Stephen Joseph Theatre | Welcome Born in London. Made in Scarborough. Stephen Joseph 325 world premieres… and counting Alan Ayckbourn Reaching 110,000 people each year OutReach A creative heart to Scarborough OutReach A centre for new writing Matt Hartley ©Becky Paris Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website Articles / Research Intimate Exchanges: A Timeline The Timeline offers a chronological view of significant events in the history of the play Intimate Exchanges; it only lists major productions and does not include the vast majority of the many professional and amateur productions of the play. 3 June 1982 World premiere of Intimate Exchanges at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, Scarborough, directed by Alan Ayckbourn. 28 March - 9 April 1983 Intimate Exchanges Grand Marathon held at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, Scarborough, in which every possible permutation of the play is performed in 16 performances over two weeks. 1 October 1983 Intimate Exchanges closes at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, Scarborough.

11 June 1984 Intimate Exchanges opens at the Greenwich Theatre, London, directed by Alan Ayckbourn. 14 August 1984 Intimate Exchanges transfers to the Ambassador's Theatre, London. 16 February 1985 Intimate Exchanges closes at the Ambassador's Theatre, London. 1985 Samuel French publishes Intimate Exchanges in two volumes. 12 July 1987 Intimate Exchanges is broadcast on the radio on the BBC World Service, directed by Gordon House. Four of the eight major variations are broadcast over four consecutive weeks. 15 December 1993 World premiere of the films of Smoking / No Smoking, directed by Alain Resnais, in French cinemas. The films adapt six of the eight major variations. 26 February 1994 Smoking / No Smoking wins the Cesar Awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Writing, Best Actor and Best Production Design. 16 September 1994 Smoking / No Smoking premieres in UK cinemas. 23 June 2004 Smoking / No Smoking released as a 3 disc DVD set in France. This set has not been released in other territories.

21 February 2006 Alan Ayckbourn suffers a stroke two weeks before rehearsals for a revival of Intimate Exchanges are due to begin. Tim Luscombe agrees to direct the play during 2006. 27 April 2006 Intimate Exchanges opens at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, directed by Tim Luscombe. The season will see him direct six of the eight variations with the remaining variants to follow in 2007. 23 September 2006 The first block of Intimate Exchanges closes at the Stephen Joseph Theatre with six of the eight variations in repertory. 1 March 2007 Intimate Exchanges returns to the Stephen Joseph Theatre with Alan Ayckbourn directing the two remaining variations, A Pageant and A Game Of Golf. 23 April - 5 May 2007 The Intimate Exchanges Big Event is held at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, in which every possible permutation of the play is performed in 16 performances over two weeks. 31 May 2007 Intimate Exchanges transfers to the 59E59 Theaters, New York, directed by Alan Ayckbourn.

It is produced as part of the Brits Off Broadway festival and breaks box office records at the theatre. 7 March 2013 A major revival of Intimate Exchanges (involving four of the eight permutations) is staged at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester, directed by Robin Herford. 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 Images Alan Ayckbourn adjusting Elizabeth Bell's boot during the photoshoot for the poster for the world premiere (1987). Copyright: Nobby Clark / National Theatre Alan Ayckbourn & Michael Gambon during rehearsals for the world premiere (1987). Copyright: Nobby Clark / National Theatre Michael Gambon in the world premiere (1987). Copyright: Nobby Clark / National Theatre Stephen Moore & Clive Francis in the National Theatre recast (1987). Copyright: Nobby Clark / National Theatre Nigel Dempsay in the National Theatre's 2014 revival.

Copyright: Johan Persson / National Theatre Matthew Cottle & Debra Gillett in the National Theatre's 2014 revival. Copyright: Johan Persson / National Theatre Niky Wardley in the National Theatre's 2014 revival. Copyright: Johan Persson / National Theatre All images are copyright of the respective photographer / organisation and should not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder. A Small Family Business: Background In 1972, Alan Ayckbourn became the Artistic Director of what is now the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough. It is a position he held until he retired in 2009 and during this period, all of Alan's plays (61 in total) were premiered bar one in Scarborough. The exception is A Small Family Business which was commissioned by and for the National Theatre as a result of Alan taking a two year sabbatical to work at the London venue. The play and Alan's two years at the National Theatre are inextricably linked and it is difficult to consider one without the other. The decision to take a sabbatical from Scarborough has its roots in Alan Ayckbourn's 1984 play A Chorus Of Disapproval .

The play was scheduled to open at the National Theatre in 1985 and whilst in correspondence with the venue's Artistic Director, Sir Peter Hall, about the production, Hall suggested Alan might think about coming to the National as an Associate Director. At the time, the National operated a number of companies at any one time under one director (known variously as an Associate Director, Staff Director or Company Director) allowing them to work with a single company of actors with a repertoire of plays. The offer was obviously tempting and made even more so given Alan felt he needed a short break from the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round , whilst staying committed to the town and the venue. By the time A Chorus Of Disapproval opened at the National Theatre in 1985, Alan had committed to the idea, later noting it was probably the only offer he would ever have accepted to persuade him to move away from Scarborough for any length of time. Hall's offer to Alan was to direct any three plays of his choosing in the National's three venues using a far larger company than he had experience of in Scarborough. The only proviso was one of the plays had to be a new Ayckbourn; this became A Small Family Business.

Alan decided his play would be written for the National's largest venue The Olivier as it would provide him with the opportunity to create a play he could never conceivably write for or produce in Scarborough. By September 1985, it had become public knowledge that Alan was to take a sabbatical from Scarborough, although he pledged he would still write and direct plays for the venue and he would return to Scarborough at the end of the sabbatical. With everything in place, Alan set about writing A Small Family Business in April 1986, before he had even moved down to London. This was the first time Alan had written a play not intended for Scarborough since Mr Whatnot in 1963 and it heralded a major shift in the playwright's method of writing. Prior to 1986, Alan had typically written his plays to the latest possible deadline - frequently finishing them the day before rehearsals were due to start. This was impractical for the National Theatre; Hall had to approve the play, but it also had to be available for casting decisions. As a result, Alan wrote the play a year in advance of its production and he would never again write to a last minute deadline.

A Small Family Business follows an honest man, Jack McCracken, whose principles and moral stance are corrupted without him truly comprehending what he has become. In interviews, Alan said the idea of the play came when one of his sons was discussing the accounting ‘tricks’ he had come across whilst studying catering. Alan was shocked and he began to think about morality in the modern world and how even an honest man could very easily take the wrong path without ever believing he was compromising his own morals. Alan would later say he felt it was a morality play while other observers would also view it as a state of the nation play. It had a scale that Alan had never been able to realise in the intimate theatre in Scarborough. True, there had been ambitious plays before, such as Way Upstream and A Chorus If Disapproval, but while these had been large productions when they transferred to the National Theatre, they were still conceived for and produced at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round. A Small Family Business would never have been possible in Scarborough at the time. The set incorporates a large two-storey house, which easily filled the vast space of the National's Olivier stage.

Described as a giant doll's house and designed by Alan Tagg, the set represented several different houses; the similar furnishings explained as the family business in question is a furniture business and all the families have the latest designs from the factory. This clever conceit allows action at several houses to be portrayed simultaneously with only the need for a change in the lighting state to indicate which house each room represents. Alan knew before he wrote A Small Family Business that he wanted Michael Gambon to be part of his National company and he would eventually write the role of Jack around the actor. Gambon was a hugely experienced Ayckbourn actor at that stage having appeared in six London premieres of Alan's plays prior to this (most recently in the National Theatre productions of Sisterly Feelings in 1980 and A Chorus Of Disapproval in 1985). He was quick to join the company and Alan believes Gambon paid him the highest complement by signing his contract before he had even read A Small Family Business. With an actor of Gambon's calibre on side, it was not hard to attract equally high calibre talent for the rest of the company.

The acting company that was formed featured several familiar faces from Alan's Scarborough company such as Russell Dixon, Marcia Warren and Diane Bull alongside newcomers such as Suzan Sylvester. The company rounded out by several other experienced and more familiar actors such as Elizabeth Bell and Simon Cadell. The latter was something of a surprise decision as Cadell was by this point closely associated with the hit BBC sit-com Hi-De-Hi and his decision to play totally against type in A Small Family Business as the odious detective Hough was both surprising and much acclaimed. Alan's first play with his company was the Aldwych farce Tons Of Money , which he had recently also directed in Scarborough. It opened in October 1986 and was a success but did not exactly stir the enthusiasm of the critics. Which perhaps made Alan's next production, Arthur Miller's A View From The Bridge , all the more surprising when it opened in February 1987. With Gambon in the lead role of Eddie, Alan directed a play that was practically unanimously praised by all and about which Miller himself said he considered the definitive production of his play.

It was a triumph soon to be followed by A Small Family Business and both productions would win Alan and his company major awards and praise. The press night of A Small Family Business (delayed due to Michael Gambon being injured during rehearsals - see Behind The Scenes ) saw the play open to excellent reviews with Gambon and Cadell receiving particularly good notices and critics praising both the play and Alan's direction. The play was a huge success for the National Theatre and went on to win the Evening Standard Best Play of The Year Award. It also heralded an unusual achievement in what is believed to be a first for any playwright; at the time A Small Family Business opened, Alan had plays running simultaneously at the National Theatre (A Small Family Business), in the West End ( Woman In Mind at the Vaudeville) and on the London fringe ( The Westwoods at the Oxford Arms). The success of A View From The Bridge and A Small Family Business had unforeseen repercussions though, which would particularly affect the latter. Such was the demand to see A View From The Bridge that a decision was taken to transfer it to the West End with most of the original company.

This, of course, decimated Alan's repertory company at the National and a new company had to be cast to take over A Small Family Business at the end of November 1987 when A View From The Bridge transferred. Whilst on one hand it was a good position to be in, it did mean more than half the company, including Michael Gambon, left A Small Family Business to head into the West End. Fortunately, the National rallied around and working with Alan brought together another strong repertory company with Stephen Moore taking over Gambon's role and Clive Francis assuming Cadell's role with favourable reviews being given by the critics. Because of all that had happened, Peter Hall now approached Alan about directing a fourth play for the National, which would also give his new company a second play in repertory. Alan agreed and in February 1988, John Ford's play 'Tis Pity She's A Whore opened in The Olivier A Small Family Business ran at the National Theatre in repertory for 16 months until September 1988.

A West End transfer and tour were seriously considered by the National, but the practicalities of staging it elsewhere - not least a set built around The Olivier - unfortunately put paid to those plans. Interestingly, a tour of the National Theatre's production was announced in relation to the creation of Upstart in 1988; a controversial and unsuccessful attempt to launch a private and public backed theatre company with initial funding from both the Arts Council and private investment. The company, announced in April 1988, was intended to launch with a touring production of A Small Family Business but this never took place and the company was disbanded in early 1991. Another offer with regard to the play was firmly declined when the film director Michael Winner made an offer to buy the film rights for the play in August 1988. The director had recently finished filming Alan's play A Chorus Of Disapproval and Alan's experiences with the latter venture made it no surprise when the offer to film A Small Family Business was firmly turned down.

A Small Family Business was published by Faber in April 1987 to tie in with the National Theatre's production of the play with Samuel French publishing an acting edition in 1988; Faber would reissue the play in 2014 to mark the play's revival at the National Theatre with both a paperback and a digital edition of the play. The play was made available for professional production in 1989 and although the cast and staging requirements prevent it from being frequently produced, it has had a number of significant professional productions over the years including at Chichester Festival Theatre, Clywd Theatr Cymru and the West Yorkshire Playhouse. In 2009, to mark the playwright's 70th birthday and the 50th anniversary of Alan's first play, the BBC broadcast a radio adaptation of the play directed by Martin Jarvis with Alfred Molina leading a strong ensemble cast.

In April 2014, the National Theatre revived the play with the outgoing Artistic Director Nicholas Hytner citing the play was as relevant as ever when discussing the revival in correspondence with Alan; it opened to generally strong reviews with particular acclaim for Nigel Lindsay as Jack McCracken and Matthew Cottle as Benedict Hough. The production was also streamed to 1,100 screens in over 40 countries as part of the NT Live programme; this marked the first Ayckbourn production to be broadcast live and also finally gave Scarborough audiences the chance to see one of the few Ayckbourn plays which has never been staged in the playwright's adopted home-town. Back in 1988, with A Small Family Business still in repertory at the National Theatre, Alan returned to Scarborough and the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round company. It had been an extraordinarily successful two years for him and saw his talents as a director widely recognised for the first time. A View From The Bridge and A Small Family Business won both acclaim and several major awards as well as an Olivier nomination for Best Director. All this made a significant difference to how Alan and his playwriting was approached by critics and marked a significant point in his career.

The wider impact of the play is hard to measure, but it was certainly influential. Michael Billington named it as one of his British plays of both the decade in 1989 and of the century in 1997. Meanwhile, the playwright Mark Ravenhill has stated A Small Family Business was the political play of the 1980s and had been an inspiration to him as a writer. "I think if you look at the point A Small Family Business was written in 1987, family and business are the key words of the Thatcher regime. I think it’s significant he’d directed an Arthur Miller play [A View From The Bridge] in the same season and it very much follows an Arthur Miller 'All My Sons' structure where it starts with the ideal of a small family business and bit by bit that ideal is eroded by the events of the play.

And to undermine the whole notion of family and business in an absolutely relentless way throughout the play until there’s nothing left of that notion, I think is one of the most intensely political plays of the period." Mark Ravenhill Ensconced firmly back in Scarborough, Alan would move immediately onto the highly ambitious play Man Of The Moment , another play which tackled morality and which would transfer to London to enormous success and with Michael Gambon back in an Ayckbourn play as the innocent abroad, Douglas Beechey. The latter play would complete a remarkable series of four plays for the playwright, any one of which could rightly be regarded as an Ayckbourn classic. Much as he had written five plays in succession in the 1970s which defined his writing of that period with Absurd Person Singular , The Norman Conquests and Absent Friends ; so the successive plays of Woman In Mind, A Small Family Business, Henceforward… and Man Of The Moment redefined Alan Ayckbourn for the 1980s. 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 Articles/Research Time And Time Again: 10 Facts 10 Facts offer an at a glance guide to some of the key information relating to Alan Ayckbourn's plays. Time And Time Again is Alan Ayckbourn's 11th play. The world premiere was held at the Library Theatre , Scarborough, on 8 July 1971. The London premiere took place at the Comedy Theatre on 16 August 1972. The play was inspired by Alan Ayckbourn seeing a production of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and wanting to write a play whose drama originated totally from the character rather than plot contrivances. Alan also challenged himself to write a totally unmotivated protagonist whose sheer inertia causes damage to all around him. Time And Time Again is the first Ayckbourn play to include a water feature: a pond. Other plays to include water features include Absurd Person Singular , Way Upstream and House & Garden . The original production marked the first time collaboration in Scarborough between the actor Christopher Godwin and Alan Ayckbourn.

He would play the role of Leonard and go on to perform a number of memorable Ayckbourn characters for the first time such as Norman in The Norman Conquests , Colin in Absent Friends and Dennis in Just Between Ourselves . Time And Time Again is considered the first step towards writing in the tragi-comedy genre for which the playwright is most renowned (and for which he will embrace fully in his subsequent play Absurd Person Singular). The London production marked the first time Alan Ayckbourn collaborated with the director Eric Thompson. The success of Time And Time Again led to Eric directing the London premieres of Absurd Person Singular, The Norman Conquests, Absent Friends and Jeeves . It was adapted for television by Anglia Television and broadcast on 18 May 1976. Directed by Casper Wrede, it saw Tom Courtenay reprising his West End role of Leonard. Time And Time Again is one of only two plays Alan Ayckbourn has directed in all three Scarborough venues which have been home to the Stephen Joseph Theatre company (the Library Theatre, the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round and the Stephen Joseph Theatre).

The other is Absurd Person Singular; whilst Relatively Speaking and Confusions have been staged at all three venues, only two of the productions were directed by Alan Ayckbourn. Copyright: Simon Murgatroyd. Please do not reproduce without the permission of the copyright holder. All material © Simon Murgatroyd or Alan Ayckbourn except where noted. Portrait of Alan Ayckbourn by Andrew Higgins. Contact Me Scarborough In The Round Articles Stephen Joseph Theatre: Timeline The timeline offers an at-a-glance guide to significant events at the Scarborough theatre-in-the-round venues since the Library Theatre opened in the town in 1955. This page looks at the Stephen Joseph Theatre period between 1996 and the present day. 1996 The Stephen Joseph Theatre officially opens with Alan Ayckbourn and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical By Jeeves on 30 April; the theatre's final cost is £5.2m; the BBC record an episode of Mastermind at the new venue; Osborne Christmas Associates win the Empty Space Peter Brooke Theatre award for the conversion; first financial crisis hits the venue culminating in a threat to close the theatre; Stephen Wood appointed General Administrator.

Notable world premieres: All Things Considered (Ben Brown); By Jeeves (Alan Ayckbourn / Andrew Lloyd Webber) 1997 The SJT and Paines Plough collaborate for the first time in a co-production of Ged McKenna's The Farmer's Bride; the theatre received unwanted national publicity in what is dubbed 'Luvvies vs Lavvies' in which it is - incorrectly - asserted the council's support of the theatre could result in the closure of public lavatories. Notable world premieres: Things We Do For Love (Alan Ayckbourn); The Edge (Steve Carley); The Farmer's Bride (Ged McKenna) 1998 As a response to the various funding crisis, Alan Ayckbourn plans the SJT's most ambitious season yet 10x10 - 10 world or British premieres with a company of 10 actors; the season is led by new plays by Ayckbourn, John Godber and Tim Firth; Tim Firth's Love Songs For Shopkeepers becomes the 200th new play to premiere since 1955.

Notable world premieres: Comic Potential (Alan Ayckbourn); Perfect Pitch (John Godber); Figuring Things (Michael Fosbrook); About Colin (Robert Shearman); Bolt From The Blue (Neil Monaghan) 1999 Alan Ayckbourn marks his 60th birthday with House & Garden - an ambitious production in which two inter-related plays are performed simultaneously in The Round and The McCarthy sharing the same cast; the Stephen Joseph Theatre - now licensed as a marriage venue - sees its third marriage with a couple who fly specially over from Australia; audio-described and signed-performances become a regular part of the venue's programming; Ben Brown premieres the highly acclaimed play Larkin With Women starring Oliver Ford Davies as the poet Philip Larkin.

Notable world premieres: House & Garden (Alan Ayckbourn); A Listening Heaven (Torben Betts); Larkin With Women (Ben Brown); Designs On His Body (Helen Kelly) 2000 Stephen Joseph Theatre is nominated for Theatre Of The Year at the Barclays Theatre Awards and Larkin With Women wins Best New Play at same awards; Alan Ayckbourn writes his second trilogy Damsels In Distress designed to introduce a repertory company back into the theatre.

2001 The first Ayckbourn And The Round event is launched, a fund-raising event in which delegates spend the week behind-the-scenes at the Stephen Joseph Theatre with workshops and discussions by Alan Ayckbourn and other key figures; Notable world premieres: Damsels In Distress (Alan Ayckbourn); Clockwatching (Torben Betts); Amaretti Angels (Sarah Phelps) 2002 Alan Ayckbourn's Damsels in Distress trilogy becomes the first SJT production to transfer directly to the West End with the original Scarborough company; Tim Firth's The Safari Party premieres at the Stephen Joseph Theatre - the final play Alan Ayckbourn will direct which is not written by himself; the New Vic's production of The Marriage Of Figaro tours to the SJT - the first production at the venue to be directed by future Artistic Director Chris Monks.

Notable world premieres: The Safari Party (Tim Firth); Man For Hire (Meredith Oakes); Red Roses (Eric Prince) 2003 The SJT teams up with the National Youth Music Theatre to stage the venue's largest ever production with the world premiere of Alan Ayckbourn's Orvin - The Champion Of Champions with a cast of more than 40 people; a platform talk with Harold Pinter and Alan Ayckbourn takes place; a visiting production of John Godber's Screaming Blue Murder is delayed when The Round's stage-lift jams - the production moves to Yorkshire Coast College, former home of the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, and the night's show is produced there with just a 30 minute delay! Notable world premieres: How To Tell The Truth (Chris Dunkley); Making Waves (Stephen Clarke); Bedtime Stories (Lesley Bruce) 2004 Laurie Sansom is appointed Associate Director; Bob Watson, founder member of the Friends and theatre archivist, dies in March - the theatre archive is later named after him.

Notable world premieres: Private Fears In Public Places (Alan Ayckbourn); For Starters (Nick Warburton); Her Slightest Touch (Torben Betts); The Ugly Duckling (Vicky Ireland) 2005 The Stephen Joseph Theatre celebrates the 50th anniversary of Stephen Joseph opening the Library Theatre in Scarborough - a blue plaque marking the anniversary is installed outside Scarborough Library; the company's first tour to the 59E59 Theaters' Brits Off Broadway festival in New York with Alan Ayckbourn's Private Fears In Public Places; the SJT first co-production with Frantic Assembly to produce Lisa Evans' Villette. Notable world premieres: Spittin' Distance (Toby Davis / Grant Olding); Caution!

Trousers (Kerry Hood); Playing God (Laurence Marks / Maurice Gran); Villette (Lisa Evans) 2006 Alan Ayckbourn suffers a stroke on 21 February - he will spend six months rehabilitating before returning to the theatre to direct the world premiere of his play If I Were You in September; Laurie Sansom leaves the SJT to become Artistic Director of the Royal & Derngate, Northampton, later becoming Artistic Director of National Theatre of Scotland in 2013; Alan Ayckbourn's If I Were You is the 100th new produced commission at the SJT since it opened in 1996. Notable world premieres: If I Were You (Alan Ayckbourn); Absolutely Frank (Tim Firth) 2007 The theatre trust board announces Alan Ayckbourn will retire as Artistic Director on 31 March 2009 Notable world premieres: Touch Wood (Nick Warburton) 2008 The SJT OutReach department is launched - an ambitious extension of the theatre's former education department.

2009 Alan Ayckbourn steps down as Artistic Director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre on 31 March; Chris Monks becomes the Artistic Director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre on 1 April. Notable world premieres: My Wonderful Day (Alan Ayckbourn) 2010 Notable world premieres: Twenty: 20 (James Quinn); The Hunt For The Scroobious Pip (Andrew Pollard); The Price Of Everything (Fiona Evans) 2011 World premiere of Alan Ayckbourn's Dear Uncle, an adaptation of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya; Alan Ayckbourn's new play Neighbourhood Watch premieres before touring with its Scarborough company for month-long residencies in both New York (59E59 Theaters) and London (Tricycle Theatre) - this is also the 300th new play to premiere at the Stephen Joseph Theatre since the Library Theatre opened in 1955.

Notable world premieres: Dear Uncle (Alan Ayckbourn adapted from Chekhov); Neighbourhood Watch (Alan Ayckbourn) 2012 Playwright John Godber and his wife Jane Thornton write two inter-related Scarborough-set plays Lost & Found; Alan Ayckbourn's Absurd Person Singular and Surprises are presented as part of the 2012 Festival celebrating the London 2012 Olympics. Notable world premieres: Lost (Jane Thornton); Found (John Godber) 2013 Artistic Director Chris Monks announces he will be taking time away from the theatre to develop 'exciting new projects'; Henry Bell is appointed Associate Director and the Literary Department is relaunched following an eight year sabbatical.

Notable world premieres: The Hoarder (devised); Arrivals & Departures (Alan Ayckbourn); Laughton (Roger Osborne) 2014 the Ayckbourn Ensemble (Arrivals & Departures, Time Of My Life, Farcicals) tours to the Brits Off Broadway festival for a month; the Arts Council award capital funding for a multi-functional studio space to be used for OutReach community projects, rehearsal space and storage facilities; premiere of Chris Monks' The Last Train To Scarborough - in association with the National Railway Museum - as part of the Yorkshire Festival, celebrating the inclusion of the county in the Tour de France.

Notable world premieres: Roundelay (Alan Ayckbourn); Last Train To Scarborough (Chris Monks) 2015 The Stephen Joseph Theatre celebrates its 60th anniversary on 14 July; Stephen Wood announces his retirement as Executive Director after 19 years in the role and leaves on 11 June followed by Artistic Director Chris Monks leaving on 11 December; Mathew Russell is appointed as interim Chief Executive; three celebrated plays are revived for the anniversary with Stephen Mallatratt's The Woman In Black, Tim Firth's Neville's Island & Alan Ayckbourn's Confusions; the OutReach Rooms are opened on 17 May; Alan Ayckbourn's five hour narrative The Divide is exclusively premiered in a special gala event.

Notable world premieres: Hero's Welcome (Alan Ayckbourn) 2016 The SJT announces Paul Robinson as the new Artistic Director of the SJT with Stephen Freeman as the new Chief Executive; Alan Ayckbourn's Hero's Welcome & Confusions tour to the Brits Off Broadway festival in New York; Torben Betts returns to the SJT with the world premiere of The National Joke; Premiere Patrons scheme is launched; play readings of commissioned work introduced; Paul Robinson's directorial debut at the SJT with Pinocchio. Notable world premieres: The National Joke (Torben Betts); Just So Stories (Vicky Ireland); Consuming Passions (Alan Ayckbourn) Since opening in 1996, the Stephen Joseph Theatre has staged 235 productions of which 149 plays are world premieres as of December 2016. Since the Library Theatre opened in 1955, the Stephen Joseph company has staged 626 plays of which 332 were world premieres as of December 2016. Copyright: Simon Murgatroyd.

Please do not reproduce this article without permission of the copyright holder. © Simon Murgatroyd. This is an independent website affiliated to It is neither endorsed by nor affiliated to the Stephen Joseph Theatre. Contact Me Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website Stanley Page & Heather Stoney in the world premiere at the Library Theatre, Scarborough (1975). Copyright: Scarborough Theatre Trust Stephen Mallatratt & Janet Dale in the world premiere at the Library Theatre, Scarborough (1975). Copyright: Scarborough Theatre Trust Polly Warren & Christopher Godwin in the world premiere at the Library Theatre, Scarborough (1975). Copyright: Scarborough Theatre Trust Michael Gough & Joan Hickson in the London premiere at the National Theatre (1977). Copyright: National Theatre Michael Kitchen & Stephen Moore in the London premiere at the National Theatre (1977). Copyright: National Theatre Joanna van Gyseghem & Geoffrey Whitehead in Alan Ayckbourn's revival at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough (2000). Copyright: Tony Bartholomew Joanna van Gyseghem & Diana Morrison in Alan Ayckbourn's revival at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough (2000).

Copyright: Tony Bartholomew June Whitfield & Richard Briers in the West End revival (2002). Copyright: Manuel Harlan Jane Asher & Nicolas le Provost in the Rose Theatre's revival (2009). Copyright: Alastair Muir Nicolas le Provost & Penelope Wilton in a scene from Bedroom Farce performed as part of the National Theatre’s 50th anniversary celebration (2013). Copyright: Catherine Ashmore All images are copyright of the respective photographer / organisation and should not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder. Bedroom Farce: Background Bedroom Farce marks a significant turning point in both Alan Ayckbourn’s writing and directing career. Yet the play’s popularity and a perception of it as lightweight has often led to it being dismissed as a minor Ayckbourn work - even Alan has admitted he had problems with the play’s success. However, this is a significant play both for him and the nascent National Theatre building.

In 1975, the National Theatre moved to its purpose-built home on London’s South Bank under the direction of Peter Hall; a move that was not without controversy and which would generate questions about the National Theatre’s purpose and place, some of which are still being debated today. Hall was already an admirer of Alan Ayckbourn’s writing, having been introduced to his work with the 1973 London production of Absurd Person Singular . As a result, Alan was formally approached in January 1974 to provide a play for the Lyttelton auditorium as part of the National Theatre’s first season. Alan agreed and provided Peter Hall with a title for the play at least a year in advance of actually writing it. Although Alan would not write the play until May 1975, an interview with the Sunday Times in June 1974 confirmed he already had some firm ideas. “I’m going to call it Bedroom Farce, A Comedy. I’m worrying about it a bit because I’ve never written for the posh fellers before.

It’ll have everything about bedrooms but copulation, something which I believe is hardly practiced in the British bedroom anyway.” The title was later shortened to just Bedroom Farce, but commenting on the original title Alan noted: “I thought I’d confuse the issue.” Later he may have regretted not keeping the title when some critics took issue with the fact Bedroom Farce was not really a farce, despite Alan never describing the play as such. Hall also agreed that Alan could premiere the play at his home venue, the Library Theatre in Scarborough, before it transferred to the National Theatre. In the meantime, Alan’s immediate concerns was the imminent premiere of Jeeves , his musical collaboration with Andrew Lloyd Webber. Jeeves opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre, London, on 22 April 1975 and closed on 24 May 1975. It was a notorious musical flop, but despite its very public failure Alan was not as downcast as might be expected: “I remember going in to see the cast on the last night and not feeling too bad about it as I had just finished Bedroom Farce that day.” It’s doubtful whether the cast felt the same way!

As was typical of practically all Alan’s writing at the time, the play was delivered at the last possible moment to the Library Theatre and even by Alan’s standards, it was a particularly tense time as Peter Hall recalls: “It [Bedroom Farce] was due to rehearse on a Monday; he started writing it on the previous Wednesday, wrote all day Wednesday and most of the night, all day Thursday and most of the night, all day Friday and most of the night; on Saturday he typed it out, and on Sunday armed with some duplicated copies he drove up to Scarborough. He gave it to the cast on Monday morning, and after the reading collapsed in bed for two days. He said this was the kind of pressure he needed, and usually induced, to write a play.” So late was the script, Alan did not send it to his agent Margaret Ramsay - better known as Peggy - for another week. At the same time, Alan asked Peggy to pass the script on to his usual West End producer Michael Codron, as he was not confident Hall would like the piece.

He needn’t have worried, Hall “liked it very much” and noted “I love the serious observation underlying the comedy.” Ironically, Codron liked the script too and arranged that should Bedroom Farce transfer from the National Theatre to the West End, it would become a joint production between the National and himself. Bedroom Farce opened at the Library Theatre, Scarborough, on 16 June 1975. Commercially the play was very successful, but it received mixed critical notices. While all agreed it was an enjoyable play, The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian had particular issues with regard to Trevor and Susannah’s characters. The production was not without its problems either; commissioned for an end-stage, Alan had difficulty adapting it to the limited confines of the Library Theatre and ended up staging it in a three-sided / thrust production rather than the usual round which he had intended. Peter Hall came to see the play though and despite certain reservations was sure it would work at the National. Hall was now planning to open the play in autumn 1976 and was already compiling a wish-list of actors which included Ralph Richardson and Peggy Ashcroft. The production would later be moved back to 1977.

Bedroom Farce marked the first time Alan would direct the London premiere of one of his plays, although he had been directing the world premieres of them in Scarborough since 1967. It had been agreed that Peter Hall and Alan Ayckbourn would co-direct the play - presumably to reassure the National Theatre that Alan was not flying solo on his first directorial credit both in London and at the National. It was a cleverly engineered ruse by Hall though. Due to existing commitments, Alan could not attend the first week of rehearsals. By the time he arrived, Hall had blocked the piece and announced he could be found next door, having purposely scheduled conflicting rehearsals for Volpone. "I wasn't going to do Bedroom Farce if the author didn't want me to," said Hall in 2011. "So I tried to manufacture a situation where he [Alan] did what I wanted and I did what he wanted. It worked." Although both men are credited as co-directors, to all and intents it was Alan’s piece. Rehearsals were scheduled for an extraordinary eight weeks - Alan was used to less than four at Scarborough.

The production received its premiere at the Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham, on 1 March 1977 as part of a short pre-London tour. Originally the play was due to visit the Theatre Royal, Norwich, but when the manager refused to pay the National Theatre 65% of the box office, the National pulled the production and opted to visit Birmingham followed by the New Theatre, Cardiff. The premiere at the National Theatre on 16 March 1977 was met with an effusive reaction by the critics. The vast majority of the reviews were positive and most of the original concerns were forgotten. The one major reservation voiced by many critics was why such a light piece by a popular (and commerical) playwright was at the National Theatre rather than in the West End. This was unexpectedly emphasised by the fact Michael Codron opened Alan’s Just Between Ourselves a month later on 20 April 1977 in the West End; by far the less commercial play, Just Between Ourselves is extremely dark and led to serious discussion as to whether the plays were in the right venues.

Alan was adamant Bedroom Farce was the right choice for the National at a difficult time: “I think I was sensible not to try and write a very serious play for the National: it would have been absolutely fatal suddenly to change my whole style. I wrote them a very jolly play: it had its moments, but it was jolly…. The National was at one of its low ebbs - it had had a lot of technical problems and a lot of bad press, and people were asking, 'Why is all the national funding going to this?' I think what Bedroom Farce did at the time - which was really nice - was to provide the building, if not with its first, certainly with one of its earliest big hits. It certainly lifted the morale: it was during that terrible period of the strikes, and all that business with pickets. There had been a lot of very ugly feeling around." Peter Hall felt the play had been an “enormous success” and that it had been a “joyous experience” working with Alan, but even he was taken back by the vitriol of the National Theatre's critics.

"The critics were enraged, almost to a man, that we should be using public money in order to amuse ourselves by doing commercial plays - this was disgraceful! I couldn't believe it, I thought they'd taken leave of their senses." Despite the critics' misgivings, the success of the play soon led Peter Hall to ask Alan to write another play for the autumn 1978 season. Alan would actually return in 1980 with Sisterly Feelings . Ensconced in rep at the National, the play briefly toured to Bristol Hippodrome in September 1977 and would run in the Lyttelton until 17 August 1978; initial expectations were the play would close in February 1978. Its success, however, generated its own problems as there was an almost immediate clamour for the play by the regional repertory theatres. Naturally, the National turned down all such requests except for the Nottingham Playhouse. A decision which generated a considerable amount of bad feeling. On 29 September 1977, the first professional rep production opened at that theatre with the apparent blessing of the National.

Naturally, a number of other regional companies now felt they should be allowed to stage the play but all were rebuffed by the National and, particularly damaging, the finger was pointed at Alan. It is not clear whether this was a misunderstanding or a deliberately calculated move on the National’s part, but Alan’s agent Peggy soon found herself writing to several companies explaining Alan “was not the prime mover” in an attempt to diffuse an already complex situation. This was to no avail, as in October Alan received a strongly worded letter from the Liverpool Playhouse that to all intent blamed him for the whole situation. Mortified by this, Alan insisted there could never again be selective releases of his plays. As the debate continued and Peggy defended Alan’s position making absolutely clear his indisputable support and respect for regional repertory theatre, it highlighted to Alan a potential pitfall of his popularity. If anything he felt the plays were too successful and this would lead to an inevitable backlash. His instinct was to stop the West End being flooded with his plays and try to feed them in at suitable intervals, much as they were at Scarborough: “My only reason for stopping release of plays personally has to do with the traffic jam of material flowing on to the market.

Quite marvellous and very gratifying. I’m horribly aware though that with all these simultaneous releases - the result of several years’ writing - I get the reputation of ‘a play a day’ man. Also untrue. Also The Guardian gets ratty after a bit.” Bedroom Farce was eventually released for professional production on 1 January 1979. The Liverpool Playhouse opened it on 5 January 1979 and the first repertory tour would be launched by Oxford Playhouse in the same month. By April 1978, Bedroom Farce had become the National’s longest running show in repertoire and in its first year was seen by 140,429 paying audience members. Such was the play’s success, the National decided to transfer it to the West End in association with Michael Codron. Initially scheduled for an 11 week run - later extended, Bedroom Farce opened with a new cast at the Prince Of Wales Theatre on 7 November 1978. The majority of the original cast meanwhile crossed the Atlantic for a Canadian / American tour of the play. It opened in Toronto on 22 January 1979 for four weeks, before going to Washington for five weeks.

Bedroom Farce then opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York, on 29 March 1979 where it would run for 276 performances. The reviews were largely excellent - including the all important New York Times - although business was disappointing. Various explanations were offered for this, but Alan conceded it might all be a matter of expectations: “[The National Theatre] spelled great acting and classical theatre, and I think that put off people who might have enjoyed a funny evening. The audience for a ‘National Theatre show’ were in turn put off by the idea of a lightweight commercial play.” Despite this, the play was nominated in the Tony Awards for Best Direction and Best Play with Joan Hickson and Michael Gough winning Best Supporting Actor awards. The National were not finished with the play though, having just signed a £180,000 deal with Granada Television in the UK to broadcast six plays over two years. As a result, Bedroom Farce - with much of the original cast still intact - was transmitted on ITV on 28 September 1980 and was a ratings hit.

The success of this adaptation was further emphasised when the British Film Institute chose to screen it at the National Film Theatre in 1998 as part of its Popular Television Of The ‘70s And ‘80s film festival. The massive success of the play, though, did not sit easily with Alan, particularly when later plays such as Joking Apart were not as well received. By 1981, it was on the record he resented the play - although as has been frequently noted, Alan tends to favour the less well appreciated of his plays: “I’m rather cheesed off with Bedroom Farce at the moment. I’ve had quite enough of that…. I never really liked Bedroom Farce very much. Yes, I did: I got to like it quite a lot. I felt rather extraordinary when I wrote it, though. I didn’t quite know why I’d written it. It was very strange. It cropped up in the middle of my serious phase. This rather jolly play suddenly arrived. And I think I was rather rude to it.

I said to it, 'I’m an Absent Friends man now, a much more serious dramatist.'” The success of the television adaptation now led to an unexpected development. Granada had beaten the likes of both EMI and Universal pictures to make a film of the play; the success of which had not gone unnoticed. In 1981, Thames Television proposed the idea of developing a sitcom spin-off, based around the characters of Ernest and Delia. Alan was approached after Joan Hickson and Michael Gough had expressed interest in the proposal, having played the characters in the National Theatre production. Alan was wary of the idea, having deliberately steered clear of television and saw a number of potential pitfalls: “I’m very wary about spin-offs. Characters, established somewhat cryptically with a few pen strokes and comparatively few lines of dialogue can over-inflate horribly or shrink to nothing.” He also noted the production would founder if Michael and Joan did not reprise their roles. Alan declined an offer to write the script, but left the door open for someone else with a proviso. “I feel quite strongly, though - no, very strongly - that you must be careful; where you take the two of them.

I think were I writing them, I’d keep them very much within the confines of the house. Ernest and Delia make only occasional forays elsewhere. They mistrust it.” Thames decided to move on with the idea and began negotiating with the playwright Peter Tinniswood to write the pilot and suggested 25 half-hour episodes to Alan beginning production in September 1982. Despite Alan’s advice about the characters, which Tinniswood had agreed with, Thames was still discussing moving Ernest and Delia out of the house for “adventures.” In a difficult position, Peter wrote the pilot, which Joan Hickson found unsatisfactory: “I find it distasteful and no more like them than chalk from cheese. What it all boils down to is that no one on Earth could possibly write them but you who created them.” Joan pulled out and Alan decided to put a stop to it all. He wrote to the producer Michael Mills who agreed the idea had run out of steam, particularly as Michael Gough was now unavailable. Thus ended an intriguing twist in the story of Bedroom Farce. Bedroom Farce had meanwhile quickly become a popular work with professional and amateur companies, both at home and abroad.

It was published in 1977 as part of the Three Plays collection by Chatto & Windus, which was later published in softcover by Penguin and stands as the most successful published collection of Alan's plays having never been out of print; it is currently published by Vintage Classics and is also available as an ebook. Samuel French published the acting edition of Bedroom Farce in 1978, the same year it was published in America. Despite Alan’s early reservations about the play, he did return to it in 2000 at the Stephen Joseph Theatre , Scarborough. He successfully directed it in The Round and then re-directed it for the end-stage McCarthy, prior to touring. This is the first and only time Alan has staged one of his plays in both auditoria at the SJT. The play was a critical and commercial success and offered a unique opportunity to finally see how Alan had originally hoped to stage the play at the Library Theatre, alongside the staging it was originally commissioned for by the National Theatre. The success of Alan’s own 2000 production was dampened slightly by a high profile West End production, ostensibly marking the 25th anniversary of the play’s premiere at the National Theatre.

Alan’s regular London producer, Michael Codron, mounted a revival in 2002 which opened at the Aldwych Theatre on 8 April, following a short pre-West End try-out in Guildford and Richmond. On paper, the project must have looked promising with Richard Briers - making a welcome return to the West End in an Ayckbourn play - joined by popular actress June Whitfield as Ernest and Delia. Directed by Loveday Ingram, the play gained satisfactory reviews but the final result was a disappointing production which poorly served the play. The design of the set compromised both the play as well as sight-lines in the Aldwych Theatre and Alan was less than happy with the direction of the play, which closed two weeks earlier than its planned 16 week run. In solitude this might not have had a profound impact, but combined with the much-publicised problems with Alan’s Damsels In Distress trilogy at the Duchess Theatre later that year, Alan's relationship with the West End was to be irrevocably altered.

Alan has never had an easy relationship with London and the combination of this relationship alongside two London productions which became problematic for very different reasons, led Bedroom Farce and the Damsels In Distress trilogy to be the final Ayckbourn plays to appear in the commercial West End for five years. Alan decided it was time to take a hiatus from the West End, choosing not to allow his new plays to be produced in the West End. The moratorium also extended to major tours of his plays and, fittingly, it was Bedroom Farce which also ended the touring moratorium as, in 2007, the first major, non-Stephen Joseph Theatre produced tour of an Ayckbourn play was announced in five years. With experienced Ayckbourn director and actor Robin Herford at the helm, Bedroom Farce began a national tour, the success of which confirmed its place as one of the most popular of Alan Ayckbourn's plays. It remains one of his most frequently produced plays by both professional and amateur companies in the UK.

For a major revival in 2009, the instigator of the play Sir Peter Hall returned to it when he revived Bedroom Farce at the Rose Theatre, Kingston, in repertory with Strindberg's Miss Julie. Although a seemingly strange match, a strong ensemble company led by Nicholas le Provost and Jane Asher as Ernest and Delia, under the direction of Hall, proved very successful and the play was critically acclaimed. This production transferred to London's West End at the Duke Of York's Theatre from 24 March to 19 June, 2010, before embarking on a successful UK tour. A further measure of the play's impact and success saw a scene from the play performed as part of the National Theatre's 50th anniversary event on 2 November 2013 and broadcast around the world, with Nicholas le Provost and Penelope Wilton playing the roles of Ernest and Delia. 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 Shop Alan Ayckbourn: Long Biography This is the officially approved long biography for Alan Ayckbourn. A short biography suitable for use in programmes is also available here . Please do not reproduce this article without the permission of the copyright holders. Alan Ayckbourn is one of the world’s most popular and prolific professional playwrights. He has written - as of 2017 - 81 full length plays and more than 20 other revues and plays for children. He is also an acclaimed director, who Arthur Miller said directed the definitive version of his play A View From The Bridge. Alan was born in Hampstead, London, on 12 April, 1939. His mother was Irene Maud Worley – better known as the novelist Mary James - and his father Horace Ayckbourn, lead violinist with the London Symphony Orchestra. Educated at Haileybury, Alan left school at the age of 17 to pursue a career in the theatre immediately gaining a job with the theatre impresario Sir Donald Wolfit in 1956.

He was with the company for three weeks as an acting stage manager for the production The Strong Are Lonely at the Edinburgh Festival. Alan went on to work as an actor and stage manager in Worthing, Leatherhead and Oxford, before being employed in 1957 as a stage manager and actor at the Library Theatre, Scarborough. The Library Theatre had been founded in 1955 by Stephen Joseph and was home to the UK’s first professional theatre-in-the-round company, Studio Theatre Ltd. Alan was inspired by Stephen Joseph, who became a mentor and encouraged Alan to both write and direct. Alan’s first professional writing commission was inadvertently inspired by his acting career when he complained about a role he was playing; Stephen threw down the gauntlet saying that if Alan wanted better roles, he should write one himself. Alan wrote The Square Cat. This was a success for the company in the summer of 1959 and Stephen immediately commissioned a second play, Love After All, for the winter of 1959. Alan continued to act and write for the Library Theatre until 1962 when he was involved in the formation of the Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent, with Stephen Joseph and Peter Cheeseman.

This was the country’s first permanent professional theatre in-the-round and Alan premiered two plays there, Christmas V Mastermind and Mr Whatnot. The latter was produced in London in 1964 and received such a critical mauling that Alan retreated to the BBC in Leeds as a radio drama producer where he worked between 1965 and 1970. Alan continued writing, though, and produced Meet My Father for the Library Theatre in 1965. This would be a turning point in his life. In 1967, the play – retitled Relatively Speaking – opened in the West End and was a phenomenal hit. It launched him into the public eye and in quick succession, plays such as How The Other Half Loves, Absurd Person Singular and The Norman Conquests, established Alan Ayckbourn as one of the country’s most popular and successful playwrights. As of 2017, he has written 81 full length plays - the 81st will premiere at the Stephen Joseph Theatre this summer - more than half of which have transferred to either the West End or the National Theatre.

At one point in 1975, he held the record for having the most professional productions being performed simultaneously in the West End (The Norman Conquests, Absurd Person Singular and Absent Friends). His work has been translated into more than 35 languages and his plays are regularly performed throughout the world. Stephen Joseph died in 1967 and Alan, alongside Ken Boden, Alfred Bradley and Rodney Wood, worked together to keep the Library Theatre alive. Although Alan was closely involved with the theatre during this period, both writing, directing and choosing plays for the company, he would not formally become Artistic Director until 1972. Apart from a two year hiatus between 1986 and 1988 when he became a company director at the National Theatre, he remained Artistic Director until retiring from that role on 31 March 2009. Concurrent to this, Alan’s directing career also flourished. He directed his first play in 1961, Gaslight, at the Library Theatre and in 1963 directed the world premiere of one of his own plays for the first time.

Since 1967 he has directed the world premieres of all his plays and since 1977, he has directed all the West End premieres of his plays bar one. Since 1961, Alan has directed more than 300 productions and is considered one of the world’s pre-eminent directors of in-the-round staging. He is hugely committed to theatre-in-the-round, for which he has written the majority of his plays. It is always worth remembering that when he stages a play in London or they are performed in the proscenium arch, it is a step away from the author’s original intention. It has frequently been stated that the definitive production of an Alan Ayckbourn play is the premiere production in-the-round in Scarborough, where he has premiered all but four of his plays. Although he has avoided film, he is very proud of his association with the late French film director Alain Resnais, who directed three acclaimed and award-winning film adaptations of his work.

Alan Ayckbourn has received more than 35 awards and honours including two Oliviers, a Tony, two Molieres and Lifetime Achievement Awards from both the Variety Club of Great Britain and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain. He was the 1992 Cameron Mackintosh Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Oxford University and is also the recipient of a Montblanc de la Culture Award for Europe for ‘establishing a thriving theatrical tradition in Scarborough and for his dedication and commitment to it’. In 2009, he was inducted into American Theater’s Hall of Fame and received the prestigious Society's Special Award at the Laurence Olivier Awards. The holder of a number of honorary degrees, he was appointed a CBE in 1987 and in 1997 was knighted for 'services to theatre'. In 2010, he received the prestigious Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. His plays have been regularly staged in America and more than 10 have been produced on Broadway and Off-Broadway. In 1975 he held the record for having the most plays simultaneously running on Broadway (The Norman Conquests and Absurd Person Singular).

However, he would probably consider his greatest success in the States came in 2005, when he took his Scarborough company to the 59E59 Theaters’ Brits Off Broadway festival to present Private Fears In Public Places. The month-long run was an unprecedented success receiving great acclaim from audiences and critics alike. The New York Times proclaimed it “altogether wonderful” and the cast “flawless”. In 2007, his production of Intimate Exchanges also toured to the Festival where it broke box office records at 59E59 Theaters and received a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Play. Since then he has also toured My Wonderful Day in 2009, which also received a Drama Desk Outstanding Play award nomination, Neighbourhood Watch in 2011, Arrivals & Departures, Time Of My Life and Farcicals in 2014 and Hero's Welcome and Confusions in 2016 to the festival. In February 2006, Alan suffered a stroke leading to the announcement in June 2007 that he would step down as the Artistic Director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre.

He would officially step down in 2009 but continues to be premiere his new work and direct revivals of his plays at the venue. Copyright: Simon Murgatroyd. * For further details about Alan's position as Artistic Director and the confusion over the year he took the job, click here . ** For further details about Alan Ayckbourn stepping down as Artistic Director, 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 Bedroom Farce: A Timeline The Timeline offers a chronological view of significant events in the history of the play Bedroom Farce it only lists major productions and does not include the vast majority of the many professional and amateur productions of the play. January 1974 Peter Hall, Artistic Director of the National Theatre, approaches Alan Ayckbourn about writing a play for the soon to be opened National Theatre venue in London.

30 June 1974 In an interview with the Sunday Times, Alan Ayckbourn announces he has been commissioned to write a play for the National Theatre which will be called Bedroom Farce, A Comedy (later amended to just Bedroom Farce). 21 May 1975 Alan Ayckbourn begins writing Bedroom Farce. Despite being commissioned for the National Theatre, the play will premiere at the Library Theatre, Scarborough. 24 May 1975 Alan Ayckbourn finishes writing Bedroom Farce, coincidentally on the day his and and Andrew Lloyd-Webber's flop musical Jeeves closes at Her Majesty's Theatre, London, after a month-long run. 16 June 1975 World premiere of Bedroom Farce at the Library Theatre, Scarborough, directed by Alan Ayckbourn. 1 March 1977 The National Theatre production of Bedroom Farce premieres at the Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham, directed by Alan Ayckbourn and Peter Hall. 16 March 1977 London premiere of Bedroom Farce at the Lyttelton, National Theatre, directed by Alan Ayckbourn and Peter Hall.

19 September 1977 The National Theatre production of Bedroom Farce tours to Bristol Hippodrome. 29 September 1977 The first professional regional repertory production of Bedroom Farce opens at the Nottingham Playhouse. 1977 Chatto & Windus publishes Bedroom Farce in the collection Three Plays. 17 August 1978 Bedroom Farce closes at the National Theatre, London, in preparation for a West End transfer. 7 November 1978 The National Theatre production of Bedroom Farce transfers to the Prince Of Wales Theatre, London. 1978 Samuel French Ltd publishes the acting edition of Bedroom Farce. 1 January 1979 Bedroom Farce officially released for production by repertory theatres. January 1979 The first repertory tour of Bedroom Farce is staged by Oxford Playhouse. 22 January 1979 The National Theatre production of Bedroom Farce begins a Canadian / American tour in Toronto. 29 March 1979 The National Theatre production of Bedroom Farce opens on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York, directed by Alan Ayckbourn and Peter Hall.

28 September 1980 ITV broadcasts the National Theatre’s production of Bedroom Farce, adapted and directed for television by Christopher Morahan. 1982 Alan Ayckbourn is approached about a television spin-off to Bedroom Farce entitled Ernest & Delia. A pilot script is written by Peter Tinniswood, but the series is dropped before filming begins. 13 July 1983 The television version of Bedroom Farce is repeated on British television for the first time by Channel 4. 1998 The British Film Institute screens Bedroom Farce at the National Film Theatre during the Popular Television Of The ‘70s And ‘80s Film Festival. 21 September 2000 Bedroom Farce is revived in The Round at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, directed by Alan Ayckbourn. 19 December 2000 Bedroom Farce is redirected by Alan Ayckbourn for the end-stage The McCarthy at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough. 16 December 2001 The Stephen Joseph Theatre production of Bedroom Farce, directed by Alan Ayckbourn, begins a UK tour at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford.

26 March 2002 A West End revival of Bedroom Farce, directed by Loveday Ingram, opens at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, before transferring to London's West End. 8 April 2002 Bedroom Farce opens at the Aldwych Theatre, London, directed by Loveday Ingram. 29 June 2002 Bedroom Farce closes at the Aldwych Theatre, London. 2003 Disappointment with the quality of Loveday Ingram's production of Bedroom Farce alongside the treatment of his own London production of Damsels In Distress leads Alan Ayckbourn to announce a hiatus from the West End. 2007 A tour of Bedroom Farce, directed by Robin Herford, becomes the first major UK tour since 2003 of an Ayckbourn play not directed by the playwright himself. 1 October 2009 Bedroom Farce opens at the Rose Theatre, Kingston, directed by Sir Peter Hall. 24 March 2010 Bedroom Farce opens at the Duke Of York's Theatre, London, directed by Sir Peter Hall.

10 July 2010 Bedroom Farce closes at the Duke of York's Theatre, London, before embarking on a national tour with a new cast. 2 November 2013 As part of the National Theatre's 50th anniversary celebrations, a scene from Bedroom Farce is performed in the 50 Years On Stage event. 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: What is the name of the theatre in Scarborough which has staged the premieres of Alan Ayckbourn's plays?
Answer: STEPHEN JOSEPH