Following the fortunes of three wildly incompatible couples over three consecutive Christmases, Ayckbourn based his drama on the observation that you can discern much about a person from the fit of their kitchen. Hence we have the Hopcrofts (spotless Formica and sparkling white goods); the Jacksons (knotted pine, filthy oven) and the Brewster-Wrights (temperamental Aga and malfunctioning Victorian boiler). The play's satire of the early 1970s get-rich-quick culture remains prescient, even grimly prophetic: the staggeringly unscrupulous Sidney Hopcroft is an uppity property developer with a taste for manipulative party games who literally has the rest of the characters dancing to his tune.
