Cast

Synopsis

Justin and Julie-Ann, hopelessly mismatched in love, are about to introduce their respective parents to one another over dinner: Justin’s upper crust alcoholic mother from Surrey and Julie-Ann’s bigoted Yorkshire father and prim mother. Into this doomed scenario drops, literally, Paige Petite, a former lap dancer with suicidal tendencies, and her thick, gun toting minder, who is employed by her violent boyfriend. They proceed to wreak havoc on a meticulously planned evening that culminates in brilliantly orchestrated mayhem.

Directors Notes

It seems simple enough. A young professional couple decide to get married and they invite her parents and his mother (plus escort) to a dinner party in their Docklands apartment in order to announce the event. So what could go wrong? Well, given that this is the stage world of Alan Ayckbourn, quite a lot. And it does. One guest doesn’t appear, others drop in (literally) and uncomfortable truths are revealed. Role Play is a good play from a fine craftsman and it has well-observed characterisation and a lot of humour. Even so, and this is often the case with this expert playwright, there is always that niggling feeling that we might just be laughing at our own absurdities as well as those of the characters. Don’t worry about that tonight, though; just delight in the agonising lack of communication
between the hopelessly mismatched characters. Directing BLT’s 500th play is both an exciting and a humbling experience. I am bound to think of the other plays making up the canon of this remarkable institution and of the consistently superb standard of its productions. I think too of the hundreds of people, living and dead, behind the scenes or on stage, who have, down all the years, kept the lame burning. This production is dedicated to them all.