Time of My Life is a lively, witty Ayckbourn play, but it is hardly his most widely known. First performed in 1992, the piece faded into obscurity for many years. This revival is much-needed; the dialogue still sounds sharp and the themes of the play have a new resonance.
Time of My Life follows one Yorkshire family, the Strettons - a couple with grown-up sons and their respective partners. The opening scene is the only one in which they all appear together. The family are assembled in their favourite (but slightly chaotic) restaurant to celebrate mother Laura’s 54th birthday. Conventional older son Glyn is there, ready to give his marriage to his wife Stephanie another chance. Restless younger son Adam arrives, with his new hairdresser girlfriend and his new choice of career: this month, he’s decided to become a magazine editor. After a hubbub of chat, including audibly fierce lines from Laura, the scene breaks up and the play splits into three.
This is not a conventionally structured piece. The bulk of the play switches between one couple in the present, still at the family meal (Laura and David), one hurtling forwards in time (Stephanie and Glyn), and one couple whose scenes recede further into the past (Adam and Maureen). Each scene is in the same restaurant; the faded moss-green tablecloths and eccentric waiters are the one aspect that does not change. Cracks begin to appear in each couple’s relationship, and few end happier than they started. The final scene sees the whole family reunite at the time of the birthday meal, as father David calls a toast and points out that this might be one of the few moments at which they are happy and, more philosophically, that when we are happy, we are seldom aware of it at the time: happiness is more often hoped-for, or retrospective.
Many of Ayckbourn’s plays display a fascination with time. The playwright cites J.B. Priestly as a major influence, and this piece, with increasing revelations from family members, is reminiscent of An Inspector Calls. The Strettons' troubles and financial losses, and Ayckbourn's allusions to the Thatcher years, seem pertinent again in another era of recession. That said, it is not big themes or messages that make this play worth watching; the dialogue is prickly, fizzing and hugely entertaining. Sarah Parks give a particularly fine performance as acerbic mother, Laura.
By 1992 Ayckbourn had established a reputation as a writer of the suburban middle-class. This overlooked play first saw him capture the Northern voice.