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Alan AyckbournAlan Ayckbourn
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Critical perspective
BiographySir Alan Ayckbourn was born in London in 1939, and has worked in theatre all his life. He has undertaken various roles including actor, writer and director, encouraged by his mentor Stephen Joseph, who founded the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough. Almost all of his plays written to date have been first performed at this theatre, of which he is Artistic Director, and many subsequently produced in the West End or at the National Theatre.
A prolific writer of comedy plays satirising middle-class manners, he is considered one of the world's pre-eminent dramatists. His first West End hit, Relatively Speaking (1968), opened in 1967, and major plays since have included Absurd Person Singular (1974); The Norman Conquests (1975); Bedroom Farce (1977); Just Between Ourselves (1978); A Chorus Of Disapproval (1985); Woman In Mind (1986); A Small Family Business (1987); Man Of The Moment (1990); Things We Do For Love (1998); Comic Potential (1999); and Private Fears in Public Places (2004). He has won numerous awards for his plays, which have been translated into 35 languages, and are performed worldwide on stage and television. Seven of his plays have been performed on Broadway.
Sir Alan Ayckbourn also writes plays for children and young people. These include Mr. A's Amazing Maze Plays (1989), Invisible Friends (1991) and The Boy Who Fell Into A Book (2000). Gizmo (1999) was written for the British Telecom National Connections project, organised by the Royal National Theatre involving young people nationwide.
Also an accomplished director of his own and other plays, works he has directed include A View From The Bridge, starring Michael Gambon, and the USA premiere of his and Andrew Lloyd Weber's musical, By Jeeves.
Sir Alan Ayckbourn has received many honorary degrees, is Freeman of the Borough of Scarborough, was appointed CBE in 1987 and knighted for his services to theatre in 1997. His most recent play is Improbable Fiction (2007).
Genres (in alphabetical order)Drama
BibliographyRelatively Speaking Evans Bros, 1968 Countdown Methuen, 1969 Ernie's Incredible Illucinations Hutchinson, 1969 Mixed Doubles (with other authors) Methuen, 1970 How The Other Half Loves Samuel French, 1971 Time And Time Again Samuel French, 1973 Absurd Person Singular Samuel French, 1974 Confusions Margaret Ramsay, 1974 Absent Friends Samuel French, 1975 Living Together Samuel French, 1975 Round And Round The Garden Samuel French, 1975 Table Manners Samuel French, 1975 The Normal Conquests Chatto & Windus, 1975 Bedroom Farce Samuel French, 1977 Three Plays (contents: 'Absurd Person Singular'; 'Absent Friends'; 'Bedroom Farce') Chatto & Windus, 1977 Just Between Ourselves Samuel French, 1978 Ten Times Table Samuel French, 1978 Joking Apart Samuel French, 1979 Joking Apart And Two Other Plays (contents: 'Joking Apart';'Ten Times Table'; 'Just Between Ourselves') Chatto & Windus, 1979 Conversations with Ayckbourn (with Ian Watson) Macdonald, 1981 Sisterly Feelings Samuel French, 1981 Sisterly Feelings/Taking Steps Chatto & Windus, 1981 Taking Steps Samuel French, 1981 Season's Greetings Samuel French, 1982 Suburban Strains (music by Paul Todd) Samuel French, 1982 Way Upstream Samuel French, 1983 A Chorus Of Disapproval Faber and Faber, 1985 Intimate Exchanges Volume 1 Samuel French, 1985 Intimate Exchanges Volume 2 Samuel French, 1985 A Word From Our Sponsor (music by John Pattison) Samuel French, 1986 Woman In Mind Faber and Faber, 1986 A Small Family Business Faber and Faber, 1987 Henceforward ... Margaret Ramsay, 1987 Me, Myself And I (music by Paul Todd) Samuel French, 1989 Mr. A's Amazing Maze Plays Faber and Faber, 1989 Man Of The Moment Faber and Faber, 1990 A Cut In The Rates Samuel French, 1991 Invisible Friends Faber and Faber, 1991 The Revengers' Comedies Faber and Faber, 1991 Mr Whatnot Samuel French, 1992 Time Of My Life Samuel French, 1993 Wildest Dreams Faber and Faber, 1993 Callisto 5 Samuel French, 1995 Communicating Doors Faber and Faber, 1995 My Very Own Story Samuel French, 1995 Plays 1 (contents: 'Henceforward ...'; 'A Chorus Of Disapproval'; 'Man Of The Moment'; 'A Small Family Business') Faber and Faber, 1995 This Is Where We Came In Samuel French, 1995 Dreams From A Summer House Samuel French, 1997 Family Circles Samuel French, 1997 It Could Be Any One of Us Samuel French, 1998 Plays 2 (contents: 'Mr. A's Amazing Maze Plays'; 'Invisible Friends'; 'My Very Own Story'; 'This Is Where We Came In'; 'Ernie's Incredible Illucations') Faber and Faber, 1998 The Champion Of Paribanou Samuel French, 1998 Things We Do For Love Faber and Faber, 1998 Comic Potential Faber and Faber, 1999 New Connections 99: Plays for Young People (includes 'Gizmo') Faber and Faber, 1999 Gizmo Samuel French, 2000 House & Garden Faber and Faber, 2000 The Boy Who Fell Into A Book Faber and Faber, 2000 Body Language Samuel French, 2001 Damsels In Distress (contents: 'Game Plan'; 'Flat Spin'; 'Role Play') Faber and Faber, 2002 The Crafty Art Of Playmaking (theatrical guidebook) Faber and Faber, 2002 The Jollies Faber and Faber, 2002 Whenever Faber and Faber, 2002 My Sister Sadie Faber and Faber, 2003 Orvin - Champion Of Champions Faber and Faber, 2003 Family Circles Samuel French, 2004 Flat Spin Samuel French, 2004 Game Plan Samuel French, 2004 Role Play Samuel French, 2004 Snake In The Grass Samuel French, 2004 Plays 3 (contents: 'Haunting Julia'; 'Sugar Daddies'; 'Drowning On Dry Land'; 'Private Fears in Public Places') Faber and Faber, 2005 Improbable Fiction Samuel French, 2007
Prizes and awards1973 Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy of the Year Absurd Person Singular 1974 Evening Standard Award for Best Play of the Year The Norman Conquests 1974 Plays and Players Best Play Award The Norman Conquests 1974 Variety Club of Great Britain Award for Playwright of the Year 1977 Evening Standard Award for Best Play of the Year Just Between Ourselves 1978 Tony Award for Best Play (USA) Bedroom Farce 1978 Tony Award for Outstanding Direction of a Play (USA) (with Peter Hall) Bedroom Farce 1979 Plays and Players Best Comedy Award (joint winner) Joking Apart 1984 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Intimate Exchanges 1985 DRAMA Best Comedy Award A Chorus Of Disapproval 1985 Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy of the Year A Chorus Of Disapproval 1985 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy A Chorus Of Disapproval 1987 CBE 1987 Evening Standard Award for Best Play of the Year A Small Family Business 1987 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director A View from the Bridge 1988 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Henceforward ... 1988 Plays and Players Best Director Award A View from the Bridge 1989 Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy of the Year Henceforward ... 1990 Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy of the Year Man Of The Moment 1990 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Play Man Of The Moment 1991 Drama-Logue Critics Award (USA) Henceforward ... 1993 Birmingham Press Club Personality of the Year Award 1993 John Ederyn Hughes Rural Wales Award for Literature 1993 TMA/Martini Regional Theatre Award for Best Show for Children and Young People Mr. A's Amazing Maze Plays 1993 Writers' Guild Award (Lifetime Achievement) 1994 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Time Of My Life 1994 Montblanc de la Culture Award for Europe 1994 Yorkshire Man of the Year 1996 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Communicating Doors 1996 Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production By Jeeves 1996 TMA Regional Theatre Award for Best Musical By Jeeves 1996 Writers' Guild Award (Best West End Play) Communicating Doors 1997 KBE 1997 Lloyds Private Banking Playwright of the Year Award Things We Do For Love 1997 Molière Award for Best Comedy (France) Communicating Doors 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Things We Do For Love 2000 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play (USA) Comic Potential 2000 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Comic Potential 2000 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play (USA) Comic Potential 2001 Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence 2003 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Role Play 2003 Molière Award for Best Comedy (France) Things We Do For Love 2004 Variety Club of Great Britain (Yorkshire Region) Lifetime Achievement Award
Critical PerspectiveAlan Ayckbourn is a playwright of great prolificacy and facility. In 1974, when his play Absent Friends joined Absurd Person Singular (1974), Table Manners (1975), Living Together (1975) and Round And Round The Garden (1975) in the West End, he held the record for the most plays running there simultaneously. Since then, a further 27 of his plays have been produced either in the West End, at the Royal National Theatre, by the Royal Shakespeare Company, or off Broadway.
‘Such facility is bound to stir critical suspicion’ wrote the critic Eric Shorter (Daily Telegraph, 17 June 1975), but it is not only the quantity of his output that is so remarkable. He is a brilliant comic writer, ‘one of the most consistent … in the history of English letters’ (Robin Thornber, The Guardian, September 1980), who over the years has continued to address important subjects and stage plays in the most inventive ways.
In Taking Steps (1981), for example, three floors of a house share the same level of the stage. Things We Do For Love (1998) features three actual floors, though on one only ankles are visible, and on another only heads. Sisterly Feelings (1981) and Intimate Exchanges (1985) employ the device of alternative versions, while Way Upstream (1983) famously presents a real waterway and a moving boat capable of holding the entire cast. ‘Having worked in theatre, as a theatre person all my life, I do like to make use of the medium,’ he has said.
The son of a violinist and a writer, who parted when he was still quite young, Ayckbourn joined Stephen Joseph’s ‘in the round’ company in Scarborough, in 1957, as an acting assistant stage manager. Joseph became a mentor and encouraged him to write, producing seven of his plays. His audiences at this time were largely ‘people who had had their holidays spoilt by rain’, a world away from the workshops and rehearsed readings of apprentice playwrights today.
Ayckbourn’s breakthrough came with his seventh play, Relatively Speaking (1968). A comedy of misunderstandings and a peculiarly English politeness, with dialogue of beautiful simplicity and acute observation, it opened to critical acclaim in the West End in 1967 and ran for a year. How The Other Half Loves (1971) was an even bigger success, three years later; its setting, comprising half each of two identical apartments, an early example of his theatrical cleverness.
With Time and Time Again (1973), Ayckbourn began to dissect the fragility and unspoken sadness of the English middle-class home, ‘the everyday inhumanity of people to each other, especially within marriage and the family’ (Benedict Nightingale, An Introduction to 50 Modern British Plays, 1982). An underrated play, it features a sustained misunderstanding, two failed relationships, and a central character whose destructiveness arises from his passivity.
All of these areas he has revisited, in particular the difficulties of relationships: ‘Mainly I want to say things about the fear and distrust people have for each other, the fact that men and women still don’t seem to understand each other very well’. In Henceforward (1987) and Comic Potential (1999), plays set in the future, the only happy relationships are between man and robot. As Jerome in Henceforward puts it: ‘If human beings behaved a bit less like human beings and a bit more like machines, we’d all be better off.’
In 1973, Ayckbourn wrote a trilogy of plays, The Norman Conquests, which came to the West End the following year. In an extraordinary coup de theatre, he presented three plays with the same characters and the same events, each set in a different part of the home. In Norman, he created an enormously appealing antihero who was unafraid to kick against, even to demolish, the boundaries of polite society.
With Just Between Ourselves (1978), his achievement was equally sure. This play, a comedy, charts a woman’s breakdown at the side of her utterly unaware husband. Vera spends the entire last act silent and motionless in her garden in winter, in a scene almost too painful to watch. Ten years later, Ayckbourn returned to the subject in Woman in Mind (1986), creating a world in which the audience views every part of the action through the deteriorating mind of its protagonist, a despairing vicar’s wife.
In the mid-'eighties, he wrote a series of plays, starting with A Chorus Of Disapproval (1985), which showed the consequences of the failure of relationships within society at large. In A Small Family Business (1987), for example, petty thieving leads, seemingly inexorably, to murder, and a character can say, quite plausibly: ‘If you’re going to be a criminal, you’ve got to have some sort of brain, haven’t you? I mean, any fool can be honest, can’t they?’
The theatre critic Michael Billington has written of Ayckbourn’s ‘limitless capacity for surprise… Instead of repeating old formulas, he is constantly taking off in new directions’ (Country Life, 7 June 1990). Since then the playwright has written, amid a great deal else, two plays exploring time travel (Time Of My Life, 1993 and Communicating Doors, 1995); a ghost story (Haunting Julia, in Plays 3, 2005); musicals; more than a dozen children’s plays; and two plays (House and Garden, both 2000) performed by the same cast playing the same characters in two auditoria simultaneously. He also wrote a play with 54 short scenes (Private Fears In Public Places, in Plays 3, 2005), which in 2005 became a cult hit off Broadway.
Ayckbourn has won more than 40 awards, and was knighted in 1997. Despite everything he has achieved, he may be forgiven for feeling that, because he has chosen to write comedies, his talents are still underrated. ‘We’re an odd nation,’ he wrote once. ‘Secretly I suspect we don’t really believe we’re seeing anything worthwhile unless we’ve had a really miserable time.’ Or, as Chandler Tate says in Comic Potential : ‘Tragedy? You can get that in the street being run over. If it makes you laugh, treasure it.’
Rachel Thackray-Jones, 2008
For an in-depth critical overview see Alan Ayckbourn by Michael Holt (Northcote House, 1999: Writers and their Work Series).
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