Sir Alan Ayckbourn is a prolific British playwright and director. He has written and produced as of 2024, 90 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. 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.
Claire Skinner is an English actress, known in the United Kingdom for her television career, particularly playing Sue Brockman from the BBC television series Outnumbered. She is also known for her collaboration with director Mike Leigh on two of his films, Life is Sweet (1990) and Naked (1993).
By Jeeves, originally Jeeves, is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and lyrics and book by Alan Ayckbourn. It is based on the series of novels and short stories by P. G. Wodehouse that centre around the character of Bertie Wooster and his loyal valet, Jeeves.
Woman in Mind (December Bee) is the 32nd play by English playwright Alan Ayckbourn. It was premiered at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, Scarborough, in 1985. Despite pedestrian reviews by many critics, strong audience reaction resulted in a transfer to London's West End. The play received its London opening at the Vaudeville Theatre in 1986 where it received predominantly excellent reviews.
Moira Redmond was an English actress.
Whenever is a 2000 children's musical play with words by Alan Ayckbourn and music by Denis King, that was shown as the Stephen Joseph Theatre's Christmas production. It is loosely derived from The Wizard of Oz, and it is about a young Victorian girl named Emily to travels back and forth in time to avert a disaster.
Janie Dee is a British actress. She won the Olivier Award for Best Actress, Evening Standard Award and Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Play, and in New York the Obie and Theatre World Award for Best Newcomer, for her performance as Jacie Triplethree in Alan Ayckbourn's Comic Potential.
Tim Firth is an English dramatist, screenwriter and songwriter.
Taking Steps is a 1979 farce by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. It is set on three floors of an old and reputedly haunted house, with the stage arranged so that the stairs are flat and all three floors are on a single level.
Improbable Fiction is a 2005 play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. It is about a writers' circle, on the night the chairman, Arnold, seems to wander into the imaginations of the other writers.
Sugar Daddies is a 2003 play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. It is about a student who forms a friendship with a rich man over three times her age, who has a sinister past, and maybe a sinister present too.
A Chorus of Disapproval is a 1984 play written by English playwright Alan Ayckbourn.
Life and Beth is a 2008 play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. It was written as a third part of a trilogy named Things That Go Bump, uniting the cast of the first two plays: Haunting Julia (1994) and Snake in the Grass (2002). It is about a recently bereaved widow, Beth, troubled by her family's misguided support and a late husband who won't leave her alone.
Awaking Beauty is a 2008 musical with words by Alan Ayckbourn and music by Denis King. It was shown as the Stephen Joseph Theatre's Christmas production, but, unlike earlier productions, was expressly billed as not suitable for young children. The musical is a parody sequel to Sleeping Beauty, where the wicked witch Carabosse also falls in love with the prince, and uses her own dark magic and dirty tricks to try to make him her own.
Orvin – Champion Of Champions is a 2003 musical play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn, with music by Denis King. It was one of his few plays written for performance entirely by children, and, after the usual première at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, went on to be performed at the National Youth Music Theatre. It is about a squire named Orvin who accidentally ends up the last man alive in a great battle, and, unwittingly assuming the role of his late master Ulmar, finds himself the centre of a power-struggle and arranged marriage in the land of Presupposia.
Making Tracks was a 1981 musical play with words by Alan Ayckbourn and music by Paul Todd. It is set in a recording studio and is about Stan, a recording studio owner in debt to businessman Wolfe, who stakes everything on singer/songwriter Sandy, whilst using the voice of Lace, who is Stan's ex-wife and Wolfe's new partner.
The Boy Who Fell Into a Book is a 1998 family play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. It was premièred as the Stephen Joseph Theatre's 1998 Christmas production to mark the 1999 National Year of Reading. It is about a boy, Kevin, who finds himself teamed up with a fictional detective, Rockfist Slim, on a journey through the books on his shelves.
Things We Do For Love is a 1997 play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn, premiered as the Stephen Joseph Theatre. It is about a woman who begins an affair with her best friend's fiancé, only for this new relationship to swiftly descend into violence. It was the first Ayckbourn play to be performed on the end-stage in the theatre's new end-space at its current site, and was performed with three floors in view: head-level of the basement, the whole of the ground floor and foot-level of the top floor.
A Word from Our Sponsor is a 1995 musical by Alan Ayckbourn and John Pattison. It was the final Ayckbourn play to be premièred at the Stephen Joseph Theatre's old Westwood site. It is about a vicar, who is tempted by the devil (Valda/Valder) offering a sponsorship deal for dubious return favours. This play was one of Ayckbourn's less successful works.
Suburban Strains is a 1980 musical by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn with music by Paul Todd. This was the first attempt Ayckbourn made at a musical since the ill-fated Jeeves! in 1975. It is about a teacher, Caroline, whose marriage to actor Kevin breaks down, only to find her new partner, doctor Matthew, even worse due to his control freakery, before making up with Kevin again.
