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: Following yesterday's article on Alan Ayckbourn directing Arthur Miller's A View From The Bridge, how many plays by authors other than himself has Alan directed?
Answer: Quite a lot is the quick answer! The more accurate answer is Alan Ayckbourn has directed approximately 100 professional productions of plays by authors other than himself.
One of the reasons Alan Ayckbourn's production of A View From The Bridge is so notable is it really is the point when the majority of critics - probably theatre-goers too - realised what a good director Alan was. In context, the London-centric view of Alan at the time was Alan was a successful playwright who happened to direct his own plays in London. The truth - which few critics noted - was A View From The Bridge merely demonstrated in London what visitors to Alan's home theatre in Scarborough had known for years, that Alan was an accomplished and very experienced director of a wide body of work.
Alan's professional directorial debut came in 1961 at the Library Theatre, Scarborough, with Patrick Hamilton's thriller Gaslight. He would direct 14 plays in Scarborough and Newcastle-under-Lyme before he directed the world premiere of one of his own plays for the first time. By the time Alan directed A View From The Bridge, he had directed approximately 65 professional productions of plays by writers other than himself. By that year (1987), including his own work, he had directed approximately 130 professional productions. As of 2012, Alan has directed 100 productions of plays by writers other than himself and - including his own work - directed approximately 275 professional productions since he first started directing in 1961.
The body of work he has directed includes a plethora of diverse authors including - but not limited to - Chekhov, Ibsen, Shakespeare, Harold Pinter, Arthur Miller, Herb Gardner, J.B.Priestley, Noel Coward, Anouilh, Ben Travers, George Bernard Shaw, Neil Simon, John Ford, Alan Plater, Somerset Maugham, Peter Tinniswood, Stephen Mallatratt and Tim Firth.
You can find out more about Alan Ayckbourn's career as a director at Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website here.
To submit your question to Ask The Archivist, email Simon Murgatroyd at: ayckbourn@gmail.com labelled Ask The Archivist.
