Alan Ayckbourn

Alan Ayckbourn (born April 12, 1939) is a popular and prolific English playwright.

Life

Ayckbourn was born in London and wrote his first play at prep school when he was about 10. At Haileybury, he toured Europe and America with the school Shakespeare. He left school at 17 to go straight into the theatre with an introduction to Sir Donald Wolfit by his French master. Ayckbourn joined Wolfit on tour as an assistant stage manager and actor.

Related Topics:
London - Haileybury - Europe - America - Donald Wolfit - Stage manager - Actor

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By 1957, Ayckbourn was acting with director Stephen Joseph at Scarborough. In 1959 he played Stanley in the second production of writer-director Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party.

Related Topics:
Stephen Joseph - Scarborough - Harold Pinter

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Ayckbourn has written and produced some sixty plays in Scarborough and London and is the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough. Almost all of his plays receive their first performance at this theatre. More than 25 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.

Related Topics:
Stephen Joseph Theatre - West End - Royal National Theatre - Royal Shakespeare Company - Relatively Speaking - 1967

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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 30 languages and are performed on stage and television throughout the world.

Related Topics:
Absurd Person Singular - Norman Conquests trilogy - Bedroom Farce - Just Between Ourselves - A Chorus Of Disapproval - Woman In Mind - A Small Family Business - Man Of The Moment - House & Garden

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Ayckbourn plays have also been filmed in French and English. Four of his plays have been seen on Broadway attracting two Tony nominations. In 1991, he received a Dramalogue Critics Award for his play Henceforward....

Related Topics:
Broadway - Tony - 1991 - Henceforward...

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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, experimenting with theatrical styles within the boundaries set by popular tastes.

Related Topics:
British newspapers - Suburb - Middle class

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