20 Years At The Old Laundry Theatre

BBC Radio Cumbria has interviewed Alan Ayckbourn as part of a programme celebrating the 20th birthday of The Old Laundry Theatre in Bowness-on-Windemere.

The programme (details at end of article) features Alan talking about what is very much a sister theatre to the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough and to which he has been closely associated with since its launch.

The Old Laundry was opened in August 1992 by Alan Ayckbourn with a transfer of the world premiere production of his play Time Of My Life.

The venue was the brainchild of Alan's regular designer Roger Glossop and the auditorium is based on the former Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round in Scarborough (the second of three venues to have housed what is now the Stephen Joseph Theatre). Emulating the layout and scale of the Scarborough venue, it remains one of the few purpose built in-the-round venues in the UK.

The decision to build a theatre in the round in Bowness was apparently inspired by Roger's close working relationship with Alan Ayckbourn, which had begun in 1986 when Roger designed the London premiere of Woman In Mind. It is a relationship which continues to this day with Roger having most recently designed for the world premiere of My Wonderful Day in 2009.

As to the success of their working relationship, in an interview in 1992 to mark the opening of The Old Laundry, Alan said of Roger Glossop:

"Roger's never told me something I want is impossible: whatever the brief, he comes up with a solution.... His input is extraordinary because it's very low key. Like the best of sportsmen who don't appear to be doing much a lot of the time, it all looks very easy."

Alan is a trustee of The Old Laundry and has continued to tour his new work and revivals of his plays to the venue over the past two decades - confirming in the BBC interview, that tradition will continue in its 20th anniversary year.

Although the birthday may not be until August, Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website wishes The Old Laundry a happy 20th birthday and wishes it success for the next 20 years. You can find out more about The Old Laundry at its website here and to hear Alan's interview, visit the BBC website via the details below.

The Alan Ayckbourn interview was part of the Harry King show on Monday 19 March. It is available to listen to on BBC iPLayer until Sunday 25 March. The three hour programme was broadcast live from The Old Laundry and Alan's interview can be found approximately one hour and 18 minutes into the programme. To visit the programmes' iPlayer link, click here.

Absurd Thoughts

The original production of Absurd Person Singular is currently under the spotlight in an article in The Guardian offering an insight into the play in 1972.

With Alan Ayckbourn reviving the play this summer at Scarborough and Chichester, the article (click here to read) offers his thoughts on the play alongside the experiences of Christopher Godwin, one of the most prolific Ayckbourn actors, and who played Ronald in the first production at the Library Theatre (and would go on to create the role of Norman a year later in world premiere of The Norman Conquests).

Christopher also wrote a piece about the play for Alan Ayckbourn's 1989 revival of Absurd Person Singular at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, which offers further insight into the play and what it was like to appear in the first production.

Here the blog presents some extracts from Christopher's view of the original production of Absurd Person Singular.

"The beginning of any season is always exciting. But when the company arrived in those days, we were confronted by two empty rooms and a passage to the loo which contained props and our sparse but quite sophisticated technical equipment. Ken Boden and the Stage Management were setting up the rostra for seating in the auditorium, and the dressing-room (there was only one for men and women) was a lumber pile. The Stage Management created order from this chaos very quickly. I liked that sort of purposeful uncertainty; it was very exciting. There was always so much at stake - we felt we were fighting for survival. We had a very strong company that year in 1972. Philippa Urquhart, Jennifer Piercy, Mateylok Gibbs, Heather Stoney, Ray Jewers, Piers Rogers, and me. We also had a super play called Absurd Person Singular.
That season started, I remember, with some uncertainty with the Library staff. A pond had leaked in a show the year before, dripping into the reference section on the floor below. Would Charlie speak to us this year? Well, he did, but we had to tiptoe a bit. More water problems were to come, but later.
Absurd Person Singular, or APS, was such fun to rehearse. It is a very English play, and its comedy and sadness stem from its Englishness. It’s often not just the lines but what is going on behind them that gives such point and poignancy. I sometimes had an image of the audience in APS which reminded me of an old advertising poster of a lemon crying. I played Ronnie Brewster-Wright and had an enormous amount of fun with him. Some years later I played Sidney Hopcroft on the radio - there’s versatility!
Oh yes, the water. Philippa had water in her wellies at one point and one night, in emptying them, managed to wet an entire front row. Be warned. In retrospect this was yet another sign of Alan’s growing obsession with water - he was later to graduate to canals and swimming pools. I also think that APS was the play after which we found a bottom set of dentures one morning. Someone had laughed so hard they’d shot them out under a seat. No-one claimed them. If anyone is on a return visit and knows anything about them, ask at the box office - they might still be there."

Alan Ayckbourn's revival of Absurd Person Singular can be seen in repertory at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, between 8 June and 28 July and 14 September to 13 October. Click here for more details.

This production can also be seen in repertory at Chichester Festival Theatre between 8 August to 8 September. Click here for more details.

To find out more about the play Absurd Person Singular, visit the play's dedicated section at Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website here.

This Week In History: 19 March 2012

A regular feature in which the News Blog offers a glimpse at significant Ayckbourn events in the equivalent week of years past.

22 March: First performance of Alan Ayckbourn and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Jeeves at the Bristol Hippodrome. Infamously this performance ran for approximately four-and-a-half-hours!

24 March: Revivals of Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce and Taking Steps open in London on the same day in 2010. The latter, taking place at the Orange Tree Theatre, is directed by Alan Ayckbourn in the round in London for the first time to high acclaim - in contrast to the original West End production in 1980 which put a play specifically written for the round into a proscenium arch theatre.

To look out for this week in 2012: The West End revival of Alan Ayckbourn's Absent Friends (click here for reviews and here for details) is running at the Harold Pinter Theatre, London, until 14 April; Alan Ayckbourn's latest play Neighbourhood Watch continues its UK tour at the Theatre Royal Windsor, until 24 March (click here for details).

Ayckbourn Notes & Quotes: Politics

Notes & Quotes is an occasional column in which we reproduce articles and quotes by Alan Ayckbourn over the years, offering an insight into his work, his plays or his views on a specific topic.

All material published in this column is copyright of Alan Ayckbourn and should not be reproduced without permission.

It is often questioned whether Alan Ayckbourn is a political writer or whether his plays are influenced by the politics of the time; here he offers a succinct insight into his thoughts on this from 2005.

Alan Ayckbourn discusses the influence of politics in his writing.

I'm always careful not to be overtly political with any of my works, as I prefer the focus to be on people and characters. But that's not to say politics do not influence my characters and their situations. A Small Family Business is probably a good example - I had at the time observed that we in Britain, due to the diminished influence of organised religion and lack of any real moral leadership from the government of the time (the play was written during the height of the Thatcher years) had as a nation started creating our own code of ethics. These new values, however, tended to differ from person to person without a commonly agreed consensus. Right and wrong, in other words, were becoming blurred. The action of the play shows what steady personal decline can result from following such social and political codes. Man of the Moment, on the other hand, commented on the nation's 'worship' of the villain rather than the victim.

Ask The Archivist: 15 March 2012

Ask The Archivist is a regular feature allowing you to put your Alan Ayckbourn related questions to the playwright's archivist Simon Murgatroyd. 

If you have a question regarding any aspect of Alan's work, email it to: ayckbourn@gmail.com (labelled Ask The Archivist) and we'll publish any interesting questions.  

Question: We're extrapolating on a recent question about Alan's directing career today, by focussing on a less well known area of Alan's directing career - with a look at where, other than the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Alan has professionally directed.

Answer: As we noted in the 17 February edition of Ask The Archivist (click here), Alan began directing at the Library Theatre, Scarborough (the company which now the Stephen Joseph Theatre) in 1961, where he has spent the majority of his acting career. However, he has also directed for a number of other venues and companies over the years.

Victoria Theatre, Stoke: In 1962, Stephen Joseph founded the first permanent and professional in-the-round venue in the UK (he had previously founded the UK's first professional in-the-round company in Scarborough in 1955). Alan joined the Victoria as an Associate Director and worked as actor, playwright and director at the venue between 1962 and 1964. During that period, he directed six productions which included his first opportunity to direct one of his own plays (Standing Room Only) and the world premiere of his sixth play Mr Whatnot.

National Theatre, London: In 1977, Alan co-directed with Peter Hall his first play at the National Theatre, Bedroom Farce. Between 1977 and the present day, Alan has since directed 12 full-length plays at the venue (Bedroom Farce, Sisterly Feelings, Way Upstream, A Chorus Of Disapproval, A Small Family Business, Invisible Friends, Mr A's Mazing Maze Plays, House & Garden, Will Evans & Valentine's Tons Of Money, Arthur Miller's A View From The Bridge, John Ford's Tis Pity She's a Whore. Alan was also a company director for two years at the National between 1986 and 1988 when he took a sabbatical from Scarborough.

West End, London: Between 1977 and the present day, Alan has directed 14 West End productions - predominantly for the producer Michael Codron - including Just Between Ourselves, Ten Times Table, Joking Apart, Season's Greetings, Woman In Mind, Henceforward..., Man Of The Moment, The Revengers' Comedies, Time Of My Life, Communicating Doors, By Jeeves, Things We Do For Love and Comic Potential (note: this figure does not include transfers of productions from the Stephen Joseph Theatre or the National Theatre).

Royal Shakespeare Company: In 1994, the Royal Shakespeare Company asked Alan to direct his most recent work for the company. He directed Wildest Dreams, which was performed at The Pit at the Barbican in London before transferring to the company's home town of Stratford.

Alley Theatre, Houston: As well as touring several of his Scarborough productions to Houston in the USA, Alan also directed the American premiere of his play Henceforward... with the Alley Theatre in 1987.

Goodspeed Opera House: In 1996, Alan was invited to direct his and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical By Jeeves at the Norma Terris Theater in Chester. Between 1996 and 2001, Alan re-directed the piece several times in different venues for the company until the play opened on Broadway in 2001.

Hampstead Theatre, London: In 2002, Alan Ayckbourn directed a revival of Tim Firth's The Safari Party which he had previously directed in Scarborough.

Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond: Most recently, Alan directed a highly acclaim production of his farce Taking Steps at the in-the-round venue in London in 2010.

Since 2009, when Alan Ayckbourn stepped down as Artistic Director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre, he has - essentially - become a freelance director so it is probable this list will expand in the future.

To find out more about Alan Ayckbourn's directing career, visit the Directing section of Alan Ayckbourn's website here.

To submit your question to Ask The Archivist, email Simon Murgatroyd at: ayckbourn@gmail.com labelled Ask The Archivist.

Amateur Productions Round-Up: March 2012

This new monthly column throws the Blog's spotlight on imminent amateur productions of Alan Ayckbourn's plays.

While, unfortunately, the website does not have the facility to spotlight individual amateur productions, we do include them on the website's What's On page and now every month, the blog will draw out the pertinent details for submitted amateur companies for the coming six weeks.

If you're involved in an amateur production of an Ayckbourn play, please send us your listing details (click here to learn how) and we'll gladly put you in the What's On pages and on our monthly round-up.

Amateur Productions: 13 March - 30 April 2012

Terri-Ann Prendergast & Lucy May Orange in York Settlement
Community Players Production of Miss Yesterday (photo: Mike Oakes)

Miss Yesterday (until 17 March - York Theatre Royal)

The York Settlement Community Players present the UK's first amateur production of Alan Ayckbourn's time-travelling family play in which a young girl is faced with the harder decision of her life.

Click here for more details.

Bedroom Farce (14 - 17 March - Compass Theatre, Ickenham)

Proscenium presents Alan Ayckbourn's extremely popular comedy about a high-strung couple wreaking havoc on the relationships and bedrooms of family and friends.

Click here for further details.

Time Of My Life (22 - 24 March - Stourbridge Town Hall)

Stourbridge Theatre Company present Alan Ayckbourn's restaurant set drama centred on a birthday party with events before and after intertwined as we see relationships form and fall apart.

Click here for further details.

RolePlay (28 - 31 March - The Kilshawe Theatre, Deal)

The Guild Players present the highly acclaimed RolePlay which sees a lap dancer literally fall into a dinner party where an engaged couple's parents are meeting for the first time.

Click here for further details.

How The Other Half Loves (12 - 15 April - Morlan Centre, Aberystwyth)

Louche Theatre presents one of Alan Ayckbourn's most famous plays following the misunderstandings caused by a couple having an affair and covering their tracks using an innocent third party.

Click here for further details.

Time And Time Again (19 - 21 April - Vernon Theatre, Lyndhurst)

Lyndhurst Drama And Musical Society present a play about three men and a woman: One man she wants, one she used to want and another she doesn’t want at any price.

Click here for further details.

Don't forget to send details of your forthcoming productions of Alan Ayckbourn's plays to www.alanayckbourn.net. Click here for further details.

This Week In History: 12 March 2012

A regular feature in which the News Blog offers a glimpse at significant Ayckbourn events in the equivalent week of years past.

13 March: London premiere of Alan Ayckbourn's Invisible Friends at the National Theatre in 1991.

14 March: London premiere of Alan Ayckbourn and Paul Todd's musical Making Tracks at the Greenwich Theatre in 1983

16 March: London premiere of Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce at the National Theatre in 1977; this marked the first time Alan had directed one of his plays in London.

To look out for this week in 2012: The West End revival of Alan Ayckbourn's Absent Friends (click here for reviews and here for details) is running at the Harold Pinter Theatre, London, until 14 April; Alan Ayckbourn's latest play Neighbourhood Watch continues its UK tour at Oxford Playhouse, until 17 March (click here for details).