Alan Ayckbourn
Sir Alan Ayckbourn , CBE (born April 12, 1939 in Hampstead , London ) is a British writer of theatrical comedies.
Life
Alan Ayckbourn is the son of violinist Horace Ayckbourn and writer Irene Worly.
plant
Ayckbourn was already writing plays at the age of ten, but began his theater career as an actor in the late 1950s. Ayckbourn wrote the first pieces from 1959 to 1961 under the pseudonym Roland Allen. Ayckbourn has now written more than 70 plays and is considered one of the most successful comedy writers of recent times in Europe. His plays have been translated into over 35 languages and performed worldwide. Ayckbourn also worked as a director. According to the British Council , he is one of the most outstanding contemporary dramatists ( “one of the world's pre-eminent dramatists” ).
His works mostly reveal human weaknesses of the English upper middle class in dealing with one another. Ayckbourn is also considered a master of farce .
In 1987 Ayckbourn was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire by the British Queen and in 1997 became the first playwright since Terence Rattigan to be promoted to the nobility as a Knight Bachelor ("Sir").
After a stroke in 2006, Ayckbourn restricted many of his activities, but resumed his writing a short time later. In 2009 he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame .
Comments on Alan Ayckbourn and his works
- Ayckbourn ... writes about the efforts of modern mankind to avoid the connecting rods, gears, pistons of the "great mechanism". Where Shakespeare exemplarily lets people fall, Ayckbourn sees them jumping, stumbling and dancing every day. Where in Shakespeare men have power and importance, in Ayckbourn women have long been carriers of potency and the will to live. In his work we find ladies like Camilla Parker Bowles'; his men are sensitive, hesitant wretches. -.
Pieces
Almost all of Ayckbourn's plays premiered at the Stephen Joseph Theater in Scarborough . Ayckbourn was Artistic Director there from 1972 to 2009 .
- 1959: The Square Cat
- 1959: Love After All
- 1960: Dad's Tale
- 1961: Standing Room Only
- 1962: Christmas V Mastermind
- 1963: Mr. Whatnot
- 1965: Meet My Father, Relatively Speaking
- 1967: The Sparrow
- 1969: How The Other Half Loves
- 1970: The Story So Far ..., Me Times Me Times Me, Family Circles
- 1971: Time And Time Again (German: On the best of terms - first performance in 1971 in London, German-language world premiere in 1974 in the Theater in der Josefstadt Vienna)
- 1972: Absurd Person Singular (German: Frohe Feste - first performance 1972 in London, German premiere 1974 in the Thalia Theater Hamburg - director: Harry Meyen)
- 1973: Fancy Meeting You, Table Manners (Norman Conquests)
- 1973: Make Yourself At Home, Living Together (Norman Conquests) (German: Trautes Heim)
- 1973: Round And Round The Garden (Norman Conquests) (In the last three pieces, German: Normans Eroberungen; it is a story that is presented from three different perspectives. Each of the pieces takes place in a different location: dining room, living room and garden)
- 1974: Absent Friends (German: Freunde in der Not - first performance 1974 in London, German first performance 1978 at the Saarbrücken State Theater)
- 1974: Confusions (collection of 5 one-act plays, including Mother Figure and A Talk in the Park )
- 1975: Jeeves (1966, rewritten as By Jeeves in 1996)
- 1975: Bedroom Farce (German: bedroom guests)
- 1976: Just Between Ourselves
- 1977: Ten Times Table (German: Das Festkomitee - first performance 1977 Stephen Joseph Theater, Scarborough; German first performance 1980 Theater am Kurfürstendamm, Berlin)
- 1978: Joking Apart (German: Joking aside - premiere 1978 in Scarborough, German premiere 1979 Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg - director: Peter Zadek)
- 1979: Sisterly Feelings
- 1979: Taking Steps
- 1980: Suburban Strains
- 1980: Season's Greetings
- 1981: Way Upstream
- 1981: Making Tracks
- 1982: Intimate Exchanges Consisting Of 8 Plays
- 1983: It Could Be Any One Of Us
- 1984: A Chorus Of Disapproval
- 1985: Woman In Mind
- 1987: A Small Family Business
- 1987: Henceforward ... (German: From now - German premiere in 1989 in the Theater am Kurfürstendamm - Director: Peter Zadek)
- 1988: Man Of The Moment
- 1988: Mr A's Amazing Maze Plays
- 1989: The Revengers' Comedies
- 1989: Invisible Friends
- 1990: Body Language
- 1990: This Is Where We Came In
- 1990: Callisto 5 (rewritten as Callisto 7 in 1990)
- 1991: Wildest Dreams
- 1991: My Very Own Story
- 1992: Time Of My Life (Happy Times)
- 1992: Dreams From A Summer House
- 1994: Communicating Doors
- 1994: Haunting Julia
- 1994: The Musical Jigsaw Play
- 1995: A Word From Our Sponsor
- 1996: The Champion Of Paribanou
- 1997: Things We Do For Love
- 1998: Comic Potential
- 1998: The Boy Who Fell Into A Book
- 1999: House (House & Garden - a so-called "double play" that is presented to two different audiences at the same time)
- 1999: Garden (House & Garden - see House)
- 2000: Virtual Reality
- 2000: Whenever
- 2001: MutProbe (persecuted innocence)
- 2001: Exchange (Persecuted Innocence)
- 2001: Role Play (Persecuted Innocence)
- 2002: Snake In The Grass
- 2003: My Sister Sadie
- 2003: Sugar Daddies
- 2004: Drowning on Dry Land
- 2004: Private Fears in Public Places
- 2004: Miss Yesterday
- 2005: Improbable Fiction
- 2006: If I were You
- 2008: Life And Beth
- 2008: Awaking Beauty
- 2010: Neighborhood Watch (vigilante)
Texts
- The Crafty Art of Playmaking, London 2002
- Theatrical craft - 101 self-evident rules for writing and staging, Berlin, Alexander Verlag, 2006
Film adaptations
- 1988: Alles nur Theater ( A chorus of disapproval ) - Director: Michael Winner
- 1993: Smoking / No Smoking - Director: Alain Resnais - Based on: Stage pieces Intimate Exchanges
- 1997: Herring on the Pants ( The revenger's comedies ) - Director: Malcolm Mowbray
- 2006: Hearts ( Cœurs ) - director: Alain Resnais - based on the play Private Fears in Public Places
- 2014: Aimer, boire et chanter - Director: Alain Resnais - based on the play Life of Riley
Web links
Wikiquote: Alan Ayckbourn - Quotes
- Literature by and about Alan Ayckbourn in the catalog of the German National Library
- official homepage
- Swiss Education - materials for students
- Contemporary Authors
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Sir Alan Ayckbourn British playwright . On: Encyclopædia Britannica . Retrieved May 12, 2015.
- ↑ Cf. Sir Alan Ayckbourn ( Memento of the original from December 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . On: British Council Literature . Retrieved May 12, 2015.
- ↑ Cf. Sir Alan Ayckbourn ( Memento of the original from December 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . On: British Council Literature . Retrieved May 12, 2015.
- ↑ See Alan Ayckbourn . On: Rowohlt Theaterverlag . See also Sir Alan Ayckbourn ( Memento of the original dated December 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . On: British Council Literature . Retrieved May 12, 2015.
- ↑ Peter Kümmel: Dramatik Wendung , in: DIE ZEIT, February 12, 2005
- ↑ See Sir Alan Ayckbourn British playwright . On: Encyclopædia Britannica . Retrieved May 12, 2015.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ayckbourn, Alan |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British playwright |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 12, 1939 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hampstead , London, England, United Kingdom |