Sir Alan Ayckbourn (born 12 April 1939) is a prolific British playwright and director.
His parents, who separated shortly after World War II, never married, and Ayckbourn's mother divorced her first husband to marry again in 1948. Ayckbourn wrote his first play at Wisborough Lodge (a preparatory school in the village of Wisborough Green) when he was about 10.
Although Ayckbourn continued to move where his career took him, he settled in Scarborough, eventually buying Longwestgate House, the house formerly owned by Stephen Joseph. In 1957, Ayckbourn married Christine Roland, another member of the Library Theatre company, and indeed Ayckbourn's first two plays were written jointly with her under the pseudonym of "Roland Allen".
In the following year, Ayckbourn appeared in six other plays at the Connaught Theatre, Worthing, and the Thorndyke theatre, Leatherhead. In 1957, Ayckbourn was employed by the director Stephen Joseph at the Library Theatre, Scarborough, the predecessor to the modern Stephen Joseph Theatre.
This employment led to Ayckbourn's first professional script commission, in 1958.
The result was The Square Cat, written under the pseudonym Roland Allen and first performed in 1959.
In this play, Ayckbourn himself played the character Jerry Watiss. After thirty-four appearances in plays at the Library Theatre, including four of his own, in 1962 Ayckbourn moved to Stoke-on-Trent to help set up the Victoria Theatre, (now the New Vic), where he appeared in a further eighteen plays.
But, after his transfer to Victoria Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent, there came Christmas v Mastermind, which flopped and is now universally regarded as Ayckbourn's greatest disaster. His fortunes began to revive in 1963 with Mr.
He left the Stoke company in 1964, officially to commit his time to the London production of Mr.
After this, Ayckbourn experimented by collaborating with comedians, first writing a monologue for Tommy Cooper, and later with Ronnie Barker, who played Lord Slingsby-Craddock in the London production of Mr Whatnot in 1964, for the scripts of for LWT's Hark at Barker.
Ayckbourn used the pseudonym 'Peter Caulfield' because he was under exclusive contract to the BBC at the time. Then, in 1965, back at the Scarborough Library Theatre, Meet my Father was produced, later retitled Relatively Speaking.
It is said that Joseph became both a mentor and father figure for Ayckbourn until his untimely death in 1967, and Ayckbourn has consistently spoken highly of him. Ayckbourn's career was briefly interrupted when he was called for National Service.
However, the marriage had difficulties which eventually led to their separation in 1971.
He has written and produced as of 2021, more than eighty full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their first performance.
The only failure during this period was a 1975 musical with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jeeves, and even this did little to dent Ayckbourn's popularity.
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. From the 1980s, Ayckbourn began to move away from the recurring themes of marriage and explore other contemporary themes, one example being Woman in Mind, a play performed entirely from the perspective of a Woman going through a nervous breakdown.
Throughout his writing career, all but four of his plays were premiered at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough in its three different locations. Ayckbourn received the CBE in 1987 and was knighted in the 1997 New Year Honours.
Like his mother, neither he nor Roland sought a divorce for the next thirty years and it was only in 1997 that they formally divorced; Ayckbourn married Stoney.
Throughout his writing career, all but four of his plays were premiered at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough in its three different locations. Ayckbourn received the CBE in 1987 and was knighted in the 1997 New Year Honours.
One side-effect of the timing is that, as Ayckbourn was awarded a knighthood a few months before the divorce, both his first and second wife were entitled to take the title of Lady Ayckbourn. In February 2006, he suffered a stroke in Scarborough, and stated: "I hope to be back on my feet, or should I say my left leg, as soon as possible, but I know it is going to take some time.
He has written and produced as of 2021, more than eighty full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their first performance.
He has written and produced as of 2021, more than eighty full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their first performance.
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Page generated on 2021-08-05