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: The Week In History mentioned Absurd Person Singular closed on Broadway this week in 1976. I've read that Alan was asked to swap Acts 2 and 3 for when it opened in New York, is this true?
Answer: Extraordinarily this is true and there is a significant amount of correspondence from the time held in the Ayckbourn Archive at the University Of York between Alan Ayckbourn, his agent Margaret Ramsay, the director Eric Thompson and the play's American producers concerning this subject.
After its enormously successful London opening in 1973, plans were made to transfer Absurd Person Singular to Broadway. One of the key elements in making this possible was the involvement of The Theatre Guild (a New York-based organisation formed in 1919, one of whose remits was to produce non-commercial plays on Broadway by American and foreign authors).
Although the play was presumably optioned for Broadway due to its success in London, at least one of the producers within The Theatre Guild had certain issues with the play and in lunch with Alan Ayckbourn had seriously suggested the second and third acts should be transposed so the play finished on a comic high rather than a dying fall. Alan, naturally, refused and felt secure in a contract which forbade any major changes without his approval.
Once the play went into rehearsals, the director Eric Thompson found himself fending off suggestions that “the set should collapse at the end of the third act to give the show a big finish” alongside other fairly inappropriate suggestions. Thompson refused and in correspondence recalls how he was rebuked by the producer saying that Alan was contractually obliged “to make such alterations and additions as the Producers deem necessary.” Of course, this was not the case and Alan's very experienced and formidable agent made it quite clear the play could not contractually be changed.
The play went on as planned on Broadway and was an enormous success, but presumably the producer wanted the last word and famously brought in statisticians to see a performance to count the laughs and prove the second act was funnier than the third; this fascinating document is also held in the Ayckbourn Archive and contains the following figures:
The document was presented to Alan, although it's difficult to understand with what intention; the play having opened six weeks previously and was already a huge success. Alan apparently read the document and noted approvingly the play was doing exactly as he had intended, ending on a dying fall!
The story has been often repeated by Alan ever since and is one of the stranger tales attached to productions of his play. To find out more about the Broadway production of the play, visit the Absurd Person Singular 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.
