REVIEW: Absent Friends – at the Festival Theatre, Malvern, from Wednesday, August 19 until Saturday, August 22, 2015.

AAHH, the simple joys of a cheese and pineapple hedgehog and sandwiches shared among a small select gathering on a Saturday afternoon.

It should be blissful for such bosom buddies but with the prolific Alan Ayckbourn’s wonderful penchant for seizing and sizing up social situations it’s pretty obvious it won’t be, and that pineapple is likely to be a touch sharp and bitter.

It’s back in 1974 and the gathering of old friends - there to help cheer up bereaved Colin, has been arranged by Diana, the wife a successful businessman.

They haven't seen Colin for years. That’s Diana, her domineering husband Paul - who has apparently had a brief fling with Evelyn - which is heavily suspected by Diana. Evelyn, who says little, is the wife of Paul’s incompetent business associate, John, and there’s also long-suffering Marge, who is married to Gordon, a man plagued by illness and unfortunate accidents who can’t be there as he is laid low at home.

Old tensions and old wounds have obviously not healed with time and soon the resentment and jealousies are slowly ignited when the well-intentioned Colin, who claims to have the talent for reading people, heads into the cauldron of chaos with an unexpected cheerfulness considering his fiancee had tragically drowned.

Embarrassing moments ensue for each of the six strong cast who have their parts and this production down to a fine art.

All are at considerable ease and ensure Ayckbourn’s skilfully woven script, based around someone with the best of intentions, provides a near perfect suburban comedy that is delightfully bitter-sweet as it deals with deception and death and how uncomfortable we are in dealing with the latter… especially the ever twitchy John.

Lisa Burrows sparkles as the fragile Diana, who is clearly on a knife edge; while the edgy Evelyn is played with a neat surliness by Kathryn Ritchie, and Susie Emmett hits all the right spots as Marge, who brusquely busies herself through life.

The men are well played too - Kevin Drury’s bullying Paul, John Dorney’s restless John - a bundle of nervous energy who doesn’t want to sit and doesn’t want death mentioned. A fine and funny performance here, while Pete Collis is excellent as the caring Colin, keen to express and share his social skills.

It may seem a little tired and dated now in its 40th-plus year but there is still plenty to enjoy and admire in Ayckbourn’s craftsmanship and observations on suburban life.

This is the first stop for the London Classic Theatre’s national tour. Now into their 15th year this production provides the proof they will be making plenty of friends along the way.