Editing Alan Ayckbourn (section)

===Writing===
Ayckbourn's first play, ''The Square Cat'', was sufficiently popular locally to secure further commissions, although neither this nor the following three plays had much impact beyond Scarborough.<ref>History of early plays on official Ayckbourn site [http://thesquarecat.alanayckbourn.net/SquareCatHistory.htm]{{dead link|date=July 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} [http://loveafterall.alanayckbourn.net/LoveAfterAllHistory.htm]{{dead link|date=July 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} {{cite web |title=Alan Ayckbourn Plays: Dad's Tale |url=http://dadstale.alanayckbourn.net/DadsTaleHistory.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107085522/http://dadstale.alanayckbourn.net/DadsTaleHistory.htm |archive-date=7 January 2009 |access-date=4 May 2009}} {{cite web |title=Alan Ayckbourn Plays: Standing Room Only |url=http://standingroomonly.alanayckbourn.net/StandingRoomOnlyHistory.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517165122/http://standingroomonly.alanayckbourn.net/StandingRoomOnlyHistory.htm |archive-date=17 May 2008 |access-date=4 May 2009}}</ref> After his transfer to [[New Vic Theatre|Victoria Theatre]] in [[Stoke-on-Trent]], ''Christmas v Mastermind'', flopped; this play is now universally regarded as Ayckbourn's greatest disaster.<ref>[http://christmasvmastermind.alanayckbourn.net/ChristmasVMastermindHistory.htm ''Christmas v Mastermind'' history] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107084059/http://christmasvmastermind.alanayckbourn.net/ChristmasVMastermindHistory.htm |date=7 January 2009 }} on official Ayckbourn site.</ref><ref>P. Allen, 2001, pp. 89–90</ref>

Ayckbourn's fortunes revived in 1963 with ''Mr. Whatnot'', which also premiered at the Victoria Theatre. This was the first play that Ayckbourn was sufficiently happy with to allow continued performances today, and the first play to receive a [[West End theatre|West End]] performance. However, the West End production flopped, in part due to misguided casting.<ref>P. Allen, 2001, pp. 96, 101–102</ref><ref>[http://mrwhatnot.alanayckbourn.net/MrWhatnotHistory.htm ''Mr. Whatnot'' history]{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} on official Ayckbourn site.</ref> 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, on the scripts for [[London Weekend Television|LWT]]'s ''[[Hark at Barker]]''. Ayckbourn used the pseudonym Peter Caulfield because he was under exclusive contract to the [[BBC]] at the time.<ref>P. Allen, 2001, p. 108</ref>

In 1965, back at the Scarborough Library Theatre, ''Meet my Father'' was produced, and later retitled ''[[Relatively Speaking (play)|Relatively Speaking]]''. This time, the play was a massive success, both in Scarborough and in the West End, earning Ayckbourn a congratulatory telegram from [[Noël Coward]].<ref>P. Allen, 2001, pp. 109–113</ref><ref>[http://relativelyspeaking.alanayckbourn.net/RelativelySpeakingHistory.htm ''Relatively Speaking'' history] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080922000358/http://relativelyspeaking.alanayckbourn.net/RelativelySpeakingHistory.htm |date=22 September 2008 }} on official Ayckbourn site</ref> This was not quite the end of Ayckbourn's hit-and-miss record. His next play, ''[[The Sparrow (1967 play)|The Sparrow]]'' ran for only three weeks at Scarborough <ref>P. Allen, 2001, p. 119</ref><ref>[http://thesparrow.alanayckbourn.net/TheSparrowHistory.htm ''The Sparrow'' history]{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} on official Ayckbourn site</ref> but the following play, ''[[How the Other Half Loves]]'', secured his runaway success as a playwright.<ref>P. Allen, 2001, pp. 122–123</ref><ref>[http://howtheotherhalfloves.alanayckbourn.net/ ''How the Other Half Loves'' history] on official Ayckbourn site</ref>

The height of Ayckbourn's commercial success came with plays such as ''[[Absurd Person Singular]]'' (1975), ''[[The Norman Conquests]]'' trilogy (1973), ''[[Bedroom Farce (play)|Bedroom Farce]]'' (1975) and ''Just Between Ourselves'' (1976). These plays focused heavily on marriage in the British middle classes. The only failure during this period was a 1975 musical with [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]], ''[[Jeeves (musical)|Jeeves]]''; even this did little to dent Ayckbourn's career.<ref>P. Allen, 2001, pp. 146–148</ref><ref>[http://jeeves.alanayckbourn.net/JeevesHistory.htm ''Jeeves'' history] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226211945/http://jeeves.alanayckbourn.net/JeevesHistory.htm |date=26 February 2009 }} on official Ayckbourn site</ref>

From the 1980s, Ayckbourn moved away from the recurring theme of marriage to explore other contemporary issues. One example was ''[[Woman in Mind]]'', a play performed entirely from the perspective of a woman going through a nervous breakdown.<ref>P. Allen, 2001, pp. 213–217</ref><ref>[http://womaninmind.alanayckbourn.net/WomanInMindHistory.htm ''Woman in Mind'' history]{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} on official Ayckbourn site</ref> He also experimented with unconventional ways of writing plays: ''Intimate Exchanges'', for example, has one beginning and sixteen possible endings, and in ''[[House & Garden (plays)|House & Garden]]'', two plays take place simultaneously on two separate stages. He also diversified into children's theatre, such as ''[[Mr A's Amazing Maze Plays]]'' and musical plays, such as ''[[By Jeeves]]'' (a more successful rewrite of the original ''Jeeves'').

With a résumé of over seventy plays, of which more than forty have played at the National Theatre or in the West End, Alan Ayckbourn is one of England's most successful living playwrights. Despite his success, honours and awards (which include a prestigious [[Laurence Olivier Award]]), Alan Ayckbourn remains a relatively anonymous figure, dedicated to regional theatre.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Gibson | first = Melissa | title = Alan Ayckbourn: Grinning at the Edge | journal = Theatre Journal | year = 2002  }}</ref> Throughout his writing career, all but four of his plays premiered at the [[Stephen Joseph Theatre]] in Scarborough in its three different locations.<ref name=webbio/>

Ayckbourn received the CBE in 1987<ref name=webbio/><ref>P. Allen, 2001, p. 220</ref> and was knighted in the [[1997 New Year Honours]].<ref name=webbio/><ref name=knighted/> It is frequently claimed<ref>See, for example, [https://web.archive.org/web/20091122081631/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/alan-ayckbourn-you-ask-the-questions-586304.html] [https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/jul/06/1] [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/4550763/Alan-Ayckbourn-Why-my-shows-must-go-on.html]</ref> (but not proved)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://biography.alanayckbourn.net/BiographyFAQPopularity.htm |title=FAQ popularity on Ayckbourn site |publisher=Biography.alanayckbourn.net |date=2 November 1983 |access-date=29 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723010523/http://biography.alanayckbourn.net/BiographyFAQPopularity.htm |archive-date=23 July 2011 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> that Alan Ayckbourn is the most performed living English playwright, and the second most performed of all time, after [[Shakespeare]].

Although Ayckbourn's plays no longer dominate the theatrical scene on the scale of his earlier works, he continues to write. Among major success has been ''[[Private Fears in Public Places]]'', which had a hugely successful [[Off-Broadway]] run at [[59E59 Theaters]] and, in 2006, was made into a film, ''[[Cœurs]]'', directed by [[Alain Resnais]].<ref>[http://privatefears.alanayckbourn.net/PrivateFearsInPublicPlacesHistory.htm ''Private Fears in Public Places'' history]{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} on official Ayckbourn site</ref> After Ayckbourn suffered a stroke, there was uncertainty as to whether he could continue to write.<ref>{{cite web|last=Hudson |first=Lincoln |url=http://blogs.thestage.co.uk/inthepaper/2007/03/its-easier-to-return-to-directing-than-writing-say/ |title=It's easier to return to directing than writing|date=22 March 2007 |work=The Stage |access-date=29 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720192153/http://blogs.thestage.co.uk/inthepaper/2007/03/its-easier-to-return-to-directing-than-writing-say/ |archive-date=20 July 2011 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> The play that premiered immediately after his stroke, ''[[If I Were You (play)|If I Were You]]'', had been written before his illness; the first play written afterwards, ''[[Life and Beth]]'', premiered in the summer of 2008. Ayckbourn continues to write for the Stephen Joseph Theatre on the invitation of his successor as artistic director, Chris Monks. The first new play under this arrangement, ''[[My Wonderful Day]]'', was performed in October 2009.<ref>[http://www.alanayckbourn.net/NewsCalender.htm News calendar] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080821163103/http://www.alanayckbourn.net/NewsCalender.htm |date=21 August 2008 }} on official Ayckbourn site.</ref>

Ayckbourn continues to experiment with theatrical form. The play ''Roundelay'' opened in September 2014; before each performance, members of the audience are invited to extract five coloured ping pong balls from a bag, leaving the order in which each of the five acts is played left to chance, and allowing 120 possible permutations.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Youngs|first1=Ian|title=Sir Alan Ayckbourn: Using ping pong balls to keep theatre alive|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-27323500|access-date=12 June 2014|work=BBC News|date=12 June 2014}}</ref> In ''Arrivals and Departures'' (2013), the first half of the play is told from the point of view of one character, only for the second half to dramatise the same events from the point of view of another.

Many of Ayckbourn's plays, including ''[[Private Fears in Public Places]]'', ''[[Intimate Exchanges]]'', ''[[My Wonderful Day]]'' and ''[[Neighbourhood Watch (Ayckbourn play)|Neighbourhood Watch]]'', have had their New York premiere at [[59E59 Theaters]] as part of the annual Brits Off Broadway Festival.

In 2019, Ayckbourn had published his first novel, ''The Divide'', which had previously been showcased during a reading at the Stephen Joseph Theatre.

As a consequence of the Covid lockdown, Ayckbourn's 2020 play, ''Anno Domino,'' was recorded as a radio production, with Ayckbourn and his wife Heather playing all the roles. Similarly, Ayckbourn's Covid-period 2021 play, ''The Girl Next Door'', was streamed online and made available behind a paywall on the Stephen Joseph Theatre's website.

In 2022, the first Ayckbourn play in around 60 years premiered in a venue other than Scarborough: ''All Lies'' at the Old Laundry in Bowness-on-Windermere.