Absurd Person Singular: History
On 26 October 2022, Alan Ayckbourn's Archivist & The Borthwick Institute for Archives announced the discovery of the lost Absurd Person Singular manuscripts, which altered our understanding of how Absurd Person Singular was developed and written. The in-depth story can be found at http://writingabsurdpersonsingular.alanayckbourn,net.
“This is the big one. The one that shows his [Ayckbourn’s] fascination with the desperation behind English social rituals interlocking with his well-oiled comic craft…. In this one, form and content meet in perfect harmony.”
Michael Billington
By 1972, Alan Ayckbourn’s reputation as one of Britain’s most promising and successful playwrights was firmly established. His plays Relatively Speaking and How The Other Half Loves had been huge successes in the West End and the clamour to produce them by repertory theatres both at home and abroad had quickly cemented both the plays’ and the playwright’s reputations.
His latest play, Time And Time Again, had premiered at the Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre, Scarborough, in July 1971 and had marked a departure in direction from the overt comedy of the previous plays. Time And Time Again saw Alan exploring a character-driven plot, eschewing many of the technical tricks seen in Relatively Speaking and How The Other Half Loves. His next play would continue down the path of a character-driven plot but would also draw in elements of farce and, to all intents, tragedy. The result, Absurd Person Singular, was Alan’s first tragi-comedy; a genre which Alan and some of his best known writing has become synonymous with.
Behind The Scenes: Absurd Title Possibly
That the title of Absurd Person Singular has nothing to do with the actual play and was conceived independently of the play is well known. The precise origins of the title and its intended destination are less well-known and still quite vague. It now seems likely that the title of the play was conceived by Alan Ayckbourn whilst in an elevator en route to the office of the London producer, Michael Codron, in early 1971. Alan Ayckbourn has specifically cited this as his inspiration for the title several times. Without a play though, he filed away the title for later use. Less certain is what happened in the interim. On several occasions Alan Ayckbourn has spoken of another play which he was going to write using the same title - probably in late 1971 - but which did not materialise and, as a result of which, he used the title for his next play in 1972; this apparently being altogether different to the previous idea. The main stumbling block here is absolutely nothing is known about the discarded play; the playwright himself has no memory of it, no notes survive in archive and it is not even known whether he began to write the piece. In all likelihood, this play would have had as little to do with the title as the actual play, but this 'missing' chapter in Absurd Person Singular remains intriguingly elusive.
That the title of Absurd Person Singular has nothing to do with the actual play and was conceived independently of the play is well known. The precise origins of the title and its intended destination are less well-known and still quite vague. It now seems likely that the title of the play was conceived by Alan Ayckbourn whilst in an elevator en route to the office of the London producer, Michael Codron, in early 1971. Alan Ayckbourn has specifically cited this as his inspiration for the title several times. Without a play though, he filed away the title for later use. Less certain is what happened in the interim. On several occasions Alan Ayckbourn has spoken of another play which he was going to write using the same title - probably in late 1971 - but which did not materialise and, as a result of which, he used the title for his next play in 1972; this apparently being altogether different to the previous idea. The main stumbling block here is absolutely nothing is known about the discarded play; the playwright himself has no memory of it, no notes survive in archive and it is not even known whether he began to write the piece. In all likelihood, this play would have had as little to do with the title as the actual play, but this 'missing' chapter in Absurd Person Singular remains intriguingly elusive.
The summer season of 1972 at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre consisted of David Campton’s new adaptation of Sheridan le Fanu’s classic vampire tale Carmilla, Absurd Person Singular, Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya and Peter Blythe’s new play Tom, Dick And Harry. All were to be directed by Alan and would utilise an acting company of three men and three women. Rehearsals for the season initially took place in London with two weeks set aside for Carmilla, which was to be premiered at the recently opened Sheffield Crucible for a week-long run before transferring to Scarborough. Before rehearsals, the cast convened at Alan’s London flat and were naturally keen to find out more about his new play; their questions apparently met with ambiguity as he had not yet written a word of the text! Rehearsals began for Carmilla with Alan directing during the day and writing during the evening. The mystery of the forthcoming play only deepened by apparently random incidents such as Alan asking whether anyone knew of any good forfeits: “People in the cast wondered what was going on!”
Writing the play was not without its problems. Although the structure of the play - three acts set over three Christmas parties - was in place (one of only two three-act plays by Ayckbourn alongside Surprises), Alan was unhappy with the direction of the play. It was set in three living rooms with four on-stage couples, the parties themselves being centre-stage. 50 pages in and Alan realised the first party was “a very boring affair, very tedious” and he made a crucial decision. The play was relocated to the kitchens, the backstage area as such, where the real action and insight into these characters was taking place. “The really interesting things, the things people want to say to each other in private were said in here by the sink. Besides, given that the other room contained Dick and Lottie Potter, it seemed an audience would only thank me for keeping us all out here, away from his jokes.”
Note: Much of this information regarding the abandoned initial draft of Absurd Person Singular has been superseded by new discoveries - to be added to the website in due course - but full details of which can be found at http://writingabsurdpersonsingular.alanayckbourn.net.
Once the play was relocated to the kitchen and the fourth couple, Dick and Lottie, were confined to an off-stage presence, the play took off. It was completed in time for rehearsals to begin in Sheffield before continuing in Scarborough.
Behind The Scenes: Inspirations
Absurd Person Singular is a rarity in which Alan Ayckbourn has admitted at least two of his characters drew in aspirations from real people. Jane from his then partner, later wife, Heather Stoney and Marion from the late, legendary literary agent, Margaret 'Peggy' Ramsay.
Absurd Person Singular is a rarity in which Alan Ayckbourn has admitted at least two of his characters drew in aspirations from real people. Jane from his then partner, later wife, Heather Stoney and Marion from the late, legendary literary agent, Margaret 'Peggy' Ramsay.
The play, performed in-the-round, opened on 26 June 1972 at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre and it was immediately obvious to the playwright there was a problem. “I confess that it was, when it opened, half an hour too long. By the second night that had been remedied with some quite severe cutting. As it played in, too, it also gathered confidence and speed as the cast began to sense that they had a success. Audiences grew in size, and nightly response became increasingly enthusiastic.” Although only two reviews exist in the Ayckbourn Archive for the original production, Absurd Person Singular was apparently greeted by mixed reviews but was well-received by audiences and contributed significantly to what Alan reported to the theatre board as a “very successful” season, a much needed respite for the Library Theatre which had made a loss the previous year.
Behind The Scenes: Original Draft
When the play was originally performed at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre, Scarborough, in June 1972, the original performance ran at least half-hour longer than subsequent productions. Unhappy with the running time, Alan Ayckbourn judiciously cut the text the following day and made cuts to the production. Quite what was excised has never been ascertained as a typed rehearsal manuscript of the original production has not survived. However, the Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York holds a complete hand-written draft of the play in the Ayckbourn Archive. It is conceivable this is the script which best approximates the very first performance of the play. Unfortunately, due to the near illegibility of Alan Ayckbourn's hand-writing and the fact the script has never been made available until its transfer to the archive in 2011, there has - as yet - been no attempt to produce a manuscript from this version to compare with the actual play.
When the play was originally performed at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre, Scarborough, in June 1972, the original performance ran at least half-hour longer than subsequent productions. Unhappy with the running time, Alan Ayckbourn judiciously cut the text the following day and made cuts to the production. Quite what was excised has never been ascertained as a typed rehearsal manuscript of the original production has not survived. However, the Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York holds a complete hand-written draft of the play in the Ayckbourn Archive. It is conceivable this is the script which best approximates the very first performance of the play. Unfortunately, due to the near illegibility of Alan Ayckbourn's hand-writing and the fact the script has never been made available until its transfer to the archive in 2011, there has - as yet - been no attempt to produce a manuscript from this version to compare with the actual play.
Alan’s agent Margaret Ramsay - or Peggy as she was more commonly known - was quick to see the play in Scarborough. Peggy had been nurturing Alan’s career for many years and he respected her opinions and judgement. She declared the middle act was “stunning”, however she was less taken by the Hopcrofts and their dominance of the final act; a view that would be mirrored by Alan’s London producer Michael Codron who Alan notes was not keen on the characters and recalls apparently suggested removing them! With hindsight, the Hopcrofts turned out to be the most dramatically interesting of the couples as they demonstrate a prescient glimpse of the dark side of capitalism that would fully develop in the United Kingdom after Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979.
Although Codron had his doubts about aspects of the play, he was still keen to produce it. This was no doubt buoyed by the fact Alan was pleased with Codron’s production of Time And Time Again, which had opened at the Comedy Theatre on 16 August 1972. Although this was not the financial success of Relatively Speaking and How The Other Half Loves - both produced by Peter Bridge - Alan felt it did far better justice to his play. While How The Other Half Loves had been an enormous financial success, Alan had serious reservations about how the play was treated, particularly in making it a star vehicle for the actor Robert Morley who had seriously upset the play’s balance and subtleties. In contrast, Codron had found a sympathetic and talented director in Eric Thompson for Time And Time Again and Tom Courtenay’s casting as Leonard was seen as a stroke of genius. Alan was so delighted he hoped the same production team could be brought on board for Absurd Person Singular.
Unfortunately this decision did not sit well with Alan’s original London producer Peter Bridge who felt he had a strong claim to the new play and who Peggy sincerely felt was bullying Alan to let him produce future plays. While Peggy dealt with the conflicting demands for Alan’s talents, Michael Codron agreed to produce Absurd Person Singular in London and brought Eric Thompson on board as director.
Behind The Scenes: National Connections
Absurd Person Singular is the play which brought Alan Ayckbourn to the attention of the National Theatre's Artistic Director Peter Hall. Encouraged by Sheila Hancroft to see the play - promising him it would not be what he expected - Hall saw the play and was impressed enough to send Alan Ayckbourn a letter on 29 August 1973. The letter expressed hope that he and Alan would get a chance to work together at the National Theatre, thus beginning a conversation which led to Alan Ayckbourn being commissioned to write Bedroom Farce for the National in 1974. This was the start of a long and successful relationship between Alan and Peter Hall.
Absurd Person Singular is the play which brought Alan Ayckbourn to the attention of the National Theatre's Artistic Director Peter Hall. Encouraged by Sheila Hancroft to see the play - promising him it would not be what he expected - Hall saw the play and was impressed enough to send Alan Ayckbourn a letter on 29 August 1973. The letter expressed hope that he and Alan would get a chance to work together at the National Theatre, thus beginning a conversation which led to Alan Ayckbourn being commissioned to write Bedroom Farce for the National in 1974. This was the start of a long and successful relationship between Alan and Peter Hall.
Set over three acts - something of an anachronism today, but still common when the play was written - Absurd Person Singular offered a design challenge for the London production. In the original production the props had been moved and redressed to portray the three different kitchens, which was not practical for a West End production. The problem was solved by installing a revolve at the Criterion Theatre which was only utilised between acts - something which appeased Codron who was not keen on using (or paying for) such technology.
With Hancock and Briers in place, a strong cast was rounded out by Bridget Turner, Michael Aldridge, Anna Calder-Marshall and David Burke. The show opened on 14 July 1973 at the Criterion and became the biggest hit yet of Alan’s burgeoning career. The reviews were predominantly excellent and any perceived drawbacks were tempered by the enthusiasm for the play as a whole. Any worries Alan had about how the darkness would play seem misplaced; critic Michael Billington best summed up the general feeling when he wrote: “What makes the play rewarding is that underneath the bubbling fun you get quite a sharp pain of human fun and misery.” Many critics predicted a long-running success and they were not wrong: Absurd Person Singular would run until 1 November 1975 and have three changes of casts. On 22 January 1974 it won the Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy, the first of many major awards Alan would receive. Peter Hall, artistic director of the National Theatre, also saw it and thought it was a “remarkable evening” and asked Alan to consider writing a play for the National, which would eventually emerge as Bedroom Farce.
The play also found favour with the Royal family when Prince Charles decided to see the play on his 26th birthday accompanied by his mother, HM Queen Elizabeth II.
Behind The Scenes: Silly Money
The Broadway production of Absurd Person Singular is notorious for the fact that the producers made it clear they believed Acts II and III should be swapped to end the evening on a comedy high rather than a dying fall. This has been well-documented, however, in a single interview in the Middlesbrough Evening Gazette published in May 1976, Alan Ayckbourn went further saying he was made an extraordinary offer to persuade him to alter the play: "An American producer offered me 250,000 dollars to alter the order of the acts in Absurd Person Singular. I said no. He said: 'think of the money.' I said I did not need the money and the answer was still no."
The Broadway production of Absurd Person Singular is notorious for the fact that the producers made it clear they believed Acts II and III should be swapped to end the evening on a comedy high rather than a dying fall. This has been well-documented, however, in a single interview in the Middlesbrough Evening Gazette published in May 1976, Alan Ayckbourn went further saying he was made an extraordinary offer to persuade him to alter the play: "An American producer offered me 250,000 dollars to alter the order of the acts in Absurd Person Singular. I said no. He said: 'think of the money.' I said I did not need the money and the answer was still no."
The audience reaction to the play was strong and Alan recalls it being the first play where it elicited a notable personal reaction - something that would be common with later plays such as Woman In Mind: “After one matinee there was a man who had to come and lie down in Richard Brier’s dressing room because of the last scene where Sheila Hancock played the alcoholic. He kept saying: ‘That was my wife’. He stayed there for an hour and a half, Richard was so embarrassed, there was this man sobbing quietly on his sofa, and other people kept popping round the door and saying ‘Terribly funny, Dickie. Laugh a minute.’”
The success of the play did not go unnoticed and there was soon interest from America in transferring the play to Broadway (see The Broadway Experience). Intriguingly, the producers were never entirely comfortable with the play and kept trying to impose alterations on it. However, it opened unaltered at the Music Box Theatre on 8 October 1974 with Eric Thompson directing a strong American cast. The show was a genuine success, had largely excellent reviews and it was reported it opened to half-a-million dollars worth of advance bookings (more details about the American production can be found here). The play ran for 592 performances becoming the most successful comedy on Broadway by a British playwright since Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit, which ran from 1941 to 1943. It remains the most commercially successful Ayckbourn play to have been produced on Broadway (the most critically successful Ayckbourn production on Broadway is arguably the transfer of The Old Vic's production of The Norman Conquests in 2009). So successful was the production, a North American tour of the play was launched whilst it was still running on Broadway during 1975. Eric Thompson directed the play and it featured Patrick Macnee as Ronald; Macnee had found international fame as Steed in the '60s television series The Avengers (1961 - 1969) and whilst Absurd Person Singular was playing in Chicago, he received the call to say the show was to be resurrected as The New Avengers (1976 - 1977).
Behind The Scenes: Many Marions
Alan Ayckbourn revived Absurd Person Singular at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, Scarborough, in 1989 where it had three Marions! Unfortunately, the actress originally cast as Marion - Moira Redmond - injured her back early in the play’s run and Heather Stoney was drafted in to read the part while a replacement was found. Lavinia Bertram, who had just visited Scarborough to see this production, returned to London only to find a message asking if she could play Marion until Redmond recovered. Coincidentally, plans had already been made to transfer this production to London with practically the same cast but with Lavinia taking over Lesley Meade’s role as Eva, playing opposite Redmond as Marion.
Alan Ayckbourn revived Absurd Person Singular at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, Scarborough, in 1989 where it had three Marions! Unfortunately, the actress originally cast as Marion - Moira Redmond - injured her back early in the play’s run and Heather Stoney was drafted in to read the part while a replacement was found. Lavinia Bertram, who had just visited Scarborough to see this production, returned to London only to find a message asking if she could play Marion until Redmond recovered. Coincidentally, plans had already been made to transfer this production to London with practically the same cast but with Lavinia taking over Lesley Meade’s role as Eva, playing opposite Redmond as Marion.
When the London run closed, the producer Michael Codron was keen to capitalise on the play’s success and a tour was organised opening at the Wimbledon Theatre on 3 February 1976. The production was directed by Paul Eddington based on Eric Thompson’s London production and featured John Thaw, Richard Coleman, Josephine Tewson, Paul Greenwood, Barbara Morton and Brenda Cavendish. Rights for repertory theatre performance were granted in 1976, although special dispensation had been given by Codron and Donald Albery to the Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent, to produce the play from 10 September 1975; a factor in this presumably being Alan Ayckbourn's own connection with the theatre of which he was a founding member in 1962. Amateur rights to produce the play would be released on 1 September 1977 and it was quickly picked up by amateur companies with whom it has become a perennial favourite.
Behind The Scenes: Arts Council
The Ayckbourn Archive offers a perhaps surprising insight into how British regional theatres operated and new writing was supported during the early years of Alan's playwriting career. All the original runs of his plays from the 1950s through to the 1970s received either a grant or guarentee by the Arts Council to the Library Theatre. In the case of Absurd Person Singular in 1972 - by which time Alan's plays were undoubtedly a proven success for the company, the Arts Council gave the theatre a grant of £350 (£3,583 adjusted for inflation in 2018) with £100 of this a royalty payment for Alan in addition to 7½% royalties guaranteed by the Library Theatre. It should also be noted that Alan gave - generally - 1% of all his royalties (including West End) back to the Library Theatre.
The Ayckbourn Archive offers a perhaps surprising insight into how British regional theatres operated and new writing was supported during the early years of Alan's playwriting career. All the original runs of his plays from the 1950s through to the 1970s received either a grant or guarentee by the Arts Council to the Library Theatre. In the case of Absurd Person Singular in 1972 - by which time Alan's plays were undoubtedly a proven success for the company, the Arts Council gave the theatre a grant of £350 (£3,583 adjusted for inflation in 2018) with £100 of this a royalty payment for Alan in addition to 7½% royalties guaranteed by the Library Theatre. It should also be noted that Alan gave - generally - 1% of all his royalties (including West End) back to the Library Theatre.
More successful was the BBC’s television version of the play for New Year’s Day 1985. The adaptation featured a strong cast which included Michael Gambon, Geoffrey Palmer, Prunella Scales, Maureen Lipman, Cheryl Campbell and Nicky Henson. Regarded as one of the stronger filmed adaptations of Alan’s plays, it is a solid production which stays true to the spirit of the original with minimal cuts to the script. The play was directed by Michael Simpson, who would go on to direct the acclaimed television adaptation of Season’s Greetings, and was repeated on 21 December 1987.
Alan Ayckbourn revived Absurd Person Singular in December 1989 at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, Scarborough. The production was well-received with many critics noting the prescience of the play with regard to the social changes in the UK during the 1970s and 1980s. Alan re-directed the play for a national proscenium arch venue tour, which was then scheduled to move into the West End, produced by Bill Kenwright. Following a short try-out tour to Northampton, Wimbledon and Guildford, the play opened at the Whitehall Theatre on 15 May 1990. The reviews were good but not outstanding and The Observer’s comment that the play was “slightly over-strained and under-cast” seemed to be the consensus of many reviewers no matter how much they enjoyed the production. The play ran until 16 March 1991 but it was not a success with Kenwright reporting the losses were “enormous” with an approximate figure of £150,000 being mentioned at one point.
Behind The Scenes: Three Acts
Absurd Person Singular is a three act play of which there are only two in the Ayckbourn canon (Surprises being the second). However, several early plays such as Family Circles and Season's Greetings were initially produced as three act plays, but were then later altered to two acts by the playwright.
Absurd Person Singular is a three act play of which there are only two in the Ayckbourn canon (Surprises being the second). However, several early plays such as Family Circles and Season's Greetings were initially produced as three act plays, but were then later altered to two acts by the playwright.
In 2012, Absurd Person Singular celebrated its 40th anniversary with Alan Ayckbourn directing a revival as part of the London 2012 Festival with a co-production between Chichester Festival Theatre and the Stephen Joseph Theatre; the production was performed in repertory with his latest play Surprises and received excellent reviews confirming its classic status. Despite this acclaimed production being the only major revival of the play during its 40th anniversary year, a sell-out run in Chichester and being the most successful play of the season in Scarborough, the production was surprisingly not toured by the Stephen Joseph Theatre.
For its 550th anniversary in 2022, the Stephen Joseph Theatre organised a special anniversary day on 26 June - 50 years to the day after its work premiere - in which Alan Ayckbourn led a rehearsed reading of the play which included original cast member, Christopher Godwin, amongst the company.
Its cultural significance, contribution to British theatre and influence was emphasised in 2018 when Absurd Person Singular was named by The Times as one of the 50 greatest plays ever written.
Absurd Person Singular remains a classic Ayckbourn play and the first real indication of where Alan’s interests as a playwright lie. It is the first of his tragi-comedies and stands as a crucial play in Alan Ayckbourn's development as a playwright.
Article by Simon Murgatroyd. © Haydonning Ltd, 2002 - 2022, all rights reserved. Please do not reproduce in any form without written consent of the copyright holder.
This section of the website is dedicated to Jeannie Swales
for her work at the Stephen Joseph Theatre.