Alan Ayckbourn: Actor

Viennese Interlude (1960)

Production Details

Play:
Author:

First performance:
Venue:
Staging:

Director:

Viennese Interlude
Colin Wilson

7 March 1960
Mahatma Ghandhi Hall, London
Round

Stephen Joseph

Character
Dr Otto Steinmetz
Franz, a waiter
August Strindberg

Actor
David Campton
Alan Ayckbourn
William Elmhirst

Quotes & Notes

During 1960, Alan Ayckbourn's career was predominantly concentrated on acting at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre, Scarborough. He was part of the acting company in both the summer and winter seasons and his playwriting was limited to one show, Dad's Tale, during the winter season.

Viennese Interlude was performed as part of a double bill with Strindberg's Miss Julie. Alan Ayckbourn had a small part in the play which chronicles the meeting between the playwright Strindberg and a doctor concerning the writer's persecution issues. Apparently it was the first scene of an unfinished much longer work.

The play was significant (if not well received) as it was the first play by the philosopher Colin Wilson, whose book The Outsider has been a sensation several years earlier. The play was first presented at the Mahatma Ghandhi Hall, London, where Stephen Joseph brought the company from Scarborough for Sunday performances in a bid to arouse more interest in theatre-in-the-round and as a showcase in the vain hope he would find a London base for the company. Stephen Joseph felt having a high profile writer such as Colin Wilson associated with the company would generate much needed press in London.

Review extract from The Stage (10 March 1960)
"The piece was very capably acted by William Elmhirst, David Campton and Alan Ayckbourn."

All research for this page by Simon Murgatroyd.