Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website The Shop Alan Ayckbourn: 20 Facts This page is available to reproduce for free providing it is credited to: 'Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website 1. Alan Ayckbourn was born on 12 April, 1939 to Irene Maud Worley (better known as ‘Lolly’ and who also wrote under the pen-name of Mary James) and Horace Ayckbourn in Hampstead. 2. Alan attended school at Wisborough Lodge and then Haileybury. 3. Alan’s professional career began as an acting stage manager (a stage manager who also acted) with Donald Wolfit’s company for a three week engagement at the Edinburgh Festival in 1956. 4. Alan’s early career saw him work as an acting stage manager at the Connaught Theatre (Worthing), the Leatherhead Theatre Club, the Oxford Playhouse and the Library Theatre (Scarborough). He joined the latter in 1957. 5. Alan’s professional acting career ran from 1956 to 1964 and encompassed approximately 70 different roles - the majority performed in-the-round. 6.

Alan’s professional playwriting career began in 1959 with The Square Cat (having confronted Stephen Joseph about the perceived quality of his role in David Campton’s Ring Of Roses ). As of 2017, Alan has written 81 full-length plays, the latest of which will open at the Stephen Joseph Theatre during summer 2017. 7. Alan married his first wife Christine Roland in 1957; together they had two sons Steven and Philip. Alan’s second marriage was to Heather Stoney in 1997. 8. Alan’s first production as a professional director was Gaslight at the Library Theatre, Scarborough, in 1961. Since then he has directed more than 300 productions in the UK and abroad, including the London premieres of 32 of his plays in the West End or at the National Theatre. 9. In 1962, Alan moved with the Studio Theatre Company to the Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent. He both directed and acted there, as well as premiering two new plays, before leaving the company in 1964. 10.

From 1965 to 1970, Alan worked as a radio drama producer for the BBC , based in Leeds. 11. Alan’s first major West End success was Relatively Speaking in 1967; as of 2016, 39 of Alan’s plays have been produced in London (not including fringe venues). 12. Alan Ayckbourn became the Artistic Director of the Library Theatre, Scarborough, in 1972. He stepped down from the position (of what is now the Stephen Joseph Theatre) on March 31 2009.* 13. In 1974, Alan held the record for having the most plays running simultaneously in the West End with Living Together , Table Manners , Round And Round The Garden , Absurd Person Singular and Absent Friends . Only Andrew Lloyd Webber since has had more productions running concurrently. 14.

The Variety Club named Alan 'Playwright of the Year' in 1974; between 1973 and 2016, Alan has received more than 35 major theatre awards including an Olivier Special Award in 2009 and the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement In Theatre in 2010. 15. In 1975 Alan wrote his first play intended for end-stage performance ( Bedroom Farce ); although he is primarily associated with the Round, he has written five plays intended for the end-stage: Bedroom Farce, A Small Family Business , Haunting Julia , Things We Do For Love and Virtual Reality . (For the record Jeeves and House were also first performed in the end-stage, but were not specifically written for end-stage performance) 16. In 1976, Alan and the Library Theatre company moved to the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round (based at Scarborough's former Boys’ Grammar School). In 1996, he would again move the company to the Stephen Joseph Theatre (based at Scarborough's former Odeon cinema). 17.

From 1986 to 1988, Alan was invited by Sir Peter Hall to form his own company at the National Theatre . He directed A Small Family Business, A View From The Bridge , Tons Of Money and ‘ Tis Pity She’s A Whore . 18. In 1992, Alan was appointed Cameron Macintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre, at the University of Oxford. 19. Alan was awarded a CBE (Companion of the Order of the British Empire) in 1987. Ten years later to the day, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II ‘for services to the theatre.’ 20. Fatuous fact: It has been reported that Alan Ayckbourn is one of the most performed living playwrights in the world. There is actually no plausible way to prove this statement. But he is undoubtedly very, very popular…. These facts have been compiled by Simon Murgatroyd with the help of Sir Alan and Lady Ayckbourn. They are correct at the time of publication. The page is copyright of Simon Murgatroyd and should not be reproduced without permission.

* For further details about Alan's position as Artistic Director and the confusion over the year he took the job, click here . All material © Simon Murgatroyd or Alan Ayckbourn except where noted. The header portrait of Alan Ayckbourn is by Andrew Higgins and should not be reproduced without permission. Contact Me Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website Articles / Research Images Christopher Godwin & Eileen O’Brien with Alan Ayckbourn watching during rehearsals for the world premiere at the Library Theatre, Scarborough (1974). Copyright: Scarborough Theatre Trust Eileen O'Brien & Janet Dale in the world premiere at the Library Theatre, Scarborough (1974). Copyright: Scarborough Theatre Trust Eileen O'Brien & Stephen Mallatratt in the world premiere (1974). Copyright: Scarborough Theatre Trust Heather Stoney in the world premiere (1974). Copyright: Scarborough Theatre Trust Richard O'Brien, Peter Bowles & Ray Brooks in the West End premiere (1975). Copyright: John Haynes Gillian Anderson in the New York premiere (1991).

Copyright: To be confirmed Jacqueline King & Tamzin Outhwaite in Alan Ayckbourn's 1997 revival at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough. Copyright: Tony Bartholomew Janet Dibley & Martin Ball in Alan Ayckbourn's 1997 revival at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough. Copyright: Tony Bartholomew Katherine Parkinson, Reece Shearsmith & Elizabeth Berrington in the West End revival at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2012). Copyright: Simon Annand Katherine Parkinson & Steffan Rhodri in the West End revival at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2012). Copyright: Simon Annand All images are copyright of the respective photographer / organisation and should not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder. Absent Friends: Background In 1973, Alan Ayckbourn wrote his most ambitious work yet with The Norman Conquests trilogy. In the wake of this suburban epic, he wrote a play which was the polar opposite of the trilogy in scale, but was no less ambitious or important in his development as a playwright.

Absent Friends would be the first of Alan's fully realised tragi-comedies and one of his most significant plays of the 1970s. Absent Friends developed from a significant moment in The Norman Conquests when Alan realised he had taken a positive step in a new direction. At one stage in the trilogy, he needed to write a single scene which had no significance, did not carry the plot forward nor contained any singular revelation. It was a pause in the proceedings with several characters just sitting down and talking. It was, he later admitted, the hardest part of the trilogy to write and the one that scared him the most as he had never attempted such a scene before. Once performed, he was delighted by the reaction to the scene and he decided to write a play entirely driven by six people who just sat down and talked. A play that had little in terms of plot, but was driven entirely by the actions and reactions of six people in a living room. A play in which he notes “nothing happened.” To this he added the element of presenting the play in ‘real time’ (one minute of stage time is equivalent to one minute of the audience’s time).

In Alan’s terms, this offered an extreme “close-up” of the play’s themes and characters, which - according to the critic Michael Billington - makes it a play of “ruthless simplicity.” There is also a very real sense, acknowledged by the playwright, that he was drawing himself in. The Norman Conquests had been a remarkable success but had required an immense amount of work from writing to directing to bring in order to bring it to fruition. For its follow-up, Alan wanted to create something that was diametrically opposite in both style and tone. It was also a risky play dealing as it did with the subject of death, although as Alan has frequently noted, the subject is more "the death of love". He once described Absent Friends to Peter Hall, then Artistic Director of the National Theatre, as “a miniature” and something he was compelled to write following the trilogy. Considering that Absent Friends is considered a classic Ayckbourn of the period, it is worth noting that it had two very different receptions. Alan had written the play in May 1974 and it was premiered at the Library Theatre , Scarborough, on 30 June directed by himself. It received unanimously positive press.

The audience reaction was very positive too and Alan’s biographer, Paul Allen, notes it demonstrated Alan’s ability to hold “an audience’s attention without a dazzling plot or an innovative narrative device or a bombardment of comedy.” This is vital to consider in light of what happened when the play transferred to London. One of the major recurring problems of studying Alan Ayckbourn's plays is the emphasis put on the London productions and the reaction to them. This is understandable, but fails to appreciate the relationship Alan has with the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, and the importance it has to him as writer and director. Alan premieres his plays in Scarborough in the venue they are conceived for (i.e. the round). He has complete control over the casting and directs the play, again worth emphasising, predominantly in the intimacy of the round. The world premiere is not a try-out for London or other venues, it is the play produced as the playwright intends; often it is considered the definitive version of the play. When it transfers to London, even with Alan directing, it is frequently a large step away from his original vision - rarely with the cast he would ideally choose and almost never in a suitable venue.

In many cases, this has not necessarily affected the success of the play or how it was perceived; with Absent Friends it did. Alan's regular London producer Michael Codron had optioned the play for the West End immediately after it opened in Scarborough and there was a relatively quick turn-around. The play opened 13 months after premièring in Scarborough whilst Absurd Person Singular and The Norman Conquests were still running in London. With five plays running simultaneously in the West End, Alan had set a new record.* But, critically, it also meant Absent Friends was sharing the same spotlight as two of Alan's most notable West End successes. Eric Thompson, who had so successfully tackled Absurd Person Singular and The Norman Conquests, was brought in to direct Absent Friends and he assembled a notable cast which included Richard Briers as Colin and Peter Bowles as Paul. The play opened at the Garrick Theatre on 23 July 1975 and was met with a frosty reception from the critics; the cast received plaudits, the play did not. It was a response that Alan largely shared himself, later saying he did not care for the London production.

What seems obvious in hindsight was the play struggled to move from the tiny space it was intended for, to a large proscenium arch theatre such as the Garrick. Alan once described Absent Friends as an almost voyeuristic play with the audience practically eavesdropping on events and that it was best suited to intimate spaces, not the cavernous spaces of the West End. Only the noted critic Harold Hobson, one of the most influential critics writing at the time, was very taken by the play: “If it is the saddest and most moving thing he has written, it is also the most clear-sighted and the funniest.” Absent Friends would run for a respectable nine months in London, but could not compare in success to Absurd Person Singular and The Norman Conquests. With Alan and Andrew Lloyd Webber's doomed musical Jeeves closing after just a month also in 1975, it was a significant time for Alan in London and must have played a large part in Alan's increasingly uncomfortable relationship with the West End. It would also mark the last time Eric Thompson would direct one of Alan's play in the West End. Change was coming.

Running concurrent with the period from Alan writing Absent Friends to its West End staging was a correspondence between the playwright and Peter Hall, Artistic Director of the National Theatre. Hall wanted Alan to write a new play for the soon to open new home of the National Theatre on London's South Bank. He very much admired Absent Friends and showed considerable interest in staging it until it was confirmed that Michael Codron was taking the play into London. The enthusiasm with which Hall pursued the play and Alan can only have re-enforced Alan's perception after the critical reaction to Absent Friends and Jeeves that there must be a better way to transfer his work to London. He agreed to write a new play for the National Theatre with Bedroom Farce premiering in 1977. This began a period of 14 years where the London premieres of his plays would be roughly evenly split between the National Theatre and the West End. Both Absurd Person Singular and The Norman Conquests had also had successful transfers to America and there was some early interest in taking Absent Friends over too, but its initial American production did not even reach New York.

It would not play in New York until a subsequent revival in February 1991 by the Manhattan Theatre Club at the City Center Stage which featured Brenda Blethyn (winning the Theatre World Award for her portrayal of Diana), Peter Flechette and in her first major professional theatre role, Gillian Anderson. The young actress followed the play soon afterwards by stepping into the role of Agent Scully in the hugely successful and long-running conspiracy television series The X Files. In 1977, Absent Friends was adapted for radio for the BBC World Service by Peter King, an actor who had worked with Alan previously. Correspondence (or the lack of it) suggests the play was adapted without Alan's approval or possibly even knowledge as it was reduced to a running time of 60 minutes; Alan has consistently opposed the shortening of his plays for radio and television. The adaptation starred David Jason and Miriam Margoyles and when it was brought to Alan's attention in 1978 by the director, Dickon Reed, Alan politely but firmly refused to let the adaptation be broadcast further, having had enquiries about repeating it from BBC Radio 4.

This version was apparently released on vinyl (possibly through the BBC's transcription service), but this is a genuine Ayckbourn rarity, and it has rarely been broadcast since 1974 and has now been withdrawn from future broadcast. More successful was the BBC's 1985 television adaptation which is fondly remembered for Julia McKenzie's performance as Diana (and which played a pivotal part in securing her the role of Susan in the West End production of Woman In Mind ). It is a rare occasion when Alan was satisfied with the adaptation of one of his plays to television. It was also notable for featuring a rare television appearance by Tom Courtenay as Colin (who had previously reprised his West End role of Leonard for the television adaptation of Time And Time Again ). Although not a perfect adaptation of the play, it remains one of the strongest television adaptations, although - unfortunately - it has never been released commercially. The reputation of Absent Friends was solidified once it was released for general production for both professionals and amateurs. It quickly became a favourite and has become one of the most frequently produced Ayckbourn plays since. Alan himself returned to the play in 1997 reviving it at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough.

The role of Evelyn was given to the actress Tamzin Outhwaite in her first major acting role. Soon after she would get a high profile part in the long-running soap opera EastEnders and go on to even further success on screen and stage. A second chance for Absent Friends in the West End was finally realised in 2011, when it was announced a revival of the play would open at the Harold Pinter Theatre, London, in January 2012, directed by Jeremy Herrin and produced by Sonia Friedman. The play was a critical success and Alan Ayckbourn has frequently noted it sits alongside Matthew Warchus's 2008 revival of The Norman Conquests as setting the bar for other Ayckbourn revivals to follow. Absent Friends remains one of Alan's favourite plays - in no small part due to how it initially was treated in London - and it stands as one of his most significant plays of the 1970s. It is the first play which is undoubtedly of the tragi-comedy genre that Alan is most associated with and it clearly demonstrated that Alan required no more than six people in a single room to create captivating and challenging drama.

*The previous record for the most number of plays running simultaneously in the West End was set in 1908 when Somerset Maugham had four plays running concurrently. Copyright: Simon Murgatroyd. Please do not reproduce without permission of the copyright holder. All material © Simon Murgatroyd or Alan Ayckbourn except where noted. Portrait of Alan Ayckbourn by Andrew Higgins. Contact Me Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website Heather Stoney & Pamela Craig in the world premiere. Copyright: Scarborough Theatre Trust John Nettles, Pamela Craig i& Robert Powell n the world premiere. Copyright: Scarborough Theatre Trust `Pamela Craig, Heather Stoney & Robert Powell in the world premiere. Copyright: Scarborough Theatre Trust Heather Stoney, Pamela Craig & Robert Powell in the world premiere. Copyright: Scarborough Theatre Trust Pamela Craig & John Nettles in the world premiere. Copyright: Scarborough Theatre Trust All images are copyright of the respective photographer / organisation and should not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder. The Sparrow: Background The Sparrow is the last of Alan Ayckbourn’s early plays to be neither published nor performed again since its first production.

Although Alan is not as dismissive of it as its other withdrawn predecessors, there is a sense of disappointment in the play's fate largely due to the response it received; this stood in direct contrast to the reception given to its immediate predecessor Relatively Speaking and its successor How The Other Half Loves . The play was performed during the summer of 1967 at the Library Theatre , Scarborough, while Alan was working as a radio drama producer for the BBC in Leeds. Alan's mentor Stephen Joseph was terminally ill with cancer and the Library Theatre was struggling to survive without the guiding hand of its founder and Artistic Director. Stephen had closed the Library Theatre at the end of the 1965 season and the 1966 season had been an amateur season, organised by the theatre manager Ken Boden. He persuaded Stephen to let professional productions resume in 1967, but only four plays, including The Sparrow, were produced and it was a shaky start for the revived company, particularly as it lacked the figure-head of Stephen who would die in October of the same year.

Historically, it is probably most notable for marking the first time Alan Ayckbourn directed one of his own plays in Scarborough (he had only previously directed his own work at the Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent). Subsequently every Ayckbourn play which has opened in Scarborough has been directed by Alan. The Sparrow was originally entitled The Silver Collection and this title featured in early discussions about the summer programme and in the earliest advertising for the season. However, Alan disliked the title and it was later altered to The Sparrow; although in a programme note from 1968, Alan expresses dissatisfaction with this title too. The production notably featured two actors who would go on to considerable success on stage and screen in the shape of Robert Powell and John Nettles. Alan had worked with Robert Powell previously at both the Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent and on BBC Radio. The Sparrow was only John Nettles' second professional acting role following Alan Plater's Hop, Step and Jump at the Library Theatre earlier in the season.

The Sparrow was performed for just three weeks during the summer repertory and the Scarborough Evening News noted the West End producer Peter Bridge visited the show with The Stage later reporting he had taken an option on the play with the intent of producing it in the West End. Unfortunately, the play never appeared and when negotiations began for Alan's subsequent play How The Other Half Loves, there were clear signs of tension between and Alan and Peter Bridge due to the latter not bringing either The Sparrow or an earlier play Standing Room Only to the London stage; according to Alan it was Bridge who famously compared The Sparrow to Ann Jellicoe's play The Knack - purely by virtue of both having a central female character - and this, alongside Bridge expressing difficulties in finding a suitable young cast, was the excuse for not taking it into the West End. It is far more likely though Bridge's real reason was he wanted a safe play in a similar mould to Relatively Speaking and into which he could put a bankable star name - The Sparrow fulfilled neither of these criteria.

Despite Peter Bridge's lack of enthusiasm for the play, the critical reception was unanimously positive with the Daily Mail expecting it would join Relatively Speaking in the West End within a year and favourable comparisons being made in other reviews to both the playwrights Peter Shaffer and Harold Pinter. The play did exceptionally well in Scarborough and was part of a record-breaking summer season for the Library Theatre, yet despite this - and an unrealised plan to revive the play in 1971 at Salisbury Playhouse directed by Caroline Smith - The Sparrow has never been produced since. The only other public outings for the play have been a one-off rehearsed reading by the Huddersfield-based Dick & Lottie theatre company to mark its 10th anniversary in 2014 and several scenes performed as part of two Ayckbourn-related events organised in Scarborough by this website with the playwright. The play is also known to only exist in two original manuscripts; one held in the Ayckbourn Archive at the University of York and the other in the Lord Chamberlain's Collection in the British Library.

Alan has said in subsequent years, he wonders how The Sparrow would have developed as a play had it been given more opportunity, but it was soon forgotten amidst the success of the West End production of Relatively Speaking in that same summer of 1967 and the consequent astonishing success of the plays which followed it. Although largely forgotten, many of Alan’s dominant themes are clearly on display and it offers a glimpse of a darker edge to Ayckbourn’s writing which would not appear again for several years to come. Copyright: Simon Murgatroyd. Please do not reproduce without permission of the copyright holder. All material © Simon Murgatroyd or Alan Ayckbourn except where noted. Portrait of Alan Ayckbourn by Andrew Higgins. Contact Me Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website The dining room scene from the world premiere (1969). Copyright: Scarborough Theatre Trust A scene from the world premiere (1969). Copyright: Scarborough Theatre Trust A scene from the world premiere (1969). Copyright: Scarborough Theatre Trust Robert Morley & Joan Tetzel in the London premiere (1970).

Copyright: Angus McBean Sandy Dennis & Phil Silvers in the Broadway premiere (1970). Copyright: Richard S Morse Amanda Royle, Paul Kemp, Marsha Fitzalan & Nicholas le Provost in Bath Theatre Royal’s 2007 revival. Copyright: To be confirmed Alan Ayckbourn (centre) in rehearsals for the 2009 revival with Ian McLarnon & Anna Lowe. Copyright: James Drawneek Robert Austin in Alan Ayckbourn's 40th anniversary revival (2009). Copyright: Robert Day The dining room scene from Alan Ayckbourn's 40th anniversary revival (2009). Copyright: Robert Day Matthew Cottle & Gillian Wright in the 2016 West End revival. Copyright: Alistair Muir A scene from the 2016 West End revival. Copyright: Alistair Muir Gillian Wright & Nicholas le Provost in the 2016 West End revival. Copyright: Alistair Muir All images are copyright of the respective photographer / organisation and should not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder.

How The Other Half Loves: Background In 1967, Alan Ayckbourn achieved overnight success when Relatively Speaking opened in London’s West End (although only in the sense he was relatively unknown the day before it opened and a lot more famous the day after it opened). As a result of this, there was considerable interest in its successor which opened three years later in London. The play was How The Other Half Loves and it proved Alan Ayckbourn was far from a one-hit-wonder and had the makings of a playwriting force to be reckoned with. The success of Relatively Speaking came while Alan was working as a radio drama producer for the BBC in Leeds, a job he had held since 1965 following the devastating critical reaction to his first London production Mr Whatnot . In the interim, he had written The Sparrow which premiered in Scarborough’s Library Theatre in July 1967.

The play was very different in tone to its predecessor and failed to impress his London producer Peter Bridge who chose to option the play but not to actually stage it, which led Alan to later wonder - particularly when Bridge did not rush to pick up How The Other Half Loves either - whether the producer was “waiting for an exact carbon copy of Relatively Speaking.” At this point, the Library Theatre was being loosely run by Ken Boden, Alfred Bradley, Rodney Wood and Alan. The death of Stephen Joseph , the theatre’s founder, in 1967, had left the theatre in a precarious position. In December 1968, Alan was asked by the theatre board to take on the annually appointed position of Director Of Productions for the 1969 season and, as a result, agreed to also write and direct a new play for the summer season. The theatre’s position was so precarious, the board could not afford to pay Alan for the new play, instead offering him free accommodation in a flat for the summer. During this period, Alan juggled his time between Leeds and Scarborough mixing the two jobs as best he could.

The new play, How The Other Half Loves, was announced in May on posters for the season declaring: “World premiere of a new comedy by the author of the West End hit Relatively Speaking. This is his sixth play written specially for Scarborough.” With no actual play-script to guide them, there was little to do but trade on Alan’s name and the success of Relatively Speaking. When Alan eventually came to write the play, as rehearsals approached in June, he was largely inspired by circumstance. At the time he was living in a council flat in Leeds, one of many identical flats. The inter-changeability of the rooms, differentiated only by their furnishings, would play an obvious role in the play as he explored the use of space and time on stage. Other influences in shaping the play, according to Alan, were: “being drawn into the comet’s tail of somebody else’s breaking marriage” and a desire to “write a play which highlighted different and contrasting social lifestyles.” The play opened on 31 July 1969 at the Library Theatre, Scarborough, performed in-the-round and the next day, the Scarborough Evening News declared the play “hilarious”.

In the same review, Alan was quoted with an eye to pulling in fans of its famed predecessor. “I suppose it’s inevitable that comparisons will be drawn between this and Relatively Speaking. In fact, it is an exploration of the same sort of theme, but with a few decided differences.” Other reviews of the play are scarce, but in correspondence Alan noted: “Reviews have been pretty good - Guardian (aside from a rather snide sentence), Yorkshire Post, Express and the locals.” The premiere was also attended by Alan’s London producer Peter Bridge who felt it had “all the makings of another Relatively Speaking”; although later actions would betray his discomfort with certain aspects of the play. Bridge’s reaction to the play was largely predicted by Alan’s agent Margaret Ramsay - better known as Peggy - after she had read the script. She liked the play but wondered whether it was suitable for the proscenium arch and, as a result, whether Peter Bridge would be really interested in the piece. In hindsight, this was perhaps the first indication that Peter Bridge’s tenure as Alan’s producer was not going to be a long term affair.

In fact, it would unravel throughout the course of How The Other Half Loves and it was the final Ayckbourn play he would produce. Although How The Other Half Loves got off to a smooth start in Scarborough, disaster struck soon after its opening. Alan had returned to Leeds only to receive a phone call on the following Monday from his stage manager. Jeremy Franklin, the actor playing Frank Foster, had slipped a disc and was in Scarborough Hospital in traction for two weeks. Alan rushed back to Scarborough and took to the stage for that evening’s performance, somewhat ironically having to read from the book. All seemed fine until, alarmingly, as the play reached its climax Alan discovered his script was missing pages. “I distinguished myself… by actually losing several pages during the action and having to ad-lib a scene, My fellow actors confronted by the sight of the author-director in full-flow, spouting fresh dialogue, stood uncertainly about convinced that these must be new re-writes about which they hadn’t been told. I later rushed off, jotted it down and it’s in there somewhere to this day.” The next day, Alan learnt the part afresh and performed it for the remaining three performances that week.

Fortunately, the play was in repertory and was not due to return for another two weeks, by which point Jeremy Franklin had recovered and returned to the role. It was only four performances, but five years after he had officially retired from acting, How The Other Half Loves proved to be Alan’s ultimate acting swan-song. Relatively Speaking had been the first of Alan’s plays to be published and even before the new play’s initial run had concluded, the publisher Evans had expressed interest in publishing it “before, during or after it opens in the West End.” This put Alan in a tricky situation as Evans had taken the better part of two years to produce a largely incompetent edition of Relatively Speaking, destroying the only prompt script in the process. Peggy was not convinced they were the right company to print the play and certainly not before it had gone to the West End.

Yet Alan was not convinced Peter Bridge was going to option the play for the West End and informed Peggy that publication should be allowed as he would be “glad for any money I can get from the play.” Peggy needn’t have worried, it only took Evans three years to publish the play, the company admitting even as the long-running London production came to a close, they had “no idea” when it would be published. Evans would not be allowed to publish a third Ayckbourn play. Of more pressing concern was the fact that by early-September 1969, Peter Bridge had still not optioned the play. Alan had a hit and miss record with Bridge and was worried this play might be lost. “People I know reckon it could be a winner and I’m very anxious it shouldn’t go the way of The Sparrow, Standing Room Only or even Mr Whatnot!” In an attempt to mollify Alan, Bridge signed a contract on 19 September but was then ominously silent about his intentions, leading Alan to despair in November that he could “only assume that he’s [Bridge] cooled off on this one as well….

I must say I find the ecstatic almost festive air of congratulations which surrounded Relatively Speaking in bewildering contrast to the total disinterest for the latest one.” The problem was, as Peggy had predicted, Bridge was having problems persuading London managements the play could work in the proscenium arch. Even its eventual director Robin Midgley had major problems with the play’s mechanics as Alan recalls: “Robin had spent about 10 days drawing up designs to see how he could do this scene. He looked at me with a haunted expression and said: ‘All right - I give up. How do you do the dinner scene?’ I said 1,2,3,4 - like that - and Robin said: ‘Why didn’t you put it in the script?’” Eventually, Bridge, Peggy and Alan agreed that the best solution was to do a try-out to prove the play could work - even though Peggy wasn’t convinced that Bridge now had the finances to mount a London production should one ever be agreed. By February 1970, Bridge had organised a venue for the try-out at the Phoenix Theatre, Leicester, with Robin Midgley directing. The production opened on 19 March and was an instant success.

The critics gave it a thumbs-up, their general mood summed up by The Observer’s critique that the play was “even funnier than his Relatively Speaking which is to call it very funny indeed” and that London managements were at fault for not picking up the play immediately. While the critics applauded, Alan was still not satisfied with the play and altered the ending for a second time, having already altered it after its initial run in Scarborough. The play’s success in Leicester was undeniable, but Bridge still had issues with both the set and the cast. Although to some degree, these were also echoed by Alan who felt there were “certain errors in casting, directing, setting and in some cases writing.” Alan believed the play could work though, more so than Bridge who seemed to be trying to justify the play when he wrote “the show has worked twice which means we can approach it with considerably more confidence.” Again, the producer’s actions spoke louder than words as by the end of April, there was still no news on a London production and the option on the play was due for renewal. Peggy reluctantly agreed to extend it until October 1970, but warned Bridge it would not be extended any further.

He, meanwhile, had began negotiations with another producer Eddie Kulukundis to help finance the show eventually leading to them becoming co-managers of the London production. With finances now in place, work began in earnest on producing the play in the West End - but not without casualties. The success of the Leicester production was not enough to save any of the cast or the designer, Franco Colavecchia, who was replaced by Alan Tagg. Bridge also wanted a marquee star for the play and had his eyes set on one of the biggest names in theatre, Robert Morley. Morley was an extremely popular actor who had found fame both on screen and stage and whose presence in a play was guaranteed to draw in the audiences; if only for him rather than the play. Morley was interested but wanted to make changes to the play and so an unimpressed Alan accompanied Bridge and Midgley to the actor’s home in Henley. Morley had an exuberant love of his profession and also strong ideas about comedy, resulting in several forceful suggestions to Alan about how the play could be funnier, including suggestions that Frank should be a flower-arranger rather than a jogger and that he should have a butler.

The meeting apparently ended with the following exchange by Alan, which Paul Allen reports in his official biography of Alan, Grinning At The Edge. Robert Morley: 'I think I’m losing patience with this little script. I think I want to do something else.' Alan Ayckbourn: 'Fine, you do that.' The bluff called, Alan agreed to several small changes but was dismayed to see that many of Morley’s ideas were incorporated into his final performance anyway. From the start of rehearsals, Morley dominated proceedings and was frequently at loggerheads with Midgley as he tried to impose his vision on the play, regardless of whether it was shared by director or author. Morley insisted Joan Tetzel was cast as his wife - who had last appeared in the West End twenty years earlier also as Morley's wife in The Little Hut - despite the ambiguity she was clearly an American. Yet he soon found himself unable to work with her during rehearsals and she was later recast. His personal views also meant the portrayal of the Fosters was irrevocably damaged anyway as he insisted there should be no marital conflict, despite the obvious fact this was the nub of the play!

Alan watched from the sidelines, painfully aware that Morley would be both a huge draw for the box office but that his play was going to be lost along the way. How The Other Half Loves was launched on a pre-West End tour on 23 June 1970, at the Grand Opera House, Leeds. From there it travelled to Nottingham, Wimbledon and Brighton. It opened at the Lyric Theatre on 5 August 1970 to excellent reviews and stunning box office receipts. Relatively Speaking had been a phenomenal success for Alan, but it would be over-shadowed by the new play. How The Other Half Loves ran for 869 performances until 30 September 1972, before immediately touring to Canada and Australia. In many ways it cemented Alan’s credentials as an exciting and popular playwright, but at what cost? Morley’s casting has transformed it into the antithesis of an Ayckbourn play; it was now a star vehicle rather than an ensemble piece (and it should be noted that on the page, the character of Frank Foster has no more lines than any of the other characters).

Morley’s often unsuitable ad-libbing emphasised the actor and Alan hated the production, even becoming physically sick during one performance. Yet he was not naïve and acknowledged there was trade-off. “Eighty per cent of the audience had paid to see Robert Morley, and I, as an unknown dramatist, had really no right to stand between that process if I wanted to take the money.” As the noted critic Michael Billington would later argue, the success of this production blighted both the perception of the play’s merits and, arguably, of Alan’s skills as a playwright. The ingenuity of the play was largely ignored by the critics with all attention on Morley and it became considered as a farce and Alan as a successful farceur, a label that would haunt him for many years to come. Only later would critics come to consider the piece on its own terms and discover there was far more to it than a larger than life actor.

Morley was unrepentant and later told Alan: “I’ve left a trail of sadder but far, far richer playwrights behind me” The perception of the piece as a star vehicle had immediate consequences as it became a lot more attractive to American managements, who began to show interest in the play following its success in London with Morley. Bridge was quick to capitalise on this and plans for an American production came together considerably more quickly than the London one. Phil Silvers, best known as television’s Sergeant Bilko, was brought on board to play Frank with Gene Saks directing the play. He decided to relocate the action to America and asked Alan to help Americanise the script. Alan was closely involved with the production and flew over to work with Saks with mixed results. “With [Gene Saks’] advice I Americanised the script myself. It didn’t help the play, in retrospect…. So the version was an unhappy compromise in many ways, although it worked, up to a point.

The plot was the strong thing, and the machinations of that, and that certainly worked.” The substantive alterations to the play can be seen in the American acting edition which was published for many years by Samuel French, before the original text was made the standard edition. In fact, it was not until 1993 - 24 years after its premiere - that a production of the play was staged in New York using the original British text. Meanwhile, the original American production was premiered in Palm Beach, Florida, but no seats had been reserved for either Alan or Saks. They watched the play, perched on two stools on a catwalk which ran behind the balcony lighting, peering through a safety mesh! The play opened on Broadway at the Royale Theatre on 29 March 1971 and received a mixed critical reaction with the executive producer Tom Erhardt commenting the reviews tended to be “diametrically opposed”. Despite this, the show ran for 108 performances until 26 June 1971 and whilst not an unmitigated success, it did enough business to make Alan’s name familiar in New York and helped towards the revival of the career of Phil Silvers.

That was the silver lining of an expensive cloud though; later that year Variety reported the play had lost $170,000 and was a contributing factor to some severe financial difficulties which would affect Bridge’s company Agincourt and lead very palpably to Alan’s plays moving to other producers. Back in England, the play’s successful run in London came to a close in September 1972 and - predictably - there was high demand for both a touring production and from the repertory theatres wanting to mount their own productions. This highlighted a significant problem for the playwright as such strong demand often led to conflict between the touring producer and the reps. Bill Kenwright was producing the first tour and quickly brought to Peggy’s attention scheduling conflicts which he felt would damage the tour’s success. Alan was in a no-win situation, but did feel too much emphasis was placed on tours which could take as much as six months after a play closed in London to begin; a long time for a successful play to go unperformed, particularly when it was in high demand.

Despite the conflict, Bill Kenwright’s tour opened in March 1973 with Derek Bond and Miriam Karlin, roughly at the same time as the reps began producing the play. Such success was always going to attract the attention of television and film companies. As early as March 1970, a representative from Paramount films had seen the play in London and in May 1973, the BBC expressed interest in filming it but were turned down by Peggy due to contractual rights. Peggy was later approached in 1975 by Anglia Television about an adaptation, although Peggy noted that none of the people approaching her seemed to have made any consideration of the particular problems this play raised in successfully adapting it into another media. The final nail in this particular coffin was an interest shown by Robin Midgley in recreating the West End version of the play for the small screen, complete with Robert Morley.

Alan was not amused: “The Midgley / Morley combo could, at best, only reproduce the Lyric version on screen and that is not something I wish to inflict on several million homes at this time of National crisis.” In 1976, the play’s reputation underwent a welcome re-evaluation thanks largely to a production by the Actors Company at Wimbledon Theatre. Formed in 1972, the company was an actor driven organisation with an aim to democratise the theatre-producing experience. Their version of How The Other Half Loves, directed by Kim Grant, was well-received by critics, who began to notice that not only was this an ensemble piece, but a technically ingenious piece which also had a more cutting social commentary than had previously been noted. The continued popularity of the play led to the producer Bill Kenwright proposing a revival in London in 1978, but the recent success of the Actors’ Company production combined with the sheer volume of Ayckbourn material in the West End led to the idea being hastily rebuffed. The play would not be revived in London until 1988 when Bill Kenwright transferred Alan Strachan’s successful production at the Greenwich Theatre to the Duke Of York’s Theatre.

This was notably the first of Alan’s plays to be revived in the commercial West End and Strachan had had considerable experience directing Alan’s plays. It ran from 14 June to 26 November and again was favourably received by the critics. Since then the play has continued to be popular with amateur and professional companies. It is unusual for an Ayckbourn play of that period in that it has never been adapted for television or the radio, but it’s unique technical challenges probably mean it is best left untouched by other media. It is now regarded among the most popular of Ayckbourn plays and relieved of the baggage of Robert Morley’s presence, it is more favourably judged in the Ayckbourn canon. The play’s popularity was confirmed in 2007 when The Peter Hall Company revived it at the Theatre Royal, Bath, before taking it on tour. This production was again directed by Alan Strachan and received glowing reviews from the major critics.

Combined with Alan Strachan’s similarly acclaimed revival of Absurd Person Singular in the West End later that same year, it combined to bring Alan’s early work back into the spotlight and demonstrate that despite their age, when directed and acted as intended, they were still relevant, funny and popular plays. Hopes that the tour might transfer to the West End were unfortunately never fulfilled due to the potential conflict with Absurd Person Singular’s West End run. In 2009, How The Other Half Loves celebrated its 40th anniversary, which was marked by a revival at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough. Alan Ayckbourn directed the play for the first time since its world premiere in 1969 and it was a success both with critics and audiences; although the playwright felt the production was slightly compromised by having to share a company with that of the new Artistic Director Chris Monk's production of Gilbert & Sullivan's comic opera The Pirates Of Penzance.

Having directed the 1988 West End revival and Theatre Royal Bath's acclaimed 2007 revival of How The Other Half Loves, Alan Strachan returned to the West End with the play in 2016 marking the first major West End revival of an Ayckbourn play since the National Theatre's production of A Small Family Business two years earlier. The production, featuring Nicholas le Provost as Frank, was critically acclaimed receiving plaudits both for the script, company and direction; the production was successful enough to have an extended run moving from the Theatre Royal Haymarket to the Duke Of York's Theatre for an extra 12 weeks. Copyright: Simon Murgatroyd. Please do not reproduce without permission of the copyright holder. All material © Simon Murgatroyd or Alan Ayckbourn except where noted. Portrait of Alan Ayckbourn by Andrew Higgins.

Contact Me Confusions, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, review: Vintage Alan Ayckbourn is funny, touching and clever | The Independent Confusions, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, review: Vintage Alan Ayckbourn is funny, touching and clever Ayckbourn himself directed this new production of his early play Thursday 16 July 2015 09:38 BST Click to follow The Independent Culture Confusions, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough Tony Bartholomew This is vintage Alan Ayckbourn and forty years on reveals more of the depths hinted at when this wine was young. To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Scarborough theatre in which his talent has been nurtured over four decades, Ayckbourn has, for the first time since 1974, directed a new production of this early play. The little seaside theatre – grown bigger but no less intimate over the years – has been for over half a century a powerhouse of new writing under Joseph, then Ayckbourn and now Chris Monks.

Later in the week it continues its celebration of works premiered here with a new production of The Woman in Black – which has been seen by seven million people in London’s West End and elsewhere since it first opened in Scarborough. But the theatre has been above all the crucible for the talent of Ayckbourn – the only British playwright to have won Lifetime Achievement Awards at both the Oliviers and the Tonys. In the early years Ayckbourn was dismissed by critics as a boulevardiste entertainer. But deeper and darker undercurrents always flowed through his work – and they are clearer now. This production has turned Confusions into a period piece. Of course there is still the classic high farce which made him so popular over the years. The slapstick scene – after the local schoolteacher’s infidelity is broadcast over a faulty loudspeaker during the rain-cursed summer fête – is still hilarious. But emphasising the Seventies’ setting underscores how delicately Ayckbourn was charting changing social and sexual mores as women were emerging from a domestic life bound by children and chores and entering a different trickier world.

The audience is still amused yet shocked by Elizabeth Boag’s portrait of a mother paradoxically infantilised by parenthood in a child-pressed home with an absent husband (a squirmingly embarrassing philandering Richard Stacey). But a loud groan ran round the audience in a restaurant scene, heard entirely through the ears of a waiter, when a young executive tells his wife: “Look darling, you wouldn’t understand if I told you” – a line which passed unnoticed in 1974. Ayckbourn knew what he was doing years before the rest of us. Emma Manton is icily patrician and Russell Dixon nicely bumptious as the older diners but Stephen Billington steals the scene as the virtually wordless waiter. The final scene in these five interlinked playlets subtly shows – in a sequence of dialogues of the deaf which would have been called absurdist had Pinter’s name been on them – the solipsistic fate of five of the characters some years down the line. Funny, touching and clever it is a splendid vehicle for a multi-talented quick character-change cast. Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website The in-the-round set for the world premiere (1988).

Copyright: Scarborough Theatre Trust A publicity image feature Jon Strickland as Douglas Beechey for the world premiere (1988). Copyright: Scarborough Theatre Trust Jon Strickland, Lynette Edwards & Peter Laird in the world premiere (1988). Copyright: Scarborough Theatre Trust Peter Laird in the world premiere (1988). Copyright: Scarborough Theatre Trust Alan Ayckbourn on the set of the 1990 London premiere of Man Of The Moment. Copyright: John Haynes The set of the 1990 London premiere of Man Of The Moment. Copyright: John Haynes Michael Gambon & Samantha Bond in the London premiere (1990). Copyright: John Haynes Michael Gambon & Peter Bowles in the London premiere (1990). Copyright: John Haynes Gareth Hunt, Diane Bull & Nigel Planer in the London recast (1991) Copyright: John Haynes Kim Wall & Malcolm Sinclair in Alan Ayckbourn's 2009 revival. Copyright: Robert Day. Kim Wall & Laura Doddington in Alan Ayckbourn's 2009 revival. Copyright: Robert Day.

All images are copyright of the respective photographer / organisation and should not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder. Man of The Moment: Background In 1988 Alan Ayckbourn had recently returned to the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round , Scarborough, following a two year sabbatical at the National Theatre in London. It had been a period of extraordinary success and acclaim for him as both playwright and director. Despite stating his intentions when he left Scarborough, some privately doubted Alan would return to his adopted home town, particularly after the plaudits he received for his production of Arthur Miller’s A View From The Bridge and his dark creation A Small Family Business at the National Theatre. Yet at the end of 1987, he returned to Scarborough reinvigorated from his time away and with ambitious plans for the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round. Foremost amongst these was his new play, Man Of The Moment, a darkly comic play which would confront morality in the modern world and the amorality of the media in the late 20th century. Writing The Play The inspiration for Man Of The Moment is a frequently cited tale, but one which has altered over time.

The most accurate version is probably the story he told to the Scarborough Evening News in his first interview about the play; how he passed a flower-seller under Waterloo Bridge every day on the way to work at the National Theatre, only to discover this was the 'Great Train Robber' Buster Edwards who had become a celebrity since his release from jail. Alan considered it ironic that the Great Train Robbers such as Edwards and Ronnie Biggs had become celebrities, whilst the unfortunate driver of the train, Jack Mills, who had died as a result of the injuries he received that night, had been all but forgotten. In later years, Alan would alter the story to incorporate the film Buster into the conception of the play, noting how the sight of posters for the film about Buster Edwards had reinforced the irony that a criminal had become a hero. Nice as the latter story is, it isn’t actually strictly true as Buster was not released in British cinemas until 17 September 1988, a month after the play had opened in Scarborough. Alan, with his interest in movies, was no doubt aware the film was being made before he began writing the play and later integrated the film into the play’s conception during interviews.

The play was also conceived with Shakespeare’s Othello in mind. In an interview with the Scarborough Evening News, Alan noted it was planned that he would direct Othello in the West End and his London producer Michael Codron had suggested Alan produce a play of his own that could run in repertory with it. As a result, Man Of The Moment was always intended to go into repertory with the Shakespeare play in London in 1990 with Michael Gambon playing the lead role in both plays [see Other Articles for further information]. Unfortunately this project never came to fruition. Man Of the Moment was completed on 29 March 1988 and followed in the footsteps of Henceforward… being finished well ahead of schedule. Prior to working at the National Theatre, Alan had tended to write plays at the last possible minute delivering them as rehearsals started. Having had to submit A Small Family Business a year in advance of production, he saw the advantages of no longer writing to a late deadline - particularly with a play which offered so many challenges as Man Of The Moment.

The play is the first - and so far only - Ayckbourn play to be set in a foreign country and sees him continuing to explore wider social issues; which arguably began in 1984 with A Chorus Of Disapproval and has continued ever since. “It does deal with an issue, violence and our response to it. I’m usually know for writing about a lady having an unhappy life in Reading, or someone having a nervous breakdown in a garage. I've come out of the domestic arena. I’ve begun to formulate a few opinions. Until recently I had no opinions whatsoever,” noted the author in an interview at the time. The play opened at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, Scarborough, on 10 August 1988 with Peter Laird as Vic and Jon Strickland as Douglas. It received predominantly excellent reviews with only The Independent expressing any notable criticism, feeling the characters were not strong enough to carry the themes of the play. The other critics did not agree, although most were quick to jump on the bandwagon that Alan’s plays were getting noticeably darker; something the playwright disagreed with: “The comedy is decidedly black, but, you know, I’ve always written in that vein.

People simply didn’t recognise it. Perhaps they didn’t want to.” The play ran in repertory with The Parasol , an adaptation of a Chekhov short story by Frank Dunai, and as a result posed an additional challenge to the designer as it meant the swimming pool had to be assembled in sections which could be taken apart and put back together once a week! Alan’s designer for the show was Michael Holt - working on only his third Ayckbourn play with the playwright himself (although he had designed the world premiere of Way Upstream ) and literally thrown in at the deep end! The play’s opening inadvertently coincided with the pre-release schedule of the movie Buster, which obviously echoed the play’s theme of glamorising the nation’s villains and, as the critic Michael Billington points out, proved to be extremely topical with the media reporting a row about whether the Royal Family should attend a gala opening of the film, in the light of the fact it celebrated the life of one of the Great Train Robbers.

Coincidentally, Alan’s other later play about the media, Drowning On Dry Land (2004), also proved to be inadvertently topical; this play centres on a celebrity accused of having an affair with a clown which destroys his career and it premiered during the media furore about the celebrity couple Victoria and David Beckham and his alleged affair with his PA Rebecca Loos. Swimming To London There was no debate as to whether the play would be picked up for London as it had always been planned to go into the West End. Even as it opened in Scarborough, casting was already taking place for the transfer still on the assumption it would be opening in repertory with Othello. Michael Gambon had been associated with the play and the role of Douglas since it was written, so it was no great surprise when the news was officially announced that he would be appearing in the play. This was the eighth London premiere of an Ayckbourn play Gambon had appeared in and, as of writing, the most recent (the previous plays were The Norman Conquests trilogy, Just Between Ourselves , Sisterly Feelings , A Chorus Of Disapproval and A Small Family Business.

He also appeared in Alan’s 1990 revival of Taking Steps in Scarborough). Although the planned double-bill with Othello fell through, plans moved ahead for Man Of The Moment and Gambon was contracted to appear in the play from 1 February until 18 August 1990, at which point - were the play successful - there would be a recast. Peter Bowles took on the role of Vic Parks, having previously appeared in the London premiere of Absent Friends in 1975, and Samantha Bond, a relative newcomer to the West End stage, played Jill Rillington. Rehearsals began on 2 January 1990 with the show scheduled to open on 1 February; because of the complexities of building the swimming pool, the company was only able to rehearse on stage from 28 January! The frequent Ayckbourn collaborator, Roger Glossop, was given the task of designing the set for The Globe Theatre and overcoming the problem of putting a swimming pool into a traditional theatre.

There was quite a lot of media interest in this, as Alan had previously had the misfortune to see Way Upstream flood the National Theatre when the tank used for the play split; no doubt a number of journalists were hoping for a similar accident to occur here, which even Alan felt could be courting disaster. “We could be tempting fate. This one has 36 tons of water in it. It’s one thing to flood the stalls at the National but if this tank goes in Shaftesbury Avenue we could close the Northern Line.” As it was, there were no such problems and a pool holding 5,000 gallons of water and weighing 36 tonnes was successfully built and later filled by the Fire Brigade, an event covered by many major newspapers [see Archive ]. Just prior to the press night on 14 February, Alan was featured in a major television documentary chronicling his career and featuring footage from Man Of The Moment. Michael Billington interviewed Alan for the BBC Arts series Omnibus producing what still stands as one of the most substantive television pieces on the playwright.

The play’s opening night was met with a rapturous response from the audience according to press cuttings and the critics were equally fulsome in their praise for the production and the company, particularly Gambon whose portrayal of Douglas seemed to surprise many critics. It was applauded as a suitable follow-up to Alan's two previous highly acclaimed plays A Small Family Business and Henceforward…. The major nay-sayer was Punch magazine with a fascinating review which seems predicated entirely on dismissing the praises of those reviews which had preceded it. Whilst not particularly constructive or insightful, it ironically illustrates some of the themes of the play, for example illustrating how the media portray people and success standing as it does so completely at odds with the other reviews. The main issue with the play was actually beyond Alan’s control and entirely to do with the venue. Alan has long had qualms about the majority of West End theatres, which whilst no doubt beautiful and reflect the purpose they were originally built for, are largely not ideal for modern plays and staging demands, with often problematic sight-lines for many seats. This aroused the ire of a number of people watching Man Of The Moment from the upper circle, who complained to Alan.

In one case, a man who complained he could see only a third of the show, received £12 of his £18 ticket price back from Alan, who was not slow to communicate his own anger at the situation back to the producer. The success and praise for the play made it an obvious candidate in the theatre awards season and it was nominated for the Best Play in the prestigious Olivier Awards; the only time an Ayckbourn play has been nominated in this rather than the Best Comedy category. The play did not win, but Gambon received an Olivier for his performance (the second Olivier in three years for Gambon’s work with Ayckbourn, following his Best Actor award for his role in Alan Ayckbourn’s production of A View From The Bridge at the National Theatre). The actor would also win the Theatre Critics’ and the Variety Club’s awards for Best Actor. The actual play received the Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy. On 1 August the long-awaited water disaster occurred, but only because someone accidentally turned on the fire sprinkler over the stage during the interval. This promptly soaked through the curtains and the remainder of the performance had to be cancelled.

There is almost a sense of disappointment in the newspaper report which states that the play was back up and running the next day! On 18 August, Michael Gambon left the play and a new cast took over the play. Alan Strachan was brought in to redirect the play with Gareth Hunt taking on the role of Vic and Nigel Planer, Douglas. The decision to recast though proved to be a controversial one as within two weeks, Michael Cordon had written to Alan discussing a slump in bookings. Alan, protective of his play and company, could scarcely believe it was the fault of the new company who had barely sunk into the public consciousness nor that it was somehow his fault for not coming to London to re-direct the play. Codron had long been known for having an eclectic view on advertising, largely letting his shows sell themselves, but here Alan felt there was a distinct lack of publicity for the play which was harming both sales and the morale of the company. Again, it raised serious concerns for Alan about the West End and the way it worked and, with hindsight, one cannot help but feel it was another step towards his prolonged falling out with the West End over the next dozen years.

After the perceived lack of success of his next play The Revengers’ Comedies , his plays would not be automatically produced in the West End; although it is debatable whether Alan was ever seriously upset about not having to work in London, where he inevitably did not have complete control over his plays nor the productions. Despite this, there was serious discussion about touring the play with the producer John Newman. The play’s designer Roger Glossop was consulted on creating a touring version of the West End set, which in all probability put paid to it ever touring. It seems almost impossible to conceive a touring production with a set of this scale that could have been produced and profitable. Somewhat predictably given that the play deals with television and the media, there has been an almost continuous line of enquiries since 1990 about adapting it for television or the big screen; none of which have ever come to fruition. In many cases, the proposals seem predicated on descriptions of the play, rather than having witnessed or read it first hand, as few seem to consider the difficulties of transferring a play about television onto television without losing its central impact or substantively affecting either the plot or the nature of the play.

The play has been successfully adapted for the radio several times though, in 1992 with Gordon House directing Peter Vaughan as Vic and Jon Strickland as Douglas for the BBC. In 1994, Robert Robinson directed a production for LA Theatre Works featuring Kenneth Dazinger as Douglas and Martin Jarvis as Vic. In 2009, a new radio production, directed by Martin Jarvis, was also broadcast by the BBC with Tim Piggott-Smith as Vic, Alex Jennings as Douglas and Janie Dee as Trudy. In 2009, Alan Ayckbourn returned to Man Of The Moment to direct it at the Royal & Derngate, Northampton, as part of its Ayckbourn At 70 celebrations. He reunited with the play’s original designer Michael Holt to stage a proscenium arch production of the play featuring Malcolm Sinclair as Vic. The play was the final production in the celebration and drew extremely favourable reviews. Unfortunately, Man Of The Moment is not as frequently staged as other Ayckbourn plays, largely one suspects because of the many challenges it poses for production, such as the size of the cast and the logistical challenges of the swimming pool.

This does not detract from the fact that it remains one of Alan Ayckbourn’s most important works of the 1980s and which is as pertinent as ever to society today. Copyright: Simon Murgatroyd. Please do not reproduce without permission of the copyright holder. All material © Simon Murgatroyd or Alan Ayckbourn except where noted. Portrait of Alan Ayckbourn by Andrew Higgins. Contact Me

Question: Name the theatre in Scarborough associated with Alan Ayckborn.
Answer: STEPHEN JOSEPH Theatre