Alan Ayckbourn: The National Theatre

Alan Ayckbourn has had a strong relationship with the National Theatre and was a Company Director between 1986 and 1988. The National Theatre is the most important venue Alan Ayckbourn is associated with outside of his home theatre in Scarborough.

This page offers an at-a-glance timeline to Alan Ayckbourn's relationship with the National Theatre with significant events and productions.

Alan Ayckbourn & The National Theatre Timeline

1973
○ Peter Hall, Artistic Director of the National Theatre, sees Alan Ayckbourn's play Absurd Person Singular in the West End.
1974
○ Hall asks Alan to write a new play for the Lyttelton as part of the National Theatre's opening season for its new home on the South Bank. Alan agrees.
1975
○ Alan and Hall meet for the first time and Alan sees the under construction Lyttelton for the first time.
○ World premiere of Bedroom Farce at the Library Theatre, Scarborough.
○ Hall visits Scarborough for the first time to see Bedroom Farce.
1977
○ Bedroom Farce opens in the Lyttelton at the National Theatre directed by Alan and Hall. It is considered the first big hit of the National Theatre at its new South Bank home.
○ Hall asks Alan if he would write a new play for the Olivier for autumn 1978.
1978
○ Alan offers Hall his yet to be written or named next play, suggesting a production for November 1979.
○ Bedroom Farce closes at the National Theatre and transfers to the West End to The Prince of Wales Theatre.
1979
○ Sisterly Feelings opens at the Library Theatre, Scarborough; it is a play with two random middle scenes giving it four possible permutations.
○ The National Theatre's production of Bedroom Farce transfers to Broadway.
1980
○ Sisterly Feelings opens in the Olivier at the National Theatre, directed by Alan and Christopher Morahan.
○ An adaptation of the National Theatre's production of Bedroom Farce is broadcast by Granada TV.
1981
○ World premiere of Way Upstream at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round, Scarborough. This is a play set on a boat on a flooded stage.
1982
○ Technical rehearsals for Way Upstream begins; the boat collides with the rigid fibre-glass tank and splits it. Water pours into the National's electrics and the building is forced to close.
○ Way Upstream opens - after many delays - in the Lyttelton, directed by Alan.
○ A small fire breaks out in the National damaging the Way Upstream water tank - possibly by a disgruntled member of staff. Performances run for a week without water.
1983
○ Hall writes to Alan asking him for a new play, preferably for The Oliver.
1984
○ A Chorus of Disapproval opens at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round, Scarborough.
○ Hall asks Alan if he would consider becoming a Company Director at the National Theatre; Alan agrees to give it some thought.
1985
○ Alan announces he is to take a two-year sabbatical from the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round as a Company Director at the National Theatre.
○ A Chorus of Disapproval opens in The Olivier at the National, directed by Alan.
○ Alan and Paul Todd's musical revue, Me, Myself and I, opens in the Lyttelton Buffet, directed by Alan.
1986
○ The National Theatre's production of A Chorus of Disapproval transfers to the Lyric Theatre, London.
○ Alan joins the National Theatre as a Company Director.
○ Tons of Money by Will Evans & Valentine opens in the Lyttelton, directed by Alan.
○ Alan and Paul Todd's musical revue Mere Soup Songs opens in the Lyttelton buffet, directed by Alan.
1987
○ A Small Family Business opens in the Olivier, directed by Alan.
○ A View From The Bridge by Arthur Miller opens in the Cottesloe, directed by Alan.
○ Arthur Miller visits the National Theatre and declares A View From The Bridge the best production he has ever seen of the play.
○ A View From The Bridge transfers to the West End to the Aldwych Theatre.
1988
○ Alan is asked to direct a fourth play at the National in lieu of A View From The Bridge transferring to the West End. He directs John Ford's 'Tis Pity She's A Whore in The Olivier.
○ Alan returns to Scarborough to resume his role of Artistic Director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round.
○ Hall steps down as Artistic Director of the National Theatre.
○ Mr A's Amazing Maze Plays opens at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round.
1989
○ Invisible Friends opens at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round, Scarborough.
○ Richard Eyre, Artistic Director of the National Theatre, offers to take on Alan's two-part epic The Revenger's Comedies at the National providing he cuts it slightly so both parts can be performed in a single night. Alan declines.
1991
○ Invisible Friends opens in the Cottesloe, directed by Alan.
1993
○ Mr A's Amazing Maze Plays opens in the Cottesloe, directed by Alan.
1994
○ Two Weeks with the Queen adapted by Mary Morris from the book by Morris Gleitzman opens in the Cottesloe, directed by Alan. This is a co-production between the National Theatre and the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round, Scarborough.
1999
○ Alan adapts Ostrovsky's The Forest for the National Theatre which is produced in the Lyttelton, directed by Anthony Page.
○ House & Garden opens at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough. Trevor Nunn, Artistic Director of the National Theatre sees it and offers the National for a transfer.
○ The National Theatre names The Norman Conquests as one of the 100 plays of the century.
2000
○ House & Garden opens at the National Theatre with House in the Lyttelton, Garden in the Olivier, both directed by Alan, with a post-show garden fȇte taking over the whole of the lower Lyttelton foyer.
○ Trevor Nunn reports that House & Garden's success has played a major role in helping the National through a difficult financial period.
2010
○ Season's Greetings is revived by the National Theatre in the Lyttelton, directed by Marianne Elliott.
2013
○ The National Theatre celebrates its 50th anniversary and a scene from Bedroom Farce is performed as part of the celebratory anniversary event.
2014
○ A Small Family Business is revived by the National Theatre in the Olivier, directed by Adam Penford.
○ A Small Family Business is streamed as part of NT Live; it is the largest stream at the time by the National and mark's the first time an Ayckbourn play has been streamed.