Ayckbourn again

Experts are concerned that Alan Ayckbourn’s plays may soon face extinction. Fewer than 80 of these precious beasts still exist in their natural habitat, so theatre-goers will be cheered to know that the National Theatre has created a genetically identical replica and released it into the wild. Rules for Living, fashioned by Sam Holcroft from the Acykbourn blueprint, is a bourgeois natter-fest in which bickering couples meet for a fractious Christmas summit. The characters are a bit nice and a bit nasty. Stephen Mangan plays a failed cricket star married to a soak in a frock. They have an only child who suffers from this year’s must-have mental disorder. The brother-in-law, represented by Miles Jupp, is an amiable podge whose hysterical lummox of a wife is a resting actress with a desperately needy personality. Deborah Findlay dominates the action as a glaring snoot married to a ruined baldie whose severe Alzheimer’s makes for uncomfortable comedy.