My Wonderful Day at Bath

To see Alan Ayckbourn's splendid new play My Wonderful Day at Bath Theatre Royal last night. The play follows the absurdities of adult behaviour through the eyes of nine year-old Winnie. Her mum, Laverne, has gone into labour at the house where she cleans, so Winnie who has accompanied her that day, is left in the 'care' of the adults of the office, as she proceeds to fill her exercise book with an essay on her day, as a school assignment. Watching the tantrums, adultery and jealousies of the adults, whilst experiencing their patronising behaviour, gives her a memorable essay and creates a highly entertaining black comedy, enhanced by Winnie's insistence on speaking French (as it is a Tuesday) to please her Francophone mother. With a stunning central performance by 18 year-old Ayesha Antoine (pictured), the play breezes along in 100 interval-free minutes.

Why can't we revive popular drama on TV?

To see the revival of Alan Ayckbourn's very seventies Christmas black comedy, Absurd Person Singular, at the Bath Theatre Royal. The three act play depicts events in the kitchens surrounding Christmas Eve cocktail parties at three different couples' homes, as the fortunes of the cast change from year to year. All have a strangely dated feel - the play was written in 1972 - and all depict the excrutiating nature of such events, with nobody either wanting to host the parties or be there. That one party revolves around the repeated suicide attempts of the unwitting hostess while her guests proceed to clean her kitchen and repair the plumbing says it all.

But the script sparkles, and the cast, especially Foyles War stalwart Honeysuckle Weeks, are all top notch. There was a time when we could look forward to several such productions on BBC and ITV over the Christmas period. While Victoriana is being revived - and who could complain about the recent Little Dorrit adaptation - and there are some great new comedies and detective dramas, there is too little popular contemporary stage drama like this on TV. Yet they are definite crowd pleasers. If Saturday night variety can be revived, why not this sort of drama too?