Absurdia (Resounding Tinkle / Gladly Otherwise / Crimson Hotel)

Genre: Comedy
Opened 31 July 2007
Written: by N. F. Simpson / by N. F. Simpson / by Michael Frayn
Directed: Douglas Hodge
Produced: Donmar Warehouse
Cast: Peter Capaldi, John Hodgkinson, Lyndsey Marshal, Judith Scott
Info: Triple bill celebrating British Absurdist playwrights

What the critics had to say.....
KIERON QUIRKE for THE EVENING STANDARD says, "It's perfectly entertaining, but as provocative as a jam sandwich." MICHAEL BILLINGTON for THE GUARDIAN says, "The evening has many pleasures." SAM MARLOWE for THE TIMES says, "The Simpson playlets from the late 1950s that form two-thirds of Absurdia, directed with verve by Douglas Hodge, offer a divertingly warped, mildly satirical view of so-called normality. The remaining, brand-new work, Michael Frayn's The Crimson Hotel, subverts the conventions of a Feydeau farce while playing perspective-twisting theatrical games with audience and actors." RHODA KOENIG for THE INDEPENDENT says, "Simpson's plays, with their arch whimsy, petty status-seeking, squeaky-clean double entendres, and terror of embarrassment, are utterly, painfully English--or, at least, English in the manner of the 1950s. They are nonconformism for people who need constant reassurance that what they are watching is comic, therefore not at all serious." DAVID SIMMONS for THE STAGE says, "At its best, Absurdism challenges the human condition and provokes questioning. This collection falls short of that."

External links to full reviews from popular press
The Guardian
The Independent
The Times