Alan Ayckbourn
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Alan Ayckbourn CBE | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 12, 1939 Hampstead, London |
| Occupation | Playwright and director |
| Nationality | British |
| Period | 1959 – present |
Sir Alan Ayckbourn CBE (born April 12, 1939) is a popular and prolific English playwright. He is frequently cited as the second most-performed English language playwright, after William Shakespeare.
Life
Ayckbourn was born in Hampstead, London. His mother Irene Worley was a writer of short stories who published successfully under the name of "Mary James". His father, Irene's second husband Horace Ayckbourn, was a distinguished orchestral violinist, at one time deputy leader of the London Symphony Orchestra. His parents, who separated shortly after World War II, never formally married, and Ayckbourn's mother divorced her first husband in order to marry again in 1948[1][2].
Ayckbourn wrote his first play at Wisborough Lodge prep school when he was about 10. While attending prep school as a boarder his mother wrote to him to tell him she was getting married to Cecil Pye, who was a bank manager, and when he was at home for the holidays his new family consisted of his mother, his stepfather and Christopher, his stepfather's son by an earlier marriage. It seems Cecil and Irene were not a happy couple. Paul Allen has compared characters and themes in Ayckbourn's mature plays with his childhood experience of several unconventional relationships and an unhappy marriage[3].
He attended Haileybury, and while studying there he toured Europe and America with the school Shakespeare company.
In 1957, Ayckbourn married his first wife Christine Roland, together having two sons, Steven and Philip. Alan’s second marriage was to Heather Stoney in 1997[4].
Career
On leaving school at 17 his theatrical career started immediately, with an introduction to Sir Donald Wolfit by his French master. Ayckbourn joined Wolfit on tour as an assistant stage manager and actor for three weeks.
In 1957, Ayckbourn employed by the director Stephen Joseph as an acting stage manager (a stage manager with acting roles) at the Library Theatre, Scarborough. In 1959 he played Stanley in Harold Pinter's self-directed second production of The Birthday Party.
After Ronnie Barker played Lord Slingsby-Craddock in the London production of Ayckbourn's Mr Whatnot in 1964, Ayckbourn collaborated on the scripts of Barker's television series for LWT Hark at Barker (in which Barker played Lord Rustless). Ayckbourn used the pseudonym "Peter Caulfield" because he was under exclusive contract to the BBC at the time. The London production of another early play, Relatively Speaking in 1967 helped to launch Richard Briers' career, and also featured Michael Hordern and Celia Johnson.
Ayckbourn has written and produced seventy full-length plays in Scarborough and London and is the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough. All but four of his plays have received their first performance at this theatre. More than 40 have subsequently been produced in the West End, at the Royal National Theatre or by the Royal Shakespeare Company since his first hit Relatively Speaking opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in 1967.
Major successes include Absurd Person Singular, The Norman Conquests trilogy, Bedroom Farce, Just Between Ourselves, A Chorus Of Disapproval, Woman In Mind, A Small Family Business, Man Of The Moment and House & Garden. His plays have won numerous awards, including seven London Evening Standard Awards. They have been translated into over 35 languages and are performed on stage and television throughout the world.
Plays by Ayckbourn have also been filmed for cinema and television in English, French, Polish, German and Dutch among others. Ten of his plays have been staged on Broadway, attracting two Tony nominations. In 1991, he received a Dramalogue Critics Award for his play Henceforward.... Alan received the CBE in 1987 and was knighted in 1997.
Although his plays have received major West End productions almost from the beginning of his writing career, and hence have been reviewed in British newspapers, Ayckbourn's work was for years routinely dismissed as being too slight for serious study. Recently, scholars have begun to view Ayckbourn as an important commentator on the lifestyles of the British suburban middle class, and as a stylistic innovator who experiments with theatrical styles within the boundaries set by popular tastes.
As well as writing, Ayckbourn also acts as director, both of his own plays and of other writers. In 1987 he directed four works in each of the auditoria of the Royal National Theatre, using a stock company for all four plays which included established performers like Michael Gambon, Polly Adams and Simon Caddell. Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge was performed in the Cottesloe, the farce "Tons of Money" by Will Evans and Valentine (with adaptations by Ayckbourn) was performed in the Lyttleton, 'Tis Pity She's A Whore was performed in the Olivier and his own A Small Family Business was also performed in the Olivier. Ayckbourn later directed Gambon in a season at the Stephen Joseph theatre in Scarborough that included Othello and a revival of his own Taking Steps.
In February 2006, he suffered a stroke, and states on his website that "I am making a good recovery from my recent stroke. I received an overwhelming number of get-well cards and good wishes. I was extremely touched by the love and concern shown by so many friends, acquaintances and occasionally complete strangers", adding "Rest assured I'll be back." In September 2006 he returned to work and premièred his 70th play If I Were You at the Stephen Joseph Theatre on 17 October 2006.
He announced on 1 June 2007 that he would retire as artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in 2008, but would continue to directed premieres and revivals of his work at the theatre.
Resumé
| 1957 - 1962: Acting stage manager (actor / stage manager) at the Library Theatre, Scarborough, Yorkshire |
| 1962 - 1964: Associate Director, Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire |
| 1964 - 1970: Drama producer, BBC Radio, Leeds |
| 1972 - 2008: Artistic Director, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough (formerly Library Theatre & Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round) |
| 1986 - 1988: Associate Director, National Theatre, London |
| 1991 - 1992: Professor of contemporary theatre, Oxford University |
Honours and awards
- 1973: Evening Standard Award
- 1974: Evening Standard Award
- 1977: Evening Standard Award
- 1981: Honorary degree of Doctor of letters (Litt. D.) from University of Hull
- 1985: Evening Standard Award for best comedy, for A Chorus of Disapproval
- 1986: Laurence Olivier Award for best comedy, for A Chorus of Disapproval
- 1987: Evening Standard Award for A Small Family Business
- 1987: Plays and Players Award
- 1987: Honorary degree of (Litt. D.) from Keele University
- 1987: Honorary degree of (Litt. D.) from University of Leeds
- 1987: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)
- 1989: Evening Standard Award
- 1990: Evening Standard Award
- 1997: Knight Bachelor
Works
Plays
Some of Ayckbourn's early play are unavailable for production.
| 1959 | The Square Cat (withdrawn by Ayckbourn) |
| 1959 | Love After All (withdrawn, no copies are known to survive) |
| 1960 | Dad's Tale (withdrawn) |
| 1961 | Standing Room Only (withdrawn) |
| 1962 | Christmas V Mastermind (withdrawn) |
| 1963 | Mr Whatnot |
| 1965 | Relatively Speaking (originally titled Meet My Father) |
| 1967 | The Sparrow (withdrawn) |
| 1969 | How The Other Half Loves |
| 1970 | Family Circles (originally titled The Story So Far…, retitled Me Times Me Times Me, then Me Times Me) |
| 1971 | Time And Time Again |
| 1972 | Absurd Person Singular |
| 1973 | Table Manners (originally titled Fancy Meeting You) (with Living Together and Round and Round the Garden, forms The Norman Conquests trilogy) |
| 1973 | Living Together (originally titled Make Yourself At Home) (Norman Conquests) |
| 1973 | Round and Round the Garden (Norman Conquests) |
| 1974 | Absent Friends |
| 1974 | Confusions |
| 1975 | Jeeves (musical) (musical collaboration with Andrew Lloyd-Webber, re-written 1996 as By Jeeves) |
| 1975 | Bedroom Farce |
| 1976 | Just Between Ourselves |
| 1977 | Ten Times Table |
| 1978 | Joking Apart |
| 1979 | Sisterly Feelings |
| 1979 | Taking Steps |
| 1980 | Suburban Strains |
| 1980 | Season's Greetings |
| 1981 | Way Upstream |
| 1981 | Making Tracks |
| 1982 | Intimate Exchanges (a play in four scenes with sixteen possible variations depending on choices made by the characters). Turned into a movie in 1993 by director Alain Resnais (Smoking/No Smoking), featuring Pierre Arditi and Sabine Azéma. |
| 1983 | It Could Be Any One Of Us |
| 1984 | A Chorus Of Disapproval |
| 1985 | Woman In Mind |
| 1987 | A Small Family Business |
| 1987 | Henceforward... |
| 1988 | Man Of The Moment |
| 1988 | Mr A's Amazing Maze Plays |
| 1989 | The Revengers' Comedies |
| 1989 | Invisible Friends |
| 1990 | Body Language |
| 1990 | This Is Where We Came In |
| 1990 | Callisto 5 (re-written in 1999 as Callisto#7) |
| 1991 | Wildest Dreams |
| 1991 | My Very Own Story |
| 1992 | Time Of My Life |
| 1992 | Dreams From A Summer House |
| 1994 | Communicating Doors |
| 1994 | Haunting Julia |
| 1994 | The Musical Jigsaw Play |
| 1995 | A Word From Our Sponsor |
| 1996 | The Champion Of Paribanou |
| 1997 | Things We Do For Love |
| 1998 | Comic Potential |
| 1998 | The Boy Who Fell Into A Book |
| 1999 | House (House and Garden form a diptych, to be performed simultaneously. They were published together as House & Garden) |
| 1999 | Garden |
| 2000 | Virtual Reality |
| 2000 | Whenever |
| 2001 | Gameplan (Damsels In Distress) |
| 2001 | Flatspin (Damsels In Distress) |
| 2001 | RolePlay (Damsels In Distress) |
| 2002 | Snake In The Grass |
| 2002 | The Jollies |
| 2003 | Sugar Daddies |
| 2003 | Orvin - Champion Of Champions |
| 2003 | My Sister Sadie |
| 2004 | Drowning on Dry Land |
| 2004 | Private Fears in Public Places - turned into a movie (Cœurs) by Alain Resnais in 2006, featuring Pierre Arditi, Sabine Azéma, Laura Morante, Isabelle Carré et Lambert Wilson |
| 2004 | Miss Yesterday |
| 2005 | Improbable Fiction |
| 2006 | If I Were You |
Books
- Ayckbourn, Alan (2003). The Crafty Art of Playmaking. USA: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 1-4039-6229-4.
- Ayckbourn, Alan (2004). The Crafty Art of Playmaking. UK: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-21510-6.
References
- Allen, Paul (2001). Alan Ayckbourn: Grinning at the Edge. Methuen. ISBN 0-413-73120-0.
- Allen, Paul (2004). A Pocket Guide to Alan Ayckbourn's Plays. Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-571-21492-4.
Notes
- ^ Biography at the Alan Ackbourn website accessed 27 Jun 2007
- ^ Allen (2001), p. 9
- ^ see Allen (2001), chapter 1
- ^ 20 Facts about Alan Ayckbourn accessed 27 Jun 2007