Alan Ayckbourn

English playwright · United Kingdom · On the map · Writers · Born 1939 · age 87

Sir Alan Ayckbourn is a prolific British playwright and director. As of 2025, he has written and produced 91 full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their first...

Alan Ayckbourn is read about 130 times a day, in 25 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 6 November 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 104 days, one point a day.

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A life in dates

2003“The darker the subject, the more light you must try to shed on the matter. And vice versa.”In their wordsThe Crafty Art of Playwriting (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) p. 3.Read the whole statement

1998Honorary DoctorateAward1993“A comedy is just a tragedy interrupted, I once said. Do you finish with the kiss or when she opens her eyes to tell him she loves him and sees blonde hairs on his collar?”In their words"A Crash Course in Playwriting" (1993) .Read the whole statement

1991Fellow of the Royal Society of LiteratureAward1982“They've started this filthy floodlit cricket with cricketers wearing tin hats and advertisements for contraceptives on their boots.”In their wordsA Gardener in Love, Intimate Exchanges (1982).Read the whole statement

1979“There are very few people on top of life, and the rest of us don't like them very much.”In their words25 March 1979NewsweekRead the whole statement

1975“Few women care to be laughed at and men not at all, except for large sums of money.”In their wordsPreface to The Norman Conquests (New York: Grove Press, [1975] 1988) p. 11.Read the whole statement

1939Born12 April 1939

People around Alan

Close ties

Also in Deutsch

Media & music

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Awards

Honorary Doctorate1998

Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature1991

Laurence Olivier Awards

Commander of the Order of the British Empire

Knight Bachelor

Society of London Theatre Special Award

Critics' Circle Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts

About this person

As of 2025, he has written and produced 91 full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their first performance. More than 40 have subsequently been produced in the West End, at the Royal National Theatre or by the Royal Shakespeare Company since his first hit Relatively Speaking opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in 1967.

Country

United Kingdom

Where to find them

IMDb Websitealanayckbourn.net

In the same film or series as Alan

Ilja RichterAlso in Treppauf Treppab (1984)

Imogen StubbsAlso in Relatively Speaking (1989)

Stuart WilsonAlso in Way Upstream (1987)Sylvia SymsAlso in A Chorus of Disapproval (1989)