Alan Ayckbourn: Actor

Love After All (1960)

Production Details

Play:
Author:

First performance:
Venue:

Staging:

Director:
Love After All
Roland Allen (Alan Ayckbourn)

30 June 1960
Theatre in the Round at the the Library Theatre, Scarborough
Round

Julian Herington
Character
Walter Bagwell
Ida, his maid
Angela, his daughter
Peter Jones
Rupert Hodge
Undertaker
Lo Chin
Actor
David Campton
Faynia Jeffery
Hazel Anne Lee
Alan Ayckbourn
David Glover
Derrick Gilbert
Derrick Gilbert

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.

Love After All was revived in the summer of 1960 following its premiere at Theatres in the Round at the Library Theatre, Scarborough, in December 1959. The production had a new director, Julian Herington, who insisted the play be extensively modified and updated to a contemporary setting, rather than its original Edwardian setting. All the character names were altered and there were some cosmetic alterations to the script. Alan Ayckbourn, who was due to appear in the world premiere but had been called up for National Service, performed in the revival.

"The first version, with Clifford Williams directing, it was a very good production - it was very tight and quite fun, and we did it Edwardian. It was later revived, the following summer I think, with me playing the lead; and it was directed by Julian Herington, who decided there were certain bits of it he didn't like very much, like its Edwardianness, and its rather jokey names. He brought it up to date, and I don't think the play actually gained from what we did to it.”
(Alan Ayckbourn interviewed by Ian Watson, ‘Conversations With Ayckbourn’)

Review extract from unknown publication (July 1960)
"He [Alan Ayckbourn] has provided himself with an excellent vehicle in which to demonstrate his versatility as an actor, He rang the changes convincingly as a public house pianist, an artist, doctor, American widow and China-man."

Review extract from unknown publication (July 1960)
"He [Alan Ayckbourn] shows up as a public-house pianist, an artist, an American widow, a Chinese and a doctor and has been delighting holiday audiences by his portrayal."

Review extract from Northern Echo (26 July 1960)
"The hero, Alan Ayckbourn, who wrote the play under a pen name, shows his versatility by appearing in several disguises, among which is a clever impersonation of an American woman."

Review extract from Scarborough Evening News (30 July 1960)
"Alan Ayckbourn leaps from disguise to disguise in Love After All, the farce he wrote under the name Roland Allen, and scores a tremendous character acting hit at Scarborough's Library Theatre."
All research for this page by Simon Murgatroyd.