The title of Alan Ayckbourn’s “A Brief History of Women,” part of the current Brits Off Broadway series, is misleading. Don’t expect a concentration on women and their history. What you will get is a helping of Ayckbourn’s gift for creating amusing and sometimes poignant characters and putting them in odd situations that can be entertaining as well as meaningful, especially when he is also the director as is the case here.
Of the four periods covered in separate scenes—really short plays-- making up the whole, the first, set in 1925 in Kirkbridge Manor, a large home, is the best. It also offers some insight into the plight of women at the time. Frances Marshall gives a strong portrayal of Lady Caroline Kirkbridge, the attractive wife of Lord Edward Kirkbridge (Russell Dixon), who is a nasty creature with little regard for his wife. We learn from his conversation over heavy drinking with Captain Fergus Ffluke (Laurence Pears), due to marry Lady Cynthia, Caroline’s daughter (Laura Matthews), that Lord Edwards's property and money when he dies will not go to his wife.
Thus at his death, which will come sooner than he thinks, his wife would be left without money, a condition for women in that era. Lord Edward comes across as such a louse that when he is stricken with a heart attack the situation seems hilarious rather than tragic. The story is brightened y the presence of 17-year-old Spates, a footman (Antony Eden), lured by the sex-starved Lady Caroline into a hot kiss, The shocked expression on Lady Cynthia’s face when she walks in on them is worth the whole scene. Louise Shuttleworth portrays Captain Ffluke’s mother.
It turns out that Spates is the only character who is followed in all segments with Eden playing him excellently at various stages of his life. The play also follows what happens to the manor house. In Part 2, set in 1945, it is a preparatory school for girls. In Part 3, in 1965, it has become an arts center. In Part 4, 1985, it has morphed into the Kirkbridge Manor Hotel, with Spates, now 77 as its former manager.
What we get steadily is the excellent, versatile six-member cast, adept at shifting into very different roles. There are also observations about class and relations between men and women. In fact, this play is as much about the lives of men as the lives of women. While it is not the best among the 80 or so plays Ayckbourn has written, it does have the sort of entertaining ingredients, including witty and sometimes broad comedy, and penetrating dialogue that one so often finds in his work. At 59E59 Theater A, 59 East 59th Street. Phone 212-279-4200. Reviewed May 3, 2018.