About the Play:

Relatively Speaking is a full-length comedy by Alan Ayckbourn. The plot involves Greg, a young man, who plans to marry his sweetheart, Ginny. Greg visits, unexpectedly, the country home of a middle-aged couple, Sheila and Phillip, whom he believes to be Ginny's parents. Then Ginny shows up too. Hilarious events ensue as characters grapple with a tangled web of mistaken identity and misinterpretation. Only the audience knows the real story. This is a classic farce by Alan Ayckbourn at his best!

Relatively Speaking is a witty, charming and beautifully constructed comedy of manners and mistaken identities. Greg only met Ginny a month ago but has already made up his mind that she's the girl for him. When she tells him that she's going to visit her parents, he decides this is the moment to ask her father for his daughter's hand. Discovering a scribbled address, he beats her there and finds Philip and Sheila enjoying a peaceful Sunday morning breakfast in the garden. The "parents" do not at first understand him correctly; for Ginny's parents are really in Australia, and she has come not to visit parents but to tell her former employer and lover that all is over between them: she is going to marry Greg. The "father" finds himself trapped between the two women, and has to play the role of father. But he does not give up easily. He makes a deal with Greg to take his daughter on a tour of the continent as a wedding present. It is at this point that "mother" is given the old pair of slippers left under Ginny's bed by her "father," and begins to put two and two together. After the lovers leave and the "parents" are again alone, "father" discovers the slippers, staunchly declares they are not his, and begins to inquire what his wife is doing with the slippers of another man. But this is one secret "mother" will not divulge. This smart, hilarious play about mistaken identities and motives will have audiences roaring with laughter while reflecting ever so slightly on the ups and downs of married life.

Relatively Speaking premiered in 1965 at The Library Theatre in Scarborough. The London production in 1967 at the Duke of York's Theatre was Alan Ayckbourn's first London West End hit. The play has been performed in regional, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 2 female, 2 male

What people say:

"Relatively Speaking emerges as the funniest trick of the season.." — The Evening Standard (London)

"Froth I said, and froth I maintain, but it is whipped to something near perfection and the result is a deliciously heady concoction." — Evening News (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.