Alan Ayckbourn News

A hilarious classic comedy, the UK regional premiere of a Tony Award-winning musical and a chilling ghost story.

The world premiere of Barney Norris' Nightfall, directed by Laurie Sansom, starring Ophelia Lovibond (Lou), Ukweli Roach (Pete), Claire Skinner (Jenny) and Sion Daniel Young (Ryan) will run at the Bridge Theatre from 28 April - 26 May 2018, with press night on 8 May 2018. Designed by Rae Smith, Nightfall will have lighting by Chris Davey, sound by Christopher Shutt with music composed by Gareth Williams.

Suzan Sylvester is delighted to be making a welcome return to Diane Samuels' heart-felt drama, Kindertransport, in the role of mother Evelyn having performed as daughter Faith in the 1993 premiere production.

Brits Off Broadway continues at 59E59 Theaters (Val Day, Artistic Director; Brian Beirne, Managing Director) with the US premiere of A BRIEF HISTORY OF WOMEN, written and directed by Alan Ayckbourn. Produced by the Stephen Joseph Theatre, A BRIEF HISTORY OF WOMEN begins performances on Thursday, April 26 for a limited engagement through Sunday, May 27. Press Opening is Wednesday, May 2 at 7:00 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday - Friday at 7:00 PM; Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 PM & 7:00 PM. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). The single ticket prices range from $25 - $70 ($49 for 59E59 Members). Tickets are available by calling Ticket Central at 212-279-4200 or online at www.59e59.org.

Lakewood Theatre Company will begin its 66th season with six productions on its Mainstage and three productions on its Side Door stage beginning July 6, 2018.  

Cleveland Play House (CPH) is proud to announce the cast of the high-spirited, interactive musical comedy The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Broadway and TV actress Ali Stroker (Glee, Deaf West's Production of Spring Awakening) joins Broadway veterans Kirsten Wyatt (Annie, Elf, Shrek), John Scherer (Sunset Boulevard, By Jeeves, Funny Girl), Lee Slobotkin, Chad Burris (both of Book of Mormon), Kay Trinidad Karns (Little Mermaid), and more in this laugh-out-loud musical directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge on the Allen Stage through May 6th. This production is sponsored by Huntington National Bank and Zinner & Co.

Town Hall Theatre presents Alan Ayckbourn's WOMAN IN MIND! A dark comedy, WOMAN IN MIND examines what happens when run-down housewife Susan dreams of a perfect family, and after a freak accident involving a rake, her dreams become a reality. WOMAN IN MIND opened on March 3rd and will continue to run through March 24th.

The Dallas Opera is proud to present one of the most talked about Mozart productions of the decade: DON GIOVANNI in a critically acclaimed production created by Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Robert Falls for Lyric Opera of Chicago and conducted by Dallas Opera Music Director Emmanuel Villaume.

Britain's comic genius, Sir Alan Ayckbourn, has penned a fast-paced and hilariously funny theatrical feast that stands as a classic modern comedy. With the precision of a master chef, Sir Ayckbourn mixes three very different marriages into a pot, simmering with sex, jealousy, and liberally spiced with ingenious stagecraft. Full of clever, razor-sharp dialogue and impeccable split-second timing, HOW THE OTHER HALF LOVES is a treat you won't want to miss. Find out why The London Daily Mail called this 'a delicious, jolly good show.'

Ahead of the opening of their new season and their 40th anniversary next year, Artistic Director of Polka Theatre, Peter Glanville, today announces that Amanda Holden will join the theatre as a new Patron. Holden has been specifically brought on to support the upcoming Future Polka capital development which is scheduled to begin next year.

The reviews are in for COMMUNICATING DOORS at Santa Barbara City College! A hilarious comedy by Alan Ayckbourn, COMMUNICATING DOORS opened on March 2nd, and will run through March 17th.

The first major revival of Charlotte Jones' play Humble Boy is another interesting choice by the Orange Tree's Artistic Director Paul Miller. It is surely a challenge to pull off a play that combines astrophysics, bee-keeping and Shakespearean family angst, but Miller achieves this in a neat and clever way, whilst maintaining tenderness and gentle comedy.

Alan Ayckbourne's 'Communicating Doors,' produced by the SBCC Theatre Group, follows Poopay (Felicia Hall), a blue-collar London dominatrix who shows up at a luxury hotel to service wealthy business mogul, Reece (Matt Smith), but instead gets pressured into witnessing his deathbed confession of embezzlement and murder. On the run from Reece's homicidal business partner, Julian (George Coe), who isn't keen on being outed for his part in the murder of Reece's two deceased wives, Ruella (Leslie Gangle Howe) and Jessica (Brittany Harter), Poopay hides in a hotel closet. The closet houses a time portal that takes her back twenty years to the night of Ruella's murder, in the very same hotel suite. Poopay and Ruella team up to prevent the murder, thus changing the past and altering the future for everyone.

CSUF's Spring 2018 production of Taking Steps brings audiences all the laughter.

The critically acclaimed Brits Off Broadway, host to the UK's most innovative and provocative theater in New York City, presented by 59E59 Theaters (Val Day, Artistic Director; Brian Beirne, Managing Director) returns from Wednesday, April 11 - Sunday, July 1. The single ticket prices range from $25 - $70 ($20 - $49 for 59E59 Members). Tickets to Brits Off Broadway go on sale on Tuesday, March 6 at Noon, with a special pre-sale for 59E59 Members beginning Tuesday, February 27 at Noon. Tickets are available by calling Ticket Central at 212-279-4200 or online at www.59e59.org.

Artistic Director Edward Hall announces Hampstead Theatre's spring/summer season. The UK premiere of Rajiv Joseph's darkly comic post-truth play Describe the Night will be directed by Lisa Spirling. The world premiere of Jemma Kennedy's blisteringly entertaining Genesis Inc. will be directed by Laurie Sansom. The world premiere of Fiona Doyle's haunting and provocative new drama The Strange Death of John Doe will be directed by Artistic Director Edward Hall for Hampstead Downstairs. The production is a Hampstead Theatre commission and a finalist for The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Under 30s can access Priority Booking for all shows via The Downstairs Club - Hampstead's free membership scheme to allow better access to the cheaper seats.

Due to overwhelming public demand, ALL OR NOTHING - THE MOD MUSICAL, with book by Carol Harrison and music and lyrics by the Small Faces, will transfer to the Ambassadors Theatre in London's West End following a five-week sell-out season at the Arts Theatre. The 10-week run at the Ambassadors Theatre will begin on Wednesday 28 March 2018 with a Gala Night, and will run until Saturday 2 June 2018. Tickets are now on sale.

California State University, Fullerton begins the spring 2018 season with Alan Ayckbourn's comedy, Taking Steps. Seasoned professional Mark Ramont directs the production, which runs February 23-March 18, 2018 in the Hallberg Theatre on campus. The comedy centers around the tale of Roland, a hard-drinking, irascible tycoon who is interested in buying an old Victorian house that was once a brothel. His wife, a frustrated dancer, constantly threatening to leave him, joins in this frenetic race up and down the dark mansion's many steps in what The Evening News called 'a farce of riotous delight.'   

Falls directs his adaptation, based on a translation by Eleanor Marx-Aveling, with a cast featuring Philip Earl Johnson as Thomas Stockmann, doctor and chief medical officer of the baths; Scott Jaeck as Peter Stockmann, Thomas' older brother and town mayor; Lanise Antoine Shelley as Katherine, Thomas' wife; Rebecca Hurd as Thomas' daughter, Petra. Rounding out the cast are Jesse Bhamrah (Billing), David Darlow (Morten Kiil), Allen Gilmore (Aslaksen), Aubrey Deeker Hernandez (Hovstad), Larry Neumann, Jr. (The Drunk) and Carley Cornelius, Arya Daire, Guy Massey, Roderick Peeples and Dustin Whitehead as townspeople.

The Theatre Group at SBCC will present will be the comedy thriller COMMUNICATING DOORS by Alan Ayckbourn, directed by Katie Laris, February 28-March 17, 2018  in the Garvin Theatre. This intricate, time traveling, comic thriller by the British master of farcical comedy delighted London and New York audiences.