As 2016 draws to a close, it's time to have a look at some of the notable Ayckbourn-related news from the past 12 months.
> 2016 turned out to be something of a bumper year for new plays by Alan Ayckbourn, although there was some confusion as to which if any was the big new play! As usual, all the plays premiered at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, starting with The Karaoke Theatre Company, followed by Consuming Passions and No Knowing.
> The Karaoke Theatre Company marked the first time Alan Ayckbourn had written a piece specifically intended for improvisation as the company of the title staged several short pieces with the help of the audience. It marked a striking new departure for the playwright and highlighted an alarming propensity amongst Scarborough audiences for cross-dressing!
> This was followed by Consuming Passions, which consisted of two parts - Premonitions and Repercussions - which were performed as individual shows at the SJT before being combined into one full-length piece later in the season; at which point it was revealed this was actually Alan Ayckbourn's 80th full-length play - a piece of news held back by the playwright as he didn't wish for the play to be promoted on the back of what he felt was an arbitrary number.
> The year ended with the last of the new Ayckbourn plays with No Knowing running at the SJT throughout December. A Christmas-set play looking at marriage, it's somewhat notable for having a speech on marriage which closely resembles a speech from an unproduced play written by the author at the age of 17 in 1958!
> The Stephen Joseph Theatre also staged the first major revival of Henceforward... for more than two decades. The dystopian, future-set drama drew acclaim and proved to be as pertinent as ever with its look at creativity, love and the pernicious creep of technology.
> Outside of the plays, Alan Ayckbourn was awarded the Honorary Fellowship of Oxford Literary Festival.
> Although there wasn't much in the way of publications this year, there was a new edition of Unseen Ayckbourn with illustrations for the first time; the book includes images of 20 items in the Ayckbourn Archive related to the book's exploration of lost, unwritten and unpublished plays as well as other interesting and unseen Ayckbourn ideas and works.
> Amateur companies wanting to tackle some new Ayckbourn plays now have the chance with the welcome release of Arrivals & Departures alongside Hero's Welcome and Roundelay with more coming soon.
> There was an Ayckbourn world-first for the only amateur company dedicated to Alan Ayckbourn's plays; Huddersfield's Dick & Lottie company staged a double-bill of Woman In Mind and Invisible Friends, two plays which it became apparent in performance were even more connected than the playwright has previously suggested. The two plays had never been performed in repertory before.
> Back in Scarborough, the Premier Patrons event at the Stephen Joseph Theatre was launched and offered exclusive access to Alan Ayckbourn's rehearsals as well as the chance to be some of the first victims, sorry volunteers, to try their hand in The Karoake Theatre Company. Details of a new SJT event which will also include some exclusive Ayckbourn events will be announced at www.sjt.uk.com soon.
> Ayckbourn outside of Scarborough of note saw an excellent West End revival of How The Other Half Loves - apparently the first since its West End premiere in 1970; I say apparently as it actually wasn't! Despite being advertised as such, the play had been revived at the Duke of York's Theatre in 1988. Pitlochry Festival Theatre staged a very welcome revival of the Damsels In Distress trilogy in its entirety. Meanwhile, Robin Herford directed an acclaimed and successful tour of the classic Ayckbourn play Relatively Speaking around the country with Robert Powell and Liza Goddard. As always, there's far too many Ayckbourn productions to highlight during the year.
> Across the Atlantic in New York, the city saw the premier of the Ayckbourn classic Confusions, a mere 40-odd years after its world premiere! The 59E59 Theaters welcomed Alan Ayckbourn and his company with his revival of Confusions and the world premiere production of Hero's Welcome, both of which proved to be a great success at the Brits Off Broadway festival.
> Closer to home, it's been another record-breaking year for Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website with more visitors than ever. This year saw the notable addition of Archive pages to many of the plays as well as new sections including a Significant Ayckbourn Dates section, an addition of dozens of interviews and articles by the playwright as well as a revamped Ayckbourn shop.
> Alan also made a surprise contribution to a major British writing anniversary with a contribution of songs to the show Where's Peter Rabbit? at The World Of Beatrix Potter Attraction in Bowness-on-Windermere, marking the 150th anniversary of the birth of Beatrix Potter.
> It's also been a sad year seeing the passing of several notable Ayckbourn actors, who all made their mark in Ayckbourn world premieres between the 1960s and 1980s. This year we said goodbye to Lavinia Bertram, Graeme Eton, Lesley Meade and Stanley Page; all notable actors who made lasting marks with associations with Alan Ayckbourn at the Library Theatre and the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round.
The blog will be looking forward to some of the Ayckbourn treats coming in 2017 in the New Year.
Showing posts with label Articles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Articles. Show all posts
Friday, December 30, 2016
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
40 Years On: Alan Ayckbourn's Play For TV
Today marks the 40th anniversary of a unique part of the Ayckbourn play canon, the first and last time a screenplay by Alan Ayckbourn was broadcast.
On 20 May, 1974, Alan Ayckbourn's screenplay Service Not Included was shown on BBC2, a 30 minute drama written specifically for television - and his only screenplay to have been filmed.
Alan has always remain specifically committed to theatre and unlike many of his contemporaries has chosen not to work in other medium such as film and television. So what is the story behind Service Not Included?
By 1973, Alan Ayckbourn was already a substantial figure in British theatre and hugely successful. Although it was a year away from the West End premiere of The Norman Conquests, which would cement his fame, he had already had major West End hits with Relatively Speaking, How The Other Half Loves and Absurd Person Singular.
That year he was contacted by the television director Herbert Wise about a new BBC drama series entitled Masquerade. Alan knew Wise, as he had previously been responsible for directing the first television production of an Ayckbourn play with a 50 minute adaptation of Relatively Speaking, starring Celia Johnson and Donald Sinden in 1969; he would later go on to film The Norman Conquests for television in 1977.
Wise wrote to Alan asking if he would consider writing a 30 minute piece for the series, which would consist of six plays all united by the theme of "a masked fancy dress party, taking place now in a large 19th century country house."
There were several caveats, notably the screenplay should have no more than four main speaking parts and not more than four sets. Intrigued by the possibility, Alan agreed - largely as "a personal favour" to the director - and responded in July 1973 that he had already had an idea about "an end-of-convention party for a group of Rentokil representatives and their wives."
Once the summer season at the Library Theatre, Scarborough, had finished in September, Alan set about writing his first screenplay in November 1973, delivering it to his agent Margaret Ramsay on 1 December.
"Since I had no clear brief aside from a fancy dress party, I wrote multiple locations with a huge cast; consequently it cost more than a low budget film to produce. I didn't observe the limitations of theatre in any way but chose a theme where the camera followed on character (a waiter) from location to location - overhearing snippets of conversation from various groups of people involved in an office party. The waiter made no comment at any stage leaving the viewer free to connect the dots and put together themselves the web of machinations, betrayals and love affairs."
Alan believed the resulting screenplay, entitled Now Being Served, was "very downbeat for me" but it was sent that day to the BBC for assessment, although Alan was not entirely happy with the experience.
"It has taken me more time than any full length play ever took me [to write] - and I'm far less sure of the result."
The screenplay was well-received though, but there was initial concern about the budget needed to film it and the size of the cast, which included a three piece band. Compromise was achieved with the agreement of a slightly larger budget in January 1974 and Alan dropping the band from subsequent drafts of the screenplay.
Wise received a final draft of the screenplay on 4 February 1974 and approval was given for filming. The first read-through for the script took place on 18 March 1974 with filming scheduled for 25 - 29 March following a week of rehearsals.
Filming took place entirely on location at the Berystede Hotel, Ascot, with the final cast coming at at a still rather substantial 16 actors; which included amongst its number, the actress Heather Stoney - now Alan Ayckbourn's wife - in a mermaid fancy dress!
With the title now altered to Service Not Included, the programme was broadcast on BBC2 at 11pm on 20 May 1974. It has never been repeated and never had a commercial release. Largely ignored, The Stage newspaper did review it and described it as an "enjoyable half-hour."
Service Not Included has no plot as such, but offers a waiter's eye view of an end of conference party at a hotel. All the events of the night are seen through the eyes of the waiter Jace, offering snippets of conversation between the party-goers.
If this idea sounds vaguely familiar, it's because Alan reworked that same year as the basis for the one act play Between Mouthfuls, which is part of his popular Confusions. Within the play, a waiter moves between two tables and the audience hears only what the waiter hears as he moves back and forth between the diners.
Service Not Included is a genuine Ayckbourn rarity, rarely seen or read. Having never been repeated on television or made commercially available, its only other outing was an exclusive reading of the screenplay by participants at the 2011 Ayckbourn Weekend event in Scarborough.
Service Not Included has also never been published, although an original copy of the screenplay is held in the Ayckbourn Archive at the University of York.
It remains unique in the Ayckbourn canon as being his only venture into screenplays (see note below). The experience, however, was not one Alan was keen to ever repeat...
"I wrote a half-hour original TV play back in 1974. It was shown on BBC2 at 11 o'clock at night to an audience of five people. Hardly worth it."
Copyright: Simon Murgatroyd. Please do not reproduce this article without permission from the copyright holder.
* With regard to screenplays, Alan Ayckbourn did write one for a movie version of Relatively Speaking during the 1970s, although this was never filmed. Alan also did a number of swift rewrites over an afternoon to Michael Winner's screenplay adaptation of the film A Chorus Of Disapproval, although Alan believes the vast majority of these were rejected by Winner and were not used in the final film.
For a number of years there was also confusion regarding A Cut In The Rates, a short play written for a BBC educational series exploring the process of staging plays. Occasionally inaccurately described as a screenplay, A Cut In The Rates was written as a short play, whose first live production was filmed and subsequently broadcast as part of the programme; A Cut In The Rates was later published and is quite a popular one act play.
On 20 May, 1974, Alan Ayckbourn's screenplay Service Not Included was shown on BBC2, a 30 minute drama written specifically for television - and his only screenplay to have been filmed.
Alan has always remain specifically committed to theatre and unlike many of his contemporaries has chosen not to work in other medium such as film and television. So what is the story behind Service Not Included?
By 1973, Alan Ayckbourn was already a substantial figure in British theatre and hugely successful. Although it was a year away from the West End premiere of The Norman Conquests, which would cement his fame, he had already had major West End hits with Relatively Speaking, How The Other Half Loves and Absurd Person Singular.
That year he was contacted by the television director Herbert Wise about a new BBC drama series entitled Masquerade. Alan knew Wise, as he had previously been responsible for directing the first television production of an Ayckbourn play with a 50 minute adaptation of Relatively Speaking, starring Celia Johnson and Donald Sinden in 1969; he would later go on to film The Norman Conquests for television in 1977.
Wise wrote to Alan asking if he would consider writing a 30 minute piece for the series, which would consist of six plays all united by the theme of "a masked fancy dress party, taking place now in a large 19th century country house."
There were several caveats, notably the screenplay should have no more than four main speaking parts and not more than four sets. Intrigued by the possibility, Alan agreed - largely as "a personal favour" to the director - and responded in July 1973 that he had already had an idea about "an end-of-convention party for a group of Rentokil representatives and their wives."
Once the summer season at the Library Theatre, Scarborough, had finished in September, Alan set about writing his first screenplay in November 1973, delivering it to his agent Margaret Ramsay on 1 December.
"Since I had no clear brief aside from a fancy dress party, I wrote multiple locations with a huge cast; consequently it cost more than a low budget film to produce. I didn't observe the limitations of theatre in any way but chose a theme where the camera followed on character (a waiter) from location to location - overhearing snippets of conversation from various groups of people involved in an office party. The waiter made no comment at any stage leaving the viewer free to connect the dots and put together themselves the web of machinations, betrayals and love affairs."
Alan believed the resulting screenplay, entitled Now Being Served, was "very downbeat for me" but it was sent that day to the BBC for assessment, although Alan was not entirely happy with the experience.
"It has taken me more time than any full length play ever took me [to write] - and I'm far less sure of the result."
Wise received a final draft of the screenplay on 4 February 1974 and approval was given for filming. The first read-through for the script took place on 18 March 1974 with filming scheduled for 25 - 29 March following a week of rehearsals.
Filming took place entirely on location at the Berystede Hotel, Ascot, with the final cast coming at at a still rather substantial 16 actors; which included amongst its number, the actress Heather Stoney - now Alan Ayckbourn's wife - in a mermaid fancy dress!
With the title now altered to Service Not Included, the programme was broadcast on BBC2 at 11pm on 20 May 1974. It has never been repeated and never had a commercial release. Largely ignored, The Stage newspaper did review it and described it as an "enjoyable half-hour."
Service Not Included has no plot as such, but offers a waiter's eye view of an end of conference party at a hotel. All the events of the night are seen through the eyes of the waiter Jace, offering snippets of conversation between the party-goers.
If this idea sounds vaguely familiar, it's because Alan reworked that same year as the basis for the one act play Between Mouthfuls, which is part of his popular Confusions. Within the play, a waiter moves between two tables and the audience hears only what the waiter hears as he moves back and forth between the diners.
Service Not Included is a genuine Ayckbourn rarity, rarely seen or read. Having never been repeated on television or made commercially available, its only other outing was an exclusive reading of the screenplay by participants at the 2011 Ayckbourn Weekend event in Scarborough.
Service Not Included has also never been published, although an original copy of the screenplay is held in the Ayckbourn Archive at the University of York.
It remains unique in the Ayckbourn canon as being his only venture into screenplays (see note below). The experience, however, was not one Alan was keen to ever repeat...
"I wrote a half-hour original TV play back in 1974. It was shown on BBC2 at 11 o'clock at night to an audience of five people. Hardly worth it."
Copyright: Simon Murgatroyd. Please do not reproduce this article without permission from the copyright holder.
* With regard to screenplays, Alan Ayckbourn did write one for a movie version of Relatively Speaking during the 1970s, although this was never filmed. Alan also did a number of swift rewrites over an afternoon to Michael Winner's screenplay adaptation of the film A Chorus Of Disapproval, although Alan believes the vast majority of these were rejected by Winner and were not used in the final film.
For a number of years there was also confusion regarding A Cut In The Rates, a short play written for a BBC educational series exploring the process of staging plays. Occasionally inaccurately described as a screenplay, A Cut In The Rates was written as a short play, whose first live production was filmed and subsequently broadcast as part of the programme; A Cut In The Rates was later published and is quite a popular one act play.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
40 More Things You Probably Didn't Know About The Norman Conquests...
The Norman Conquests is currently celebrating the 40th anniversary of its original West End production in 1974.
On Tuesday, the blog reproduced an article by Alan Ayckbourn about 40 things you probably didn't know about The Norman Conquests. That article ended with the West End production in 1974.
Alan's archivist Simon Murgatroyd continues the story with 40 more - slightly less obscure - things bringing the trilogy up to date.
1) The West End production of The Norman Conquests would go on to win the Evening Standard and Plays & Players Best Play (surely plays!) Awards.
2) Alan would also receive the Variety Club Of Great Britain Playwright Of The Year award on the back of The Norman Conquests in 1974.
3) Seventeen months after it opened at the Globe Theatre (now the Gielgud) in London, the trilogy transferred to the Apollo Theatre.
4) The transfer included a change of cast, notable amongst which was Julia McKenzie. Alan later cited her performance in this and on the television adaptation of Absent Friends as to why he picked her for her award-winning role of Susan in Woman In Mind.
5) When Absent Friends opened at the Garrick Theatre in July 1975, Alan Ayckbourn had five plays running in the West End alongside Absurd Person Singular and The Norman Conquests. This was a record for any playwright in the West End.
6) The Norman Conquests ran for 20 months in the West End, closing on 13 March 1976.
7) The director of the London production, Eric Thompson - father of the actress Emma Thompson - also directed the Broadway production of the play, which opened on 7 December 1975 at the Morosco Theatre...
8) Having had it's initial try-out on the other side of the country at the Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, between 10 October and 29 November 1975.
9) Dustin Hoffman was actively considered for the role of Norman on Broadway and the actor even came to London to see the trilogy.
10) With the opening of The Norman Conquests on Broadway alongside Absurd Person Singular, Alan had a record-breaking four plays running simultaneously on the Great White Way.
11) To mark his Broadway achievement, 45th Street was renamed Ayckbourn Alley for the day in March 1976.
12) It was also the first Ayckbourn production in New York to win an award with the Drama Desk Award For Unique Theatrical Experience.
12) Back in England, the trilogy's first post-London performance was at the Theatr Clywd, Mold, opening on 9 August 1976.
13) Since then it has become practically a staple of professional and amateur theatre in the UK and in 2013, the publishers Samuel French revealed it was the second most produced Ayckbourn work (counting productions of all of the plays in the trilogy) behind Ernie's Incredible Illucinations.
14) The Norman Conquests was the first of Alan Ayckbourn's plays to be published in a mass market edition (as opposed to a acting edition) when Chatto & Windus published the trilogy.
15) Since then, The Norman Conquests has never been out of print and has been published around the world.
16) The success of the West End production led television & film companies to express interest in adapting the plays. The first major show of interest was by the BBC which wanted to both adapt the plays and produce a spin-off series centred on the characters....
17) The spin-off series idea was mooted by several companies, although Alan was 'mystified' as to why any of the characters deserved a spin-off series!
18) It's frequently reported the West End production of The Norman Conquests poached the actors Felicity Kendal and Penelope Keith from the popular TV series The Good Life - it was actually the other way round and the TV series took the actors after their West End run was finished alongside another Ayckbourn stalwart, Richard Briers.
19) The creators of The Good Life, John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, have noted that both the TV series The Good Life and Ever Decreasing Circles were influenced by Alan Ayckbourn's plays.
20) Several major film companies expressed an interest in making a movie of the trilogy - although none of them ever offered to make a trilogy of films about the trilogy!
21) Eventually, the rights to produce the trilogy for television were obtained by the producers David Susskind and Verity Lambert for Thames Television.
22) The director of the television production was Herbert Wise, who had also directed the very first Ayckbourn television adaptation with the now long-lost 1969 broadcast of Relatively Speaking.
23) Alan and his agent fought long and hard for the plays to be kept to their original running length rather than be cut for television; they largely succeeded and set the template for many future arguments over running time on both television and radio.
24) Unfortunately, filming of the trilogy was interrupted by a technician's strike and the director Herbert Wise always believed this affected the quality of the piece.
25) The trilogy was premiered on British television on 5 October 1977. Broadcast over three weeks, it marked the first time six hours of prime-time British television had ever been given over to a living playwright.
26) The television adaptation was sold around the world and found much success, particularly in America where it was shown on PBS and was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding writing.
27) With the advent of the home video market, Table Manners was released on VHS in the UK in 1981 on the same day that the movie Star Wars was released...
28) Unfortunately the company did not have the rights to release it on VHS and the videos were withdrawn. It would be another 25 years before The Norman Conquests was made commercially available in the UK.
29) The BBC did eventually adapt the trilogy but for the radio in 1990 with a cast which included a number of actors who regularly worked with Alan's company in Scarborough.
30) It is now truly a multi-media play and the only Ayckbourn work which has been released on video, DVD, download / streaming (TV), audio cassette, CD and download / streaming (audio)!
31) In 1999, the National Theatre named The Norman Conquests as one of the 100 most significant plays of the 20th century.
32) 30 years after it closed in London, Kevin Spacey announced in 2006 the trilogy would be revived in London at the Old Vic....
33) It took another two years to revive it though with Matthew Warchus directing an acclaimed production.
34) The Old Vic was converted into an in-the-round space to present the plays as originally intended. This marked the first time, an Ayckbourn play had been in-the-round in the West End.
35) The Old Vic's revival transferred to Broadway in 2009 to the Circle In The Square theatre, again the first time an Ayckbourn play had been presented in-the-round on Broadway.
36) Considerably more successful than its original New York production, the trilogy won a plethora of awards including the Tony for Best Revival Of A Play.
37) Despite its many revivals and popularity, Alan Ayckbourn has only directed The Norman Conquests twice. First for its original production at the Library Theatre, Scarborough, in 1973 and second, for a revival at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, Scarborough, in 1993.
38) When asked which of characters in The Norman Conquests he most resembled, Alan Ayckbourn noted: "I once said I thought I was essentially Reg inside, but probably came across to people as Tom, but would dearly love to have been Norman! They're all me, though. To paraphrase the Bard if you cut them, I will bleed."
39) When asked what inspired the character of Norman, the playwright once said: "It amused me to conceive a character who felt it his God-given duty to please every woman he met. He sees himself as a New Man. In fact he is just an Old Man in New Man's clothing. Well, sort of. The joke is that he goes to inordinate lengths to seduce women who, for various reasons, don't really need that much persuading."
40) And as to the age-old question of why Norman chooses East Grinstead as the destination for his romantic escape, it's actually an old joke as Alan's wife, Heather Stoney, explains: "The actual story of why Alan came up with East Grinstead is that there is a lovely country house hotel just outside said town called Gravetye Manor. We had stayed there and Alan thought it would be lovely if Norman had booked he and Annie into there. The chances of Norman actually doing that are pretty slim but Alan liked the thought as an in-joke. The hotel's address is East Grinstead."
Copyright: Simon Murgatroyd. Please do not reproduce this article without the permission of the copyright holder.
On Tuesday, the blog reproduced an article by Alan Ayckbourn about 40 things you probably didn't know about The Norman Conquests. That article ended with the West End production in 1974.
Alan's archivist Simon Murgatroyd continues the story with 40 more - slightly less obscure - things bringing the trilogy up to date.
1) The West End production of The Norman Conquests would go on to win the Evening Standard and Plays & Players Best Play (surely plays!) Awards.
2) Alan would also receive the Variety Club Of Great Britain Playwright Of The Year award on the back of The Norman Conquests in 1974.
3) Seventeen months after it opened at the Globe Theatre (now the Gielgud) in London, the trilogy transferred to the Apollo Theatre.
4) The transfer included a change of cast, notable amongst which was Julia McKenzie. Alan later cited her performance in this and on the television adaptation of Absent Friends as to why he picked her for her award-winning role of Susan in Woman In Mind.
5) When Absent Friends opened at the Garrick Theatre in July 1975, Alan Ayckbourn had five plays running in the West End alongside Absurd Person Singular and The Norman Conquests. This was a record for any playwright in the West End.
6) The Norman Conquests ran for 20 months in the West End, closing on 13 March 1976.
7) The director of the London production, Eric Thompson - father of the actress Emma Thompson - also directed the Broadway production of the play, which opened on 7 December 1975 at the Morosco Theatre...
8) Having had it's initial try-out on the other side of the country at the Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, between 10 October and 29 November 1975.
9) Dustin Hoffman was actively considered for the role of Norman on Broadway and the actor even came to London to see the trilogy.
10) With the opening of The Norman Conquests on Broadway alongside Absurd Person Singular, Alan had a record-breaking four plays running simultaneously on the Great White Way.
11) To mark his Broadway achievement, 45th Street was renamed Ayckbourn Alley for the day in March 1976.
12) It was also the first Ayckbourn production in New York to win an award with the Drama Desk Award For Unique Theatrical Experience.
12) Back in England, the trilogy's first post-London performance was at the Theatr Clywd, Mold, opening on 9 August 1976.
13) Since then it has become practically a staple of professional and amateur theatre in the UK and in 2013, the publishers Samuel French revealed it was the second most produced Ayckbourn work (counting productions of all of the plays in the trilogy) behind Ernie's Incredible Illucinations.
14) The Norman Conquests was the first of Alan Ayckbourn's plays to be published in a mass market edition (as opposed to a acting edition) when Chatto & Windus published the trilogy.
15) Since then, The Norman Conquests has never been out of print and has been published around the world.
16) The success of the West End production led television & film companies to express interest in adapting the plays. The first major show of interest was by the BBC which wanted to both adapt the plays and produce a spin-off series centred on the characters....
17) The spin-off series idea was mooted by several companies, although Alan was 'mystified' as to why any of the characters deserved a spin-off series!
18) It's frequently reported the West End production of The Norman Conquests poached the actors Felicity Kendal and Penelope Keith from the popular TV series The Good Life - it was actually the other way round and the TV series took the actors after their West End run was finished alongside another Ayckbourn stalwart, Richard Briers.
19) The creators of The Good Life, John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, have noted that both the TV series The Good Life and Ever Decreasing Circles were influenced by Alan Ayckbourn's plays.
20) Several major film companies expressed an interest in making a movie of the trilogy - although none of them ever offered to make a trilogy of films about the trilogy!
21) Eventually, the rights to produce the trilogy for television were obtained by the producers David Susskind and Verity Lambert for Thames Television.
22) The director of the television production was Herbert Wise, who had also directed the very first Ayckbourn television adaptation with the now long-lost 1969 broadcast of Relatively Speaking.
23) Alan and his agent fought long and hard for the plays to be kept to their original running length rather than be cut for television; they largely succeeded and set the template for many future arguments over running time on both television and radio.
24) Unfortunately, filming of the trilogy was interrupted by a technician's strike and the director Herbert Wise always believed this affected the quality of the piece.
25) The trilogy was premiered on British television on 5 October 1977. Broadcast over three weeks, it marked the first time six hours of prime-time British television had ever been given over to a living playwright.
26) The television adaptation was sold around the world and found much success, particularly in America where it was shown on PBS and was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding writing.
27) With the advent of the home video market, Table Manners was released on VHS in the UK in 1981 on the same day that the movie Star Wars was released...
28) Unfortunately the company did not have the rights to release it on VHS and the videos were withdrawn. It would be another 25 years before The Norman Conquests was made commercially available in the UK.
29) The BBC did eventually adapt the trilogy but for the radio in 1990 with a cast which included a number of actors who regularly worked with Alan's company in Scarborough.
30) It is now truly a multi-media play and the only Ayckbourn work which has been released on video, DVD, download / streaming (TV), audio cassette, CD and download / streaming (audio)!
31) In 1999, the National Theatre named The Norman Conquests as one of the 100 most significant plays of the 20th century.
32) 30 years after it closed in London, Kevin Spacey announced in 2006 the trilogy would be revived in London at the Old Vic....
33) It took another two years to revive it though with Matthew Warchus directing an acclaimed production.
34) The Old Vic was converted into an in-the-round space to present the plays as originally intended. This marked the first time, an Ayckbourn play had been in-the-round in the West End.
35) The Old Vic's revival transferred to Broadway in 2009 to the Circle In The Square theatre, again the first time an Ayckbourn play had been presented in-the-round on Broadway.
36) Considerably more successful than its original New York production, the trilogy won a plethora of awards including the Tony for Best Revival Of A Play.
37) Despite its many revivals and popularity, Alan Ayckbourn has only directed The Norman Conquests twice. First for its original production at the Library Theatre, Scarborough, in 1973 and second, for a revival at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, Scarborough, in 1993.
38) When asked which of characters in The Norman Conquests he most resembled, Alan Ayckbourn noted: "I once said I thought I was essentially Reg inside, but probably came across to people as Tom, but would dearly love to have been Norman! They're all me, though. To paraphrase the Bard if you cut them, I will bleed."
39) When asked what inspired the character of Norman, the playwright once said: "It amused me to conceive a character who felt it his God-given duty to please every woman he met. He sees himself as a New Man. In fact he is just an Old Man in New Man's clothing. Well, sort of. The joke is that he goes to inordinate lengths to seduce women who, for various reasons, don't really need that much persuading."
40) And as to the age-old question of why Norman chooses East Grinstead as the destination for his romantic escape, it's actually an old joke as Alan's wife, Heather Stoney, explains: "The actual story of why Alan came up with East Grinstead is that there is a lovely country house hotel just outside said town called Gravetye Manor. We had stayed there and Alan thought it would be lovely if Norman had booked he and Annie into there. The chances of Norman actually doing that are pretty slim but Alan liked the thought as an in-joke. The hotel's address is East Grinstead."
Copyright: Simon Murgatroyd. Please do not reproduce this article without the permission of the copyright holder.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
40 Things You Probably Didn't Know About The Norman Conquests...
Alan Ayckbourn's famed trilogy The Norman Conquests is currently celebrating the 40th anniversary of its triumphant original London production in 1974.
The plays - Table Manners, Living Together and Round & Round The Garden - opened at the Globe Theatre 11 mon the after they had premiered in Scarborough at the Library Theatre.
To mark the trilogy's 40th anniversary last year, Alan Ayckbourn wrote this article about the plays. We're reproducing it today to mark the London anniversary.
40 things you probably didn’t know about The Norman Conquests (though some of them you probably may have done)
by Alan Ayckbourn
1) I never intended to write a trilogy originally but I mentioned the idea to a local press man at the end of the season the previous year (Him: "What you are planning next, Mr Ayckbourn?" Me: (airily) "No idea, yet. Who knows? Maybe a trilogy.") Motto: never talk off the record to journalists...
2) When the trilogy was publicly announced in the spring the following year, I was forced to write them whether I wanted to or not. Actually I still quite fancied the idea.
3) All three plays were written in less than a fortnight.
4) They were constructed cross-ways i.e. all the scenes 1, then all the scenes 2, etc.
5) Consequently I finished two of the plays in the space of a single night. (I realised then I had never done that before and probably never would again). I proved myself wrong; some years later I was to write House & Garden.
6) Half way through writing them, I heard from one of the actors, (Christopher Godwin, cast to play Norman) that his current job had been extended by an extra week and that he would be unable to join us until the second of our initial three week Scarborough rehearsal period.
7) To compensate for his absence, I wrote the character of Norman out of scene one of one of the plays altogether.
8) I dictated the plays, as was my custom at the time, from half illegible pencil notes to a long suffering assistant (Heather, now my wife) who typed each page on to stencils (before photo-copiers in those days).
9) We then ran them off page by page on a hand cranked duplicator, pausing after completing one set of pages in order to replace one stencil with the next.
10) We then punched up the pages, paginated them by walking round in circles in our tiny Hampstead home, finally assembling each script individually. Thirty-six in all. Six sets for the cast, three sets for the stage management, one set for the theatre management, one set required to register at the British Library and one set for me, author and director. Quite a cottage industry, playwriting in those days!
11) The plays were originally entitled Fancy Meeting You, Make Yourself at Home and Round and Round the Garden. Originally they had no overall title.
12) The plays had no intended ‘proper sequence’ and were meant to be seen in any order. They still are.
13) Due to the absence of Norman we were forced to wait for him and for the initial rehearsal week concentrated principally on the first scene of Fancy Meeting You.
14) Fancy Meeting You thus became known, by default, as the ‘first’ play in the sequence. The belief continues to this day that this was my original intention. ("I’m afraid I did see them in the wrong order but I must say I really enjoyed them, despite that.") Very irritating!
15) After the initial rehearsal period, in 1973, all three plays opened at the Library Theatre, Scarborough in the space of three weeks: Fancy Meeting You, 18 June, Make Yourself at Home, 25 June and finally Round and Round the Garden, 2 July.
16) Despite the brevity of rehearsal, not one of the actors had a serious ‘dry’ on any of the first performances and, even if they had done, being in the Round there was no prompter to help them out. In emergency, you dig yourselves out, lads!
17) Midway through the run, up at Scarborough hospital, Chris Godwin’s wife, Christine, gave birth to their firstborn, Ben, during mid-performance. I went onstage at the curtain call and announced the happy news to a stunned Norman - and a gleeful audience.
18) The plays proved extremely popular during that summer of 1973 and audiences, once word got round as to what was happening, built through the season, till seats in the 250 seat temporary makeshift Library auditorium were at a premium.
19) Despite their Yorkshire success, London Managements who ventured north were somewhat less enthusiastic, claiming trilogies were never popular with a West End audience. Though what that was based on, heaven knows.
20) Finally, separate managements each offered to produce a different one in a separate production. I declined the offer feeling, if they all had different favourites, that we might just be on to something.
21) Near the end of the run, Michael Codron, my regular producer (Time and Time Again, Absurd Person Singular) rather reluctantly agreed to produce all three. Jubilation.
22) A few weeks later he withdrew the offer, having had second thoughts, deeming the venture too big a risk. I went home to tell my partner. It is one of the few occasions when I have known her really angry!
23) Some weeks later, my agent Peggy Ramsay phones to ask what was to become of the enormous pile of scripts of the unwanted trilogy which were cluttering up her office, "taking up valuable shelf space." Depressed, I tell her she can burn them as far as I’m concerned.
24) Fortunately she doesn’t because my regular London director at the time, Eric Thompson, phones to say he is going into hospital briefly for a minor operation and had I anything new for him to read?
25) A few days later, Eric phones again, full of excitement, saying they must be done again. He suggests Tom Courtenay might be interested. Tom had previously worked with us both on Time and Time Again and was still friendly, so it seemed like a good idea to approach him. Tom says yes, depending on the rest of the cast.
26) In search of a London theatre to mount them, Eric suggests we approach the Artistic Director of Greenwich Theatre, Ewan Hooper. Over lunch, we sell Ewan the idea.
27) Eric suggests Felicity Kendal as Annie, Michael Gambon as Tom and Mark Kingston as Reg. I suggest Penelope Keith whom I’d seen recently as Fiona in a production of How The Other Half Loves as Sarah and Penelope Wilton, whom we both adored, as Ruth. Miraculously they all said yes.
28) Learning of our plans, Michael Cordon, ever the shrewd one, offers to underwrite the cost of six weeks rehearsals in London with, in return, the option of first West End refusal to transfer them.
29) Two of the plays are re-named. Fancy Meeting You becomes Table Manners and Make Yourself at Home, Living Together. Round and Round The Garden stays as it is, We agree on the overall title. The Norman Conquests is born.
29) We start rehearsals in April the following year at a more leisurely pace than previously. Table Manners premieres 9 May, Living Together on 21 May and Round and Round the Garden on 6 June.
30) On the opening night of Table Manners, Eric is so nervous he refuses to sit in the auditorium to watch the show. We compromise and both sit, unknown to the cast, in a spare dressing room at the top of the building, listening to the performance through the show relay system. Well, at least we’re still in the same building as the performance!
31) Halfway through the show, audience reaction gets so loud it overloads the show relay system which cuts out and we miss half the dinner party sequence. We both sit anxiously, high in our distant dressing room for return of signal, like Houston waiting for astronauts to emerge from the other side of the moon.
32) Despite the good omens, for some reason I am convinced the show is a failure and immediately afterwards set off for a walk in the darkness intent on pacing round Greenwich Park, only to find it closed for the night. I return to the theatre to meet a jubilant press officer who says the critics were universally positive. Never wholly trusting critics, I don’t believe him.
33) The following day, my fears are dispelled. The reviews are sensationally good. Later that day I drive with Eric to start on final bring back rehearsals for Living Together. On the way there, Eric says, “Great reviews”. I say, “Yes”. “You do realise”, he says, “that we now have to do it all over again”. “Yes”, I say, “we need to do it twice more”. For the rest of the journey we sit very quietly.
34) All three shows get great reviews, though, and run to capacity at Greenwich. Michael Codron unsurprisingly takes up his option to transfer them.
35) The last Saturday, 29th June, are notable for three things:-
36) First, it is the first time we perform a ‘triple’ day, morning, afternoon and evening.
37) Second, in the gap between shows at lunchtime, one or two of the cast engage in an impromptu game of football with the audience.
38) Third, I am approached by a ticket tout at the front of the theatre who tries to sell me a matinee ticket at three times the official price. At this moment, I know we have a hit!
39) Between 1st and 8th of August 1974, The Norman Conquests transfers to the Globe Theatre (now the Gielgud) in Shaftesbury Avenue. Penelope Wilton, who had previous commitments, is replaced by Bridget Turner to play Ruth.
40) Somewhere or other, somewhere in the world, in some language or other, individually or all together, there’s usually a performance of The Norman Conquests going on. Nice that.
Copyright: Alan Ayckbourn. Please do not reproduce without permission of the copyright holder.
You can find out more about The Norman Conquests by visiting http://thenormanconquests.alanayckbourn.net.
The plays - Table Manners, Living Together and Round & Round The Garden - opened at the Globe Theatre 11 mon the after they had premiered in Scarborough at the Library Theatre.
To mark the trilogy's 40th anniversary last year, Alan Ayckbourn wrote this article about the plays. We're reproducing it today to mark the London anniversary.
40 things you probably didn’t know about The Norman Conquests (though some of them you probably may have done)
by Alan Ayckbourn
1) I never intended to write a trilogy originally but I mentioned the idea to a local press man at the end of the season the previous year (Him: "What you are planning next, Mr Ayckbourn?" Me: (airily) "No idea, yet. Who knows? Maybe a trilogy.") Motto: never talk off the record to journalists...
2) When the trilogy was publicly announced in the spring the following year, I was forced to write them whether I wanted to or not. Actually I still quite fancied the idea.
3) All three plays were written in less than a fortnight.
4) They were constructed cross-ways i.e. all the scenes 1, then all the scenes 2, etc.
5) Consequently I finished two of the plays in the space of a single night. (I realised then I had never done that before and probably never would again). I proved myself wrong; some years later I was to write House & Garden.
6) Half way through writing them, I heard from one of the actors, (Christopher Godwin, cast to play Norman) that his current job had been extended by an extra week and that he would be unable to join us until the second of our initial three week Scarborough rehearsal period.
7) To compensate for his absence, I wrote the character of Norman out of scene one of one of the plays altogether.
8) I dictated the plays, as was my custom at the time, from half illegible pencil notes to a long suffering assistant (Heather, now my wife) who typed each page on to stencils (before photo-copiers in those days).
9) We then ran them off page by page on a hand cranked duplicator, pausing after completing one set of pages in order to replace one stencil with the next.
 |
| Poster for the world premiere production at the Library Theatre, Scarborough, in 1973. Copyright: Scarborough Theatre Trust |
11) The plays were originally entitled Fancy Meeting You, Make Yourself at Home and Round and Round the Garden. Originally they had no overall title.
12) The plays had no intended ‘proper sequence’ and were meant to be seen in any order. They still are.
13) Due to the absence of Norman we were forced to wait for him and for the initial rehearsal week concentrated principally on the first scene of Fancy Meeting You.
14) Fancy Meeting You thus became known, by default, as the ‘first’ play in the sequence. The belief continues to this day that this was my original intention. ("I’m afraid I did see them in the wrong order but I must say I really enjoyed them, despite that.") Very irritating!
15) After the initial rehearsal period, in 1973, all three plays opened at the Library Theatre, Scarborough in the space of three weeks: Fancy Meeting You, 18 June, Make Yourself at Home, 25 June and finally Round and Round the Garden, 2 July.
16) Despite the brevity of rehearsal, not one of the actors had a serious ‘dry’ on any of the first performances and, even if they had done, being in the Round there was no prompter to help them out. In emergency, you dig yourselves out, lads!
17) Midway through the run, up at Scarborough hospital, Chris Godwin’s wife, Christine, gave birth to their firstborn, Ben, during mid-performance. I went onstage at the curtain call and announced the happy news to a stunned Norman - and a gleeful audience.
18) The plays proved extremely popular during that summer of 1973 and audiences, once word got round as to what was happening, built through the season, till seats in the 250 seat temporary makeshift Library auditorium were at a premium.
19) Despite their Yorkshire success, London Managements who ventured north were somewhat less enthusiastic, claiming trilogies were never popular with a West End audience. Though what that was based on, heaven knows.
 |
| Programme for the London premiere at Greenwich Theatre in 1974. Copyright: Greenwich Theatre |
21) Near the end of the run, Michael Codron, my regular producer (Time and Time Again, Absurd Person Singular) rather reluctantly agreed to produce all three. Jubilation.
22) A few weeks later he withdrew the offer, having had second thoughts, deeming the venture too big a risk. I went home to tell my partner. It is one of the few occasions when I have known her really angry!
23) Some weeks later, my agent Peggy Ramsay phones to ask what was to become of the enormous pile of scripts of the unwanted trilogy which were cluttering up her office, "taking up valuable shelf space." Depressed, I tell her she can burn them as far as I’m concerned.
24) Fortunately she doesn’t because my regular London director at the time, Eric Thompson, phones to say he is going into hospital briefly for a minor operation and had I anything new for him to read?
25) A few days later, Eric phones again, full of excitement, saying they must be done again. He suggests Tom Courtenay might be interested. Tom had previously worked with us both on Time and Time Again and was still friendly, so it seemed like a good idea to approach him. Tom says yes, depending on the rest of the cast.
26) In search of a London theatre to mount them, Eric suggests we approach the Artistic Director of Greenwich Theatre, Ewan Hooper. Over lunch, we sell Ewan the idea.
27) Eric suggests Felicity Kendal as Annie, Michael Gambon as Tom and Mark Kingston as Reg. I suggest Penelope Keith whom I’d seen recently as Fiona in a production of How The Other Half Loves as Sarah and Penelope Wilton, whom we both adored, as Ruth. Miraculously they all said yes.
28) Learning of our plans, Michael Cordon, ever the shrewd one, offers to underwrite the cost of six weeks rehearsals in London with, in return, the option of first West End refusal to transfer them.
29) Two of the plays are re-named. Fancy Meeting You becomes Table Manners and Make Yourself at Home, Living Together. Round and Round The Garden stays as it is, We agree on the overall title. The Norman Conquests is born.
29) We start rehearsals in April the following year at a more leisurely pace than previously. Table Manners premieres 9 May, Living Together on 21 May and Round and Round the Garden on 6 June.
 |
| Programme cover for the West End premiere production in 1974. Copyright: TBC |
31) Halfway through the show, audience reaction gets so loud it overloads the show relay system which cuts out and we miss half the dinner party sequence. We both sit anxiously, high in our distant dressing room for return of signal, like Houston waiting for astronauts to emerge from the other side of the moon.
32) Despite the good omens, for some reason I am convinced the show is a failure and immediately afterwards set off for a walk in the darkness intent on pacing round Greenwich Park, only to find it closed for the night. I return to the theatre to meet a jubilant press officer who says the critics were universally positive. Never wholly trusting critics, I don’t believe him.
33) The following day, my fears are dispelled. The reviews are sensationally good. Later that day I drive with Eric to start on final bring back rehearsals for Living Together. On the way there, Eric says, “Great reviews”. I say, “Yes”. “You do realise”, he says, “that we now have to do it all over again”. “Yes”, I say, “we need to do it twice more”. For the rest of the journey we sit very quietly.
34) All three shows get great reviews, though, and run to capacity at Greenwich. Michael Codron unsurprisingly takes up his option to transfer them.
35) The last Saturday, 29th June, are notable for three things:-
36) First, it is the first time we perform a ‘triple’ day, morning, afternoon and evening.
37) Second, in the gap between shows at lunchtime, one or two of the cast engage in an impromptu game of football with the audience.
38) Third, I am approached by a ticket tout at the front of the theatre who tries to sell me a matinee ticket at three times the official price. At this moment, I know we have a hit!
39) Between 1st and 8th of August 1974, The Norman Conquests transfers to the Globe Theatre (now the Gielgud) in Shaftesbury Avenue. Penelope Wilton, who had previous commitments, is replaced by Bridget Turner to play Ruth.
40) Somewhere or other, somewhere in the world, in some language or other, individually or all together, there’s usually a performance of The Norman Conquests going on. Nice that.
Copyright: Alan Ayckbourn. Please do not reproduce without permission of the copyright holder.
You can find out more about The Norman Conquests by visiting http://thenormanconquests.alanayckbourn.net.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Ayckbourn Articles: The Repertory Company
In the run-up to Alan Ayckbourn's 75th birthday in April 2014, a monthly feature reproduces articles by the playwright highlighting his life in theatre through the years.
Last month we looked at Alan Ayckbourn on the cusp of becoming the Artistic Director of the Library Theatre in Scarborough (now the Stephen Joseph Theatre) and maintaining Stephen Joseph's legacy.
We now move forward four years to the final year at the Library Theatre, where Alan had been Artistic Director for four years. Here he talks about one of the often over-looked but essential facets of his time at the Stephen Joseph Theatre: the repertory company. Particularly during the '70s and '80s, there was practically a permanent repertory company in Scarborough which Alan nurtured and felt was important to the identity of the theatre.
One of the more unusual and also the happiest aspects of this theatre has been the comparative stability of the company. Speaking as a playwright this has proved invaluable. The problems and often the agonies of producing a new play are considerably reduced when a nucleus of the cast is already, to some degree, in tune and sympathetic. It would be churlish, if not downright ungrateful then, if I did not acknowledge the debt I owe to actors like, for instance, Chris Godwin. To date, he has produced sufficient stamina to appear in no less than ten of my plays (some of them twice). It's an actor/author relationship which is, I suspect, unequalled in contemporary theatre, certainly in this country and has been made possible only because of the existence of the company itself. (For the record, second in the 'league table' is Stanley Page, seen here last summer in Bedroom Farce and Confusions, who has been in nine plays. Then Heather Stoney with eight and Janet Dale with seven).
Of course, the point is really that we have managed, in this most uncertain and unstable of professions, to achieve surprising continuity. Whilst I'm not a believer that companies should remain so static that they risk stagnation, a set-up such as ours depends entirely on its shared identity. Its star persona, if you like, is generated by the sum of its individual talents. It's an identity that ideally alters gradually as new elements are added and others lost but if all goes well it should still have enough personality for a regular audience to relate to and recognise. Having worked in both star theatre and company theatre I make no pretence as to where my preferences lie. It's our ambition as a company to prove the point.
Copyright: Alan Ayckbourn (1976). Please do not reproduce without permission of the copyright holder.
Last month we looked at Alan Ayckbourn on the cusp of becoming the Artistic Director of the Library Theatre in Scarborough (now the Stephen Joseph Theatre) and maintaining Stephen Joseph's legacy.
We now move forward four years to the final year at the Library Theatre, where Alan had been Artistic Director for four years. Here he talks about one of the often over-looked but essential facets of his time at the Stephen Joseph Theatre: the repertory company. Particularly during the '70s and '80s, there was practically a permanent repertory company in Scarborough which Alan nurtured and felt was important to the identity of the theatre.
One of the more unusual and also the happiest aspects of this theatre has been the comparative stability of the company. Speaking as a playwright this has proved invaluable. The problems and often the agonies of producing a new play are considerably reduced when a nucleus of the cast is already, to some degree, in tune and sympathetic. It would be churlish, if not downright ungrateful then, if I did not acknowledge the debt I owe to actors like, for instance, Chris Godwin. To date, he has produced sufficient stamina to appear in no less than ten of my plays (some of them twice). It's an actor/author relationship which is, I suspect, unequalled in contemporary theatre, certainly in this country and has been made possible only because of the existence of the company itself. (For the record, second in the 'league table' is Stanley Page, seen here last summer in Bedroom Farce and Confusions, who has been in nine plays. Then Heather Stoney with eight and Janet Dale with seven).
Of course, the point is really that we have managed, in this most uncertain and unstable of professions, to achieve surprising continuity. Whilst I'm not a believer that companies should remain so static that they risk stagnation, a set-up such as ours depends entirely on its shared identity. Its star persona, if you like, is generated by the sum of its individual talents. It's an identity that ideally alters gradually as new elements are added and others lost but if all goes well it should still have enough personality for a regular audience to relate to and recognise. Having worked in both star theatre and company theatre I make no pretence as to where my preferences lie. It's our ambition as a company to prove the point.
Copyright: Alan Ayckbourn (1976). Please do not reproduce without permission of the copyright holder.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Ayckbourn Articles: Radio Days
In the run-up to Alan Ayckbourn's 75th birthday in April 2014, a monthly feature reproduces articles by the playwright highlighting his life in theatre through the years.
Last month we looked at Alan Ayckbourn's thoughts on working at the Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent, and his first West End transfer Mr Whatnot. The production was a huge flop in London and largely vilified by the critics. Hurt by the criticism and not sure of his future in theatre, Alan applied for a job as a radio drama producer for the BBC based in Leeds. He worked there between 1965 and 1970 under the hugely influential producer Alfred Bradley. Here Alan discusses some of his radio experiences.
The sixties was an exciting period for radio drama, especially regionally. And most especially that which emanated from the small BBC Leeds studio.
There was something special happening at BBC Leeds, certainly during the time I was there in 1965 - 1970, though it started a few years before I arrived and continued for sometime after I left to return to theatre. The 'something' was almost entirely down to one man, Alfred Bradley, who started single-handedly a revolution in largely northern-based radio dramatic writing.
In fact my own post - radio drama producer - was created specially to help to cope with the avalanche of newly submitted scripts which had accumulated as a result of Alfred's growing reputation as a nurturer and champion of new drama.
The studio's output was phenomenal. During my first year for instance I was personally responsible for producing approximately 50 radio plays - half hours, sixty and ninety minuters for radio 2 and 4 and occasionally radio 3. Some we produced exclusively for BBC North but the majority for the main national network.
Since this was the era when Radio Drama was strong and thriving with television still in its comparative infancy, the domestic demand was considerable. The powers that be in London and Manchester were currently pre-occupied with their new television 'toy' and radio was increasingly overlooked or ignored by many top ranking administrators. Which of course allowed us on the shop floor, as it were, considerable freedom of choice, independence and flexibility. In later years, for instance, once I'd settled in, I took to booking a cast, largely locally based from nearby reps, to record, say, an officially commissioned Afternoon Theatre play already scheduled for transmission in a month or two's time but then retaining the team of actors and studio technicians for an additional day to record a short additional extra production, unscheduled and thus technically non-existent. Some of our most interesting work was done this way. If the rogue piece turned out well, we would offer it up to the network and more often than not it was subsequently transmitted. If not, it was conveniently "lost".
The advantages of working out of Leeds were various. Not only were we regional, i.e. well away from London scrutiny, we were also a sub-division of that region, thus away from the gaze of even Manchester.
Also the Leeds studio was excellent acoustically. A converted chapel it had a fine atmosphere and qualities that many more modern, state of the art studios including those newly built in Manchester, lacked. The building was also in terms of manpower, small. Everyone knew each other and the departments were generally supportive of each other. This was also the time when tape as a recording medium finally replaced the old fashioned wax disk on which radio plays were recorded up to that time. This offered a new found flexibility to recording. We were among the first I believe to record, when necessary, out of sequence besides also doing out of studio location recording. All the advantages of film with a fraction of the cost. Also, unlike film, tape was reusable.
I learnt a lot from those days. As a director who was previously from theatre, I learnt the virtue of speed and economy. With two or three days to produce a finished product fit for broadcast, you couldn't afford to hang about! As a writer, serving as a script editor and sometimes commissioning new plays from scratch or via submitted synopses, one learnt objectivity and to be dramatically articulate. Alfred Bradley always used to say, it wasn't enough to return a script to a writer that you felt was rubbish with no comment. You owed it to him, as a producer, a written explanation as to why you felt it was rubbish. Subsequently, I brought that speed and objectivity to bear, I trust, on my own work.
Copyright: Alan Ayckbourn. Please do not reproduce this article without permission of the copyright holder.
Last month we looked at Alan Ayckbourn's thoughts on working at the Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent, and his first West End transfer Mr Whatnot. The production was a huge flop in London and largely vilified by the critics. Hurt by the criticism and not sure of his future in theatre, Alan applied for a job as a radio drama producer for the BBC based in Leeds. He worked there between 1965 and 1970 under the hugely influential producer Alfred Bradley. Here Alan discusses some of his radio experiences.
The sixties was an exciting period for radio drama, especially regionally. And most especially that which emanated from the small BBC Leeds studio.
There was something special happening at BBC Leeds, certainly during the time I was there in 1965 - 1970, though it started a few years before I arrived and continued for sometime after I left to return to theatre. The 'something' was almost entirely down to one man, Alfred Bradley, who started single-handedly a revolution in largely northern-based radio dramatic writing.
In fact my own post - radio drama producer - was created specially to help to cope with the avalanche of newly submitted scripts which had accumulated as a result of Alfred's growing reputation as a nurturer and champion of new drama.
The studio's output was phenomenal. During my first year for instance I was personally responsible for producing approximately 50 radio plays - half hours, sixty and ninety minuters for radio 2 and 4 and occasionally radio 3. Some we produced exclusively for BBC North but the majority for the main national network.
Since this was the era when Radio Drama was strong and thriving with television still in its comparative infancy, the domestic demand was considerable. The powers that be in London and Manchester were currently pre-occupied with their new television 'toy' and radio was increasingly overlooked or ignored by many top ranking administrators. Which of course allowed us on the shop floor, as it were, considerable freedom of choice, independence and flexibility. In later years, for instance, once I'd settled in, I took to booking a cast, largely locally based from nearby reps, to record, say, an officially commissioned Afternoon Theatre play already scheduled for transmission in a month or two's time but then retaining the team of actors and studio technicians for an additional day to record a short additional extra production, unscheduled and thus technically non-existent. Some of our most interesting work was done this way. If the rogue piece turned out well, we would offer it up to the network and more often than not it was subsequently transmitted. If not, it was conveniently "lost".
The advantages of working out of Leeds were various. Not only were we regional, i.e. well away from London scrutiny, we were also a sub-division of that region, thus away from the gaze of even Manchester.
Also the Leeds studio was excellent acoustically. A converted chapel it had a fine atmosphere and qualities that many more modern, state of the art studios including those newly built in Manchester, lacked. The building was also in terms of manpower, small. Everyone knew each other and the departments were generally supportive of each other. This was also the time when tape as a recording medium finally replaced the old fashioned wax disk on which radio plays were recorded up to that time. This offered a new found flexibility to recording. We were among the first I believe to record, when necessary, out of sequence besides also doing out of studio location recording. All the advantages of film with a fraction of the cost. Also, unlike film, tape was reusable.
I learnt a lot from those days. As a director who was previously from theatre, I learnt the virtue of speed and economy. With two or three days to produce a finished product fit for broadcast, you couldn't afford to hang about! As a writer, serving as a script editor and sometimes commissioning new plays from scratch or via submitted synopses, one learnt objectivity and to be dramatically articulate. Alfred Bradley always used to say, it wasn't enough to return a script to a writer that you felt was rubbish with no comment. You owed it to him, as a producer, a written explanation as to why you felt it was rubbish. Subsequently, I brought that speed and objectivity to bear, I trust, on my own work.
Copyright: Alan Ayckbourn. Please do not reproduce this article without permission of the copyright holder.
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Ayckbourn Articles: The Victoria Theatre and Mr Whatnot
In the run-up to Alan Ayckbourn's 75th birthday in April 2014, a monthly feature reproduces articles by the playwright highlighting his life in theatre through the years.
Last month we looked at Alan Ayckbourn's thoughts on his first production as a professional director in 1961. This month we move forward to 1962 and 1963 and what would turn out to be a pivotal time in Alan Ayckbourn's career - although at the time it looked as though his path was not in theatre. In 1962, Alan helped found the Victoria Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent and the following year wrote Mr Whatnot, his first play to transfer to the West End and very nearly his last. Here Alan discusses both Mr Whatnot and the Victoria Theatre.
Mr Whatnot was first produced in Stoke-on-Trent at the Victoria Theatre in 1963. I had been working there for over a year since the theatre first opened in 1962.
Before the Victoria opened, we used to tour from Scarborough to Newcastle-under-Lyme - a stone’s throw from Stoke. While we were there Stephen Joseph began, as he always did, to investigate the possibility of a permanent home. The town council did actually agree to build him a purpose-built theatre, but that fell through, and instead he found the derelict Victoria Cinema at Stoke, which he designed and converted with next-to-no money into an in-the-round space.
Stephen promptly went off to Manchester University to teach though and left the Victoria Theatre in the hands of Peter Cheeseman and he and I shared most of the directing in the first year. He was also the Theatre Manager - really the Artistic Director - and I was actor, director and writer! It was exhausting and I only lasted two years!
By the second year, I remember I didn’t have any money and, at one point, was sharing the same cheese roll as Peter (who didn’t have any money either)! In fact, we were a whole gang of rather shabby characters, most of whom had been working together for about eighteen months - a rather long period for any company outside the National Theatre or Royal Shakespeare Company.
Being, as it were, company playwright, the time seemed ripe to create a vehicle which might best express the personality of the group. We’d already nearly massacred a couple of shows trying to project some sort of group image and it seemed a far better plan to work on something specially constructed to foster this.
Mr Whatnot, more or less, sprang out of ideas we’d already been exploring, purely intended for fun and to reduce the theatre sound man to nervous hysteria.
Following a fair success at Stoke, the producer Peter Bridge picked it up for the West End and I left the Victoria Theatre to go to London because everyone was telling me this is it, Mr. Whatnot will be a huge success. The play received an ornate, rather glittery production in the West End and was universally hated by every newspaper except The Scotsman. It was an absolute disaster, only ran for three weeks and closed to very hostile reviews.
I vowed I wasn't going to write anymore - wasn’t going to go back into theatre - and this was the end! An offer came to join the BBC as a Radio Drama Producer in Leeds and I went there for five years, never intending to write for theatre again.
Of course, I did.
Copyright: Alan Ayckbourn. Please do not reproduce this article without permission of the copyright holder.
Last month we looked at Alan Ayckbourn's thoughts on his first production as a professional director in 1961. This month we move forward to 1962 and 1963 and what would turn out to be a pivotal time in Alan Ayckbourn's career - although at the time it looked as though his path was not in theatre. In 1962, Alan helped found the Victoria Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent and the following year wrote Mr Whatnot, his first play to transfer to the West End and very nearly his last. Here Alan discusses both Mr Whatnot and the Victoria Theatre.
Mr Whatnot was first produced in Stoke-on-Trent at the Victoria Theatre in 1963. I had been working there for over a year since the theatre first opened in 1962.
Before the Victoria opened, we used to tour from Scarborough to Newcastle-under-Lyme - a stone’s throw from Stoke. While we were there Stephen Joseph began, as he always did, to investigate the possibility of a permanent home. The town council did actually agree to build him a purpose-built theatre, but that fell through, and instead he found the derelict Victoria Cinema at Stoke, which he designed and converted with next-to-no money into an in-the-round space.
Stephen promptly went off to Manchester University to teach though and left the Victoria Theatre in the hands of Peter Cheeseman and he and I shared most of the directing in the first year. He was also the Theatre Manager - really the Artistic Director - and I was actor, director and writer! It was exhausting and I only lasted two years!
By the second year, I remember I didn’t have any money and, at one point, was sharing the same cheese roll as Peter (who didn’t have any money either)! In fact, we were a whole gang of rather shabby characters, most of whom had been working together for about eighteen months - a rather long period for any company outside the National Theatre or Royal Shakespeare Company.
Being, as it were, company playwright, the time seemed ripe to create a vehicle which might best express the personality of the group. We’d already nearly massacred a couple of shows trying to project some sort of group image and it seemed a far better plan to work on something specially constructed to foster this.
Mr Whatnot, more or less, sprang out of ideas we’d already been exploring, purely intended for fun and to reduce the theatre sound man to nervous hysteria.
Following a fair success at Stoke, the producer Peter Bridge picked it up for the West End and I left the Victoria Theatre to go to London because everyone was telling me this is it, Mr. Whatnot will be a huge success. The play received an ornate, rather glittery production in the West End and was universally hated by every newspaper except The Scotsman. It was an absolute disaster, only ran for three weeks and closed to very hostile reviews.
I vowed I wasn't going to write anymore - wasn’t going to go back into theatre - and this was the end! An offer came to join the BBC as a Radio Drama Producer in Leeds and I went there for five years, never intending to write for theatre again.
Of course, I did.
Copyright: Alan Ayckbourn. Please do not reproduce this article without permission of the copyright holder.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Ayckbourn Articles: Gaslight
In the run-up to Alan Ayckbourn's 75th birthday in April 2014, a monthly feature reproduces articles by the playwright highlighting his life in theatre through the years.
Last month we looked at Alan Ayckbourn's thoughts on writing a first play to tie in with the premiere of his first professional play, The Square Cat, in 1959. This month we move forward to 1961 when Alan made his debut as a professional director with the play Gaslight. This article by Alan was written for the Gaslight programme.
During the six years of the Library Theatre's existence, it has been part of our experiment to try to discover what factors contribute towards making the ideal theatre in the round play. With what limited resources we have, we have tried to include the greatest variety open to us; besides which we have no fewer than three writers working with the company and, at the moment, tackling this very problem. For we are the first to admit that some plays work better in this medium than others; though, considering the widely contrasting number we have staged, it is surprising that more of them have not failed to adapt.
Certainly, at first sight, a Victorian thriller did not seem ideal "round" material. Here, it appeared, was the stuff that the proscenium theatre is made of and flourished on.
It took only one or two rehearsals to dispel this illusion. Here was a play that was going to thrive on the intimate atmosphere of our theatre. Patrick Hamilton's Gaslight, ever since its successful first London production in 1938, with Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, Dennis Arundell and Milton Rosmer in the leading roles, and its subsequent record-breaking run in New York with Vincent Price, has been acclaimed as a brilliant exercise in theatrical suspense.
We feel confident that we can bring you all the thrills that this play contains in our own production, plus that extra excitement which we feel theatre in the round has to offer.
Copyright: Alan Ayckbourn. Please do not reproduce this article without permission of the copyright holder.
Last month we looked at Alan Ayckbourn's thoughts on writing a first play to tie in with the premiere of his first professional play, The Square Cat, in 1959. This month we move forward to 1961 when Alan made his debut as a professional director with the play Gaslight. This article by Alan was written for the Gaslight programme.
During the six years of the Library Theatre's existence, it has been part of our experiment to try to discover what factors contribute towards making the ideal theatre in the round play. With what limited resources we have, we have tried to include the greatest variety open to us; besides which we have no fewer than three writers working with the company and, at the moment, tackling this very problem. For we are the first to admit that some plays work better in this medium than others; though, considering the widely contrasting number we have staged, it is surprising that more of them have not failed to adapt.
Certainly, at first sight, a Victorian thriller did not seem ideal "round" material. Here, it appeared, was the stuff that the proscenium theatre is made of and flourished on.
It took only one or two rehearsals to dispel this illusion. Here was a play that was going to thrive on the intimate atmosphere of our theatre. Patrick Hamilton's Gaslight, ever since its successful first London production in 1938, with Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, Dennis Arundell and Milton Rosmer in the leading roles, and its subsequent record-breaking run in New York with Vincent Price, has been acclaimed as a brilliant exercise in theatrical suspense.
We feel confident that we can bring you all the thrills that this play contains in our own production, plus that extra excitement which we feel theatre in the round has to offer.
Copyright: Alan Ayckbourn. Please do not reproduce this article without permission of the copyright holder.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Ayckbourn Articles: Advice To Young Writers
As an Easter treat, we've dipped into the Ayckbourn Archive to find a never previously reprinted article by Sir Alan Ayckbourn.
Here Sir Alan offers advice to young writers about what they should consider when writing - of course, the advice applies to writers of any age! The piece was originally written in 1987, but is just as pertinent today.
Our regular monthly article by Sir Alan (for the March article, click here) chronicling his life leading to his 75th birthday continues as normal in April.
Advice For Young Writers (1987)
My advice to young dramatists would be:-
1) Decide what medium you want to write for.
2) Then find examples of writing in this form that you admire. Try and analyse why they work. Don't be afraid to be a bit derivative for a bit. Nearly everyone is when they start out.
3) Initially, try and write something that obeys the rules of dramatic writing rather than shatters them. i.e. write something with a strong narrative, clearly told and with as few characters as possible who will develop with that narrative.
I say a few characters because it's far more difficult to develop several. Particularly if each is to have the individual voice and speech pattern, which he ought to have. And bear in mind that for every extra character added to the play, it gets more expensive to produce. (Is your third postman really necessary?)
And talking of rules, it's useful to try and contain the period of action over 24 hours, too. It prevents sprawling.
4) If you're writing comedy, try and avoid any joke that requires you to make a detour in the narrative - however tiny - simply in order to make that joke.
5) If writing a tragedy, try and find the odd joke along the way. Audiences need these escape valves. Get them laughing with you rather than inadvertently at you.
6) Better still just write a play without trying to categorise it at all. Humour and sadness exist quite happily together and are the better for each other's company, quite often.
7) Be true to your characters. i.e. don't betray by making them behave uncharacteristically solely to tidy up the loose ends.
8) Talking of loose ends, never (in an ideal world) include any element in a play that isn't relevant to the whole. (Character, prop, embryonic situation). Everything should relate or reflect in some manner, however obliquely.
9) Remember plays are visual as well as aural things. Try and tell the story visually as well as verbally. Always look for ways to avoid flat static conversations. Some will say it's the responsibility of the director to do this. It isn't. All he'll do is invent business in order to cover up the lack of movement that exists in the script. But that's papering over the cracks.
10) Find a balance between overwriting and hanging on like grim death to a script that no one wants to know about. Put it in a drawer, set fire to it, whatever. On to the next. If you really believe you have talent then exercise it. Don't fritter it on trivia but don't hoard it either.
Copyright: Alan Ayckbourn. Please do not reproduce this article without permission of the copyright holder.
Here Sir Alan offers advice to young writers about what they should consider when writing - of course, the advice applies to writers of any age! The piece was originally written in 1987, but is just as pertinent today.
Our regular monthly article by Sir Alan (for the March article, click here) chronicling his life leading to his 75th birthday continues as normal in April.
Advice For Young Writers (1987)
My advice to young dramatists would be:-
1) Decide what medium you want to write for.
2) Then find examples of writing in this form that you admire. Try and analyse why they work. Don't be afraid to be a bit derivative for a bit. Nearly everyone is when they start out.
3) Initially, try and write something that obeys the rules of dramatic writing rather than shatters them. i.e. write something with a strong narrative, clearly told and with as few characters as possible who will develop with that narrative.
I say a few characters because it's far more difficult to develop several. Particularly if each is to have the individual voice and speech pattern, which he ought to have. And bear in mind that for every extra character added to the play, it gets more expensive to produce. (Is your third postman really necessary?)
And talking of rules, it's useful to try and contain the period of action over 24 hours, too. It prevents sprawling.
4) If you're writing comedy, try and avoid any joke that requires you to make a detour in the narrative - however tiny - simply in order to make that joke.
5) If writing a tragedy, try and find the odd joke along the way. Audiences need these escape valves. Get them laughing with you rather than inadvertently at you.
6) Better still just write a play without trying to categorise it at all. Humour and sadness exist quite happily together and are the better for each other's company, quite often.
7) Be true to your characters. i.e. don't betray by making them behave uncharacteristically solely to tidy up the loose ends.
8) Talking of loose ends, never (in an ideal world) include any element in a play that isn't relevant to the whole. (Character, prop, embryonic situation). Everything should relate or reflect in some manner, however obliquely.
9) Remember plays are visual as well as aural things. Try and tell the story visually as well as verbally. Always look for ways to avoid flat static conversations. Some will say it's the responsibility of the director to do this. It isn't. All he'll do is invent business in order to cover up the lack of movement that exists in the script. But that's papering over the cracks.
10) Find a balance between overwriting and hanging on like grim death to a script that no one wants to know about. Put it in a drawer, set fire to it, whatever. On to the next. If you really believe you have talent then exercise it. Don't fritter it on trivia but don't hoard it either.
Copyright: Alan Ayckbourn. Please do not reproduce this article without permission of the copyright holder.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Ayckbourn Articles: Stephen Joseph
In the run-up to Alan Ayckbourn's 75th birthday in April 2014, a monthly feature reproduces articles by the playwright highlighting his life in theatre through the years.
Last month we looked at Alan Ayckbourn's first major role as an actor in 1956. This month we move forward to 1957 when Alan Ayckbourn first joined the Library Theatre, Scarborough, and met Stephen Joseph; the most influential figure in the playwright's life.
Here Alan gives his thoughts about Stephen Joseph in an article from the early 2000s.
Perhaps the most enduring description I’ve ever given of Stephen was that he was half genius, half madman!.
Stephen would appear a shy man when you first met him, always staring at his blotter. But this didn’t stop him doing anything and everything in his power to keep a fledgling theatre company alive. He was often busy delivering coal to pay for the theatres rehearsal salaries.
Stephen was the consummate theatre creature, a pioneer who ran things wholly from within, where he knew you could work it best. At work, habitually dressed in paint-stained overalls, hammer in hand, he looked like some sort of socialist realist poster: a hero of Yorkshire theatre. Whilst on formal occasions, I can remember, in a dinner suit, he didn’t half frighten the mayor!
His professional mentoring of others was never really for self-serving purposes; he simply believed that anybody could more or less do anything in theatre if they wanted to badly enough, and he had such an ability to teach and mentor that has stood many, myself included, in such good career stead.
Stephen was quite unique in his time in that he made friends with amateurs rather than snubbing them, and involved the local dramatic societies with the professional workings of the early theatre in the round company in various ways. Indeed, he was always urging that theatre be taken into the community.
His passion for theatre in the round and new writing has made Scarborough synonymous with both, and that is truly the lasting legacy of this wonderful, mad, genius of a man.
Copyright: Alan Ayckbourn
Last month we looked at Alan Ayckbourn's first major role as an actor in 1956. This month we move forward to 1957 when Alan Ayckbourn first joined the Library Theatre, Scarborough, and met Stephen Joseph; the most influential figure in the playwright's life.
Here Alan gives his thoughts about Stephen Joseph in an article from the early 2000s.
Perhaps the most enduring description I’ve ever given of Stephen was that he was half genius, half madman!.
Stephen would appear a shy man when you first met him, always staring at his blotter. But this didn’t stop him doing anything and everything in his power to keep a fledgling theatre company alive. He was often busy delivering coal to pay for the theatres rehearsal salaries.
Stephen was the consummate theatre creature, a pioneer who ran things wholly from within, where he knew you could work it best. At work, habitually dressed in paint-stained overalls, hammer in hand, he looked like some sort of socialist realist poster: a hero of Yorkshire theatre. Whilst on formal occasions, I can remember, in a dinner suit, he didn’t half frighten the mayor!
His professional mentoring of others was never really for self-serving purposes; he simply believed that anybody could more or less do anything in theatre if they wanted to badly enough, and he had such an ability to teach and mentor that has stood many, myself included, in such good career stead.
Stephen was quite unique in his time in that he made friends with amateurs rather than snubbing them, and involved the local dramatic societies with the professional workings of the early theatre in the round company in various ways. Indeed, he was always urging that theatre be taken into the community.
His passion for theatre in the round and new writing has made Scarborough synonymous with both, and that is truly the lasting legacy of this wonderful, mad, genius of a man.
Copyright: Alan Ayckbourn
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Ayckbourn Articles: Aspiring Actor
In the run-up to Alan Ayckbourn's 75th birthday in April 2014, a monthly feature reproduces articles by the playwright highlighting his life in theatre through the years.
The first feature last month saw Alan Ayckbourn discussing his first acting job upon leaving school. This month's article looks at the young actor's first major role.
Aspiring Actor
by Alan Ayckbourn
It was the stuff of every young, aspiring actor's dream.
In the late fifties, at the age of 17 or 18 I was at the Connaught Theatre, Worthing, as an (unpaid) assistant stage manager working in all departments but with my hopes always set on small part stage appearances which occasionally cropped up. I knew that, given the right break, my innate star quality would immediately be recognised. Worthing in those days was a weekly rep. The schedule was a punishing one - younger actors today, if you describe it to them, look at you in blank astonishment or shake their heads sadly at the tricks old people's memories can play.
I was working in the scenic workshop when it happened. The current show had opened on the Monday, the next production was already underway when one of the cast had "done a runner". The pressure had finally got to him and he had vanished overnight. I was summoned to the manager's office and offered the part. Could I learn it and be ready to go on that night? Of course, I replied, youthfully unhesitating. Yes, sir! Six long months in show-business and a break at last!
In the event, I got through that Tuesday performance in a shallow trance. My voice, whenever I chanced to remember to speak, appeared to be coming from a deep well. Most of my lines, I seem to recall, were spoken by the leading man, Peter Byrne, who adroitly managed to hold long seamless conversations with himself. I was aware, throughout the show, of continuous, off-putting heavy breathing which I later identified as my own.
At the end of the performance the manager came to me, smiling, shook me by the hand, thanked me and told me that the good news was that a real actor would be arriving for the Wednesday matinee the following day.
I returned to the scene dock, chastened by the harshness of theatrical reality. It was seven years before the message finally sunk in and I finally gave up acting for ever.
Copyright: Alan Ayckbourn. Please do not reproduce this article without the permission of the copyright holder.
The first feature last month saw Alan Ayckbourn discussing his first acting job upon leaving school. This month's article looks at the young actor's first major role.
Aspiring Actor
by Alan Ayckbourn
It was the stuff of every young, aspiring actor's dream.
In the late fifties, at the age of 17 or 18 I was at the Connaught Theatre, Worthing, as an (unpaid) assistant stage manager working in all departments but with my hopes always set on small part stage appearances which occasionally cropped up. I knew that, given the right break, my innate star quality would immediately be recognised. Worthing in those days was a weekly rep. The schedule was a punishing one - younger actors today, if you describe it to them, look at you in blank astonishment or shake their heads sadly at the tricks old people's memories can play.
I was working in the scenic workshop when it happened. The current show had opened on the Monday, the next production was already underway when one of the cast had "done a runner". The pressure had finally got to him and he had vanished overnight. I was summoned to the manager's office and offered the part. Could I learn it and be ready to go on that night? Of course, I replied, youthfully unhesitating. Yes, sir! Six long months in show-business and a break at last!
In the event, I got through that Tuesday performance in a shallow trance. My voice, whenever I chanced to remember to speak, appeared to be coming from a deep well. Most of my lines, I seem to recall, were spoken by the leading man, Peter Byrne, who adroitly managed to hold long seamless conversations with himself. I was aware, throughout the show, of continuous, off-putting heavy breathing which I later identified as my own.
At the end of the performance the manager came to me, smiling, shook me by the hand, thanked me and told me that the good news was that a real actor would be arriving for the Wednesday matinee the following day.
I returned to the scene dock, chastened by the harshness of theatrical reality. It was seven years before the message finally sunk in and I finally gave up acting for ever.
Copyright: Alan Ayckbourn. Please do not reproduce this article without the permission of the copyright holder.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Archive Articles: Alan Ayckbourn's First Job
Archive Articles is a new feature for the blog in 2013 reproducing archived articles written by Alan Ayckbourn.
My First Job
by Alan Ayckbourn (written in 1977)
I left school on a Friday and landed a job the following Monday - £3 a week as an ASM with Sir Donald Wolfit in Edinburgh. The main reason he employed me was that I'd been in the School Cadet Corps and could endure long periods on my feet without fainting. Part of the job, you see, entailed playing a silent Spanish soldier and the last guy had kept keeling over. So I'd stand on-stage for an hour watching the great man in action while he simultaneously addressed the audience and flung obscene comments about them upstage. The nicest thing I ever heard him say was 'slow-witted fools'; the rest is unprintable. ...
That was my brutal initiation into the theatre. And absolutely marvellous it was too. No matter if I was only earning £3 a week. I was like someone in love. If I'd had any doubts about making the theatre my career, being in Edinburgh at festival time with a man like Wolfit would have totally dispelled them. One minute there'd been this strict school timetable; the next I was out in the big wide world. I don't think I ate for days because no one told me to take a lunch break.
Most of the time, though, I spent polishing the furniture. He gave me lots of good advice like, 'Drink the Guinness before the show and the gin afterwards'. All sheer magic to me, the closest thing to working with Irving.
I must say though that I thought all theatre must be like that. When I went from there to Worthing and Leatherhead and Oxford and, finally, Scarborough, I really got quite a shock to discover that some people in it were normal after all. But as a first job, it really fired and inspired me. At that stage, I thought I was going to be an actor. Writing was just a means of propagating myself - coming up with dishy parts for myself to star in. Then it was time to get out - I was spoiling the plays.
Copyright: Alan Ayckbourn. Please do not reproduce this article without the permission of the copyright holder.
My First Job
by Alan Ayckbourn (written in 1977)
I left school on a Friday and landed a job the following Monday - £3 a week as an ASM with Sir Donald Wolfit in Edinburgh. The main reason he employed me was that I'd been in the School Cadet Corps and could endure long periods on my feet without fainting. Part of the job, you see, entailed playing a silent Spanish soldier and the last guy had kept keeling over. So I'd stand on-stage for an hour watching the great man in action while he simultaneously addressed the audience and flung obscene comments about them upstage. The nicest thing I ever heard him say was 'slow-witted fools'; the rest is unprintable. ...
That was my brutal initiation into the theatre. And absolutely marvellous it was too. No matter if I was only earning £3 a week. I was like someone in love. If I'd had any doubts about making the theatre my career, being in Edinburgh at festival time with a man like Wolfit would have totally dispelled them. One minute there'd been this strict school timetable; the next I was out in the big wide world. I don't think I ate for days because no one told me to take a lunch break.
Most of the time, though, I spent polishing the furniture. He gave me lots of good advice like, 'Drink the Guinness before the show and the gin afterwards'. All sheer magic to me, the closest thing to working with Irving.
I must say though that I thought all theatre must be like that. When I went from there to Worthing and Leatherhead and Oxford and, finally, Scarborough, I really got quite a shock to discover that some people in it were normal after all. But as a first job, it really fired and inspired me. At that stage, I thought I was going to be an actor. Writing was just a means of propagating myself - coming up with dishy parts for myself to star in. Then it was time to get out - I was spoiling the plays.
Copyright: Alan Ayckbourn. Please do not reproduce this article without the permission of the copyright holder.
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