Absurd Person Singular  Absurd Person Singular is a 1972 play by Alan Ayckbourn. Divided into three acts, it documents the changing fortunes of three married couples. Each act takes place at a Christmas celebration at one of the couples' homes on successive Christmas Eves. The play made its world premiere at the Library Theatre, Scarborough on 26 June 1972 and its London début at the Criterion Theatre on 4 July 1973, transferring to the Vaudeville Theatre in September 1974, completing a run of 973 performances. Its official New York Broadway début was at the Music Box Theatre on 8 October 1974. It ran for 591 performances in its first run on Broadway (through March 1976). It was revived on Broadway on 18 October 2005 at the Biltmore Theatre, for 56 performances. In 1994 James Maxwell directed a production for the Royal Exchange, Manchester with Trevor Cooper, Margo Gunn, Denys Hawthorne, Patrick O'Kane and Amanda Boxer. The BBC produced a television drama, adapted from the play, first broadcast on 1 January 1985. It was directed by Michael Simpson and starred John Baddeley, Cheryl Campbell, Michael Gambon, Nicky Henson, Lesley Joseph, Maureen Lipman, Geoffrey Palmer and Prunella Scales. The play was revived in the West End at the Whitehall Theatre, May 1990; and at the Garrick Theatre in December 2007. A new production was staged during May 2011 at the new Curve Theatre in Leicester, starring Tracy-Ann Oberman and Louise Plowright and directed by Paul Kerryson. The play was revived once again at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough – 40 years after its original run there, in 2012. The play returned to New York for a limited season in December 2019 with an all-British cast at Theatre Row, Off-Broadway. It was the first major revival in the city for almost fifteen years and transferred back to the UK in January 2020, at the Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield, in Ayckbourn's native county of Yorkshire. It was directed by John Cotgrave and starred Maria Sykes, Adam Elms, Claire Marlein, Alex Thompson, Eve Burley, and Joshua Nutbrown. A contractor eager for social and professional advancement, Sidney will do anything to impress his perceived superiors—at the expense of his marriage. Sidney is socially inept, and shares that innocence with his wife, keeping their marriage together. As the play progresses, he becomes wealthier and wealthier, until eventually the friends he was once desperate to impress are now courting him as their own fortunes sink lower and lower.