Alan Ayckbourn: Prose Writing
Alan Ayckbourn has frequently noted that he is not terribly comfortable writing prose and has joked that it takes him as long to write a programme note as it does the actual play! However, he has written several significant prose works over his career, which are listed here.○ The Crafty Art of Playmaking (2002)
Alan's first major prose work was The Crafty Art of Playmaking first published during 2002 and which has never been out of print since. It is his acclaimed guide to writing and directing plays and the playwright has frequently noted that he little further to add to the book with regard to his thoughts on these subjects.
The book developed from his year as Professor off Contemporary Theatre at Oxford University during 1992 as well as various projects which span out of this such as his two episodes of The South Bank Show in which he held directing masterclasses.
The Crafty Art of Playmaking is published by Faber and is available in softback here and as an ebook here.
○ The Divide (2019)
Alan Ayckbourn's first work of prose fiction was published in 2019 and is an account of a post-pandemic England which has seen the male population decimated and contact between adult male and females fatal to the men.
The Divide has its own section of the website with in-depth details which can be accessed here.
The Divide is published by P.S. Publishing and is available in hardback here and softback here.
○ Articles
A comprehensive list of published articles by Alan Ayckbourn can be found in the Publications sections here. This includes programme / playbill articles, forewords, newspaper & magazine articles as well as various other contributions to published works.
The Articles section of this website also contains reproductions of many of these articles. Click here to access these articles.
All research in this section is by Simon Murgatroyd and should be credited if reproduced.