The Square Cat: Quotes by Other People

This page includes quotes about the play The Square Cat by people other than Alan Ayckbourn, predominantly drawn from books and articles about Alan Ayckbourn or British theatre; it does not include quotes from reviews, which can be found in the Reviews pages.

"The Square Cat, billed as by 'Roland Allen', was largely the product of her [Christine Roland's] knowledge of stagecraft and his [Alan Ayckbourn's] nascent gift for plotting and dialogue. The characters lack depth but include types that would appear in full and glorious colour in more mature work."
(Paul Allen: A Pocket Guide to Alan Ayckbourn’s Plays, 2004, Faber)

"Looking at it [The Square Cat] now what is striking is the fledgling Ayckbourn's ability (he was nineteen when he wrote it) to endow 'a cool comedy in three acts' with some of the insane complexity of farce and with hints of suburban despair. In that sense the play, despite some rough edges, is an interesting harbinger of what is to come."
(Michael Billington: Modern Dramatists - Alan Ayckbourn, 1983, Macmillan)

"The were both [The Square Cat & Love After All] good nights out. Audiences fell about - we didn't always know what at - which is the mark of good comedy."
(David Campton - playwright & actor, quoted in Paul Allen's Grinning At The Edge, 2001, Methuen)

"[The Square Cat] is neatly constructed and, once the basic premise is accepted, it skilfully rises to frenetic climaxes and frantic farcical scenes as Jerry Wattis transforms into Arthur Brummage both onstage and off. It demonstrates that the young author already had a clear grasp of comedy arising out of character and situation.... Above all, it revels in its own theatricality and particularly in the dramatic possibilities of role-switching."
(Michael Holt: Alan Ayckbourn, 1999, Northcote House)

"[With regard to The Square Cat scene reproduced here] The relationship of a long-suffering, discontented wife and a husband indifferent to her moods, her needs, and her problems would soon become a crucial element in the Ayckbourn canon."
(Albert E. Kalson: Laughter In The Dark, 1991, Associated Universities Press)

All research for this page by Simon Murgatroyd.