Ayckbourn, Sir Alan

Ayckbourn, Sir Alan (1939- ), British playwright, actor, and theatre director, best known for his farcical dramas of middle-class anxieties and neuroses.

Ayckbourn began his theatrical career as an actor working in repertory at Edinburgh, Worthing, and Oxford. He was a founder member of the Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent, in 1962 and, after several years in Leeds as a BBC radio drama producer (1964-1970), he became artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough.

His first stage success came with Relatively Speaking (1967), and since then his plays have all transferred to London, winning a multitude of drama awards and much critical acclaim. His other successful plays include How the Other Half Loves (1970), Absurd Person Singular (1973; televised, 1985), The Norman Conquests (1974; televised, 1977), Absent Friends (1975; televised, 1985), A Chorus of Disapproval (1985; film version, 1989), Man of the Moment (1990), The Revengers' Comedies (1991), Time of My Life (1993), Communicating Doors (1995), Things We Do For Love (1997), House and Garden (both 1999), Virtual Reality (2000), the Damsels in Distress trilogy (2001), and Private Fears in Public Places (2005). As his writing has matured, the themes of his plays have become more serious and the farce darker, though black humour is still an integral part of his drama. Ayckbourn usually premieres his work in Scarborough, but parted with tradition in 2002 to make his new play Game Plan the first performance at the newly opened Gala Theatre, Durham. He was awarded the CBE in 1987, and in 1997 he was knighted, the first playwright to receive this honour since Terence Rattigan.