'Congratulations to everyone involved with Relatively Speaking - outstanding entertainment! Loved the 60s setting and the performances from your 'fab four' were truly groovy ;)'

'Still giggling after an amazing performance last night by Adel Players! Just the right mix of confusion, debauchery, and hilarity - well done guys!'

'Thank you, thank you, thank you!'

We were delighted that a couple who saw the 1st production of 'Relatively Speaking' at the Library Theatre in Scarborough, 1965 (directed by Stephen Joseph himself) were able to join us- and even more so that they thoroughly enjoyed our production!

Relatively Speaking: Director' notes

Written in 1965, Relatively Speaking was originally conceived when Scarborough’s late great Stephen Joseph asked Ayckbourn to write a play which would simply make people laugh - especially when their seaside summer holidays were spoiled by the rain and they came into the theatre to get dry before trudging back to their landladies!  

Thankfully, the predictable English climate brought plenty of customers into the Library Theatre in Scarborough for the World Premiere in July 1965. At the London Premiere two years later it enjoyed rave reviews and launched Ayckbourn as one of the most prolific and popular writers of comedy drama in the modern era. Between 1970 and 2000 there was at least one and sometimes as many as five Ayckbourn plays being performed every year in London's West End. In 2013 Relatively Speaking enjoyed its London revival after 46 years!

The setting is the "Swinging 60s" when Britain was in the grip of a cultural & pop revolution with 'Beatle mania' at its height. The first baby boomers were coming of age and with them a new generation of adults were free to escape the past.  Against this background, Relatively Speaking is a comedy about relationships, infidelity and misunderstandings where Ayckbourn fully exposes the genteel politeness of the British middle class. He was able to do this thanks largely to the imprecision of the English language and the peculiar reticence endemic to British culture, which encourages the sort of mistaken-identity plotting Ayckbourn has mastered, and which leaves largely unspoken the painful truths of his characters' lives.

Very much reflecting the times, Ginny is a young woman with a very busy love life.   Greg wants to marry her but there are complications. When Greg tries to seek the approval of Ginny’s parents, he sets in motion a train of misunderstandings that create the comic bedrock of this hilarious play.

Beth Duce, Director

By Ann Lightman

The gloom of a cold dark January was lifted by an Adel Players production of Alan Ayckbourn’s “Relatively Speaking”. I would imagine it was a challenging play for the cast of four – fast-paced, almost entirely verbal humour, split pretty equally between two young actors – Helen Duce and Matthew Newby and two from the generation above, Dianne Newby and David Lancaster. All were faultless and convincing in their characters...no mean feat with such a lot to memorise. We are just so lucky that Adel Players have people capable of this professionalism –especially the younger actors, for the sake of authenticity in this play but also for the future of the Players.