The Holmdel Theatre Company, in residence at The Duncan Smith Theatre, Holmdel NJ, presents the 4A's (Alan Ayckbourn Aficionados of America) in a rare staged reading of Alan Ayckbourn's comic masterpiece HOUSE & GARDEN on Saturday, August 14th. Not one, but two plays - HOUSE & GARDEN follows the dysfunctional Platt family on the day they host the annual village fete. Up in the house, Teddy Platt is nervously anticipating a visit from Gavin Ryng-Mayne, an oily politician who may or may not be coming to ask him to run for office. Teddy's wife Trish refuses to acknowledge her husband's very existence due to his affair with her best friend and neighbor, Joanna. Their daughter Sally is love-struck by Joanna's son Jake, but intrigued by the seductive advances of Gavin as well. Meanwhile, down in the garden, Joanna's huband Giles is spiraling into a deep depression as plans for the fete threaten to get disastrously out of control due to a visit from a tipsy French movie star fresh out of rehab and an impending thunderstorm. Add in a knife-wielding housekeeper, her over-sexed fortune-telling daughter, a grunting gardener, a pair of squabbling village fete coordinators, and you've got twice Ayckbourn's usual dose of hilarity mixed with hurt!
This is the first New Jersey presentation of HOUSE & GARDEN, plays written by Ayckbourn in 1999 and seen in London in 2000 and New York City in 2002. Although written to be performed by the same cast, simultaneously in two adjacent auditoria, the Holmdel readings will be performed sequentially with a matinee of HOUSE at 3pm and an evening reading of GARDEN at 8pm both on Saturday, August 14, 2010. Tickets are $10 for one show, $15 for both. Reservations may be made by calling (732) 946-0427.
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