Sir Alan Ayckbourn,Two Interviews by Stacey Morley..page8

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Two Interviews:Sir Alan Ayckbourn...page8

^{written by:} Stacey Morley

Interview of April 2, 1998:

A.A.- Oh yes. His attitude towards writers was very old fashioned in the idea of bringing a writer into a building, working alongside as one of the team - he always stressed that he (the writer) was one of the team. I think he had very little time, I mean, I've seen it in my lifetime move from writers theatre, where the writer was everything to directors theatre which it probably now is. He did have time for the writer as part of the building, as part of the structure, a working member who was not someone whom the actors regarded as a sort of alien presence; and so that had a direct influence on me. When I arrived he encouraged anyone who looked like he could hold a pen to write.

S.M.- What he taught you - has that influenced you a lot in your career, or have you swayed from that teaching and gone your own way?

A.A.- Well the teaching is still there, very strongly still there because I think in the enigma he set me which was to write for a company which was unashamedly an experimental company; a group of people who wanted to move back the barriers of theatre; to be working in new form and yet address a Scarborough audience, even at that stage the most conservative audience who had come to see The Black & White Minstrel Show and Val Doonican in his prime and somehow we had to compete with that. You couldn't rely on weird, experimental stuff unless it had an incredible entertainment content. It was a very unfashionable thing to do, however not soon afterwards there was a passion for writing plays that no-one understood, there was a whole fringe movement, it changed quite a lot and in the end it became much more sensible but in the earliest plays they were quite pleased there was no audience, it became a great achievement to alienate the entire human race from theatre. Stephen was very much a popularist in that sense, his last requirement, he was moving very much into the realm of Joan Littlewood. He was closing with her fast with his desire for a 'Fish and Chip Theatre'; actually he had this idea for a huge long chip frying counter round the back of the theatre and you could sit and you could walk up like you might do in an American football game, pick up some chips and come back and watch the action. We actors rather resented the feeling that we were competing with six penny worth of chips, but I think he just wanted to get away from all this conformity. I think what he did and what I've inherited from him is the desire to keep the magic of theatre. I think there is something magic about people coming on and telling us a story and creating things from nothing, when they're not, there is just a space. But without the mystique that sort of chic-ary that surrounds it which makes some people alienated, it is at the end of it a group of people coming on and pretending for your benefit, inviting you to join in that pretence.

S.M.- What do you think he would think of this theatre?

A.A.- He'd think it was too permanent by half. He had a great anarchic streak in him, his dictum; all theatres should self destruct in seven years was not exactly practical but I know what he meant. They should reinvent themselves he said. So I suppose in the end he'd like the technical stuff we've added, he'd like a lot of it, and I think what he'd be appalled by and what I'm appalled by, really is the amount of money it takes to run, before you do a single play. That is something he did address and it is a concern when you move into a permanent building and you have to take on the full responsibility, the heating, the lighting, putting safety requirements in; you can't just have a building with one usher in, you've got to have ten or twelve or however many the fire regulations require you to have. It all eats up and it all eats away from what his ideal would be, that 90% is spent on actors and shows.

S.M.- In terms of writing, when you first started out with him, did he state what he wanted you to write about?

A.A.- Yes, he did, although I never really followed him. David Campton who was the other writer at the time, followed much more closely along Stephen's suggestions but I tended always (I don't think it was just because I had a strong independence, but I probably did) but I found it very hard to write to requirements, always have done.continued-

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