AYCKBOURN, ALAN

born April 12, 1939, London, Eng. successful and prolific British playwright, whose worksmostly farces and comediesdeal with marital and class conflicts and point up the fears and weaknesses of the English lower-middle class. He wrote more than 50 plays and other entertainments, most of which were first staged at the Stephen Joseph Theatre-in-the-Round in Scarborough, Yorkshire. At age 15 Ayckbourn acted in school productions of William Shakespeare, and he began his professional acting career with the Stephen Joseph Company in Scarborough. When Ayckbourn wanted better roles to play, Joseph told him to write a part for himself in a play that the company would mount if it had merit. Ayckbourn produced his earliest plays in 195961 under the pseudonym Roland Allen. His playsmany of which were performed years before they were publishedinclude Relatively Speaking (1968), Mixed Doubles: An Entertainment on Marriage (1970), How the Other Half Loves (1971), the trilogy The Norman Conquests (1973), Absurd Person Singular (1974), Intimate Exchanges (1985), Mr. A's Amazing Maze Plays (1989), Body Language (1990), Invisible Friends (1991), and Communicating Doors (1995).