and in 2001 at the Royal and Derngate
Derngate
Derngate is a part of Northampton, England, with a theatre complex of the same name. It refers to a gate in the old town walls, which was located there....
theatres in Northampton
Northampton
Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...
.
The plays
Act I of each play takes place in the morning, before lunch, and Act II in the afternoon, of a single Saturday in August.House
In House, Teddy and Trish Platt's marriage is breaking up because of Teddy's affair with their near neighbour Jo Mace (who is married to Giles, one of Teddy's best friends). Jake Mace, Giles and Jo's son, is in love with Teddy and Trish's politically aware daughter, Sally, although his regard for her seems not to be reciprocated. It is the day of the garden fête, and the French film actress Lucille Cadeau arrives to open it. The novelist and political advisor Gavin Ryng-Mayne also arrives for lunch, in order to sound Teddy out about continuing his family's tradition of standing for Parliament. Although Lucille speaks no English, everyone except Teddy seems to be able to speak French. Even so, Teddy hits it off with Lucille over lunch (his friends and family practically ignoring him because of his affair with Jo), but he completely fails to convince Ryng-Mayne that he is up to politics, and equally fails to save his marriage. We also witness Ryng-Mayne's callous upsetting of Sally. Trish, after a heart-to-heart talk with Jake, leaves for good, and Jake at last gets around, albeit awkwardly, to asking Sally to go out with him.Garden
In Garden, preparations are underway for the fête, which is seemingly organised every year by Barry and Lindy Love (with minimal assistance), who are kept busy throughout the first act erecting tents and putting up side shows. We see the development of the unconventional relationship between Izzie, the Platt's housekeeper, Pearl, her daughter, and Warn, the Platt's taciturn gardener. We witness Trish's denouement with Jo. Jo, finally realising that her affair with Teddy has not been kept secret, faces up to the consequences with limited effectiveness. During an afternoon downpour, which is just one of many mishaps to befall the fête, we also witness the hilarious consummation of Teddy's and Lucille's infatuation. Lindy's exasperation with the boredom of her marriage to the patronising Barry finally hits home, and she quietly absconds to London with Ryng-Mayne in his Porsche. As Lucille is carted off to the alcoholics' clinic, Trish leaves, and Teddy is left alone on stage.Dramaturgy
The dramatic devices employed for humour are many, such as Teddy's ironic insensitivity in asking Giles for marital advice, when the audience can see that the problem is Teddy's affair with Giles' wife. Giles extends the irony further by suggesting the problem is lack of sex. Trish spends most of House ignoring her husband, to the extent of bemoaning his absence to guests when he is actually in the room with them. In Garden there is an innovative scene where the two characters on stage (Teddy and Lucille) expound their situations and frustrations in their respective languages, and while neither understands what the other is saying each believes the other to be a kindred spirit.The chilling, merciless Gavin Ring-Mayne was perceived as a satirical portrait of the politician Peter Mandelson
Peter Mandelson
Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson, PC is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Hartlepool from 1992 to 2004, served in a number of Cabinet positions under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and was a European Commissioner...
(indeed Paul Allen reports that some people worried that the portrait was too accurate), but Ayckbourn also sees elements of Jeffrey Archer in the character. Paul Allen has observed that Ayckbourn's range is such that he has no need to limit himself to the lampooning of just one political figure.