About the Play:

A Month of Sundays (sometimes billed as The First Sunday in Every Month) is a full-length comedy by Bob Larbey. A crotchety senior citizen faces his old age and lingering family problems in a retirement home. A Month of Sundays is about man's efforts to cope with the inevitable, in this case the process of growing old and in particular the onset of physical and mental infirmity. Much fun along the way, and much thought-provoking too.

A Month of Sundays is set against the backdrop of a pleasant nursing home somewhere in leafy Surrey. The story revolves around the two main characters: Cooper, who has voluntarily left his family to avoid the indignity of depending on them, and Aylott. Fighting the aging process with wit and humour, the two friends are aware that life can only be endured if treated as a comedy. They spend their time planning their escape, playing chess, and drinking whisky. Aylott is physically fit but with early signs of dementia while Cooper is sharp as a tack mentally but physically challenged. There are four lovely cameo roles which the characters can make their own. The young nurse Wilson is cheerful and has to manage Coopers’ flirtatious banter. Mrs Baker is a hard working cleaning woman who looks after an aging father. Cooper's daughter Julia and her husband Peter visit Cooper once a month on Sundays. The play is a black comedy, perceptively written with many laugh out loud lines. The audience should leave feeling uplifted and hopeful that all is not lost when old age approaches.

A Month of Sundays was first presented in 1985 at The Nuffield Theatre in Southampton. It transferred to the Duchess Theatre In London in 1986 and won the London Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy of 1986. It was later performed on Broadway and adapted by Bob Larbey as the 1989 television movie Age-Old Friends.

Cast: 3 female, 3 male

What people say:

"This is a play about heroism. As such it lifts the spirits and reinforces our humanity." — The Daily Mail

"The play was set in a retirement home and won praise for its humour, delicacy and humane consideration of growing older." — The Guardian

About the Playwright:

Robert Edward "Bob" Larbey (1934 – 2014) was a British television sitcom and screenplay writer. He worked with his writing partner John Esmonde for 30 years: together they wrote some of the some of Britain's most successful television sitcoms of the 1970s and 1980s. He also wrote on his own and was responsible for the Dame Judi Dench starring in her first television sitcom. He had no theatrical background, but his first stage play, A Month of Sundays, won the Evening Standard best comedy of the year award when it played in London's West End in 1986.