A MONTH OF SUNDAYS by Bob Larbey Directed by Michael Russell Altrincham Little Theatre “A Month of Sundays” is Bob Larbey’s first stage play, although he is better known for writing many television series such as The Good Life, Please Sir, Get Some In and Ever Decreasing Circles, with his co-writer, John Esmonde. His first solo series was A Fine Romance. Throughout this play, there are examples of the humour and wit that made all these television programmes comical as we took a look at the lives of Cooper and his friend Aylott. The play is set in 1986 in a Surrey retirement home. The two central characters are Cooper (John Westbrook) and Aylott (Steven Moss). Cooper has gone into the home to avoid being a burden on his family. His daughter and her husband visit him one Sunday in every month, hence the title. Both men have had their wings clipped by age and their freedom to experience the big wide world has been restricted to the grounds of the care home and local area for Aylott, but in Coopers case, just his room with the en-suite toilet. The bathroom is very much needed as the advancing years are having an impact on his water works and he has to visit the toilet frequently. This is a thread throughout the play, as he discusses the design of his “bag” with his friend. The friends meet regularly throughout the day to discuss the health of their fellow residents and share a game of chess and a drink of whisky. In many ways this is their established routine that helps them pass the time and deal with what were once busy hectic lives to boredom that they both have and now waiting to turn into zombies. To make light of their situation, they imagine themselves as prisoners of war and that the care home is a POW camp and the regime is likened
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