Man of the Moment

by Alan Ayckbourn

It is all too likely that a convicted thief should endear himself to the great British public; all too feasible that he should become a media pundit...all too probable that he should live in luxury, tended by suave managers and courted by ambitious TV directors. And all too consistent that a bright BBC lady should arrange a meeting, after fourteen years, between this ex-thug and the wet little bank-clerk who "had a go".
'Not since Way Upstream has the vision of society been blacker, the humour more sardonic...Not for some time has Ayckbourn produced such a tightly constructed play. Never has he looked more like the Ben Jonson of the Welfare State." Martin Hoyle, Financial Times.

Genres: Plays

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Sir Alan Ayckbourn is a popular and prolific English playwright. He has written and produced seventy-three full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their first performance. More than 40 have subsequently been produced in the West End, at the Royal National Theatre or by the Royal Shakespeare Company since his first hit Relatively Speaking opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in 1967. Major successes include Absurd Person Singular (1975), The Norman Conquests trilogy (1973), Bedroom Farce (1975), Just Between Ourselves (1976), A Chorus of Disapproval (1984), Woman in Mind (1985), A Small Family Business (1987), Man Of The Moment (1988), House & Garden (1999) and Private Fears in Public Places (2004). His plays have won numerous awards, including seven London Evening Standard Awards. They have been translated into over 35 languages and are performed on stage and television throughout the world. Ten of his plays have been staged on Broadway, attracting two Tony nominations, and one Tony award.

Reviews

[Faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this play, a former bank robber has become a very successful TV personality (and a narcissistic blowhard) and a reality TV production is reuniting him with the bank teller who thwarted his final robbery and became a hero for a brief period. The reunion does not go well. The play satirizes celebrity culture and reality TV.

I love Alan Ayckbourn and have seen several of his plays, but I have never seen this one. The plays are all amusing and often hilarious, but there are always moments when there is a pause, a glance or a quaver in the actor’s voice that reveals some poignant, tragic or decidedly unfunny detail behind the hilarity. In this audio play, the actors have to accomplish that with their voices, and they did that extremely well.

[Vita · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don’t want to write a spoilery review, so I’ll simply say that I was NOT OK with how certain characters treated others and how those bastards actually ended up being famous and loved and freaking “heroes”! I despised certain abusive conversations and how it all seemed like a joke. And I’m pissed, because when I first started reading this play, I was actually really enjoying it, and then it all just flipped and turned into a great pile of bullshit.

[Anton Segers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ayckbourn is waarschijnlijk de meest verkeerd geïnterpreteerde en onderschatte theaterauteur die ik ken. Waar de meesten hem zien als een comedy- of kluchtschrijver, is hij een genadeloos scherpe getuige van het egoïsme des mensen en de morele corruptie van ons samenleven.
In deze knappe satire op de leugenachtigheid van tv-realityshows laat hij ons als een moderne Molière lachen om de tragiek van de stompzinnigheid, liefdeloosheid en leegte rond ons.

[Trevor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've just finished listening to this. I really love Ayckbourn, have done for years. This is a play as much about journalism (and the evils there of) as it is about what makes a person a 'hero'. The nature of love, the nature of betrayal, what it means to be happy, why people refuse to believe that those without the trappings of success can be happy - and even does one person's happiness count, in the end? These are a few of my favourite things, and imagine, all in one play that also allows one to continue one’s life long loathing of journalism. I ask you, what more could I hope for?

No one comes out of this play very well. All the same you only end up hating one of them. That's generally more than enough.

Seventeen years ago a bank robbery went horribly wrong. The robber holds a female teller hostage, not suspecting that one of the fellow tellers might risk his life to save her – during the struggle the robber shots the woman in the face. She loses an ear, her self esteem and her ability to go out in public.

The robber gets out of gaol seven years later and becomes a famous television presenter – a reformed man, a wealthy man. What’s that line from elsewhere about once you can fake sincerity you can fake anything?

But a journalist is doing a program on the incident called, “Their Paths Crossed” – hoping to make the man who had been the hero tell how upset he is at watching the man who destroyed his wife’s beauty now living the high life in a villa on the Spanish coast. He never quite comes across with the goods the journalist is after, being far too forgiving and not nearly envious enough. What is wrong with him?

It is a play in which everyone seems to be manipulating everyone else and no one can believe that there can possibly be anyone in the world capable of such forgiveness – even if they do tell you they are a Christian right at the start. A play that shows that if you highlight this bit over here and ignore this other bit over there – well, just about anything one does can make us look like either good people or evil bastards. Heroes or villains.

It is a lovely play which is particularly funny at the beginning. It also has a remarkably witty insult that, as I’m also not a particularly handsome man myself, I possibly enjoyed a little too much:

"He treated her as only a handsome man can treat a beautiful woman, if you know what I mean."

You are supposed to know that he means – badly.

[Bobby Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite Ayckbourn play, so far. Probably because it's not farce.

[syd · Rating 3 out of 5]

everything vic did made me feel sick to my stomach

[Gareth Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Media may have changed a lot but has morality? A play written in the 1980s that still speaks volumes about celebrity and decency.

[Duncan Maccoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine, if you will, a set with a swimming pool and an actress who has to use a wheelchair or crutches. The former is in the play and the latter shows how dedicated some actresses can be as the show must go on. The play, ah well, not one of Ayckbourn's best but worth reading and if you can catch a performance, then watch out for the swimming pool.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Long windup but ends well.