An Ayckbourn play is always thought provoking, and the latest offering Earth Angel is probably more thought provoking than most. It felt like the playwright was, at times, straying into the space more usually owned by the likes of Stoppard and Pinter.
Rather than a drawing room comedy, although we did spend a lot of the play in drawing rooms, this was a play about the contemporary themes of social media, conspiracy theories, trust and fake news. The central question is what makes a good person? At one point in the play Gerald says that his family and friends' cynicism about Daniel is like the Pharisees saying of Jesus, “We don’t trust him, he’s altogether far too nice.”
Earth Angel questions how we judge strangers in the modern world, particularly through the lens of the internet. Adrian Prosper is a no-nonsense kind of guy. A retired police officer, he has dealt with enough lowlifes to see the worst in everyone. Played with frightening humourlessness, he is all suspicion and mistrust. When his newly bereaved brother-in-law, Gerald, is befriended by Daniel, an enigmatic young man, he thinks only the worst of the relationship. A neighbour, Hugo, is something of a technology nerd, obsessed with the internet, believing that the answer to any question can be found in a chat room! Throw in a sister, and a rather nosy neighbour, and the scene is set for a thoroughly perplexing play.
The critics' consensus is that Earth Angel is a play that generates discussion and is a valuable piece of theatre. We have certainly chatted quite a lot about the play, what Ayckbourn was saying, our responses to it and the responses we overheard in the audience.
The Guardian's review says that "despite the play’s title, the many references to death and the allusions to Jesus, Ayckbourn’s plea for decency is secular not spiritual. Daniel’s evasiveness gives him an otherworldly air, but the play has less to do with the supernatural than with the 1954 doo-wop hit Earth Angel by the Penguins. It is a humane and, in the final scene, touching vision."
The ending did feel unfinished. But then, real life is rarely neat and tidy, so I think this was what Ayckbourn was saying. It was also rather wonderful to have Alan Ayckbourn sat in the seats directly adjacent to us in the Old Laundry Theatre!