The First 40 Years: 1994

This is part of a series of articles looking at the first 40 years of the Stephen Joseph Theatre (1955 to 1995) from the perspective of the theatre's Archive. The articles were first published in the SJT Circular newsletter.

1994: Unexpected Ayckbourn

by Simon Murgatroyd

As both the SJT and Alan Ayckbourn’s Archivist, there are certain years which hold a great fascination for me. Often for the most obscure or bizarre reasons.

1994 is a particular favourite as it is a year in which nothing appears to have gone to plan with regard to Alan Ayckbourn: a planned play failed to materialise, an unplanned play took its place, a play intended for two years hence made an early appearance and a play conceived for Manchester ended up in Scarborough!

It’s a fascinating year and begins during 1993 when the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round’s autumn / winter brochure was released with the announcement of Alan Ayckbourn’s latest play Private Fears In Public Places.

Scheduled to run from 27 January to 26 February 1994, it was advertised as the playwright’s 46th work with the brochure tantalisingly revealingly “At the airport, Jessica waves a fond farewell to he husband. Then a chance encounter changes her life. How well does she know, how far she can trust herself?”

Alan had sent the theatre’s press officer, Jeannie Swales, the title and description of the play in June 1993 - with the somewhat ironic note scrawled on: ‘By the time I get round to writing it, it’ll probably be about eight obstetricians trapped in a lift.’

Alan subsequently went on holiday to write the play giving no-one any reason for concern. Until Jeannie received a call from Alan noting the play wasn’t going to plan. That it wouldn’t be about Jessica and her chance encounter. Not would it be called Private Fears In Public Places. And he wasn’t sure what it would be called or what it would be about....

"Basically, I had two ideas bouncing around my head. So the final piece could have emerged from either one of them. And the play I absolutely thought I would write is a rather gruelling piece set in an airport departure lounge - so that is the one which went in to the brochure. When I actually started to write the advertised play, Private Fears In Public Places, it all rather alarmingly began coming to pieces in my hands. It wasn't ready to be written. Certain parts were intact, but it was like crafting a piece of furniture without legs.”

The other idea was something called A Word From Our Sponsor, a play about a community’s attempt to stage a Mystery Play which had an unexpected intervention. Unfortunately, Alan soon realised that “to my absolute horror suddenly began to look like another non-starter as well.”

Two ideas. No plays. Alan began to think he might haver to stage an unexpected revival of Bedroom Farce when, fortunately, inspiration struck. An idea for a Hitchcock-esque, time-travelling thriller set in a London hotel room. Enter Communicating Doors and a huge hit for the playwright, despite its difficult birth.

To briefly digress, theatre fans will probably recognise both the abandoned play titles. Alan would keep the title Private Fears in Public Places for a play in 2004, but which has nothing at all to do with his original concept. Meanwhile, A Word From Our Sponsor would get written in 1995 although transformed into a musical of the original idea.

Back in 1994 and all this might well be considered more than enough stress for Alan.

Let’s not forget that at this time, Alan was not only running the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round but was actively involved in the conversion of Scarborough’s former Odeon cinema into the Stephen Joseph Theatre, for which building work was now well underway.

The plan to convert the Odeon had been announced in 1991 and it was hoped the theatre would open in 1993… 1994… 1995… 1996. It was also originally intended the theatre would open in two phases beginning with the end-stage theatre and the front of house areas.

For this Alan intended to write a play specifically for the end-stage called Haunting Julia. Well, that was the plan. In November 1993 the Arts Council announced a £5m cut in funding for 1994 - 1995 which resulted in stand-still funding for the SJT (essentially a cut given rising costs). Alan’s plans for the 1994 summer season were thrown into disarray as correspondence reveals.

“We are busy trying to trim budgets without jeopardising standards. The result is that I’ve had to scrap the planned summer season (or some of it) and have finished up having to write yet another new one to launch us in April.”

Needing a low-budget play with a good chance of packing audiences in, Alan reluctantly decided to bring Haunting Julia to fruition early as due to the constraints of its intended end-stage format, it was conceived as a three-hander, single-set piece. Whilst adapting the play for the round would pose some practical issues, it provided the budget-saving production required at the time.

The play was written during February before going into rehearsals in March, opening less than two months after Communicating Doors had closed. Although not quite the second The Woman In Black Alan had hoped for, it was still a success and Alan was able to concentrate on the SJT conversion.

Flash forward to the end of the year and the choice of Christmas play. Alan’s last new family play had been in 1992 with My Very Own Story. That year had also seen Alan approached by Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre to write a children’s play for its mobile theatre project for spring 1994. Alan suggested a concept called The Musical Jigsaw Play which he would create with the SJT’s musical director John Pattison.

For various reasons - including a lack of sponsorship - Manchester was unable to produce the play at either the time or in the venue originally suggested. Having written the play and feeling Manchester’s new suggestions for it were inappropriate, Alan decided a play destined for Easter in Manchester would instead make its debut at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round at Christmas. Because, why not?

All of which meant in a year when Alan Ayckbourn intended to have less of a presence at the theatre while he concentrated on the new theatre, it instead saw the arrival of three new plays, none of which were part of the original schedule.

Which might well have been very stressful for Alan Ayckbourn but is an absolute joy for his Archivist!

Article by and copyright of Simon Murgatroyd. Please do not reproduce this article without permission of the copyright holder.