Absurd Person Singular - TNT

It's Christmas Eve three times over in Alan Ayckbourn's dark 1972 comedy, as a trio of unhappy couples gets together year after year. Tellingly, we only see what's going on in their kitchens — the panic, the despair and the less palatable truths behind the false bonhomie. In a top-notch cast, Lia Williams is excellent as her silent suicide attempts are inadvertently foiled by the guests she's forgotten to cancel; Jenny Seagrove's condescending banker's wife downs far too much gin; and Jane Horrocks (happiest in rubber gloves) scrubs away hilariously as a compulsively cleaning housewife. As this seasonal — but far from festive — revival draws to an end, her irredeemably unpleasant, social-climbing husband (David Bamber) gloats triumphantly over the clique of middle class acquaintances who will always despise him.
Garrick, Charing Cross Rd, WC2 (0870-040 0083). Until March 22. £45-£15