Review: Alan Ayckbourn's 'Just Between Ourselves' at Theatre Royal Windsor

There is a kind of ache with an Alan Ayckbourn play: when you laugh there’s an undertow of tension, when you’re pained there’s still a splash of humour.

Just Between Ourselves is classic Ayckbourn, full of undercurrents which swirl and collide in the most ordinary of settings.

It begins with a man tinkering away in his garage workshop, there’s a Mark II Mini in vivid green beside him and shelves stacked with odds and ends.

It’s 1976, and Mr Andrews (Joseph Clowser) calls to the house of Dennis (Tom Richardson) and Vera (Holly Smith) to have a look at their car, which is for sale.

Vera, also known as Vee, is sweet but tense, especially when Dennis’s mother Marjorie (Connie Walker) appears – she may be remarkable for 67 but 'Mother' clearly isn’t good for Vee’s nerves.

The visitor – Neil – is unsure about cars and life in general but confesses that his wife Pamela (Helen Phillips) insists the purchase must be his decision, she has spent the last of her own money on household goods and toilet brushes.

Pam puts on less of a show than the other characters, but is also stuck.

The polite chitchat becomes more confiding as the scenes unfold, ‘just between ourselves' is Dennis’s repeated phrase, though he keeps up a show of cheeriness despite the stresses in his home.

Taking place over four birthdays over ten or so months, the action takes place in the garden and the garage, the car sitting there unsold despite discount offers to Neil and Pam.

The Windsor audience laughed out at lines like ‘I’m a born pedestrian’ and ‘Women need a rock… I’m a bloody marshmallow’ but the Ayckbourn ache keeps its tension.

I felt the lighting or set could have created better differentiation between the garage and the garden scenes, the context makes it apparent but my eyes kept going back to the ‘Java green’ Mini and busy garage, even when the characters were well downstage of it for the outdoor scenes.

Maybe the car is too well designed, it’s made of fibreglass – I thought it was real until I read the programme – and proves crucial to the hilarious opening scene of Act two.

This was so well written and crafted and staged and performed, I almost forgot about the Ayckbourn ache. The costumes, fabrics and 70s references are enjoyable, there was a palpable reaction to a vintage Tesco carrier bag with the broad blue stripes.

Couples may get demagnetised, as Neil says, but there is something to be said for putting on a good show.

Just Between Ourselves is showing at Theatre Royal Windsor until Saturday, April 5.