Writer/Director: Alan Ayckbourn

Reviewer: Ian Cain

The Public Reviews Rating:

Alan Ayckbourn has written more than 74 plays, which have been translated into 35 languages and performed on stage and television throughout the world and won countless awards. They include such well-known pieces as ‘Relatively Speaking’, ‘How The Other Half Loves’, ‘Absurd Person Singular’ and ‘A Chorus Of Disapproval’.

‘Communicating Doors’ was written in 1994 and its first production, starring Julia McKenzie as Ruella, enjoyed great critical acclaim, a tour and a successful West End run. This current production, which stars Liza Goddard, is its first revival and opened at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in 2010.

Like so much of the playwright’s work, ‘Communicating Doors’ draws cinematic inspiration from early film noir, through Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ to the classic television series, ‘The Twilight Zone’. Indeed, there are elements of a number of genres, including farce, thriller and black comedy, in this carefully crafted and skilfully constructed piece.

The plot focuses on what lies behind that mysterious locked door in the corner of your hotel room and what might happen if you got the chance to walk through it. Suppose it took you, not to the adjoining suite nor a linen cupboard but, to the exact same suite twenty years earlier? What would be the possibilities then? Would you be able to go back in time to alter the future which will, ultimately, become your present?

These are the conundrums and dilemmas of three women who are all connected to the same man. Leather-clad dominatrix Poupée Désir (Laura Doddington) is summoned to a swish suite in the exclusive Regal Hotel for, what she believes to be, a run-of-the-mill kinky sex session. There she finds Reece Wells (Ben Porter), a man in his seventies with an uneasy conscience. Reece asks Poupée to witness a statement of confession; he arranged the murders of his two former wives, Ruella (Liza Goddard) and Jessica (Daisy Aitkens). However, when Reece’s unscrupulous business partner, Julian (Ben Jones), who carried out the killings, discovers this Poupée must, literally, run for her life.

She escapes through the communicating door and finds herself in the same suite twenty years earlier and confronted by the no-nonsense Ruella, who is very much still alive and kicking! After eventually managing to convince Ruella of her husband’s plan, Poupée and Ruella must work together to save their own lives and that of Jessica, who was drowned twenty years before.

If the plot sounds complex, that’s because it is! However, Ayckbourn has written it beautifully and believably and the cast are all first-rate in their roles. The time-warp concept, which sees the action take place in 2030, 2010 and 1990, is ingenious and brilliantly utilised with Ben Porter effectively playing Reece during his seventies, fifties and thirties.The inclusion of a bumbling, self-important hotel security officer, Harold (Jamie Kenna) also facilitates much of the comedy and farce. However, it is Goddard who shines brightest of all and her rather school ma’am-ish portrayal of Ruella is magnificent.

Ayckbourn directs with the same panache as he writes and Michael Holt’s set design, combined with Jason Taylor’s lighting are the icing on the cake. Having seen the original production, way back in July 1995 at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle, I was really looking forward to reacquainting myself with the piece and, I am delighted to say, I was not disappointed.

Runs until 18 June 2011

Tags: A Chorus of Disapproval, Absurd Person Singular, Alan Ayckbourn, Ben Jones, Ben Porter, Communicating Doors, Daisy Aitkens, Durham, Gala Theatre, How The Other Half Loves, Jamie Kenna, Jason Taylor, Julia McKenzie, Laura Doddington, Liza Goddard, Michael Holt, Newcastle, Psycho, Relatively Speaking, Stephen Joseph Theatre, The Twilight Zone., Theatre Royal