The Alan Ayckbourn New Blog launches a new (hopefully) regular feature for 2012 today with Ask The Archivist.
Alan Ayckbourn's Archivist and Administrator of this blog and the playwright's official website www.alanayckbourn.net, Simon Murgatroyd, wants to hear your questions regarding the history of Alan Ayckbourn and his plays.
So if there's a burning question you have regarding any aspect of Alan's work, why not send it and it might get chosen to be answered in this blog. To submit your question, just email it to: ask@alanayckbourn.net. We'll publish the most interest questions and - hopefully - provide the answer to it!
Question: We kick off the new feature with a question inspired by the forthcoming London revival of Absent Friends: Juse how many London (West End) productions of Alan's plays have there been over the years?
Answer: It's not as straight-forward a question as it may seem as it depends on how you define London or London's West End. Most people when referring to London productions mean the West End - except there's no real agreement on what definitively constitutes the West End! Some lists strictly stick to a defined area, some only list commercial theatres whilst some lists include subsidised theatres or venues not strictly in the West End (such as the National Theatre).
On Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website, for consistency's sake we now define London as any venue which is defined as West End theatre by the Society Of London Theatres and are listed on its website; this includes most major theatres in London from the commercial West End to the National Theatre to subsidised producing houses such as The Old Vic and The Royal Court.
So having defined the criteria, we can provide an answer. Between 1964 and April 2012, there will have been 39 different Ayckbourn plays produced in London. If you include revivals of plays staged more than once in London, that figures rises to 50 productions of Alan Ayckbourn's plays.
And for completist's sake, here's a complete list of both London premieres and revivals of Alan Ayckbourn's plays between 1964 and April 2012, when his latest play, Neighbourhood Watch, opens in London.
London Premieres:
Mr Whatnot (New Arts, 1964); Relatively Speaking (Duke Of Yorks, 1967); How The Other Half Loves (Lyric, 1970); Time And Time Again (Comedy, 1972); Absurd Person Singular (Criterion, 1973); Table Manners (Globe, 1974); Living Together (Globe, 1974); Round And Round The Garden (Globe, 1974); Absent Friends (Garrick, 1975); Jeeves (Her Majesty's, 1975); Confusions (Apollo, 1976); Bedroom Farce (National, 1977); Just Between Ourselves (Queen's, 1977); Ten Times Table (Globe, 1978); Joking Apart (Globe, 1979); Sisterly Feelings (National, 1980); Taking Steps (Lyric, 1980); Season's Greetings (Apollo, 1982); Way Upstream (National, 1982); Intimate Exchanges (Ambassadors, 1983); A Chorus Of Disapproval (National & Lyric, 1985); Woman In Mind (Vaudeville, 1986); A Small Family Business (National, 1987); Henceforward... (Vaudeville, 1988); Man Of The Moment (Globe, 1990); The Revengers' Comedies (Strand, 1991); Invisible Friends (National, 1991); Mr A's Amazing Maze Plays (National, 1993), Wildest Dreams (Barbican, 1993); TIme Of My Life (Vaudeville, 1993); Communicating Doors (Gielgud, 1995); By Jeeves (Duke Of York's, 1996); Things We Do For Love (Gielgud, 1998); Comic Potential (Lyric, 1999); House (National, 2000); Garden (National, 2000); GamePlan (Duchess, 2002); FlatSpin (Duchess, 2002); RolePlay (Duchess, 2002).
London Revivals:
How The Other Half Loves (Duke Of York's, 1988); Absurd Person Singular (Whitehall, 1990); Bedroom Farce (Aldwych, 2002); Absurd Person Singular (Garrick, 2007); Table Manners (Old Vic, 2008); Living Together (Old Vic, 2008); Round And Round The Garden (Old Vic, 2008); Woman In Mind (Vaudeville, 2009); Bedroom Farce (Duke Of York's, 2010); Season's Greetings (National, 2010); Absent Friends (Harold Pinter, 2012).
These lists do not include fringe theatres in London such as The Round House, Greenwich Theatre, the Orange Tree Theatre, The Print Room, Jermyn Street Theatre, the Landor Theatre and Riverside Studios, all of which have produced Ayckbourn plays.
For further details about the London productions of Alan's plays by clicking here.
Don't forget to email your Ayckbourn questions to ask@alanayckbourn.net.
