A very funny journey through 60 years of the life of an unremarkable man and the remarkable women who loved, left or lost him and of the equally remarkable manor house which saw and heard it all.

We first meet Anthony Spates as a 17-year-old in 1925, then again in 1945, 1965 and 1985 – different ages, different jobs, but always the same house, in different incarnations. He’s a quiet, unassuming chap, but things (and very colourful women) just seem to happen to him! Cue a whole host of comedy moments, from fireworks to pantomime cows, from squiffy aristocrats to amdram lotharios, from a furtive first kiss to characters caught with their trousers down. A tragi-comedy with all of Ayckbourn’s trademark theatricality.

Alan Ayckbourn has written 91 full-length plays and is one of the world’s most-performed living playwrights. Knighted in 1997 for services to the theatre, he received the 2010 Critics’ Circle Award for Services to the Arts and became the first British playwright to receive both Olivier and Tony Special Lifetime Achievement Awards. His work has been translated into over 35 languages, and is performed on stage and television throughout the world.

This production will be performed in-the-round.

Running from:

Wednesday 30^th July / Thursday 31^st July / Saturday 2^nd August / Monday 4^th August / Tuesday 5^th August / Wednesday 6^th August 2025

See all plays and dates here.

Season Ticket:

To purchase a season ticket please select a date for each play (DEATHTRAP, A BRIEF HISTORY OF WOMEN, STRICTLY MURDER, PERSUASION, FALLEN ANGELS) to add to your basket. Proceed to check out and an automatic discount will be applied.