Alan Ayckbourn

Biography

Ayckbourn was born in 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].

Ayckbourn wrote his first play at 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[2].

He attended Haileybury, and while studying there he toured Europe and America with the school Shakespeare company. 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.

By 1957, Ayckbourn was acting with the director Stephen Joseph at Scarborough. In 1959 he played Stanley in the second production of writer-director Harold Pinter's 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 some seventy 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 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, in French and English. 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 three works in each of the auditoria of the Royal National Theatre, using a stock company for all three 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 and his own "A Small Family Business" was 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 premiered his 70th play If I Were You at the Stephen Joseph Theatre on 17 October 2006.

Source:
Wikipedia contributors, "Alan Ayckbourn," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alan Ayckbourn&oldid=105918096 (accessed February 12, 2007). [Read More...]

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