Alan Ayckbourn: Unproduced Plays
Given the longevity of Alan Ayckbourn's professional writing career, it would be surprising if there had not been some unproduced plays. This page contains details of completed plays which are currently unproduced.This page also serves to acknowledge the existence and providence of the plays prior to inclusion into the Ayckbourn Archive at the Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York; this allows the playwright to assert there are no lost or undiscovered works within the Archive.
A Case Of Missing Wives
A Case of Missing Wives was intended to be Alan Ayckbourn's 81st full-length play to premiere during the summer of 2017.He finished writing the first draft on 16 October 2016 and was, by all accounts unsatisfied with the play. However, another idea came to him and he proceeded to write that too - this was A Brief History of Women. He was then inspired enough to return to A Case of Missing Wives and was satisfied with the rewrites. With two plays written but only one slot scheduled at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, Alan offered both plays to the theatre A Brief History of Women being chosen for production.
The play is a six-hander police procedural set in the fictional town of Dreadcliff and the experiences of a young female Detective Constable transferring from Sussex to this strange town in Yorkshire. Alan would later recycle some of the ideas and characters into his 82nd play Better Off Dead, which makes it unlikely A Case Of Missing Wives will ever be produced.
Small Mercy
Small Mercy was written during February 2019 with the initial intention of being produced during the 2020 summer season at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough.The play is a seven-hander set in 2021 (or thereabouts) and explores online media and how it can be manipulated and exploited. The play unusually underwent several revisions at the request of the Artistic Director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre, which saw the role of the central character of Mercy eventually become a character seen only on video.
However, the experience with the writing and submission process had soured the play for Alan and when, later in 2019, Alan Ayckbourn went on to write Truth Will Out, the decision to move ahead with the latter play instead was taken. Ironically, neither play was produced as the entire 2020 season was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic.
Between 2020 and 2023, Alan Ayckbourn re-wrote Small Mercy and re-titled it as Father of Invention. It substantially alters the narrative whilst keeping many of the characters. This has never been produced as a stage play but was presented as an exclusive fund-raising reading during September 2024.
Another Time, Another Place
Another Time, Another Place was the second play Alan Ayckbourn wrote as a direct result of the Covid-19 pandemic during 2020. As a result of the global outbreak, all the UK's theatre's were closed during March 2020. Alan still proiducved a new play with the audio play, Anno Domino. The success of Anno Domino led Alan to record his 1994 play Haunting Julia through June to August.As soon as Alan had finished working on Haunting Julia, he began writing Another Time, Another Place during September, which was completed on 22 September. No details are currently known about the play.
It is not known what the status of Another Time, Another Place is and whether the playwright intends to allow it to be produced.
Other Plays
◦ Men, Meals & Me: Written in 2018 for production in 2019 but replaced by Birthdays Past, Birthdays Present◦ FourPlay: Written in 2021 during the global Covid-19 pandemic but with no intention of it being produced.
◦ The Late Wife: Written in 2021 during the global Covid-19 pandemic - no details known but possibly unfinished.
Article and research by Simon Murgatroyd. Copyright: Haydonning Ltd. Please do not reproduce without permission of the copyright holder.