Ayckbourn's Short Plays and Themes of Isolation and Loneliness

Ayckbourn's Short Plays and Themes of Isolation and Loneliness

Isolation and loneliness are common themes in three of Ayckbourn's

short plays. It appears, in varying degrees within MF, DC and TP but

always is a problem/theme inside each play. MF starts off with on the

first page with a strong image of Lucy being isolated from the world

outside., "she lifts the receiver then replaces it immediately" and

"the door chimes again. Lucy ignores these". Lucy is isolating herself

from people at the door and anybody trying to ring her, we discover in

the next play why she ignores the phone but the door must just be a

way of keeping all her outside troubles and upsets away. I.e. Harry

her husband who has 'abandoned' her and left her on her own with the

multiple children. An adult in a home with no other adults to talk to

may feel very alone intellectually speaking. With nobody around to

discuss 'adult issues' e.g. the reason why she is so isolated and why

Harry has left her. This ties in with the loneliness of Harry in DC.

Here Harry is isolated from females in general, he is away from his

wife, but he is miles apart from the girls he's trying to impress. You

can see, especially with the arrival of Paula that neither of the

girls find him remotely interesting or amusing, on page37 Bernice

says, "Oh my God, I thought we'd never get rid of him" just before the

pair quickly exit the restaurant. Also Harry turns to attempting to

have an affair, probably affairs observing how he behaves, either from

obsession and lust-or he truly feels so distant from Lucy he cannot

sort out any marital problems. Harry and Lucy are a married couple

with children and commitments to each other, but both are lonely, and

feel remote from the other. They deal with it in different ways

though-Harry attempts to cure loneliness with brief sexual companions,

while Lucy just cuts herself off from everyone or at least tries to.

Lucy's display of role reversal with Terry and Rose shows how distant

from the adult community she appears to be becoming. She turns the

pair into squabbling kids, and sends them on their way. When it was

they who came to help her! The waiter in BM shares a similar problem,

he must be friendly and warm to everyone while keeping a respectable

isolated stance from their affairs. Meaning in his everyday working

capacity he is lonely and having to present a distance between himself

and his customers. This is impressed every time the waiter wanders