It's with a little sadness that after more than seven years, the Ayckbourn Blog draws to a close today.
With improvements and changes to the News & What's On section of Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website www.alanayckbourn.net, it has been decided to concentrate on a single source of news and articles regarding Alan Ayckbourn and his plays.
With the official website's ever increasing size and features, the blog is duplicating much of the material already in existence and the relaunched News page on the website will now take the place of the weekly blog updates with similar content and more frequent updates.
For those who visited the blog for its articles, existing features will be kept live on the blog as an archive but new articles as well as dozens of previously published Ayckbourn-related articles and interviews from the past six decades can be found in the Interviews / Articles section of the official website as well as within the sections dedicated to the various Plays.
I'd just like to thank everyone who has supported and visited the blog over the years and hope you've enjoyed visiting and reading the blog.
I hope - if you haven't done so already - you'll visit www.alanayckbourn.net where there are now more than 5,000 pages of material dedicated to the career and plays of Alan Ayckbourn and where you can find all the latest news about the playwright.
It's been fun writing the blog, but there's big changes taking places at the official website and I hope you'll join us there.
Simon Murgatroyd
Alan Ayckbourn's Archivist & Administrator for www.alanayckbourn.net
10 July 2017
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Monday, July 10, 2017
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
Stephen Joseph Theatre retains NPO status & gains capital funding
Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre - where Alan Ayckbourn has premiered practically all his work since 1959 - has successfully retained its status as an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation for another four years.
The theatre’s Development Trust has also been offered a one-off grant by ACE for various necessary upgrades.
NPOs are the organisations which receive regular annual funding from ACE, and are seen as representing some of the best arts practice in the world. For the four financial years from 2018 to 2022, the Stephen Joseph Theatre will receive annual funding of £637,715 a year, the same amount it received each financial year from 2015 to 2018.
The one-off capital grant of £419,122 is a large part of an overall capital project of £561,000 for developments to the front of house areas, including better access via an improved passenger lift and wheelchair platform; a new, environmentally-friendly LED lighting system in the Round, which will lower the venue’s energy bills; and various smaller projects.
The Stephen Joseph Theatre’s Chief Executive, Stephen Freeman, says: “The retention of our NPO status is brilliant news, and real recognition of our vision and of the theatre’s vital role within the communities of Scarborough and Yorkshire.
“The capital grant will enable us to enhance our customer experience enormously. The Stephen Joseph Theatre has been in its current venue for 21 years now, and we’re very aware that it needs some refurbishment. We want to provide a 21st century theatre-going experience for audiences both new and existing. Our ongoing vision will be to complement the unique period features of this building whilst looking to the future.”
Stephen added that the theatre’s Development Trust will shortly be launching a fund-raising campaign to secure the necessary match-funding for the capital project.
“We’d welcome discussions with anyone locally who has ideas or thoughts on ways to reach our target,” he said.
Richard Grunwell, chair of the Stephen Joseph Theatre board, says: “We’re absolutely delighted with today’s news. We have a wonderful summer of entertainment coming up, followed by an equally exciting 2017/18 winter season. This validation of the Stephen Joseph Theatre as a world-class organisation will enable us to create even more exciting work in 2018 and beyond.
“I’d like to thank our committed and hard-working team, our strong network of supporters, and our wonderful and loyal audiences.”
The theatre’s Development Trust has also been offered a one-off grant by ACE for various necessary upgrades.
NPOs are the organisations which receive regular annual funding from ACE, and are seen as representing some of the best arts practice in the world. For the four financial years from 2018 to 2022, the Stephen Joseph Theatre will receive annual funding of £637,715 a year, the same amount it received each financial year from 2015 to 2018.
The one-off capital grant of £419,122 is a large part of an overall capital project of £561,000 for developments to the front of house areas, including better access via an improved passenger lift and wheelchair platform; a new, environmentally-friendly LED lighting system in the Round, which will lower the venue’s energy bills; and various smaller projects.
The Stephen Joseph Theatre’s Chief Executive, Stephen Freeman, says: “The retention of our NPO status is brilliant news, and real recognition of our vision and of the theatre’s vital role within the communities of Scarborough and Yorkshire.
“The capital grant will enable us to enhance our customer experience enormously. The Stephen Joseph Theatre has been in its current venue for 21 years now, and we’re very aware that it needs some refurbishment. We want to provide a 21st century theatre-going experience for audiences both new and existing. Our ongoing vision will be to complement the unique period features of this building whilst looking to the future.”
Stephen added that the theatre’s Development Trust will shortly be launching a fund-raising campaign to secure the necessary match-funding for the capital project.
“We’d welcome discussions with anyone locally who has ideas or thoughts on ways to reach our target,” he said.
Richard Grunwell, chair of the Stephen Joseph Theatre board, says: “We’re absolutely delighted with today’s news. We have a wonderful summer of entertainment coming up, followed by an equally exciting 2017/18 winter season. This validation of the Stephen Joseph Theatre as a world-class organisation will enable us to create even more exciting work in 2018 and beyond.
“I’d like to thank our committed and hard-working team, our strong network of supporters, and our wonderful and loyal audiences.”
Thursday, June 22, 2017
Taking Steps in rehearsal
A play widely regarded as Alan Ayckbourn’s funniest, and his one true farce, Taking Steps, joins the programme at the Stephen Joseph Theatre next month.
When tongue-tied solicitor Tristram is sent along to oversee the sale of a large and crumbling house, he may have bitten off more than he can chew: hardware tycoon Roland Crabbe and scheming builder Leslie Bainbridge are not the easiest of clients. Roland’s wife Elizabeth is on the brink of leaving him with the help of her brother Mark and his shrinking-violet fiancée Kitty. Misunderstandings multiply and play out in every corner of the three-storey house.
Alan Ayckbourn says: “Farce is the most difficult thing to write because it has to be a riot from beginning to end. Taking Steps is a difficult piece to handle, and I like a challenge - it requires the most delicate balance and the steadiest of hands to work.
“I think it’s one of the sillier plays I’ve written; it’s nice to be silly occasionally!”
Taking Steps goes is currently in rehearsal with a cast of six: Russell Dixon, Antony Eden, Laura Matthews, Laurence Pears, Louise Shuttleworth and Leigh Symonds.
The creative team comprises designer Kevin Jenkins, who has recently designed several productions with Alan at the SJT, including The Karaoke Theatre Company, Consuming Passions and No Knowing; lighting designer Jason Taylor, who has worked on many productions at the SJT.
Taking Steps can be seen in the Round at the SJT, in rep, from Thursday 13 July to Thursday 5 October. Tickets, priced from £10 to £25, are available from the box office on 01723 370541 and online at www.sjt.uk.com.
“I think it’s one of the sillier plays I’ve written; it’s nice to be silly occasionally!”
Friday, April 28, 2017
60 Years At The SJT: 1979
2017 marks the 60th anniversary of Alan Ayckbourn joining the Library Theatre, Scarborough, in 1957. Alan has been indelibly associated with the company since that time as actor, writer, director and Artistic Director.
60 Years At The SJT: 1979
If there is a single 'fact' that has been perpetually mis-reported during most of Alan Ayckbourn's long career as a playwright, it would be he is a farceur.
He isn't. Never has been. Never will be.
True, he has written plays with elements of farce within them but works frequently cited - such as The Norman Conquests, Absurd Person Singular, Relatively Speaking and - yes - Bedroom Farce - are assuredly not true farces.
They're comedies - mainly tragicomedies, occasionally high comedies - or, as the playwright like to note, just plays. Generally, Alan Ayckbourn likes to make you feel more than one emotion during the course of an evening.
However, there is an exception to this rule. For out of the 81 full-length plays he has written, one is indisputably a true, no doubts about, farce. Just one though.
Taking Steps, which Alan himself dedicated to the master farceur Ben Travers when it premiered at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, Scarborough, in 1979.
Twenty years after he began writing - with the now withdrawn first play The Square Cat being as close to farce as Alan ever came between 1959 and 1979 - Alan decided to set himself the challenge of writing a farce, which fully met the conventions of the genre.
Why a challenge? Because as the playwright notes, he considers farce one of the hardest genres to write in, which explains the lack of them during his career,
“They [farces] are the most difficult plays to write because you are asking for a seemingly logical string of circumstances to lead to something totally illogical and unlikely without the audience for a moment looking back, and saying, “Oh no, wait a minute, this couldn’t happen.”…. The more wild the journey the more crafty and crafted the play has to be. I mean, this is no mistake, that most farce-writers are quite old dramatists, if not in years at least in experience.”
At the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, the summer of 1979 had been dominated by Alan's random choice play Sisterly Feelings, which could be produced any one of four ways depending on the flip of a coin and the whim of an actor. It was a huge and ambitious production for the Scarborough theatre.
But arguably, it wasn't the defining production of that year. That came at the end of the summer season with a play that was neither scheduled nor advertised in the main brochure. At the end of August, a promotional flyer was printed advertising a new Ayckbourn.
“A little earlier than usual comes Alan Ayckbourn’s 'annual' play. This, his 23rd [actually 24th], opens on Friday 28 September and plays for only four performances during this run before the professional company takes a month’s break. At the moment all we have is the title, but rest assured the script will arrive in time for rehearsals, so don’t miss this opportunity to be the first audience ever to see the new offering of this phenomenally popular and entertaining writer.”
Whilst this may seem a strange way to promote a play at a month's notice, it was actually all too common at the Scarborough venue given Alan's predilection for writing his plays to the latest possible deadline; generally a day before rehearsals began.
So it was not unusual for the theatre to not know what the play was either about or like until rehearsals began. In this case, early September by which point the four performances had sold out.
Except, even as rehearsals started, no-one truly knew what this play was like because he hadn't finished writing it. Describing it as "a pig to finish" Alan couldn't find a satisfactory climax before rehearsals were due to begin!
"The only time I fell down on the job was over Taking Steps. Farce is the most difficult thing of all to write because it has to be a riot from beginning to end. I was a couple of days late with it this year and strayed into my rehearsal period."
Having missed most of the first week of rehearsal - with inspiration only coming after he apparently slept on the problem - was Alan's play ready for its first read-through.
Which did not go quite as planned.
For while the actor Robin Herford recalls that most of the company “wept our way” through the reading, one actor was less than impressed and declared themselves not happy with their role. Quite possibly unique in the history of Alan's plays, this led to a confrontation between playwright and actor, which saw the actor leave the rehearsal room and the company, never to return.
Fortunately, a replacement was quickly found and rehearsals from that point proceeded smoothly and Alan began to reveal details of the play to the public.
“[This is] me in cheerful vein. I wrote it as a humble tribute to Ben Travers. I’m rather superstitious and produce my plays only in winter and spring. This time I decided to try a jolly autumn one for a change.”
Not only was Alan making a rare excursion into farce, but also writing a play specifically for the round; it is often forgotten that Alan has written the vast majority of his plays for theatre-in-the-round, although only Taking Steps (and, to an extent, How The Other Half Loves) are designed to specifically work only in the round.
“It [Taking Steps] is perhaps one of the archetypal ‘in the round’ plays because the floor is vitally important, and the floor, of course, in the round is like the backcloth is in the proscenium, everyone sees the floor and the joke is based around the floor.”
Taking Steps opened on 28 September 1979 and despite the fact its success was almost guaranteed, there was still an anxious wait to see how a play so different to Alan’s most recent creations would be received. The response was unexpected for both Alan and the acting company.
"I find the cast sitting in the tiny green room in stunned silence. The applause is still rattling through the tannoy speaker on the wall. Finally it dies out. There is a pause. Then one of them says, 'It’s a bit frightening this really, isn’t it?'"
Apparently the first night ran 17 minutes longer than it had in dress rehearsals due to the sheer volume of laughter. Alan’s first true farce was a hit. Following its short run, it returned in repertory from 30 October to 12 January becoming one of the Scarborough theatre’s biggest hits since it opened in 1955.
Alan would also note to his agent, Margaret 'Peggy' Ramsay that "It's just had three of the best receptions that I've ever had for any play of mine in Scarborough."
It also became the first play to run for more than 100 performances when it returned for the 1980 summer season; memorably the Scarborough Evening News reported “Taking Steps Clocks Up 1,000 Shows" - nearly there, just not quite.
Despite all its success in Scarborough, the West End production - which ran concurrently with the 1980 Scarborough production - was largely an unmitigated disaster in the playwright's eyes, as this memorable account from Paul Allen's biography of Alan Ayckbourn, Grinning At The Edge shows.
“On the London opening night of Taking Steps the Act 1 curtain arrived to almost complete silence, in contrast to the aching roar greeting it in Scarborough, and things were not much better at the end. Alan was aware of the sound of [his partner] Heather sobbing beside him. 'She was more upset than I was. I just went out into the night,' he says, but I suspect his upset was simply buried at once.”
The disappointment of the production marked the final time he would let anyone but himself direct a London premier of a new work. His only comfort was that his own production was running simultaneously in Scarborough with the polar opposite reaction.
“It’s very interesting: it’s the first time that a play of mine - Taking Steps - opened in London while it was still running in Scarborough. I’ve never done that before. It was like looking at two pictures. And you say: 'Well, I don’t care what they say down there and whether they think this or that. There’s a whole group of people in here who are having a marvellous time.' And in that sense one was perhaps able to survive the buffers of that experience better.”
Of the more than 600 productions staged by the Stephen Joseph company in its three homes since 1955, Taking Steps undoubtedly deserves a place as one of the most significant. And you don't have to take my word for it, for you can judge Alan's Ayckbourn's only farce this summer when it returns to Scarborough, directed by Alan Ayckbourn, at the SJT.
Taking Steps, directed by Alan Ayckbourn, can be seen at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, from 13 July to 5 October. Further details and bookings can be found at www.sjt.uk.com.
60 Years At The SJT: 1979
If there is a single 'fact' that has been perpetually mis-reported during most of Alan Ayckbourn's long career as a playwright, it would be he is a farceur.
He isn't. Never has been. Never will be.
True, he has written plays with elements of farce within them but works frequently cited - such as The Norman Conquests, Absurd Person Singular, Relatively Speaking and - yes - Bedroom Farce - are assuredly not true farces.
They're comedies - mainly tragicomedies, occasionally high comedies - or, as the playwright like to note, just plays. Generally, Alan Ayckbourn likes to make you feel more than one emotion during the course of an evening.
However, there is an exception to this rule. For out of the 81 full-length plays he has written, one is indisputably a true, no doubts about, farce. Just one though.
Twenty years after he began writing - with the now withdrawn first play The Square Cat being as close to farce as Alan ever came between 1959 and 1979 - Alan decided to set himself the challenge of writing a farce, which fully met the conventions of the genre.
Why a challenge? Because as the playwright notes, he considers farce one of the hardest genres to write in, which explains the lack of them during his career,
“They [farces] are the most difficult plays to write because you are asking for a seemingly logical string of circumstances to lead to something totally illogical and unlikely without the audience for a moment looking back, and saying, “Oh no, wait a minute, this couldn’t happen.”…. The more wild the journey the more crafty and crafted the play has to be. I mean, this is no mistake, that most farce-writers are quite old dramatists, if not in years at least in experience.”
At the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, the summer of 1979 had been dominated by Alan's random choice play Sisterly Feelings, which could be produced any one of four ways depending on the flip of a coin and the whim of an actor. It was a huge and ambitious production for the Scarborough theatre.
But arguably, it wasn't the defining production of that year. That came at the end of the summer season with a play that was neither scheduled nor advertised in the main brochure. At the end of August, a promotional flyer was printed advertising a new Ayckbourn.
“A little earlier than usual comes Alan Ayckbourn’s 'annual' play. This, his 23rd [actually 24th], opens on Friday 28 September and plays for only four performances during this run before the professional company takes a month’s break. At the moment all we have is the title, but rest assured the script will arrive in time for rehearsals, so don’t miss this opportunity to be the first audience ever to see the new offering of this phenomenally popular and entertaining writer.”
Whilst this may seem a strange way to promote a play at a month's notice, it was actually all too common at the Scarborough venue given Alan's predilection for writing his plays to the latest possible deadline; generally a day before rehearsals began.
Except, even as rehearsals started, no-one truly knew what this play was like because he hadn't finished writing it. Describing it as "a pig to finish" Alan couldn't find a satisfactory climax before rehearsals were due to begin!
"The only time I fell down on the job was over Taking Steps. Farce is the most difficult thing of all to write because it has to be a riot from beginning to end. I was a couple of days late with it this year and strayed into my rehearsal period."
Having missed most of the first week of rehearsal - with inspiration only coming after he apparently slept on the problem - was Alan's play ready for its first read-through.
Which did not go quite as planned.
For while the actor Robin Herford recalls that most of the company “wept our way” through the reading, one actor was less than impressed and declared themselves not happy with their role. Quite possibly unique in the history of Alan's plays, this led to a confrontation between playwright and actor, which saw the actor leave the rehearsal room and the company, never to return.
Fortunately, a replacement was quickly found and rehearsals from that point proceeded smoothly and Alan began to reveal details of the play to the public.
Not only was Alan making a rare excursion into farce, but also writing a play specifically for the round; it is often forgotten that Alan has written the vast majority of his plays for theatre-in-the-round, although only Taking Steps (and, to an extent, How The Other Half Loves) are designed to specifically work only in the round.
“It [Taking Steps] is perhaps one of the archetypal ‘in the round’ plays because the floor is vitally important, and the floor, of course, in the round is like the backcloth is in the proscenium, everyone sees the floor and the joke is based around the floor.”
"I find the cast sitting in the tiny green room in stunned silence. The applause is still rattling through the tannoy speaker on the wall. Finally it dies out. There is a pause. Then one of them says, 'It’s a bit frightening this really, isn’t it?'"
Apparently the first night ran 17 minutes longer than it had in dress rehearsals due to the sheer volume of laughter. Alan’s first true farce was a hit. Following its short run, it returned in repertory from 30 October to 12 January becoming one of the Scarborough theatre’s biggest hits since it opened in 1955.
Alan would also note to his agent, Margaret 'Peggy' Ramsay that "It's just had three of the best receptions that I've ever had for any play of mine in Scarborough."
It also became the first play to run for more than 100 performances when it returned for the 1980 summer season; memorably the Scarborough Evening News reported “Taking Steps Clocks Up 1,000 Shows" - nearly there, just not quite.
“On the London opening night of Taking Steps the Act 1 curtain arrived to almost complete silence, in contrast to the aching roar greeting it in Scarborough, and things were not much better at the end. Alan was aware of the sound of [his partner] Heather sobbing beside him. 'She was more upset than I was. I just went out into the night,' he says, but I suspect his upset was simply buried at once.”
The disappointment of the production marked the final time he would let anyone but himself direct a London premier of a new work. His only comfort was that his own production was running simultaneously in Scarborough with the polar opposite reaction.
“It’s very interesting: it’s the first time that a play of mine - Taking Steps - opened in London while it was still running in Scarborough. I’ve never done that before. It was like looking at two pictures. And you say: 'Well, I don’t care what they say down there and whether they think this or that. There’s a whole group of people in here who are having a marvellous time.' And in that sense one was perhaps able to survive the buffers of that experience better.”
Taking Steps, directed by Alan Ayckbourn, can be seen at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, from 13 July to 5 October. Further details and bookings can be found at www.sjt.uk.com.
Friday, December 9, 2016
Unseen Ayckbourn Book Launch
Yesterday saw the official launch of the new edition of the book Unseen Ayckbourn at the playwright's home venue, the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough.
The author and playwright's Archivist, Simon Murgatroyd, officially announced Unseen Ayckbourn: Illustrated Edition to members of the the SJT Circle.
The new edition features both new and updated entries to the book which focuses on Alan Ayckbourn's lost, unpublished and unwritten works.
Simon, who also maintains The Bob Watson Archive at the SJT, was interviewed by Press Officer Jeannie Swales and was delighted with the event.
"This is the first time I've had an actual book launch and to do it in the theatre I love in front of passionate supporters of the Stephen Joseph Theatre was a wonderful experience."
This edition marks the first time Unseen Ayckbourn has featured illustrations with 20 pictures of material drawn from the Ayckbourn Archive, highlighting some of the notes and items which have informed the research of the books.
It includes the playwright's own notes for unwritten plays such as Sight Unseen as well as for early versions of Neighbourhood Watch, Ten Times Table and Sisterly Feelings as well as newspaper articles and concept publicity.
Updated for 2016, the book includes more than 30 new entries relating both to more recent work such as Roundelay, Surprises and My Wonderful Day. Many of the existing entries have been updated with new information as well.
Written by Sir Alan's Archivist, Simon Murgatroyd, Unseen Ayckbourn explores the Ayckbourn Archive for withdrawn and lost work, unpublished pieces, alternative versions of existing plays, alternative titles to plays, unused or revised ideas and concept as well as other ephemera.
The previous edition of the book was named as one of The Stage newspaper's Theatre Books of 2013.
Unseen Ayckbourn is priced at £12 and is available via amazon.co.uk, Lulu Books, amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. A PDF ebook is also available from Lulu Books priced at £9.50.
Alternatively signed copies can be obtained by contacting the author at admin@ayckbourn.net which cost £12 plays £2.95 postage and packing; payment can only be made via PayPal.
Simon, who also maintains The Bob Watson Archive at the SJT, was interviewed by Press Officer Jeannie Swales and was delighted with the event.
"This is the first time I've had an actual book launch and to do it in the theatre I love in front of passionate supporters of the Stephen Joseph Theatre was a wonderful experience."
This edition marks the first time Unseen Ayckbourn has featured illustrations with 20 pictures of material drawn from the Ayckbourn Archive, highlighting some of the notes and items which have informed the research of the books.
It includes the playwright's own notes for unwritten plays such as Sight Unseen as well as for early versions of Neighbourhood Watch, Ten Times Table and Sisterly Feelings as well as newspaper articles and concept publicity.
Updated for 2016, the book includes more than 30 new entries relating both to more recent work such as Roundelay, Surprises and My Wonderful Day. Many of the existing entries have been updated with new information as well.
Written by Sir Alan's Archivist, Simon Murgatroyd, Unseen Ayckbourn explores the Ayckbourn Archive for withdrawn and lost work, unpublished pieces, alternative versions of existing plays, alternative titles to plays, unused or revised ideas and concept as well as other ephemera.
The previous edition of the book was named as one of The Stage newspaper's Theatre Books of 2013.
Unseen Ayckbourn is priced at £12 and is available via amazon.co.uk, Lulu Books, amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. A PDF ebook is also available from Lulu Books priced at £9.50.
Alternatively signed copies can be obtained by contacting the author at admin@ayckbourn.net which cost £12 plays £2.95 postage and packing; payment can only be made via PayPal.
Thursday, July 7, 2016
The Michael T. Mooney Archive
Alan Ayckbourn’s Official Website is delighted to announce it is collaborating with one of the world’s largest private collections of Alan Ayckbourn material.
Michael T Mooney, a devotee of Alan Ayckbourn’s plays, has been collecting material relating to Alan Ayckbourn’s entire career for more than two decades and he has given the website access to the extensive collection prior to it becoming part of Alan Ayckbourn's Archive.
Simon Murgatroyd, Administrator for Alan Ayckbourn’s Website and Archivist to the playwright, said he was delighted at the decision to move to the archive to the UK.
“I have known Michael for 15 years and I believe he has amassed one of the most significant private collections of material relating to Alan Ayckbourn in the world. Just opening the first box, there were discoveries relating to productions directed by Alan Ayckbourn of which there are no other records of. It is an extraordinary collection and I’m grateful to have the chance to work with it and share my discoveries on www.alanayckbourn.net."
Michael, who is based in New Jersey, first encountered Alan Ayckbourn’s plays through the television adaption of The Norman Conquests in the late 1970s. He went on to direct Ayckbourn plays - including several North American premieres - and has also acted as an Ayckbourn dramaturge for several companies. He has participated in several events involving the playwright in his home-town and has met the playwright on many occasions, most recently with his visit to the 59E59 Theaters in New York with the acclaimed productions of Hero’s Welcome and Confusions.
Of the donation of the archive, Michael said: “I was worried that if something should happen to me all of these items would probably go in a dumpster! After all, there are so few of us who value these things that it would be unlikely that they found a good home. I’ve been looking to divest myself of lots of “things” lately - and donating it all to the Ayckbourn Archive seemed the ideal solution!”
Michael, whose favourite Ayckbourn plays include The Norman Conquests, Family Circles and Body Language, believes Alan Ayckbourn is a playwright special for many reasons.
“As a person who has been involved in the theatre all his life, I think Alan Ayckbourn is one of the most brilliant playmakers of our time. He challenges the dramatic form and the theatre-going experience, making it exciting to go see a play. He also manages to create real characters in relatable situations - no matter where you live, or what your domestic situation. As a director and playwright myself, I admire his economy of word - sometimes gaining the biggest laugh or tear with a single syllable. Lastly, it is most gratifying to appreciate the breadth of his work - ever changing over the last six decades - the mark of a true genius.”
The collection, which runs into thousands of pieces, includes programmes, flyers, cuttings, posters and other Ayckbourn ephemera covering Alan Ayckbourn’s entire career from his acting days during the late 1950s and early 1960s through his famed playwriting and directing career. It will be called The Michael T. Mooney Archive and, once collated, will eventually be placed within The Ayckbourn Archive at the University Of York with some rarer pieces relating to the playwright's home theatre, the Stephen Joseph Theatre, going into The Bob Watson Archive at the venue.
Of the collection, Michael is hard-pressed to name a favourite item, but thinks is a fan of the very rare - and obscure!
“The best collectibles are the ones that even the Alan Ayckbourn archive didn’t have! I found a rare copy of the long playing record of Cinderella’s Star Night, a 1982 charity panto that featured Ian McKellen reading a poem by Ayckbourn. Another rare find was a handbill from 1975’s Jeeves that billed Betty Marsden as Aunt Dahlia, who was written out of the production prior to opening night! It’s also fun to discover foreign language collectibles.”
Material drawn from The Michael T. Mooney Archive will be added to www.alanayckbourn.net over the coming months and particularly notable items will be featured in a new regular feature on The Alan Ayckbourn News Blog.
You can find details of The Michael T. Mooney Archive and other Ayckbourn collections at Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website by clicking here.
Michael T Mooney, a devotee of Alan Ayckbourn’s plays, has been collecting material relating to Alan Ayckbourn’s entire career for more than two decades and he has given the website access to the extensive collection prior to it becoming part of Alan Ayckbourn's Archive.
“I have known Michael for 15 years and I believe he has amassed one of the most significant private collections of material relating to Alan Ayckbourn in the world. Just opening the first box, there were discoveries relating to productions directed by Alan Ayckbourn of which there are no other records of. It is an extraordinary collection and I’m grateful to have the chance to work with it and share my discoveries on www.alanayckbourn.net."
Michael, who is based in New Jersey, first encountered Alan Ayckbourn’s plays through the television adaption of The Norman Conquests in the late 1970s. He went on to direct Ayckbourn plays - including several North American premieres - and has also acted as an Ayckbourn dramaturge for several companies. He has participated in several events involving the playwright in his home-town and has met the playwright on many occasions, most recently with his visit to the 59E59 Theaters in New York with the acclaimed productions of Hero’s Welcome and Confusions.
Michael, whose favourite Ayckbourn plays include The Norman Conquests, Family Circles and Body Language, believes Alan Ayckbourn is a playwright special for many reasons.
“As a person who has been involved in the theatre all his life, I think Alan Ayckbourn is one of the most brilliant playmakers of our time. He challenges the dramatic form and the theatre-going experience, making it exciting to go see a play. He also manages to create real characters in relatable situations - no matter where you live, or what your domestic situation. As a director and playwright myself, I admire his economy of word - sometimes gaining the biggest laugh or tear with a single syllable. Lastly, it is most gratifying to appreciate the breadth of his work - ever changing over the last six decades - the mark of a true genius.”
The collection, which runs into thousands of pieces, includes programmes, flyers, cuttings, posters and other Ayckbourn ephemera covering Alan Ayckbourn’s entire career from his acting days during the late 1950s and early 1960s through his famed playwriting and directing career. It will be called The Michael T. Mooney Archive and, once collated, will eventually be placed within The Ayckbourn Archive at the University Of York with some rarer pieces relating to the playwright's home theatre, the Stephen Joseph Theatre, going into The Bob Watson Archive at the venue.
“The best collectibles are the ones that even the Alan Ayckbourn archive didn’t have! I found a rare copy of the long playing record of Cinderella’s Star Night, a 1982 charity panto that featured Ian McKellen reading a poem by Ayckbourn. Another rare find was a handbill from 1975’s Jeeves that billed Betty Marsden as Aunt Dahlia, who was written out of the production prior to opening night! It’s also fun to discover foreign language collectibles.”
Material drawn from The Michael T. Mooney Archive will be added to www.alanayckbourn.net over the coming months and particularly notable items will be featured in a new regular feature on The Alan Ayckbourn News Blog.
You can find details of The Michael T. Mooney Archive and other Ayckbourn collections at Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website by clicking here.
Tuesday, July 5, 2016
Kings of New York
Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre company has returned to the UK triumphant after a five-week off-Broadway residency in New York which saw them chosen as a critics’ pick in The New York Times and highly praised by The Wall Street Journal.
The SJT company took two shows, a revival of Alan Ayckbourn’s 1974 Confusions and his 2015 world premiere, Hero’s Welcome, to the annual Brits Off Broadway festival at New York’s 59E59 Theater - both shows had been part of last year’s summer season at the Scarborough Theatre, which marked the 60th anniversary of the Stephen Joseph Theatre - the New York trip, during which they could be seen at 59E59 between 27 May and 3 July, brought those celebrations to a close.
The two shows broke their box office targets, and were highly praised by the New York media.
New York Times critic Ben Brantley highlighted both plays in his ‘NYT Critics’ Pick’ feature, saying of Hero’s Welcome: “So deft is Mr Ayckbourn’s dramatic shorthand that he can summon complete, quirkily detailed back stories for not one but three intersecting couples in a single, standard-length play. He manages to do so while engineering an elaborate plot, as full of twists and secrets as anything by Ibsen, in which everybody lies, including the British government.”
Of Confusions, he wrote: “These five one-acters also allow you to see clearly the basic building blocks from which Mr Ayckbourn constructs his more complex works. And even the silliest of them is steeped in the critical yet compassionate sensibility - call it sentimental cynicism - that is uniquely their creator’s.”
Meanwhile The Wall Street Journal’s Terry Teachout praised the ‘poignant drama’ of Hero’s Welcome, and the humour of Confusions, saying: “In recent seasons 59E59 Theater’s Brits Off Broadway summer festival has been doing theater-loving New Yorkers a signal service by importing Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre, which Mr Ayckbourn ran for 37 years, to perform his stagings of his own plays.”
He added: “This year’s fare includes the US premiere of Hero’s Welcome, his 79th play, and the New York premiere of Confusions, a 1974 mixed bill of interconnected one-act plays. Both are musts: Confusions is funnier than just about anything else to be seen on a New York stage right now, while Hero’s Welcome is one of the most poignant dramas that Mr Ayckbourn has given us.
“Has there ever been a playwright who directed his own works more skillfully and imaginatively? I doubt it.”
Hero’s Welcome and Confusions were performed in New York by the original Scarborough company: Stephen Billington, Elizabeth Boag, Russell Dixon, and Richard Stacey, plus, replacing original cast members Terenia Edwards and Emma Manton, who were unavailable for the New York tour, Evelyn Hoskins and Charlotte Harwood.
Alan Ayckbourn’s long association with the Stephen Joseph Theatre continues this summer. His new show, The Karaoke Theatre Company, previews in the Round from 8 July and plays in rep until 7 October, while his revival of the 1987 Evening Standard Best Comedy Award-winning Henceforward… can be see in the Round in rep from 8 September to 8 October.
Meanwhile, his brand new play Consuming Passions can be seen as single acts or together at lunchtimes and in the evenings in the theatre’s Bistro and McCarthy Theatre on various dates from 5 August to 8 October. For further information and dates, please visit www.sjt.uk.com
The SJT company took two shows, a revival of Alan Ayckbourn’s 1974 Confusions and his 2015 world premiere, Hero’s Welcome, to the annual Brits Off Broadway festival at New York’s 59E59 Theater - both shows had been part of last year’s summer season at the Scarborough Theatre, which marked the 60th anniversary of the Stephen Joseph Theatre - the New York trip, during which they could be seen at 59E59 between 27 May and 3 July, brought those celebrations to a close.
New York Times critic Ben Brantley highlighted both plays in his ‘NYT Critics’ Pick’ feature, saying of Hero’s Welcome: “So deft is Mr Ayckbourn’s dramatic shorthand that he can summon complete, quirkily detailed back stories for not one but three intersecting couples in a single, standard-length play. He manages to do so while engineering an elaborate plot, as full of twists and secrets as anything by Ibsen, in which everybody lies, including the British government.”
Of Confusions, he wrote: “These five one-acters also allow you to see clearly the basic building blocks from which Mr Ayckbourn constructs his more complex works. And even the silliest of them is steeped in the critical yet compassionate sensibility - call it sentimental cynicism - that is uniquely their creator’s.”
Meanwhile The Wall Street Journal’s Terry Teachout praised the ‘poignant drama’ of Hero’s Welcome, and the humour of Confusions, saying: “In recent seasons 59E59 Theater’s Brits Off Broadway summer festival has been doing theater-loving New Yorkers a signal service by importing Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre, which Mr Ayckbourn ran for 37 years, to perform his stagings of his own plays.”
“Has there ever been a playwright who directed his own works more skillfully and imaginatively? I doubt it.”
Hero’s Welcome and Confusions were performed in New York by the original Scarborough company: Stephen Billington, Elizabeth Boag, Russell Dixon, and Richard Stacey, plus, replacing original cast members Terenia Edwards and Emma Manton, who were unavailable for the New York tour, Evelyn Hoskins and Charlotte Harwood.
Alan Ayckbourn’s long association with the Stephen Joseph Theatre continues this summer. His new show, The Karaoke Theatre Company, previews in the Round from 8 July and plays in rep until 7 October, while his revival of the 1987 Evening Standard Best Comedy Award-winning Henceforward… can be see in the Round in rep from 8 September to 8 October.
Meanwhile, his brand new play Consuming Passions can be seen as single acts or together at lunchtimes and in the evenings in the theatre’s Bistro and McCarthy Theatre on various dates from 5 August to 8 October. For further information and dates, please visit www.sjt.uk.com
Thursday, February 4, 2016
Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website announces patronage
Alan Ayckbourn’s Official Website is proud to announce it has agreed to be the patron of the drama company Dick & Lottie.
Based in Huddersfield, it is the only amateur company in the UK dedicated to the works of Alan Ayckbourn and during its first ten years has produced 25 of Alan Ayckbourn’s plays in 30 productions and public rehearsed readings.
Founded by John Cotgrave and Richard McArtney in 2004, the company is driven by John and Richard’s passion for Alan Ayckbourn’s plays. Ostensibly based at the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield, Dick & Lottie has also been touring its productions since 2015.
As the company reaches its 30th production, Alan Ayckbourn’s Official Website is delighted to celebrate the passion, commitment and dedication of the company to Alan Ayckbourn’s writing by becoming its patron and forging closer links with Dick & Lottie.
Aside from the patronage, the company has previous links with Alan Ayckbourn, having performed for the playwright in his home-town of Scarborough and also seen Lady Ayckbourn perform with the company its fundraising Ayckbourn Readathon in 2014.
Alan Ayckbourn’s Official Website founder and Alan Ayckbourn’s Archivist, Simon Murgatroyd, feels as the website’s only patronage, this is the perfect association.
“I have known John & Richard for many years and seeing their company, Dick & Lottie, grow and succeed beyond anyone’s expectations has been a pleasure. I have met few people so committed to producing an authentic Ayckbourn experience and their productions constantly set a benchmark for amateur - and even professional - productions of his plays. I’m delighted the website is now the company’s patron and will be playing a part in the company’s future.”
John Cotgrave, Artistic Director of Dick & Lottie, is delighted at the recognition and association with the website and Alan Ayckbourn’s Archivist, Simon Murgatroyd.
“Dick & Lottie is thrilled and honoured to have such a prestigious patron. It is a kite mark recognising the quality we achieve with the staging of Ayckbourn's plays - past and present. We look forward to a burgeoning relationship in the coming years.”
Further information on Dick & Lottie can be found via the Dick & Lottie Facebook page and at Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website here.
For any reader wanting a clarification of what a Patron / Patronage is (in this context), please read the second comment below.
Dick & Lottie is about to tour with Alan Ayckbourn's Neighbourhood Watch.
Neighbourhood Watch can be seen at The Coach House Theatre, Malvern, from 16 - 17 February (click here for details and bookings) and at South Hill Park, Bracknell from 18 - 19 February (click here for details).
Further information about the production and future Dick & Lottie productions can be found at Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website here or via the Dick & Lottie Facebook page.
Based in Huddersfield, it is the only amateur company in the UK dedicated to the works of Alan Ayckbourn and during its first ten years has produced 25 of Alan Ayckbourn’s plays in 30 productions and public rehearsed readings.
Founded by John Cotgrave and Richard McArtney in 2004, the company is driven by John and Richard’s passion for Alan Ayckbourn’s plays. Ostensibly based at the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield, Dick & Lottie has also been touring its productions since 2015.
As the company reaches its 30th production, Alan Ayckbourn’s Official Website is delighted to celebrate the passion, commitment and dedication of the company to Alan Ayckbourn’s writing by becoming its patron and forging closer links with Dick & Lottie.
Aside from the patronage, the company has previous links with Alan Ayckbourn, having performed for the playwright in his home-town of Scarborough and also seen Lady Ayckbourn perform with the company its fundraising Ayckbourn Readathon in 2014.
 |
| Members of Dick & Lottie with Alan Ayckbourn in 2015 |
“I have known John & Richard for many years and seeing their company, Dick & Lottie, grow and succeed beyond anyone’s expectations has been a pleasure. I have met few people so committed to producing an authentic Ayckbourn experience and their productions constantly set a benchmark for amateur - and even professional - productions of his plays. I’m delighted the website is now the company’s patron and will be playing a part in the company’s future.”
John Cotgrave, Artistic Director of Dick & Lottie, is delighted at the recognition and association with the website and Alan Ayckbourn’s Archivist, Simon Murgatroyd.
“Dick & Lottie is thrilled and honoured to have such a prestigious patron. It is a kite mark recognising the quality we achieve with the staging of Ayckbourn's plays - past and present. We look forward to a burgeoning relationship in the coming years.”
Further information on Dick & Lottie can be found via the Dick & Lottie Facebook page and at Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website here.
For any reader wanting a clarification of what a Patron / Patronage is (in this context), please read the second comment below.
Neighbourhood Watch can be seen at The Coach House Theatre, Malvern, from 16 - 17 February (click here for details and bookings) and at South Hill Park, Bracknell from 18 - 19 February (click here for details).
Further information about the production and future Dick & Lottie productions can be found at Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website here or via the Dick & Lottie Facebook page.
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Alain Resnais on Life Of Riley
French film auteur Alain Resnais was a long-time fan and friend of the playwright Alan Ayckbourn and adapted three of his plays into acclaimed films.
The film-maker died in March 2014 and it seems fitting that one year on, his final film, an adaptation of Ayckbourn's Life Of Riley, will be released in UK Cinemas on 6 March.
The blog today offers Resnais's own insight into his film.
"Why is the original title Aimer, Boire et Chanter, which has nothing to do with the original title of Alan Ayckbourn’s play, Life of Riley? It’s a question of rhythm. Pink Floyd’s music permeated all through the play. That to me indicated a specific era, the 1960s and 1970s, and I wanted to move away from it. I try hard to give rhythm to the changes of pace in a film, so that the directing is full of contrast: moments when the direction is reserved and academic, and then suddenly there’s a change in tone. Here’s what I dream of: that the viewer in the movie theatre says to himself, “yeah, okay, it’s filmed theatre,” and then suddenly changes his mind: “yes, but in theatre you can’t do that...” And it goes back and forth from theatre to film, and sometimes over to comic strips with Blutch’s input. I’d like to try to achieve what Raymond Queneau called in Saint-Glinglin “la brouchecoutaille,” a sort of ratatouille, by breaking down the walls between film and theatre and thus ending up totally free. I say it for all my films: what interests me is form, and if there’s no form, there’s no emotion. I still get a kick out of bringing together things that shouldn’t meet. It’s that I call the attraction of danger, of the abyss. Keeping constantly in mind the standard answer I give the question, “Why do you make movies?” - “To see how they’re made.” So I naturally fell for Ayckbourn’s theater, which might seem like light comedy, but that’s not at all the case. Just look at the risks he takes with dramatic construction every time. One day he said this, “I try to do cinema with my theatre, and Resnais does theatre for the cinema.”
How did it all begin? I had read in a magazine that the very prolific Mr. Ayckbourn was putting on his plays in the little seaside resort of Scarborough, in a theatre in which the audience itself served as the three walls. Sabine and I went up there as if on a safari deep into an exotic jungle. We saw one play. The actors had to keep in mind the three “walls” of viewers and, as for the audience, it had to take a leap of faith to believe what they couldn’t see. That’s also a good definition of the cinema. From that point on, I told myself, “That’s my man.” We kept returning to Scarborough for four or five years anonymously until one day an actor recognized me during intermission and said, “What are you doing here? The French never come here. There are Japanese, Germans, but not French.” Ayckbourn and I finally met, we had a beer, and I complimented him. He sighed, “Obviously I’m not Chekhov.” I answered, “Well, no, you’re much better than Chekhov." It was an encounter filled with emotion. A few years later I saw Sabine laughing to herself reading a huge Ayckbourn play entitled Intimate Exchanges, which only used two actors to play a multitude of characters, but you had to go to the theatre twelve times to see the entire play! I went to see Ayckbourn to ask him if he’d agree for me to adapt it into what was to become Smoking / No Smoking. He had some forty plays to his credit at the time. He said to me, “I was prepared for anything except for you to pick that one. You’re even crazier than I am.” And I knew from reading an article that he hated people making films from his plays due to the obligations it involved, so I made him a promise: “If I find a producer who’s willing to finance the film, I won’t tell you, I won’t call you, I won’t ask you to read the adaptation, I won’t invite you to dinner. You’ll hear nothing from me until the film is finished and I can show it to you. Then and only then you can decide whether or not you accept paternity.” He lit up. And I’ve kept my promise still today. For Coeurs (the original play is Private Fears in Public Places) as well.
The big problem posed in adapting Life of Riley was this: how can a movie audience understand that there are four gardens that do not touch each other? I thus used Blutch’s drawings, photographs of Yorkshire, with a few road shots so that people would understand that the gardens were sometimes as much as twenty kilometres apart. Hopefully, by mixing these three elements that don’t go together – Blutch drawings don’t resemble Jacques Saulnier’s sets, which don’t look at all like the roads of Yorkshire - the audience grasps the notion of distance. I wanted freedom in making the film. Laurent Herbiet and I worked in a very special way. Herbiet is a magician at the computer. Hardly had I spoken a sentence than it was in the machine. Sometimes he had even typed what I would say before I said it. We thus took the original play and storyboarded it right away. For this phase of the work, I use little plastic figurines that represent the actors and move them around. They are often film characters brought back from my travels. I like them to be as anonymous as possible. It helps me a lot, I can do the breakdown at the same time as Herbiet suggests shortcuts and links between sequences. I made Ayckbourn laugh one day by saying to him, “I’m against cuts, but I’m for contractions.” Jean-Marie Besset, whose work as an adapter and author I knew and admired, then took care of the translation and worked on the already breakdown English version.
“Aimer, Boire et Chanter”? You take three normal couples, or what you’d call normal, whether they’re very happy or very miserable. All it takes is a single event to perturb them, the arrival of George, and everything becomes hysterical. Yes, it’s funny, but there are nevertheless moments when the shadow of death passes, to light music. Something fairly rare happened with this film: when it was finished, the editor, Hervé De Luze, and myself noticed that what we call the offcut bin - the place we throw offcuts into, the deleted scenes - was empty. Nothing had been cut, everything had been shot. Yes, you can say it, we left no trash! It’s true that there were a lot of sequence shots, scenes filmed in continuity. The actors were amazing, in fact. They’d get together and rehearse of their own accord outside the shooting schedule. That saved a huge amount of time.
What makes it still cinema, even though we used all sorts of theatrical artifices, down to replacing doors by painted backdrops that could be pulled aside? That’s a real mystery. Of course, even if it worked in the film’s favour, there was the issue of saving money. My approach was reinforced by taking a big leap back in time to Sacha Pitoëff and his wife. Every time they’d put on a play at the Théâtre des Mathurins, they were short of funds for the sets. They’d use old curtains and borrow old carpets and that way managed to suggest sumptuous interiors. I told Jacques Saulnier about that, saying, “If Sacha Pitoëff did it, you can do it too.” He made a feeble protest, saying “Yes, but in the movies...” I said, “Well, we’re going to try it.”"
Life Of Riley is being distributedin the UK by Eureka! Entertainment and will be released to select cinemas on 6 March.
The film-maker died in March 2014 and it seems fitting that one year on, his final film, an adaptation of Ayckbourn's Life Of Riley, will be released in UK Cinemas on 6 March.
The blog today offers Resnais's own insight into his film.
How did it all begin? I had read in a magazine that the very prolific Mr. Ayckbourn was putting on his plays in the little seaside resort of Scarborough, in a theatre in which the audience itself served as the three walls. Sabine and I went up there as if on a safari deep into an exotic jungle. We saw one play. The actors had to keep in mind the three “walls” of viewers and, as for the audience, it had to take a leap of faith to believe what they couldn’t see. That’s also a good definition of the cinema. From that point on, I told myself, “That’s my man.” We kept returning to Scarborough for four or five years anonymously until one day an actor recognized me during intermission and said, “What are you doing here? The French never come here. There are Japanese, Germans, but not French.” Ayckbourn and I finally met, we had a beer, and I complimented him. He sighed, “Obviously I’m not Chekhov.” I answered, “Well, no, you’re much better than Chekhov." It was an encounter filled with emotion. A few years later I saw Sabine laughing to herself reading a huge Ayckbourn play entitled Intimate Exchanges, which only used two actors to play a multitude of characters, but you had to go to the theatre twelve times to see the entire play! I went to see Ayckbourn to ask him if he’d agree for me to adapt it into what was to become Smoking / No Smoking. He had some forty plays to his credit at the time. He said to me, “I was prepared for anything except for you to pick that one. You’re even crazier than I am.” And I knew from reading an article that he hated people making films from his plays due to the obligations it involved, so I made him a promise: “If I find a producer who’s willing to finance the film, I won’t tell you, I won’t call you, I won’t ask you to read the adaptation, I won’t invite you to dinner. You’ll hear nothing from me until the film is finished and I can show it to you. Then and only then you can decide whether or not you accept paternity.” He lit up. And I’ve kept my promise still today. For Coeurs (the original play is Private Fears in Public Places) as well.
The big problem posed in adapting Life of Riley was this: how can a movie audience understand that there are four gardens that do not touch each other? I thus used Blutch’s drawings, photographs of Yorkshire, with a few road shots so that people would understand that the gardens were sometimes as much as twenty kilometres apart. Hopefully, by mixing these three elements that don’t go together – Blutch drawings don’t resemble Jacques Saulnier’s sets, which don’t look at all like the roads of Yorkshire - the audience grasps the notion of distance. I wanted freedom in making the film. Laurent Herbiet and I worked in a very special way. Herbiet is a magician at the computer. Hardly had I spoken a sentence than it was in the machine. Sometimes he had even typed what I would say before I said it. We thus took the original play and storyboarded it right away. For this phase of the work, I use little plastic figurines that represent the actors and move them around. They are often film characters brought back from my travels. I like them to be as anonymous as possible. It helps me a lot, I can do the breakdown at the same time as Herbiet suggests shortcuts and links between sequences. I made Ayckbourn laugh one day by saying to him, “I’m against cuts, but I’m for contractions.” Jean-Marie Besset, whose work as an adapter and author I knew and admired, then took care of the translation and worked on the already breakdown English version.
“Aimer, Boire et Chanter”? You take three normal couples, or what you’d call normal, whether they’re very happy or very miserable. All it takes is a single event to perturb them, the arrival of George, and everything becomes hysterical. Yes, it’s funny, but there are nevertheless moments when the shadow of death passes, to light music. Something fairly rare happened with this film: when it was finished, the editor, Hervé De Luze, and myself noticed that what we call the offcut bin - the place we throw offcuts into, the deleted scenes - was empty. Nothing had been cut, everything had been shot. Yes, you can say it, we left no trash! It’s true that there were a lot of sequence shots, scenes filmed in continuity. The actors were amazing, in fact. They’d get together and rehearse of their own accord outside the shooting schedule. That saved a huge amount of time.
What makes it still cinema, even though we used all sorts of theatrical artifices, down to replacing doors by painted backdrops that could be pulled aside? That’s a real mystery. Of course, even if it worked in the film’s favour, there was the issue of saving money. My approach was reinforced by taking a big leap back in time to Sacha Pitoëff and his wife. Every time they’d put on a play at the Théâtre des Mathurins, they were short of funds for the sets. They’d use old curtains and borrow old carpets and that way managed to suggest sumptuous interiors. I told Jacques Saulnier about that, saying, “If Sacha Pitoëff did it, you can do it too.” He made a feeble protest, saying “Yes, but in the movies...” I said, “Well, we’re going to try it.”"
Life Of Riley is being distributedin the UK by Eureka! Entertainment and will be released to select cinemas on 6 March.
Thursday, January 8, 2015
The Five Most Popular FAQs
Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website receives a constant stream of enquiries about the playwrights and his plays, but some questions do crop up a bit more frequently than the rest.
Today, the blog looks at the top five queries to the website.
1) How do I pronounce Ayckbourn?
Ayckbourn is pronounced Ache-born (Ache rhyming with wake).
2) When and where was Alan Ayckbourn born?
Alan Ayckbourn was born on 12 April 1939 in Hampstead in London
3) Is Alan Ayckbourn the second most performed playwright in the UK / World after Shakespeare?
No. And if anyone says differently, ask them to provide empirical evidence to prove it. The issue is explored in depth here.
4) How many plays has Alan Ayckbourn written?
As of January 2015, Alan Ayckbourn has written 79 full length plays. The 79th and latest, Hero's Welcome, will premiere at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, in September 2015.
In addition, Alan Ayckbourn has also written 11 revues, 4 one-act plays, 2 plays for performance by young people, 2 plays for pre-school children, 5 adaptations of work by other authors, 1 screenplay and 1book.
5) Will Alan Ayckbourn read / advise on my play-scripts?
Alan Ayckbourn no longer accepts script submissions. Whilst Artistic Director at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, he spent 37 years reading and evaluating scripts (and five years at the BBC between 1965 and 1970 doing the same) as well as advising writers. With his retirement as Artistic Director in 2009, he felt it was time to pass the torch onto others so that he could understandably concentrate completely on his own writing and directing for the first time.
With regard to advice to writers and directors, he sincerely feels that everything he has to say on the subject can be found in his book The Crafty Art Of Playmaking (Faber, 2002) which is available via the website shop and many libraries.
Actually, there is another frequently asked question but we answered that last month (click here to read) to all the enquiries about the television adaptations of Alan Ayckbourn's plays being available to buy.
You can contact Alan Ayckbourn's website at www.alanayckbourn.net with your Ayckbourn related questions via the Contact page.
Today, the blog looks at the top five queries to the website.
1) How do I pronounce Ayckbourn?
Ayckbourn is pronounced Ache-born (Ache rhyming with wake).
2) When and where was Alan Ayckbourn born?
Alan Ayckbourn was born on 12 April 1939 in Hampstead in London
3) Is Alan Ayckbourn the second most performed playwright in the UK / World after Shakespeare?
No. And if anyone says differently, ask them to provide empirical evidence to prove it. The issue is explored in depth here.
4) How many plays has Alan Ayckbourn written?
As of January 2015, Alan Ayckbourn has written 79 full length plays. The 79th and latest, Hero's Welcome, will premiere at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, in September 2015.
In addition, Alan Ayckbourn has also written 11 revues, 4 one-act plays, 2 plays for performance by young people, 2 plays for pre-school children, 5 adaptations of work by other authors, 1 screenplay and 1book.
5) Will Alan Ayckbourn read / advise on my play-scripts?
Alan Ayckbourn no longer accepts script submissions. Whilst Artistic Director at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, he spent 37 years reading and evaluating scripts (and five years at the BBC between 1965 and 1970 doing the same) as well as advising writers. With his retirement as Artistic Director in 2009, he felt it was time to pass the torch onto others so that he could understandably concentrate completely on his own writing and directing for the first time.
With regard to advice to writers and directors, he sincerely feels that everything he has to say on the subject can be found in his book The Crafty Art Of Playmaking (Faber, 2002) which is available via the website shop and many libraries.
Actually, there is another frequently asked question but we answered that last month (click here to read) to all the enquiries about the television adaptations of Alan Ayckbourn's plays being available to buy.
You can contact Alan Ayckbourn's website at www.alanayckbourn.net with your Ayckbourn related questions via the Contact page.
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
The Stage 100 & 2014 Round-Up
As reported in yesterday's news round-up, Alan Ayckbourn was named in this year's 100 most influential figures in the UK theatre over 2014.
The Stage 100 is compiled annually by The Stage newspaper and Alan has been featured in the list many times over the years.
This year he was placed at 73rd position with the round-up: "British theatre's hardest working playwright keeps on going. In 2014, Ayckbourn's 78th play, Roundelay, premiered in Scarborough, where his musical, The Boy Who Fell Into A Book, also played. Arrivals & Departures also toured the UK, while the National Theatre produced a revival of A Small Family Business."
Alan was also placed fifth in The Stage's Top 5 Composers / Writers after Andrew Lloyd Webber, Alain Boubil & Claude-Michel Schoenberg, David Hare and Richard Bean.
2014 proved to be a busy year for all the playwright and in addition to The Stage's list of achievements, here's the blog's thoughts on some of the other Ayckbourn highlights of 2014.
> Arrivals & Departures touring to New York alongside Alan's revival of Time Of My Life and the new one act plays Farcicals. Performed at the 59E59 Theaters during the Brits Off Broadway festival, the productions received excellent reviews and Arrivals & Departures was named in Time magazine's Top 10 Shows of 2014.
> A Small Family Business became the first Ayckbourn play to be streamed live to cinemas around the world. Presented as part of the NT Live programme, the production arguably instantly became one of the most viewed Ayckbourn shows ever! It also meant his home theatre, the Stephen Joseph Theatre, was able to see A Small Family Business for the first time as the play is just one of four not to have been premiered in the town.
> The film adaptation of his play Life Of Riley - Aimer, Boire et Chanter - was released, but tempered by the fact that soon afterwards it director, the auteur and Alan's friend Alain Resnais died. Resnais had previously also adapted Intimate Exchanges and Private Fears In Public Places and Alan regard's Resnais's films as the finest screen adaptations of his work.
> Theatre Royal Bath staged a long overdue and well-received revival of Alan's 1998 play Things We Do For Love with Laurence Boswell directing an acclaimed ensemble.
> 2014 also marked the 50th anniversary of Alan's first West End production when Mr Whatnot opened at the New Arts Theatre in 1964.
> BBC Radio 4's Front Row dedicated its Christmas Day special to Alan, which was a nice surprise to end the year.
Let's hope 2015 is as busy and successful a year for Alan Ayckbourn!
The Stage 100 is compiled annually by The Stage newspaper and Alan has been featured in the list many times over the years.
This year he was placed at 73rd position with the round-up: "British theatre's hardest working playwright keeps on going. In 2014, Ayckbourn's 78th play, Roundelay, premiered in Scarborough, where his musical, The Boy Who Fell Into A Book, also played. Arrivals & Departures also toured the UK, while the National Theatre produced a revival of A Small Family Business."
Alan was also placed fifth in The Stage's Top 5 Composers / Writers after Andrew Lloyd Webber, Alain Boubil & Claude-Michel Schoenberg, David Hare and Richard Bean.
2014 proved to be a busy year for all the playwright and in addition to The Stage's list of achievements, here's the blog's thoughts on some of the other Ayckbourn highlights of 2014.
> Arrivals & Departures touring to New York alongside Alan's revival of Time Of My Life and the new one act plays Farcicals. Performed at the 59E59 Theaters during the Brits Off Broadway festival, the productions received excellent reviews and Arrivals & Departures was named in Time magazine's Top 10 Shows of 2014.
> A Small Family Business became the first Ayckbourn play to be streamed live to cinemas around the world. Presented as part of the NT Live programme, the production arguably instantly became one of the most viewed Ayckbourn shows ever! It also meant his home theatre, the Stephen Joseph Theatre, was able to see A Small Family Business for the first time as the play is just one of four not to have been premiered in the town.
> The film adaptation of his play Life Of Riley - Aimer, Boire et Chanter - was released, but tempered by the fact that soon afterwards it director, the auteur and Alan's friend Alain Resnais died. Resnais had previously also adapted Intimate Exchanges and Private Fears In Public Places and Alan regard's Resnais's films as the finest screen adaptations of his work.
> Theatre Royal Bath staged a long overdue and well-received revival of Alan's 1998 play Things We Do For Love with Laurence Boswell directing an acclaimed ensemble.
> 2014 also marked the 50th anniversary of Alan's first West End production when Mr Whatnot opened at the New Arts Theatre in 1964.
> BBC Radio 4's Front Row dedicated its Christmas Day special to Alan, which was a nice surprise to end the year.
Let's hope 2015 is as busy and successful a year for Alan Ayckbourn!
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
The Ayckbourn On DVD Question...
It's that time of the year again when the majority of emails Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website's receives are...
Where can I get a DVD / Blu-ray of the BBC's version of [insert Ayckbourn play title of choice]?
The full answer can be found in the Film, TV & Radio section of the official website, but - apologies for constant blog readers who have read this before - it's worth repeating here.
The simple answer to the question is: unfortunately, none of the BBC's television adaptations of Alan Ayckbourn's plays have ever been commercially released. And as for the non-BBC television adaptations, you're limited to The Norman Conquests on DVD.
Frustrating as it may be for Ayckbourn fans, there appears to be little inclination to release the TV adaptations commercially either now or in the future.
The reasons for this are not obvious - and are not known to Sir Alan - but are presumably commercial in nature. Whilst, as Ayckbourn fans, it may seem a no-brainer to release archive television material onto DVD or blu-ray, there are always going to be hurdles in the way.
Not least the costs - be they restoration of prints, licensing costs or just the standard compensation to the creative talent involved - and on top of all that, there is the principal question of will it sell enough to be commercially viable!
And, sadly, if we're objectively looking at demand for the TV plays, the fact the last Ayckbourn repeated on the BBC (Season's Greetings in 2011) did not even make it into the BBC3 Top Ten for that week (which makes its a pitifully small viewing figure given BBC3's ratings) is hardly a glowing endorsement for the company to take the risk of a commercial release.
What is perhaps worth emphasising is that Alan Ayckbourn himself is not one of the reasons why the likes of the BBC’s Season’s Greetings, Absent Friends and Absurd Person Singular are not available. In principal, he has never had any objection to the release of the plays on DVD or blu-ray. However, he doesn't have any influence or say in the matter as the all important initial decision as to whether to release the films has to be taken by the BBC (or the relevant rights holder).
So, sadly, for those of you who hoping to see the BBC’s Season’s Greetings this Christmas - or any of the other BBC adaptations (Absent Friends, Absurd Person Singular, Relatively Speaking and Way Upstream) or the ITV adaptations (Bedroom Farce, Just Between Ourselves and Time And Time Again) - it’s going to be another frustrating year (probably best making that years).
But if the situation should ever change and the BBC does decide to release the Ayckbourn television adaptations or even just repeat them or make them available on iPlayer, we’ll be the first to let you know at www.alanayckbourn.net.
In the meantime, much as we'd like to help and much as we'd like to see the television adaptations ourselves, we don't have any means to access them or a secret stash of them. Sorry to all those who have written or may consider writing - the answer, for the foreseeable future, is there is no way to get them.
Where can I get a DVD / Blu-ray of the BBC's version of [insert Ayckbourn play title of choice]?
The full answer can be found in the Film, TV & Radio section of the official website, but - apologies for constant blog readers who have read this before - it's worth repeating here.
The simple answer to the question is: unfortunately, none of the BBC's television adaptations of Alan Ayckbourn's plays have ever been commercially released. And as for the non-BBC television adaptations, you're limited to The Norman Conquests on DVD.
Frustrating as it may be for Ayckbourn fans, there appears to be little inclination to release the TV adaptations commercially either now or in the future.
The reasons for this are not obvious - and are not known to Sir Alan - but are presumably commercial in nature. Whilst, as Ayckbourn fans, it may seem a no-brainer to release archive television material onto DVD or blu-ray, there are always going to be hurdles in the way.
Not least the costs - be they restoration of prints, licensing costs or just the standard compensation to the creative talent involved - and on top of all that, there is the principal question of will it sell enough to be commercially viable!
And, sadly, if we're objectively looking at demand for the TV plays, the fact the last Ayckbourn repeated on the BBC (Season's Greetings in 2011) did not even make it into the BBC3 Top Ten for that week (which makes its a pitifully small viewing figure given BBC3's ratings) is hardly a glowing endorsement for the company to take the risk of a commercial release.
What is perhaps worth emphasising is that Alan Ayckbourn himself is not one of the reasons why the likes of the BBC’s Season’s Greetings, Absent Friends and Absurd Person Singular are not available. In principal, he has never had any objection to the release of the plays on DVD or blu-ray. However, he doesn't have any influence or say in the matter as the all important initial decision as to whether to release the films has to be taken by the BBC (or the relevant rights holder).
So, sadly, for those of you who hoping to see the BBC’s Season’s Greetings this Christmas - or any of the other BBC adaptations (Absent Friends, Absurd Person Singular, Relatively Speaking and Way Upstream) or the ITV adaptations (Bedroom Farce, Just Between Ourselves and Time And Time Again) - it’s going to be another frustrating year (probably best making that years).
But if the situation should ever change and the BBC does decide to release the Ayckbourn television adaptations or even just repeat them or make them available on iPlayer, we’ll be the first to let you know at www.alanayckbourn.net.
In the meantime, much as we'd like to help and much as we'd like to see the television adaptations ourselves, we don't have any means to access them or a secret stash of them. Sorry to all those who have written or may consider writing - the answer, for the foreseeable future, is there is no way to get them.
Friday, April 4, 2014
Ayckbourn On The Airwaves
Alan Ayckbourn will be the subject of this weekend's Profile on BBC alongside several plays coinciding with the playwright's birthday next weekend.
Profile on BBC Radio 4 will present a short insight into the playwright as he approaches his 75th birthday by people who know and have worked with him. It can be heard at 7pm on Saturday 5 April and 5.40pm on Sunday 6 April. Click here for the programme's webpage.
There's also a chance to hear the playwright's acclaimed 1980 play Man Of The Moment on Radio 4 Extra this weekend with a cast which features Janie Dee and Tim Pigott-Smith amongst others.
Man of The Moment can be heard on Saturday at 6am and 4pm and on Sunday at 4am. It will be available on BBC iPlayer for seven days following Sunday's broadcast. Further information can be found here.
Alan Ayckbourn's 75th birthday will be marked by a broadcast of Relatively Speaking on Saturday 12 April at 6am and 4pm and on Sunday 13 April at 4am. The production stars Rosemary Leach, Michael Aldridge, Nigel Lambert and Joanna Wake. It will also be available on BBC iPlayer for seven days and further information can be found here.
There's also a final chance to catch Alan Ayckbourn's Things We Do For Love, which is currently on BBC iPlayer until Sunday 6 April and can be found here.
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Alain Resnais: 1922 - 2014
Updated: 21:52 03/02/14 with Alan Ayckbourn quote
Alain Resnais, the acclaimed French film auteur, has died this weekend at the age of 91.
His last film was Aimer, Boire et Chanter, an adaptation of Alan Ayckbourn's Life Of Riley. This was the third Ayckbourn play adapted by Resnais following Smoking / No Smoking (Intimate Exchanges) in 1993 and Coeurs (Private Fears In Public Places) in 2006.
Sir Alan Ayckbourn said of the news: "I have lost not only a dear personal friend but a close kindred creative spirit."
Resnais was a great fan of Alan Ayckbourn's work and the pair first met in Scarborough at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, to which Resnais frequently visited. He later married his wife Sabine Azema in Scarborough, for whom Alan Ayckbourn wrote a French-speaking part in his play House & Garden (1999) as a wedding present.
Alan Ayckbourn recently said he thought Aimer, Boire et Chanter - which has just won a Silver Bear at the Berlinale 2014 - was "extraordinaire."
His producer, Jean-Louis Livi, also noted Resnais was working on his next script Arrivées Et Départs; an adaptation of Alan Ayckbourn's 2013 play Arrivals & Departures.
The Guardian's obituary for Alain Resnais can be found here and the Variety obituary here.
Alain Resnais, the acclaimed French film auteur, has died this weekend at the age of 91.
Sir Alan Ayckbourn said of the news: "I have lost not only a dear personal friend but a close kindred creative spirit."
Resnais was a great fan of Alan Ayckbourn's work and the pair first met in Scarborough at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, to which Resnais frequently visited. He later married his wife Sabine Azema in Scarborough, for whom Alan Ayckbourn wrote a French-speaking part in his play House & Garden (1999) as a wedding present.
Alan Ayckbourn recently said he thought Aimer, Boire et Chanter - which has just won a Silver Bear at the Berlinale 2014 - was "extraordinaire."
His producer, Jean-Louis Livi, also noted Resnais was working on his next script Arrivées Et Départs; an adaptation of Alan Ayckbourn's 2013 play Arrivals & Departures.
The Guardian's obituary for Alain Resnais can be found here and the Variety obituary here.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
2013's 10 Best Ayckbourn Moments
2013 proved to be a busy year for Alan Ayckbourn - he alone premiered three new plays and directed six new productions!
To mark the year's end, here is my own personal list of best and notable Ayckbourn moments during the past 12 months. I'm sure you'll have your own too.
1) Alan Ayckbourn and Bedroom Farce featuring so prominently in the National Theatre's 50th anniversary celebrations. Congratulations to Penelope Wilton and Nicholas le Provost for demonstrating there's still a place for pilchards in bed!
2) The critically acclaimed West End revival of Relatively Speaking marking the 45th anniversary of its original West End production.
3) Alan Ayckbourn's 76th play Surprises being nominated for the UK Theatre Awards Best New Play. The play may have divided audiences, but it is always nice to see Alan recognised for his writing.
4) The west coast directional debut of Alan with the north American premiere of Sugar Daddies at the ACT, Seattle - with, according to all reports, an outstanding ensemble cast.
5) His new play Arrivals & Departures at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, gaining a five star review from Libby Purves in The Times (and whose excellent blog TheatreCat can be found here) and demonstrably proving Alan Ayckbourn continues to experiment with form with startling results 77 plays on.
6) Haunting Julia - finally - being released for amateur performance (if only Samuel French would now publish it as an acting edition!). Hint of bias here as Haunting Julia is one of this writer's favourite plays...
7) The publication by Bloomsbury of Stephen Joseph: Theatre Pioneer & Provocateur by Paul Elsam; the first major book to be published about the life and work of Alan Ayckbourn's most significant mentor - and in which there are notable contributions from Alan.
8) The well received and highly ambitious Ayckbourn season at the Eclipse Theatre in Chicago.
9) Neighbourhood Watch being published by Samuel French (and, subsequently, the reduction in emails to www.alanayckbourn.net asking when it would be published!)
And a purely personal one...
10) Having my book Unseen Ayckbourn feature in The Stage's best theatre books of 2013 - oh, and completely relaunching www.alanayckbourn.net in July complete with new look. Thanks for all the support and kind words about it!
Happy New Year to all supporters of this blog and the website. May 2014 be a prosperous year for you all!
To mark the year's end, here is my own personal list of best and notable Ayckbourn moments during the past 12 months. I'm sure you'll have your own too.
1) Alan Ayckbourn and Bedroom Farce featuring so prominently in the National Theatre's 50th anniversary celebrations. Congratulations to Penelope Wilton and Nicholas le Provost for demonstrating there's still a place for pilchards in bed!
2) The critically acclaimed West End revival of Relatively Speaking marking the 45th anniversary of its original West End production.
3) Alan Ayckbourn's 76th play Surprises being nominated for the UK Theatre Awards Best New Play. The play may have divided audiences, but it is always nice to see Alan recognised for his writing.
4) The west coast directional debut of Alan with the north American premiere of Sugar Daddies at the ACT, Seattle - with, according to all reports, an outstanding ensemble cast.
5) His new play Arrivals & Departures at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, gaining a five star review from Libby Purves in The Times (and whose excellent blog TheatreCat can be found here) and demonstrably proving Alan Ayckbourn continues to experiment with form with startling results 77 plays on.
6) Haunting Julia - finally - being released for amateur performance (if only Samuel French would now publish it as an acting edition!). Hint of bias here as Haunting Julia is one of this writer's favourite plays...
7) The publication by Bloomsbury of Stephen Joseph: Theatre Pioneer & Provocateur by Paul Elsam; the first major book to be published about the life and work of Alan Ayckbourn's most significant mentor - and in which there are notable contributions from Alan.
8) The well received and highly ambitious Ayckbourn season at the Eclipse Theatre in Chicago.
9) Neighbourhood Watch being published by Samuel French (and, subsequently, the reduction in emails to www.alanayckbourn.net asking when it would be published!)
And a purely personal one...
10) Having my book Unseen Ayckbourn feature in The Stage's best theatre books of 2013 - oh, and completely relaunching www.alanayckbourn.net in July complete with new look. Thanks for all the support and kind words about it!
Happy New Year to all supporters of this blog and the website. May 2014 be a prosperous year for you all!
Friday, December 20, 2013
Unseen Ayckbourn recommended by The Stage
The Stage has listed the book Unseen Ayckbourn amongst its pick of theatre books of the year.
Unseen Ayckbourn, by Alan Ayckbourn's archivist Simon Murgatroyd, is highlighted in the newspapers' 'best books and CDs of the year' and notes:
"Self-published Unseen Ayckbourn was a fascinating examination of the playwright's rarely seen, withdrawn, lost and (occasionally) altered plays by official archivist Simon Murgatroyd."
The book (which is available from Lulu publishing here) draws on Simon Murgatroyd's years of experience as the playwright's archivist exploring Ayckbourn rarities over more than 55 years.
From his school day writing to his earliest existing play, The Season, to unwritten plays such as Sight Unseen to the present day with unused concepts for Surprises, Unseen Ayckbourn explores a wealth of material relating to withdrawn, unpublished, lost and never seen plays and ideas for plays.
It also includes exclusive extracts from many of the withdrawn plays as well as extensive quotes from Alan Ayckbourn himself about the plays. The book also includes an exclusive conversation with the playwright about his early writing career and a behind the scenes look at the musical Jeeves.
Unseen Ayckbourn is available now and can be ordered online by clicking here.
Unseen Ayckbourn, by Alan Ayckbourn's archivist Simon Murgatroyd, is highlighted in the newspapers' 'best books and CDs of the year' and notes:
The book (which is available from Lulu publishing here) draws on Simon Murgatroyd's years of experience as the playwright's archivist exploring Ayckbourn rarities over more than 55 years.
From his school day writing to his earliest existing play, The Season, to unwritten plays such as Sight Unseen to the present day with unused concepts for Surprises, Unseen Ayckbourn explores a wealth of material relating to withdrawn, unpublished, lost and never seen plays and ideas for plays.
It also includes exclusive extracts from many of the withdrawn plays as well as extensive quotes from Alan Ayckbourn himself about the plays. The book also includes an exclusive conversation with the playwright about his early writing career and a behind the scenes look at the musical Jeeves.
Unseen Ayckbourn is available now and can be ordered online by clicking here.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
10 Facts: Things We Do For Love
To mark yesterday's announcement of the Theatre Royal Bath's major revival of Things We Do For Love in 2014, here's 10 facts about the play.
> Things We Do For Love is Alan Ayckbourn's 51st full length play.
> The world premiere was held at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, on 29 April 1997.
> The London premiere was held at the Gielgud Theatre on 3 March 1998; it would transfer to the Duchess Theatre on 26 August 1998.
> Things We Do For Love was only the fourth play Alan Ayckbourn wrote specifically for end-stage performance and the first Ayckbourn play to be performed in the end-stage at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough (the end-stage question is slightly complex, see note at foot of the page).
> The motivation for writing an end-stage play was partly derived from a funding crisis which hit the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the months after the new venue had opened in 1996. Facing calls to cut costs and to close The McCarthy auditorium, Alan Ayckbourn instead wrote a play specifically for the end-stage space.
> One of the play's inspirations was a from the movie In The Line Of Fire in which Clint Eastwood and Rene Russo passionately strip each other, but it is shot entirely from floor level so we see only the characters' feet and their clothes falling to the floor. Things We Do For Love similarly features a sex scene in which we can only see the feet of the protagonists and the foot of the bed they end up in.
> Alan Ayckbourn won the Lloyds Private Banking Playwright of the Year for Things We Do For Love. He was the first and last recipient of the award which closed in the months following the initial award.
> The play was adapted for the radio by the BBC and directed by Gordon House, a veteran adaptor of Alan Ayckbourn's plays for the radio. It featured Joanna van Gyseghem, Teresa Gallagher and Cameron Stewart reprising their roles from the original Scarborough production.
> It is the first Ayckbourn play to feature the 'F' word.
> Things We Do For Love has the distinction of being the Ayckbourn play whose title is incorrectly reported the most frequently. It is constantly referred to as The Things We Do For Love rather than just Things We Do For Love.
Things We Do For Love opens at the Theatre Royal Bath from 16 - 26 April, 2014, before going on tour; details of which will be announced soon.
* The number of plays Alan Ayckbourn considers he has written for the end-stage can be a confusing one as he has written plays originally produced in the end-stage which he does not consider end-stage and also plays originally produced in the round, which he considers are end-stage!
Alan considers the following plays as his end-stage plays: Bedroom Farce, A Small Family Business, Haunting Julia, Things We Do For Love and Virtual Reality. All these plays were conceived in the playwright's mind as end-stage productions and generally work best there. However, both Bedroom Farce and Haunting Julia were originally produced three-sided and have been successfully produced in the round. Arguably, they work best in the end-stage for which they were originally conceived though.
Just to complicate matters, the world premieres of Jeeves and House (from House & Garden) took place in the end-stage, but Alan does not consider them end-stage plays as he did not conceive them specifically for end-stage performance, that just happened to be the staging they were first produced in.
 |
| The poster for the London premiere of Things We Do For Love in 1998. |
> The world premiere was held at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, on 29 April 1997.
> The London premiere was held at the Gielgud Theatre on 3 March 1998; it would transfer to the Duchess Theatre on 26 August 1998.
> Things We Do For Love was only the fourth play Alan Ayckbourn wrote specifically for end-stage performance and the first Ayckbourn play to be performed in the end-stage at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough (the end-stage question is slightly complex, see note at foot of the page).
> The motivation for writing an end-stage play was partly derived from a funding crisis which hit the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the months after the new venue had opened in 1996. Facing calls to cut costs and to close The McCarthy auditorium, Alan Ayckbourn instead wrote a play specifically for the end-stage space.
> One of the play's inspirations was a from the movie In The Line Of Fire in which Clint Eastwood and Rene Russo passionately strip each other, but it is shot entirely from floor level so we see only the characters' feet and their clothes falling to the floor. Things We Do For Love similarly features a sex scene in which we can only see the feet of the protagonists and the foot of the bed they end up in.
> Alan Ayckbourn won the Lloyds Private Banking Playwright of the Year for Things We Do For Love. He was the first and last recipient of the award which closed in the months following the initial award.
> The play was adapted for the radio by the BBC and directed by Gordon House, a veteran adaptor of Alan Ayckbourn's plays for the radio. It featured Joanna van Gyseghem, Teresa Gallagher and Cameron Stewart reprising their roles from the original Scarborough production.
> It is the first Ayckbourn play to feature the 'F' word.
> Things We Do For Love has the distinction of being the Ayckbourn play whose title is incorrectly reported the most frequently. It is constantly referred to as The Things We Do For Love rather than just Things We Do For Love.
Things We Do For Love opens at the Theatre Royal Bath from 16 - 26 April, 2014, before going on tour; details of which will be announced soon.
* The number of plays Alan Ayckbourn considers he has written for the end-stage can be a confusing one as he has written plays originally produced in the end-stage which he does not consider end-stage and also plays originally produced in the round, which he considers are end-stage!
Alan considers the following plays as his end-stage plays: Bedroom Farce, A Small Family Business, Haunting Julia, Things We Do For Love and Virtual Reality. All these plays were conceived in the playwright's mind as end-stage productions and generally work best there. However, both Bedroom Farce and Haunting Julia were originally produced three-sided and have been successfully produced in the round. Arguably, they work best in the end-stage for which they were originally conceived though.
Just to complicate matters, the world premieres of Jeeves and House (from House & Garden) took place in the end-stage, but Alan does not consider them end-stage plays as he did not conceive them specifically for end-stage performance, that just happened to be the staging they were first produced in.
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Happy 50th Anniversary Doctor Who!
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the first episode of the British television institution Doctor Who.
Sadly there is no direct link to Alan Ayckbourn - although he has written several time-travelling plays including Whenever which included a box which travelled through time....
However, the blog is going to indulgently link two of my passions (Alan Ayckbourn and Doctor Who, obviously) for one day only with a - admittedly - tenuous tour through the various incarnations of the Doctor and their even more tenuous links to Alan Ayckbourn.
So for a bit of fun, let's celebrate the life (so far) of the greatest time-traveller the universe has ever seen!
Verity Lambert, the famed original producer of Doctor Who and the BBC's first female drama producer, was responsible for producing the popular 1977 television adaptation of Alan Ayckbourn's The Norman Conquests. This was also notable because it was the first time six hours of the primetime evening television schedule had ever been given over to a living playwright.
Also the very first episode of Doctor Who - An Unearthly Child - was directed by a young director named Waris Hussein. In 2000, Waris Hussein directed an acclaimed audio adaptation of Alan Ayckbourn's play Just Between Ourselves for LA Theatre Works featuring Alfred Molina as Dennis.
Although many actors who have worked in Doctor Who have also worked with Alan Ayckbourn, Martin Jarvis probably has the earliest Doctor Who connection. Martin - who has worked with Alan in the West End and at his home theatre in Scarborough - played Hilio in The Web Planet opposite the first Doctor and would go on to appear in Invasion Of The Dinosaurs with the third Doctor and Vengeance On Varos with the sixth Doctor.
One of several very tenuous connections (!) to Alan Ayckbourn, but Patrick Troughton's son, David Troughton, will be known to many Ayckbourn fans for playing the role of Tom in the acclaimed 1977 television adaptation of The Norman Conquests - which was produced by Verity Lambert and also featured Richard Briers and Penelope Wilton, who would both go on to appear in Doctor Who. David has appeared in Doctor Who in Midnight, The Enemy of the World, The War Games and The Monster of Peladon (thanks to Paul Morris for suggesting the latter three serials).
David also played Harvey in the National Theatre's acclaimed 2010 revival of Season's Greetings - which also featured Doctor Who alumni Mark Gatiss and Catherine Tate.
The intrepid reporter Sarah Jane Smith is one of the most popular of the Doctor's companions - so popular she returned to the revived series for several adventures with the tenth Doctor as well as receiving her own spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures.
Sarah Jane Smith was played by the late Elisabeth Sladen, who was part of Scarborough Library Theatre company in 1969 and 1970 and appeared in two Ayckbourn world premieres: How The Other Half Loves (1969) and The Story So Far... (later retitled Family Circles) in 1970. In How The Other Half Loves, she created the role of Fiona Foster.
Not quite a direct link to Alan Ayckbourn - but a notable one for the theatre he is most associated with. In 1968, Tom Baker joined the company for the summer season at the Library Theatre, Scarborough, where Alan Ayckbourn made his writing and directing debuts and of which he would become the Artistic Director in 1972. Sadly, it is one of the few years since 1959 in which Alan Ayckbourn did not premiere or direct one of his plays but Baker appeared in several plays including Hay Fever and Arden Of Feversham; entirely coincidentally, this was the year before Elisabeth Sladen joined the company and who - as Sarah Jane Smith - is the companion most associated with Tom Baker's Doctor.
Although not as widely known as the television series, there has been a prolific amount of official Doctor Who audio adventures featuring the 'classic' Doctors (Doctors 1 - 8) over the years. In 2009, a series of three stories featuring the fifth Doctor (performed by Peter Davison) were released under the title Key 2 Time. Within them, Laura Doddington played Zara, one of two twins created in human form to find the Key to Time. She went on to star in a spin-off series of audio adventures about the character called Graceless.
Laura is a very prolific Ayckbourn actress who has worked with his Scarborough company a number of times including the world premieres of Miss Yesterday, Improbable Fiction, Life Of Riley and Surprises.
In 2003, following issues with the West End production of Damsels In Distress in the West End, Alan Ayckbourn put a temporary moratorium on all West End and major touring productions of his plays. Between 2003 and 2007, only the Stephen Joseph Theatre was touring Alan's plays. This altered in 2007 when veteran Ayckbourn actor and acclaimed director Robin Herford produced the first major UK tour since 2002 with Bedroom Farce.
This well-received production of the classic play featured the sixth Doctor, Colin Baker, as Ernest with Louise Jameson (who played the fourth Doctor's companion Leela) as his wife Delia. Colin has previously appeared in several other Ayckbourn plays and once said 'Alan Ayckbourn is a genius' - so we like him!
One of the most memorable villains of the Sylvester McCoy era was Sheila Hancock's portrayal of Helen A in The Happiness Patrol; now regarded as a thinly veiled allegory of the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Sheila Hancock was notably in the original West End production of Absurd Person Singular in 1973 as Marion Brewster-Wright; Absurd Person Singular still stands as the longest running single production of an Ayckbourn play in the West End.
The quintessential Ayckbourn actor Richard Briers also appeared opposite the seventh Doctor in The Happiness Patrol. Richard appeared in the West End premieres of Absurd Person Singular and Absent Friends.
The Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann)
A bit of a difficult and tenuous one here as Paul McGann has only appeared twice as the Doctor on screen (the TV movie and a mini episode for the 50th anniversary). He has been one of the most prolific Doctors though thanks to a range of official audio adventures, some of which have featured actors who have worked with and been directed by Alan Ayckbourn such as Samantha Bond, Nigel Havers, Julia McKenzie, Steven Pacey and Rupert Vansittart.
When Doctor Who returned to television in 2005, one of the most acclaimed and popular episodes was Dalek. This episode memorably re-introduced the Doctor's oldest and most popular foes, the Daleks.
The Hugo award nominated episode was written by Robert Shearman, an award winning author and playwright, who has had a number of plays premiered at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough; two of which - Fool To Yourself & Knights In Plastic Armour were directed by Alan Ayckbourn.
During the tenure of the ninth and tenth Doctors, the Scarborough-born actress Penelope Wilton played the recurring role of Harriet Jones (MP, then Prime Minister, then former Prime Minister and Dalek victim).
Penelope Wilton has numerous connections with Alan Ayckbourn; she was directed by him in the National Theatre's production of Sisterly Feelings, played Ruth in the London premiere of The Norman Conquests at the Greenwich Theatre and played Annie in the television adaptation of the trilogy.
Most recently, she appeared in a scene from Bedroom Farce alongside Nicholas le Provost as part of the National Theatre's 50th anniversary celebration production.
Two Christmas episode connections here as the stars of each of Matt Smith's first two Doctor Who Christmas specials have connections with Alan Ayckbourn.
In A Christmas Carol, Michael Gambon played the protagonist Kazran Sardick. Gambon is one of the most famous actors to be associated with Alan Ayckbourn and has appeared in more West End / National Theatre productions of Alan's plays than any other actor. He memorably played Tom in the original London production of The Norman Conquests and won Olivier Awards for his performances in A Chorus Of Disapproval and Man Of The Moment.
The following year, Claire Skinner played Madge Arwell in The Doctor, The Widow And The Wardrobe. Claire has worked with Alan Ayckbourn on several occasions and appeared in the world premiere production of The Revengers' Comedies and the London premiere of Invisible Friends at the National Theatre.
Apologies to the many, many actors who have worked with Alan Ayckbourn over the years and who have appeared in both classic and new Doctor Who adventures. There's an awful lot of them and too many to mention here!
Happy 50th anniversary to Doctor Who!
Update 23 November: And this Archivist's day has been very much made. As part of the Doctor Who 50th celebrations, a mock-documentary The Five Doctors(ish) Reboot was screened. And in a scene at the end, Doctor Who producer Russell T Davies makes an appearance with a poster for Alan Ayckbourn's Taking Steps very prominently displayed behind him! Two worlds collide at last!
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Happy 50th Birthday Mr Whatnot!
Alan Ayckbourn's first play to transfer to the West End celebrates its 50th anniversary today!
On 12 November 1963, Mr Whatnot opened at the Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent. It was Alan Ayckbourn's fifth full-length play and unlike anything he had written before or has written since.
The main character, Mint (or Mr Whatnot), is a mute, anarchic, piano-tuner and his adventures as he tries to woo the debutante girl of his dreams are surreal and often bizarre.
The play, which features an enormous and technically challenging sound plot of more than 300 effects (considerably easier to achieve today than on the technology available in 1963!), was a great success in its original production and was optioned for the West End by the producer Peter Bridge.
Unfortunately, the simplicity and charm of the original production was lost in its West End production, which was brutally received by the critics and the play closed two weeks after opening.
However, it went in to find success in other productions around the world and became particularly popular with schools. Earlier this year, the Royal & Derngate, Northampton, revived the play to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
Mr Whatnot is also notable as the first time Alan Ayckbourn directed a world premiere of one of his own plays.
Happy birthday Mr Whatnot!
On 12 November 1963, Mr Whatnot opened at the Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent. It was Alan Ayckbourn's fifth full-length play and unlike anything he had written before or has written since.
The main character, Mint (or Mr Whatnot), is a mute, anarchic, piano-tuner and his adventures as he tries to woo the debutante girl of his dreams are surreal and often bizarre.
The play, which features an enormous and technically challenging sound plot of more than 300 effects (considerably easier to achieve today than on the technology available in 1963!), was a great success in its original production and was optioned for the West End by the producer Peter Bridge.
Unfortunately, the simplicity and charm of the original production was lost in its West End production, which was brutally received by the critics and the play closed two weeks after opening.
However, it went in to find success in other productions around the world and became particularly popular with schools. Earlier this year, the Royal & Derngate, Northampton, revived the play to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
Mr Whatnot is also notable as the first time Alan Ayckbourn directed a world premiere of one of his own plays.
Happy birthday Mr Whatnot!
Friday, November 1, 2013
National Theatre: 50 Years On Stage
Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce is one of the many plays highlighted tomorrow in the live television screening of National Theatre: 50 Years On Stage.
This special production celebrates the 50th anniversary of the National Theatre drawing on plays and actors who have been part of the National Theatre over the past five decades.
Bedroom Farce was the first Ayckbourn play to be performed at the National Theatre when it opened in 1977 and the venue has staged 10 Ayckbourn plays since 1977.
It is part of a once-in-a-lifetime production which will bring together some of theatre's greatest stars for the celebration including Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Derek Jacobi, Helen Mirren, Penelope Wilton, Maggie Smith, Simon Russell Beale, Michael Gambon and Benedict Cumberbatch among many others.
The National Theatre first opened its doors in 1963 at the Old Vic, under Laurence Olivier. Now, 800 productions later, a cast of 100 will perform live some of the most memorable, ground-breaking, controversial and best-loved scenes from a number of these plays including Hamlet, The History Boys, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Jerry Springer the Opera, Guys and Dolls and War Horse.
The event will also combine rare glimpses from the archive alongside the live scenes directed by the outing Artistic Director Sir Nicholas Hytner.
The National Theatre: 50 Years On Stage can be seen on BBC2 at 9pm on Saturday 2 November.
This special production celebrates the 50th anniversary of the National Theatre drawing on plays and actors who have been part of the National Theatre over the past five decades.
Bedroom Farce was the first Ayckbourn play to be performed at the National Theatre when it opened in 1977 and the venue has staged 10 Ayckbourn plays since 1977.
It is part of a once-in-a-lifetime production which will bring together some of theatre's greatest stars for the celebration including Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Derek Jacobi, Helen Mirren, Penelope Wilton, Maggie Smith, Simon Russell Beale, Michael Gambon and Benedict Cumberbatch among many others.
The National Theatre first opened its doors in 1963 at the Old Vic, under Laurence Olivier. Now, 800 productions later, a cast of 100 will perform live some of the most memorable, ground-breaking, controversial and best-loved scenes from a number of these plays including Hamlet, The History Boys, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Jerry Springer the Opera, Guys and Dolls and War Horse.
The event will also combine rare glimpses from the archive alongside the live scenes directed by the outing Artistic Director Sir Nicholas Hytner.
The National Theatre: 50 Years On Stage can be seen on BBC2 at 9pm on Saturday 2 November.
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