Alan Ayckbourn: Grinning at the Edge: A Biography of Alan Ayckbourn (Biography and Autobiography)

Alan Ayckbourn is Britain's most popular playwright and its most private. He has won numerous awards for his plays — including Absurd Person Singular, The Norman Conquests, Just Between Ourselves, A Chorus of Disapproval and Communicating Doors — and has worked with some of theatre's most celebrated names — Jane Asher, Richard Briers, Michael Gambon, Julia McKenzie, Penelope Keith, and Peter Hall. Feted from London to New York to Tokyo, he was knighted in 1997 for his services to the theatre. Yet he spends most of his time away from the limelight in a Yorkshire seaside town not writing at all but running a small repertory theatre.In this biography Paul Allen explores Ayckbourn's family background, looking at his unsettled and sometimes solitary childhood. There follows a hasty first marriage, the often farcical life of a frustrated young actor, and the setbacks and false dawns endured by the novice writer before he became the great comic hitmaker of the 1970s. Audiences since have been literally falling into the aisles or overloading theatre PA systems with the volume of their laughter, even as they register the seriousness of his preoccupation with man's inhumanity to woman. With the first-hand testimony of scores of colleagues who have worked with Ayckbourn at length in Scarborough as well as the more celebrated London collaborators, Allen traces the development of his more savagely comic critique of public life in the 1980s and '90s.This is a portrait of a man who — from Relatively Speaking in 1965 to his double play House and Garden at the National Theatre in 2000 — has chronicled human behavior, our aspirations and insecurities, while shaping the theatrical experience of millions. Now in paperback, the hugely acclaimed, authorised biography of Britain's most popular playwrightAlan Ayckbourn is Britain's most popular playwright and its most private. He has won numerous awards for his plays and has worked with some of theatre's most celebrated names, yet he spends most of his time away from the limelight in a Yorkshire seaside town not writing at all but running a small repertory theatre.This is a portrait of a man who - from Relatively Speaking in 1965 to his double play House and Garden at the National Theatre in 2000 - has chronicled human behaviour, our aspirations and insecurities, while shaping the theatrical experience of millions.'Mr Allen's book makes me want to start reading the entire Ayckbourn canon over again...splendid stuff'Hugh Leonard, Sunday Independent'Paul Allen has come up with a wise, well-informed book that not only persuades us of Ayckbourn's genius but also helps to explain this complex, driven man'Michael Billington, Country Life'Lucid, meticulously researched... this impressively detailed account benefits from Paul Allen's rich inside knowledge of theatre'Terry Eagleton, Times Literary Supplement'Thorough and enjoyable'Christopher Hirst, Independent Now in paperback, the hugely acclaimed, authorised biography of Britain''s most popular playwright Alan Ayckbourn is Britain''s most popular playwright and its most private. He has won numerous awards for his plays and has worked with some of theatre''s most celebrated names, yet he spends most of his time away from the limelight in a Yorkshire seaside town not writing at all but running a small repertory theatre. This is a portrait of a man who - from Relatively Speaking in 1965 to his double play House and Garden at the National Theatre in 2000 - has chronicled human behaviour, our aspir One of Britain's most popular playwrights, Alan Ayckbourn is also the most private. This book is a portrait of the man who - from "Relatively Speaking" in 1965 to his double play "House" and "Garden" at the National Theatre in 2000 - has chronicled human behaviour, aspirations and insecurities. This is a full and authorised biography of leading playwright Alan Ayckbourn. Paul Allen attempts to discover what has made Ayckbourn such a successful writer, producer and director