Saturday afternoon I went for a browse around the 53rd Annual exhibition of paintings, by the Sidmouth Society of Artists – at the Manor Pavilion Arts Centre. There was a huge range of skill on show – from obviously amateur to technically brilliant. Some of the paintings were so lovely I was tempted to buy them. I love to visit art galleries and enjoy the work of amateur artists too – sometimes they have a fresh way of looking at an old scene that makes you really notice it. Many of the paintings were water colours of Sidmouth and other nearby landscapes – so it was interesting to see how many of the places I’d visited and could recognise.

The exhibition is on until 23rd July 2008 (10am – 6.30pm daily including Sundays) - and is well worth a visit if you live locally, or are on holiday in Sidmouth during this time.

Below: inside the exhibition.

Saturday evening we went to the theatre. We are lucky enough to live just two minutes stroll from it – so naturally we are regular visitors there. We don’t go to every production but I always keep an eye open for plays I know we will both enjoy. So when I noticed that the Charles Vance Theatre Company were making their annual visit to Sidmouth to put on an Ayckbourn play as part of their summer season, I was delighted. Without more ado I dashed down to the theatre box office and bought a couple of tickets for us.

I love Ayckbourn’s plays; the playwright is known for his quality farce and light but witty humour. his plays tend to revolve around misunderstandings, misapprehensions, confusions and mistaken identity. And in this respect, Relatively Speaking is no different. Confusion reigns from beginning to end.

The play has just four characters and is simple, innocuous, light entertainment. The plot is implausible and farcial, naive and dated, and yet it still manages to be clever and amusing; that is the skill of Ayckbourn. Never underestimate his ability. I loved it. Charles Vance is a favourite actor of mine anyway – he’s worth a few quid of anyones’ hard earned money; he never disappoints.

And the play as a whole? Well Ayckbourn himself said that he wanted to write, “A play which would make people laugh when their summer holidays were spoiled by rain and they came into the theatre to get dry before trudging back to their landladies.“

Well, it might not be my summer holiday, but after a rather wet few weeks in England, I can safely say Ayckbourn’s plan worked: the audience laughed, and we laughed, at his comedy! It was a wonderfully fun way to spend a few hours on a Saturday evening! My conclusion?  It was clearly a good enough reason to write a play Mr Ayckbourn, relatively speaking!

NB: The play runs until Wednesday 16th July 2008 – at The Manor Pavilion Theatre, Sidmouth.