Alan Ayckbourn's own connection with the National Theatre is a significant part of his theatrical career and between 1986 and 1988, he was a company director with the venue.
The National Theatre has also staged ten Ayckbourn plays since 1977 when Bedroom Farce opened in the Cottesloe, proving to be an early hit for the venue and which the National Theatre toured to Broadway and transferred into the West End.
Over the next two weeks, the blog will be highlighting several interesting items from the Archive pertaining to Alan Ayckbourn's relationship with the National Theatre as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations.
We begin with the first archived correspondence between Alan Ayckbourn and the National Theatre sent by Peter Hall, then Artistic Director of the National Theatre, to Alan on 29 August 1973; four years before Alan would first work for the theatre.
The letter shows Peter Hall's reaction to the West End production of Absurd Person Singular and how he would like Alan to work with the National Theatre.
According to the Peter Hall Diaries (Oberon Books, 2000), Peter Hall saw Absurd Person Singular on 28 August 1973 and was impressed by the play. In his diaries, he noted:
"Saw Alan Ayckbourn's Absurd Person Singular. It is a hard, beautifully constructed play. But because it is commercial, it tends to be unregarded. I think Ayckbourn is much more likely to be in the repertoire of the National Theatre in fifty years' time than most of the Royal Court dramatists."This letter, alongside a wealth of other correspondence between Peter Hall and the National Theatre, is held in the Ayckbourn Archive in the Borthwick Institute at the University of York.
