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Act Two
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Absurd Person Singular, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Middle Class
Materialism
Fortune
Gender Roles
Summary
Analysis
Act Three takes place “next Christmas” in the kitchen of the Brewster-Wrights’ old Victorian house. The kitchen has many modern appliances, but also the “flavor” of the original Victorian design. Ronald sits in an armchair, wearing a scarf and listening to the radio. He reads a book, and laughs out loud every couple seconds.
Ayckbourn first introduced the Brewster-Wrights as an impressive couple with a lot of social status, and their house would seem to support such an interpretation. Victorian architecture still signifies wealth and prestige. However, the chilliness of the house (signaled by Ronald’s scarf) might also symbolize the couple’s cold, emotionless life together.
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Eva walks into the rom, wearing a winter coat. She complains that the house is very cold, and Ronald asks her if “her room’s all right.” Eva tells Ronald that “she” would like a sandwich, and adds that “she” is doing much better. Ronald thanks Eva for dropping by, and assures her that Marion appreciates it, too. Marion, he explains, has been living “on her nerves” lately, since she’s very insecure. Eva suggests that this may be because she drinks too much, but Ronald denies this, claiming that she hasn’t been drinking at all, lately.
Ronald offers Eva a drink, and she accepts after turning it down the first time. Just then, the bell rings, and Eva says that it’s probably Geoffrey. Ronald walks off to answer the door. A moment later, Geoffrey walks into the kitchen and asks Eva, “How is she?” Eva replies, “drunk.” Eva asks Geoffrey if he asked Ronald for money, and Geoffrey says he hasn’t. Eva points out that Ronald owes Geoffrey the money, and claims that she’ll bring it up with Ronald after Christmas.
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Ronald enters the room, noting that there seems to be little alcohol left in the house, even though he bought some recently. He guesses that his maid has been sneaking drinks. Ronald goes off to look in other parts of the house. Alone, Eva tells Geoffrey that she hates working for him—he leaves in the middle of the day, leaving Eva to do all his typing. Eva also suggests that Geoffrey reach out to Sidney Hopcroft, but Geoffrey refuses to get involved in his “seedy little schemes.” Eva replies that ever since the roof of Walter Harrison’s shopping complex caved in and nearly killed the Manager, “Sidney Hopcroft is about your only hope of surviving as an architect in this city.”
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Ronald returns with the drinks, and the three of them toast and drink. Geoffrey notes, “Bit quieter than last Christmas, eh?” He notices the book Ronald was reading—a “saucy” thing, Ronald explains, which he found under “one of the boys’ mattresses.” He tells Geoffrey that he was sorry to hear about the collapsed shopping complex. Geoffrey asks Ronald how his bank is doing, and Ronald explains, “We’re not in the red, yet.”
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The bell rings, and Ronald explains that it’s Marion upstairs. Eva goes to attend to Marion. With Geoffrey, Ronald reminisces about his first wife, a woman who left him abruptly and wrote him a letter saying, “she’d had enough.” Ronald next married Marion, but he still thinks about his first wife sometimes. He adds that he still has no idea “what most women think about anything.”
Eva enters the room again. Ronald asks her how their dog is doing, and Eva tells him, “We had to … give him away.” Ronald remembers that Dick Potter had to have three stitches because of his dog bite. Dick Potter is mountain-climbing in Switzerland this Christmas, meaning “We’ll have to do without old Dick to jolly us up this year.”
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Suddenly, Marion walks into the room. She greets the guests and thanks them for coming. Ronald warns her that she needs to put on warmer clothing. After Marion asks him for a drink, Ronald starts to say, “The doctor said very plainly …” Marion cuts him off, saying, “For the love of God, Ronnie, it’s Christmas.” Then, she begins to weep. She tells the guests that she used to be a very beautiful woman. Ronald cries, “Nobody wants your damn picture, now shut up.”
The doorbell rings, and Eva goes to see who it is. She comes back to the kitchen and tells Ronald that it’s the Hopcrofts. Ronald says “Oh, good grief,” and Geoffrey adds, “Heaven forbid.” Marion asks Ronald why he doesn’t yell for them to go away, and Ronald replies, “Because he happens to have a very large deposit account with my bank.” Eva suggests that they just sit silently and wait for the Hopcrofts to go away. Ronald turns off the lights in the kitchen. They can hear the Hopcrofts walking around to the back door. The Hopcrofts are dressed in party hats and they’re clearly a little drunk. Suddenly, Ronald says, “I’ve got a nasty feeling I didn’t lock the back door.”
Sidney opens the back door, even though Jane tells him not to. He shoots back, “I haven’t yet forgiven you for that business at the party. How did you manage to drop a whole plate of trifle?” Sidney and Jane walk into the kitchen and turn on the light, to find Ronald, Marion, Geoffrey, and Eva trying to hide in various spaces. There’s a pause, and then Marion says, “Boo.”
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Ronald offers Sidney and Jane drinks, and Sidney mentions that he’s just come from Walter Harrison’s party. He turns to Geoffrey and says, “You’ll know him, won't you?” He mentions that he and Jane went to the party partly for pleasure, but adds, “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”
Jane offers Ronald and Marion their presents, which they open, confused. Jane and Sidney explain that the presents are a set of electrical screwdrivers for Ronald and a bottle of gin for Marion. Jane also gives Ronald two “rather ghastly woolly toys” for Ronald and Marion’s children. Finally, Jane produces a tiny bell, which she gives to Geoffrey, saying that he can put it on George’s collar. She apologizes for not bringing any presents for Geoffrey and Eva—she didn’t know they’d be there.
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Ronald tells Sidney and Jane, “You’ll have to excuse us if we’re not our usual cheery selves.” However, Marion says, “I’m perfectly cheery.” Eva mentions that Geoffrey is “dying” to do jobs for Sidney, and Sidney replies, “I’ll certainly keep him in mind. Really rather depends.”
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Sidney and Jane tell the others, “We’re going to get you all jumping about.” Sidney proceeds to tell Jane about his idea for a game, but because the radio is playing too loudly, it’s impossible to hear what he’s saying. Jane and Sidney proceed to remove all the chairs in the kitchen, and then roll up the carpet.
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Sidney explains that they’ll be playing a game called Musical Dancing. The point of the game is to stop dancing at the exact moment when the music stops. The person who’s caught dancing after the music stops will get a forfeit (an item they must carry), and at the end of the game, the person with the least forfeits gets a chocolate Father Christmas (i.e., Santa Claus).
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The game begins, and everyone but Jane and Sidney begins dancing. Marion dances in a shaky “classical ballet style,” while the others dance “sheepishly and reluctantly.” Ronald gets the first forfeit, an apple under the chin, followed by Eva, who gets an orange between the knees. The rest of the game proceeds more quickly, with the characters all getting forfeits. Marion’s forfeit is to drink a shot of gin, which Ronald tries to protect—but when he does so, he drops his own forfeit, a spoon in the mouth. Thus, Jane gives him another forfeit, a pear on the spoon in his mouth.
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