Ever felt the need to apologise for your parents? Or as a child wanted to punch an obnoxious grown-up on their behalf? In his 73rd play, Alan Ayckbourn profiles the world of grown ups through the eyes of a child.
The world of adults lords over all, completely introspective, occasionally disturbed by the odd crying baby or whining child. Thanks then to Ayckbourn for providing us a circumspect view via thoughtful nine-year-old, Winnie.
Alan Ayckbourn is without a doubt one of the most prolific English playwrights, having penned 73 plays since making his name in Scarborough in the '60s and the west end not long after. Perhaps drawing slightly on his own childhood - Ayckbourn's father left his family home, leaving him to be raised by his mother before she remarried - his latest play My Wonderful Day sees a child with a day off from school, spend it with her mother as she cleans to make ends meet. Winnie's father has left her mother on her own and heavily pregnant with dreams of returning to the Caribbean island Martinique.
Winnie is encouraged to stay quiet, and if she must speak, in French. As a result the white adults that fill her world assume she doesn't understand English, allowing her access to their farcical, often cruel lives. Astute beyond her years but still innocent and perceptive, Winnie documents the odd scenes that unfold all around her in her essay entitled 'My Wonderful Day'.
Ayesha Antoine (Holby City) has had fantastic reviews for her performance as little Winnie after the play premiered in Scarborough, so expect emotionally overloaded, bluntly farcial adults and heartache for the often ignored wisdom born of a complex childhood.
My Wonderful Day runs at Richmond Theatre from 15.02.10 to 20.02.10
Photo Credit: Robert Day
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