Life and Beth
Encyclopedia
Life and Beth is a 2008 play by British
playwright
Alan Ayckbourn
. It was written as a third part of a trilogy named Things That Go Bump
, uniting the cast of the first two plays: Haunting Julia
(1994) and Snake in the Grass (2002). It is about a recently bereaved widow, Beth, troubled by her family's misguided support and a late husband who won't leave her alone.
was premièred. The cast was three men, but the play was dominated by Julia, once a gifted musician, now a ghost. In 2002, a female companion piece was premièred, named Snake in the Grass, with a cast of three women in a play dominated by the ghost of the father of two of them (and a much less savoury character than Julia). For some time, Alan Ayckbourn had considered writing a third play with a supernatural that combined the casts of these plays, but it was only after Susie Blake
- Miriam in the original Snake in the Grass - contacted Ayckbourn about reprising her role that he said he would write this third play. This play was considerably lighter than the other two plays, and Ayckbourn considered it his equivalent to Noël Coward
's Blithe Spirit
.
This the first play to be written since Alan Ayckbourn's stroke in 2006. After the stroke, he doubted if he could return to writing, at some points considering giving it up and just directing. (If I Were You
, the first new Ayckbourn play performed after his stroke, was written before the event.) He first revealed he was working on a new play in July 2007 Originally titled Life After Beth (it was originally set after when Beth was the dead character), the title changed prior to its completion in that summer, and it was first publicly announced that the play would be performed as part of the 2008 summer season at the Stephen Joseph Theatre
December 2007. Two months later it was announced that Ayckbourn's other two "ghost" plays would also be performed in this season as part of the Things That Go Bump
trilogy.
The play also coincided with Alan Ayckbourn's announcement that he was stepping down as Artistic Director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre
. Although Alan Ayckbourn would continue to write and direct for the theatre, and this wasn't quite his last new play whilst artistic director (the last one being a musical Awaking Beauty), Life and Beth was nonetheless seen as his farewell performance.
and all-female Snake in the Grass, there are six characters in the play. They are:
The view that Beth cannot manage without Gordon is shared by most of the characters - Connie, David, Martin, and Gordon himself - with Beth alone in believing she's coping.
Life and Beth is the only play in the trilogy where a ghost is actually seen on stage, although it is never made completely clear whether he is a real ghost or just a figment of Beth's imagination.
The play takes place in two acts over 24 hours on Christmas. Act one takes place in a single scene on before dinner on Christmas Eve. Act Two takes place over two scenes: one scene overnight, and the second scene on the morning on Christmas Day.
The Stephen Joseph Theatre
production originally staged this production in the round
, as was the fist stop of the tour at the New Vic
, Stoke-on-Trent. The rest of the performances on the tour were re-staged for the proscenium
.
It was originally intended to be the first Ayckbourn play featuring snow on stage, but this idea never made it into the final play.
The local vicar who took the funeral, David, comes to supposedly give his condolences to Beth, and they discuss his death. Gordon was the Health and Safety officer for his company before he fell off a ladder trying to remove a man scared of heights. Gordon's injuries forced his early retirement and he later died from them. Once David starts talking about the death of his own wife, however, it transpires he has an obvious crush on Beth. Connie, at first interested in David herself (to the point of turning up to all his services), becomes more interested in matchmaking him to Beth when she mistakenly believes she is flirting back - giving the game away when Beth catches her eavesdropping at the hatchway. David persuades Beth, under duress, to let him say a prayer for her. After being interrupted by the arrival of Beth's son, Martin, and his new chef girlfriend, Ella, he says a prayer, commemorating Gordon, and then asking for help for Beth now Gordon has gone (his unsubtle way of suggesting they get together).
With David gone, Martin sets to work decorating the house with things Beth doesn't really want, such as an SUV-load of presents and a light-up reindeer on the front of the house, all in the name of idolising his father and his idea of Christmas. Meanwhile, he suffocates Ella with over-the-top affection, doing the talking for both of them. Ella remains morose and cringes whenever Martin embraces her. Whilst Ella nervously prepares dinner, Beth tries to keep Connie away from the wine. The dinner is a carefully arranged yet dubious salad that no-one really wants to eat. Martin tries to switch on the Christmas tree lights but ends up blowing a fuse. When the candle is lit, Gordon is setting at his place on the table, and Beth faints.
In Act Two, Beth is preparing a sofa bed (having given her own room over to Martin and Ella.) She has also fixed the electrics herself. Martin comes down, requesting entry to the room by saying "Knock knock", something Beth informs him is an annoying habit (to no avail - he is doing it again later). He mentions he had a row with Ella, and Beth talks about her marriage to Gordon, but the key difference seems to be that is that whilst it took thirty year for Beth's marriage to become crushing, Martin seems to unwittingly do the same for all his girlfriends in a matter of days. The Police then arrive returning Connie, whom Beth failed to keep sober. Instead of returning from David's midnight mass, she was arrested by the Police trying to climb a statue of Oliver Cromwell
(the previous year's incident being her attempt to ride the reindeer lights).
Finally left alone, Beth turns out the lights only to be kept awake by the glow of the reindeer lights. She then hears a scratching which is not, as she hoped, Falstaff, but her late husband, entering with his own rendition of "Knock knock". Gordon, now holding an equally bureaucratic desk job in heaven, has returned to look after Beth forever - an unintended consequence, it transpires, of David's prayer asking Beth for help. It becomes clear that, before his death, Gordon micromanaged every part of Beth's life. Flatly refusing to consider Beth's suggestion not all of his help was wanted or that not all of their marriage was happy, he leaves, promising to come back tomorrow. Martin then returns with the news that Connie has been sick on the landing.
In the final scene, on Christmas morning, Martin and Ella are packing to leave, supposedly because Ella received an unexpected order for a large buffet. Before they go, Martin tells Ella to say goodbye, and for a moment it looks like Ella might speak, but instead she runs away crying. Connie, after returning from Mass, apologises with an annoying amount of worthlessness until Beth snaps and tells her, in the politest way, to shut up.
David arrives, called by Beth, and she asks if it is possible to reverse a prayer. A sceptical David agree to say goodbye to Gordon, and during the prayer Gordon appears and challenges Beth to think if she can really manage without him. Beth shouts "Yes!" and a surprised Gordon vanishes. After David goes, Beth hears scratching from the hatch. Opening it, there is miaowing, half the items in the living room get knocked over, and the cushion in the cat basked is pressed down. Falstaff, it seems, has returned.
had its first performance on 17 July 2008, and an opening night on 22 July April 2008, featuring the following cast:
The production team were:
This play, along with the other two Things That Go Bump
plays Haunting Julia
and Snake in the Grass toured to the New Vic
, Stoke, retaining its setup in the round
. The following year, the play was re-staged for the proscenium
and toured alone to six further theatres.
All the original cast took part in the end-stage tour except for Ian Hogg and Susie Blake, replaced by Terence Booth and Eileen Battye respectively.
in The Guardian
wrote "Few dramatists in history have painted a more devastating picture of the emotional damage wrought by bullying men," and described Martin's misguided affection for his girlfriends as "an instant image of a grisly inheritance". Dominic Cavendish for The Daily Telegraph
lauded the handling of death and bereavement with a light touch.
However, there was some disappointment that Life and Beth lacked the scariness of the first two parts of the trilogy. Also, Sam Marlowe, writing in The Times
, although acknowledging the links with Blithe Spirit
, opined that the characters weren't that believable. And in the Financial Times
, Ian Shuttleworth, whilst highlighting several positives in the play, somewhat unkindly suggested Gordon might be Ayckbourn's caricature of himself hanging around the Stephen Joseph Theatre long after he should have departed.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
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...
. It was written as a third part of a trilogy named Things That Go Bump
Things That Go Bump (plays)
Things That Go Bump is a season of plays performed in 2008 by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn.Unlike Ayckbourn's previous trilogies, where all three plays were written for the same season, the three plays in this set were written over a period of fourteen years...
, uniting the cast of the first two plays: Haunting Julia
Haunting Julia
Haunting Julia is a 1994 play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. It is about Julia Lukin, a nineteen-year-old brilliant musician who committed suicide twelve years earlier, who haunts the three men closest to her, through both the supernatural and in their memories...
(1994) and Snake in the Grass (2002). It is about a recently bereaved widow, Beth, troubled by her family's misguided support and a late husband who won't leave her alone.
Background
The history of this play dates back to 1994, when Haunting JuliaHaunting Julia
Haunting Julia is a 1994 play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. It is about Julia Lukin, a nineteen-year-old brilliant musician who committed suicide twelve years earlier, who haunts the three men closest to her, through both the supernatural and in their memories...
was premièred. The cast was three men, but the play was dominated by Julia, once a gifted musician, now a ghost. In 2002, a female companion piece was premièred, named Snake in the Grass, with a cast of three women in a play dominated by the ghost of the father of two of them (and a much less savoury character than Julia). For some time, Alan Ayckbourn had considered writing a third play with a supernatural that combined the casts of these plays, but it was only after Susie Blake
Susie Blake
Susie Blake is a British actress.-Personal life:Blake trained at the Arts Educational School and LAMDA in London. She is the granddaughter of the actress Annette Mills and a great - niece of the actor Sir John Mills...
- Miriam in the original Snake in the Grass - contacted Ayckbourn about reprising her role that he said he would write this third play. This play was considerably lighter than the other two plays, and Ayckbourn considered it his equivalent to Noël Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
's Blithe Spirit
Blithe Spirit (play)
Blithe Spirit is a comic play written by Noël Coward which takes its title from Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "To a Skylark" . The play concerns socialite and novelist Charles Condomine, who invites the eccentric medium and clairvoyant, Madame Arcati, to his house to conduct a séance, hoping to...
.
This the first play to be written since Alan Ayckbourn's stroke in 2006. After the stroke, he doubted if he could return to writing, at some points considering giving it up and just directing. (If I Were You
If I Were You (play)
If I Were You is a 2006 play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. It is about an unhappy married couple who are given the chance to understand each other by discovering, quite literally, what they would do "if I were you".-Background:...
, the first new Ayckbourn play performed after his stroke, was written before the event.) He first revealed he was working on a new play in July 2007 Originally titled Life After Beth (it was originally set after when Beth was the dead character), the title changed prior to its completion in that summer, and it was first publicly announced that the play would be performed as part of the 2008 summer season at the Stephen Joseph Theatre
Stephen 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....
December 2007. Two months later it was announced that Ayckbourn's other two "ghost" plays would also be performed in this season as part of the Things That Go Bump
Things That Go Bump (plays)
Things That Go Bump is a season of plays performed in 2008 by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn.Unlike Ayckbourn's previous trilogies, where all three plays were written for the same season, the three plays in this set were written over a period of fourteen years...
trilogy.
The play also coincided with Alan Ayckbourn's announcement that he was stepping down as Artistic Director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre
Stephen 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....
. Although Alan Ayckbourn would continue to write and direct for the theatre, and this wasn't quite his last new play whilst artistic director (the last one being a musical Awaking Beauty), Life and Beth was nonetheless seen as his farewell performance.
Characters
In keeping with the intention to combine the casts of the all-male Haunting JuliaHaunting Julia
Haunting Julia is a 1994 play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. It is about Julia Lukin, a nineteen-year-old brilliant musician who committed suicide twelve years earlier, who haunts the three men closest to her, through both the supernatural and in their memories...
and all-female Snake in the Grass, there are six characters in the play. They are:
- Beth, a recently bereaved widow, very much subservient to her husband during their marriage but now living her own life;
- Gordon, Beth's late overbearing and pedantic husband, formerly a Health and Safety officer;
- Connie, Gordon's alcoholic sister, marginalised by her family in favour of her brother;
- David, the local vicar, with a badly-concealed longing for Beth;
- Martin, Gordon and Beth's son, well-meaning but inheriting all of the wrong attributes of Gordon;
- Ella, Martin's new chef girlfriend, overpowered by Martin's misplaced affection, silent (bar one exception) throughout the play.
The view that Beth cannot manage without Gordon is shared by most of the characters - Connie, David, Martin, and Gordon himself - with Beth alone in believing she's coping.
Life and Beth is the only play in the trilogy where a ghost is actually seen on stage, although it is never made completely clear whether he is a real ghost or just a figment of Beth's imagination.
Setting
The entire play takes place in the living room of what was Gordon and Beth's house, now very much Beth's house, also temporarily doubling up as her bedroom whilst guests are present. There is also a hatchway to the kitchen where some of the action takes place.The play takes place in two acts over 24 hours on Christmas. Act one takes place in a single scene on before dinner on Christmas Eve. Act Two takes place over two scenes: one scene overnight, and the second scene on the morning on Christmas Day.
The Stephen Joseph Theatre
Stephen 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....
production originally staged this production in the round
Theatre in the round
Theatre-in-the-round or arena theatre is any theatre space in which the audience surrounds the stage area...
, as was the fist stop of the tour at the New Vic
New Vic Theatre
The New Vic Theatre is situated in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. It was purpose-built as a theatre in the round and opened in 1986, replacing a converted cinema, the Victoria Theatre, Hartshill, Stoke-on-Trent.-History:...
, Stoke-on-Trent. The rest of the performances on the tour were re-staged for the proscenium
Proscenium
A proscenium theatre is a theatre space whose primary feature is a large frame or arch , which is located at or near the front of the stage...
.
It was originally intended to be the first Ayckbourn play featuring snow on stage, but this idea never made it into the final play.
Synopsis
The play begin with Beth and Connie sitting watching carols on television. Connie, in a one-sided conversation, gives praises for her late brother, Gordon. She does not seem to mind she spent childhood in the shadow of her brother, blatantly the family favourite and given all the support she never had. Although Beth quietly agrees with Connie's idea of her idyllic marriage to Gordon, she expresses subtle annoyance with Connie's idea that the whole family will have to look after her this first Christmas alone, and Connie's hints of self-pity don't help either. Beth is more concerned about the disappearance of her cat, Flagstaff, who disappeared on the day of the funeral.The local vicar who took the funeral, David, comes to supposedly give his condolences to Beth, and they discuss his death. Gordon was the Health and Safety officer for his company before he fell off a ladder trying to remove a man scared of heights. Gordon's injuries forced his early retirement and he later died from them. Once David starts talking about the death of his own wife, however, it transpires he has an obvious crush on Beth. Connie, at first interested in David herself (to the point of turning up to all his services), becomes more interested in matchmaking him to Beth when she mistakenly believes she is flirting back - giving the game away when Beth catches her eavesdropping at the hatchway. David persuades Beth, under duress, to let him say a prayer for her. After being interrupted by the arrival of Beth's son, Martin, and his new chef girlfriend, Ella, he says a prayer, commemorating Gordon, and then asking for help for Beth now Gordon has gone (his unsubtle way of suggesting they get together).
With David gone, Martin sets to work decorating the house with things Beth doesn't really want, such as an SUV-load of presents and a light-up reindeer on the front of the house, all in the name of idolising his father and his idea of Christmas. Meanwhile, he suffocates Ella with over-the-top affection, doing the talking for both of them. Ella remains morose and cringes whenever Martin embraces her. Whilst Ella nervously prepares dinner, Beth tries to keep Connie away from the wine. The dinner is a carefully arranged yet dubious salad that no-one really wants to eat. Martin tries to switch on the Christmas tree lights but ends up blowing a fuse. When the candle is lit, Gordon is setting at his place on the table, and Beth faints.
In Act Two, Beth is preparing a sofa bed (having given her own room over to Martin and Ella.) She has also fixed the electrics herself. Martin comes down, requesting entry to the room by saying "Knock knock", something Beth informs him is an annoying habit (to no avail - he is doing it again later). He mentions he had a row with Ella, and Beth talks about her marriage to Gordon, but the key difference seems to be that is that whilst it took thirty year for Beth's marriage to become crushing, Martin seems to unwittingly do the same for all his girlfriends in a matter of days. The Police then arrive returning Connie, whom Beth failed to keep sober. Instead of returning from David's midnight mass, she was arrested by the Police trying to climb a statue of Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
(the previous year's incident being her attempt to ride the reindeer lights).
Finally left alone, Beth turns out the lights only to be kept awake by the glow of the reindeer lights. She then hears a scratching which is not, as she hoped, Falstaff, but her late husband, entering with his own rendition of "Knock knock". Gordon, now holding an equally bureaucratic desk job in heaven, has returned to look after Beth forever - an unintended consequence, it transpires, of David's prayer asking Beth for help. It becomes clear that, before his death, Gordon micromanaged every part of Beth's life. Flatly refusing to consider Beth's suggestion not all of his help was wanted or that not all of their marriage was happy, he leaves, promising to come back tomorrow. Martin then returns with the news that Connie has been sick on the landing.
In the final scene, on Christmas morning, Martin and Ella are packing to leave, supposedly because Ella received an unexpected order for a large buffet. Before they go, Martin tells Ella to say goodbye, and for a moment it looks like Ella might speak, but instead she runs away crying. Connie, after returning from Mass, apologises with an annoying amount of worthlessness until Beth snaps and tells her, in the politest way, to shut up.
David arrives, called by Beth, and she asks if it is possible to reverse a prayer. A sceptical David agree to say goodbye to Gordon, and during the prayer Gordon appears and challenges Beth to think if she can really manage without him. Beth shouts "Yes!" and a surprised Gordon vanishes. After David goes, Beth hears scratching from the hatch. Opening it, there is miaowing, half the items in the living room get knocked over, and the cushion in the cat basked is pressed down. Falstaff, it seems, has returned.
Productions
The original production 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....
had its first performance on 17 July 2008, and an opening night on 22 July April 2008, featuring the following cast:
- Beth - Liza GoddardLiza GoddardLiza Goddard is an English television and stage actress best known for her work in the 1970s and 1980s.-Early life:Goddard was born in Smethwick, West Midlands, England...
- Gordon - Adrian McLoughlin
- Connie - Susie BlakeSusie BlakeSusie Blake is a British actress.-Personal life:Blake trained at the Arts Educational School and LAMDA in London. She is the granddaughter of the actress Annette Mills and a great - niece of the actor Sir John Mills...
- David - Ian HoggIan Hogg (actor)Ian Hogg is a British actor.- Early life :He is the son of a doctor and was educated at Durham School, Durham University and the Central School of Speech and Drama...
- Martin - Richard Stacey
- Ella - Ruth Gibson
The production team were:
- Director - Alan AyckbournAlan AyckbournSir 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...
- Design - Pip Leckenby
- Lighting - Kath Geraghty
- Music - John Pattinson
This play, along with the other two Things That Go Bump
Things That Go Bump (plays)
Things That Go Bump is a season of plays performed in 2008 by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn.Unlike Ayckbourn's previous trilogies, where all three plays were written for the same season, the three plays in this set were written over a period of fourteen years...
plays Haunting Julia
Haunting Julia
Haunting Julia is a 1994 play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. It is about Julia Lukin, a nineteen-year-old brilliant musician who committed suicide twelve years earlier, who haunts the three men closest to her, through both the supernatural and in their memories...
and Snake in the Grass toured to the New Vic
New Vic Theatre
The New Vic Theatre is situated in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. It was purpose-built as a theatre in the round and opened in 1986, replacing a converted cinema, the Victoria Theatre, Hartshill, Stoke-on-Trent.-History:...
, Stoke, retaining its setup in the round
Theatre in the round
Theatre-in-the-round or arena theatre is any theatre space in which the audience surrounds the stage area...
. The following year, the play was re-staged for the proscenium
Proscenium
A proscenium theatre is a theatre space whose primary feature is a large frame or arch , which is located at or near the front of the stage...
and toured alone to six further theatres.
All the original cast took part in the end-stage tour except for Ian Hogg and Susie Blake, replaced by Terence Booth and Eileen Battye respectively.
Critical Reviews
Although the review of Life and Beth made mentions of Ayckbourn's upcoming departure as Artistic Director, they mostly concentrated on the play itself. They were broadly positive, though they stopped short of naming it one of Ayckbourn's best. Michael BillingtonMichael Billington (critic)
Michael Keith Billington is a British author and arts critic. Drama critic of The Guardian since October 1971, he is "Britain's longest-serving theatre critic" and the author of biographical and critical studies relating to British theatre and the arts; most notably, he is the authorised...
in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
wrote "Few dramatists in history have painted a more devastating picture of the emotional damage wrought by bullying men," and described Martin's misguided affection for his girlfriends as "an instant image of a grisly inheritance". Dominic Cavendish for The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
lauded the handling of death and bereavement with a light touch.
However, there was some disappointment that Life and Beth lacked the scariness of the first two parts of the trilogy. Also, Sam Marlowe, writing in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, although acknowledging the links with Blithe Spirit
Blithe Spirit (play)
Blithe Spirit is a comic play written by Noël Coward which takes its title from Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "To a Skylark" . The play concerns socialite and novelist Charles Condomine, who invites the eccentric medium and clairvoyant, Madame Arcati, to his house to conduct a séance, hoping to...
, opined that the characters weren't that believable. And in the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
, Ian Shuttleworth, whilst highlighting several positives in the play, somewhat unkindly suggested Gordon might be Ayckbourn's caricature of himself hanging around the Stephen Joseph Theatre long after he should have departed.
External links
- Life and Beth on official Ayckbourn site.
- Arts Archive, UK performance listings.