Absurd Person Singular (2005 - 2005)

Alan Ayckbourn's Absurd Person Singular — following three married couples on three successive Christmas Eves in three successive kitchens — has all the trappings of farce, save one: No spouses are swapped. As a result, there's never enough oomph to sustain three acts. In this intermittently funny revival, the pace only comes close to the requisite zip in Act 2, in which an architect's kooky, depressive wife (Mireille Enos) repeatedly and spectacularly fails to kill herself. Yes, attempted suicide provides the show's biggest laughs. Unless you count the sight of American actors like Alan Ruck (Spin City) and Clea Lewis (Ellen) tap-dancing around British accents.