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: A two-pronged question this week about some Ayckbourn facts which are frequently inaccurately reported: I've read conflicting reports about the number of his own plays Alan Ayckbourn has premiered in Scarborough and also how many he has directed the world premieres of, can you tell me the correct numbers.
Answer: With regard to how many of Alan Ayckbourn's full-length plays have premiered in Scarborough, the answer - as of 2012 - stands at 72 of the 76 plays.
Only four of his plays have not received their premiere in Scarborough and these are Christmas V Mastermind and Mr Whatnot (which both premiered at the Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent), Jeeves (which premiered at the Bristol Hippodrome) and A Small Family Business (which premiered at the National Theatre, London). The other 72 plays all had their first performance in Scarborough at either the Library Theatre, the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round or the Stephen Joseph Theatre.
As to how many of his plays has Alan directed the world premieres of, this currently stands at 69 of his 76 plays.
There are only seven of his own plays he did not direct the world premiere of and these are his first play The Square Cat (1959), Love After All (1959), Dad's Tale (1960), Standing Room Only (1961), Christmas V Mastermind (1962), Relatively Speaking - originally titled Meet My Father (1965) and Jeeves (1975).
To submit your question to Ask The Archivist, email Simon Murgatroyd at: ayckbourn@gmail.com labelled Ask The Archivist.
