Review: Life of Riley ***

In a way it's a little unfair to Alan Ayckbourn.

Were this a play by someone less well known – or someone who didn't have 73 other plays to fall back on – so essentially, everybody else – we would apply different critical standards.

Ayckbourn has not so much made a rod for his own back as a bookshelf. He finds himself in a field of one and there is no getting away from the fact that this latest Ayckbourn play lacks the power, comedy and sheer ingenuity of many of his other efforts.

The only concession to the fact that the playwright can do extraordinary things with the stage, shaping it with his imagination, is that the title character – George Riley – never appears. Instead we see the effect he has on the people around him.

Given that Life of Riley is running in rep with Communicating Doors – in which the playwright turns a stage into a time travelling hotel room – this is small beans.

It's doubtful, however, that it is a sign that the playwright's powers are on the wane – anyone who saw last year's My Wonderful Day will know that is not the case. It simply appears that, in his eighth decade, Ayckbourn has allowed himself licence to write something gentler, more introspective. It doesn't make for a thrilling piece, more a quiet, contemplative Ayckbourn play, in which three relationships and the effect on them of an unseen person are examined.

George Riley has only months to live and three women in his life – old flame Kathryn, estranged wife Monica and wife of his best friend Tamsin – rally around.

This gentle comedy has typically insightful things to tell us about the state of our own relationships, but it is more a passing fancy of a play than a palpable hit.

To October 16.