Ifeka is a Ph.D. specializing in American and British literature. In this essay she argues that A Chorus of Disapproval marries social criticism with comedy through the close parallels between it and The Beggar's Opera.

Alan Ayckbourn has always enjoyed popularity among audiences, but for too long his critical reputation suffered under the lingering suggestion that a writer of light farce had little, if anything, to say about contemporary society. This view has been modified in recent years, although it is still rare to find criticism of Ayckbourn that takes him seriously as a social critic. Even a play like A Chorus of Disapproval, in which the close parallels Ayckbourn draws between his play and John Gay's