Alan Ayckbourn is one of the most prolific playwrights who’s ever lived – quite possibly the most prolific, with 78 plays to his credit, and more to come with any luck. While it would be foolish to pretend that everything he’s ever done is theatrical gold, it’s certainly the case that he has the Midas touch more often than not, turning the base lead of traditional middle-class dilemmas and family problems into something sparkling and innovative. Now, a glitzy revival of his 1987 play, A Small Family Business, on the Olivier stage at the National shows him at his most cutting and angry, with a work offering some huge laughs and an assortment of great roles for its actors.
Coming on slightly like a British version of Breaking Bad, the play opens with a beautifully judged scene of mounting farcical horror, as Cliff McCracken (Nigel Lindsay) arrives home in celebratory mood after being promoted, and desires some passionate time with his wife Poppy (Debra Gillett) – ‘rough trade!’ – only to discover that his extended family have gathered to throw him a surprise party. It is this same extended family who, Cliff comes to realise, have been conning the firm that most of them are connected to in various ways, as a seedy and sinister private detective, Benedict Hough (Matthew Cottle) reveals himself to be just as venal, despite being theoretically on the side of the law. And then there are the Rivetti brothers…
Aided by a brilliant set by Tim Hatley, a huge, oversized fantasia of the most mundane of houses, the action skips along at quite a pace, with scenes taking place simultaneously in different settings, and the blackly comic goings-on mounting to quite a crescendo, especially when Cliff’s sister-in-law Tina (Rebecca McKinnis) is parading around in full dominatrix gear. Violence seems inevitable, and when it finally arrives, it’s quite shocking, triggering a descent into moral chaos that packs a substantial punch by the play’s end, even as the laughs continue to come.
Briskly directed by Adam Penford, who marshals the chaos with a firm hand, the play boasts a titanic central performance by the ever-excellent Lindsay, who initially appears to be the only likeable and decent character in the piece, but eventually shows himself to be as grubbily pragmatic as the rest of his family. In a strong ensemble, particular credit goes to Cottle as a loathsome and ‘eminently corruptible’ representative of the shadowy hinterland between the law and crime, and Gerard Monaco in a showy multiple role as five Italian siblings, all of whom seem to be erotically entangled with Tina.
Perhaps the play’s immediate resonance – a satire on Thatcherite ideas and selfishness – has been lost, but in an age where British neo-conservatism is certainly a re-emergent factor, it provides a good deal more than simply nostalgic chuckles at jokes about Lancashire hot pots and tiny sports cars. You emerge from the theatre with a sense of dread and despair, even as you remember the excellence of the jokes. And that, presumably, is just how Ayckbourn intended it.
A Small Family Business at the National Theatre until 27th August. The production will also be showing in cinemas nationwide as part of the NT Live Season on 12th June. For more information and to book tickets visit the website.
