About the Play:

Bedroom Farce was one of Royal National Theatre of Britain's top 100 plays of the 20th century.

Bedroom Farce has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female Monologues and Female/Male Scenes.

Bedroom Farce is a full-length dramatic comedy by Alan Ayckbourn. Funny, gripping and acutely observed, Alan Ayckbourn's sophisticated comedy lifts the lid on the secrets of middle-class marriage. Over the course of one night, one outrageously selfish couple parade their problems around the bedrooms of three other couples, exposing the cracks in other people's marriages as well as their own. Bedroom Farce proves hilariously that sometimes marital discord can be fun... as long as it's someone else's.

Bedroom Farce unfolds in the on-stage bedrooms of three couples all in some way connected to an utterly self-absorbed fourth couple who heedlessly intrude on their friends' privacy. Trevor and Susannah are a couple whose problem relationship requires urgent attention. What better solution than to talk it over with family and friends? The two of them blaze a path of destruction through the married lives of six of their nearest and dearest friends, three couples whose own relationships are tenuous at best. Inevitably, one problem relationship tends to spark off another. Chaos ensues as the two of them lay waste to three seemingly happily married couples: Nick and Jan, Malcolm and Kate – and even Trevor's own parents – Earnest and Delia. Taking place sequentially in the three beleaguered couples' bedrooms during one endless Saturday night of co-dependence and dysfunction, beds, tempers and domestic order are ruffled, leading all the players to a hilariously touching epiphany. Tightly written, both comic and sad, Bedroom Farce explores the different pressures of relationships at their different stages, slicing deep into the soul of suburbia.

Bedroom Farce premiered in 1974 at the Library Theatre in Scarborough, UK, and subsequently at the National Theatre in London. This long-running hit in London and New York has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and is regularly performed in regional, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 4 female, 4 male

What people say:

"It’s a perfect play. The title is a tease, but also the literal truth." — The National Post

"As funny as anything he has written." — The Times (London)

"High manic hilarity." — Time Magazine

"An enormously funny evening." — The Observer (London)

"Hilarious.... The stuff of gleeful recognition." — Evening Standard (London)

About the Playwright:

Sir Alan Ayckbourn is one of the most widely performed living English language playwrights and a highly regarded theatre director. His works, mostly comedies, deal with middle-class manners and conflicts. He is a Tony, Olivier, and Moliere Award winning writer who has written 77 full length plays, more than half of which have gone on to London's West End. His contribution to theatre has been recognized with both a Special Tony Award and the Olivier's Special Award.