Birthdays Past, Birthdays Present: In Brief
Birthdays Past, Birthdays Present
Play Number: 83World Premiere: 10 September 2019
Venue: Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough
Premiere Staging: In-the-round
Published: Samuel French
Other Media: No
Cast: 2m / 2f
Run Time: 2hr 10m
Synopsis: Adrian is about to introduce his fiancée Grace to his parents at a birthday party. But they are worried that Grace doesn't know about Adrian's alleged reputation. As birthdays past are revisited, the truth about the suburban closet Casanova is revealed….
○ The world premiere - directed by Alan Ayckbourn - was held at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, on 10 September 2019.
○ The inspiration behind the play goes back to the 1960s and an idea Alan has frequently mentioned in interviews of writing a farce which would run backwards called Ecraf.
○ Birthdays Past, Birthdays Present premiered during Alan Ayckbourn's 80th birthday year and the 60th anniversary of his playwriting debut in 1959; appropriately the play begins at an 80th birthday party.
○ It is set over the course of 38 years, one of the longest spans of time covered in an Ayckbourn play after the 60 years of A Brief History Of Women.
○ The play features one actor playing all four of the significant women in Adrian's life; Alan has previously used this device for Brian's girlfriends in Joking Apart, although there they are all deliberately intended to resemble each other.
○ Like many of Alan Ayckbourn's plays, it features several key off-stage characters, most notably Adrian's Uncle Hal and his sister, Sonia, who both play significant unseen roles in scenes three and four.
Copyright: Haydonning Ltd. Please do not reproduce without the permission of the copyright holder.