Bücher von Alan Ayckbourn

The year is 1996. Trevor and Linda have been struggling for a while to deal with the behaviour of their rebellious teenage son Jason. In a moment of madness, they hatch a plan to create his own funeral in their living room.

Murganah loves Ahmed, the Sultan's youngest son, but feeling herself rejected, she invokes the help of dark supernatural forces to regain him. When she finally loses him to another she seeks a terrible revenge.3 women, 7 men

The suburban house of the Bakers' adjoins a recreation field, which is useful since football and cricket play a large part in the story. Peter, who works for Graham, brings his fiancee to the house and Graham, as usual, makes a bee-line for her. However, it is Mrs. Baker's brother, Leonard, to whom Joan strays. Leonard, poetic, a fumbler, who moons around holding conversations with the garden gnome, has always roused the bullying Graham's malice and scorn, who is horrified when he catches the younger man very much with Joan.-2 women, 3 men

Caroline marries an unemployed actor, Kevin, whom she supports while he flirts with women and spoils her flat with his oafish behaviour. Eventually he seduces one of her pupils and Caroline throws him out. Miserably isolated, she goes to dinner with Jilly and Ivor and meets Matthew who appears eminently suitable. But their ensuing affair is doomed by Matthew's persistent, precision fault-finding and Caroline realizes she can cope better with the slovenly, but kind-hearted, Kevin sprawling on her sofa. The plot is evolved in clever time-splitting sequences between the present and three years past.3 women, 4 men, 8 women or men

This futuristic musical is set in a small-town railway station. Harry Wooller, a vicar, is looking for sponsorship for his group's musical Mystery play. But when youth arsonists destroy Earl Smallboys' "Paradise Club", Earl pulls out of the deal.

A musical which provides roles for eight actors/singers, combining the work of Alan Ayckbourn with John Pattison's fully integrated score (published separately) that ranges from the operatic to pop.

Eight years of macaroni and cheese for breakfast, lunch and supper...It's enough to drive a boy crazy - until a new, unexpected, and rather dangerous creature arrives on Callisto 5.|1 woman, 2 men

An ingenious set greets the audience of this award winning play: the cross section of a Victorian house that has been divided into three flats. The owner, a fastidious, elegant executive named Barbara, contentedly occupies the ordered, male free ground floor visible in its entirety. The basement ceiling can be seen and this is were Gilbert, a boorish postman and handyman, is painting a nude study of his landlady. Barbara is letting Nikki, a schoolfriend, and her fiance use the upstairs flat even though she has taken an instant dislike to him. Ever life's victim, Nikki is destined to suffer yet again when Barbara succumbs to an unexpected and violent passion.-2 women, 2 men

The Prince awakens Princess Aurora and the eager, happy young couple are about to embark on their first night of passionate love when ugly, unloved Carabosse, the wicked witch, butts in having taken a fancy to the Prince. But which one will be the Awaking Beauty?

Mr Whatnot is Mint, a piano tuner, summoned to the stately home of Lord and Lady Slingsby-Craddock. Once there he falls in love with their daughter, Amanda, elopes with her, fails to save her from marriage to Cecil but wins through in the end. With plenty of mime and sound effects Mr Whatnot offers great opportunities to an imaginative director for a highly entertaining and unusual production.|4 women, 7 men

In this play, Sarah's desperate attempts to have a nice, civilized week end culminate, not surprisingly, in disaster. Ruth, Norman's wife, is summoned but Norman still contrives to cause havoc involving, finally, all three women. Matters are not helped by such events as the slow thinking Tom mistaking Ruth's intentions during a conversation they have together. Eventually the horrific week end draws to a close.3 women, 3 men

Due to an unfortunate triple booking, three storytellers, Peter, Paul and Percy, arrive simultaneously each to tell his own story. After some acrimony, Percy wins out and is soon telling his story - a Victorian yarn featuring, to his dismay, Paul who has hijacked the leading role. Soon Peter in turn is continuing Percy's unresolved fable only to find Percy appearing in this. In due course, Peter appears in Paul's gothic story (an extension of Peter's forties tales) and together they reach a surprisingly happy conclusion.8 women, 9 men

Four typical Ayckbourn misfits are playing a Dungeons and Dragons type game in a suburban living room. Stanley, Hazel, Warren and Rick make the weekly escape from their real life nightmares into a role-playing board game peopled by dragons and monsters. A safe world where the dangers are of their own imagining; where they are free to become heroes of their own devising. But how clear is the dividing line between what they choose to be and what they really are? What would it take for them to lose sight of it altogether?-4 women, 4 men

This ingenious comedy is about two sisters and the choices they make (or have made for them) over a few months. There are four versions that can be done on different evenings, each stemming from one random and one deliberate choice. The story starts with a funeral at which Dorcas, Abigail and Simon solve a dilemma by tossing a coin: either Dorcas or Abigail wins the toss and goes with Simon. Later, at a picnic, Dorcas opts for either a camping adventure for Abigail or a day of sports for herself. The inevitable end of either choice is a wedding.4 women, 8 men

Charlie Conrad is a celebrity. His talent? He hasn't got one; the nation took him to their hearts for very publicly being unable to do anything competently. On a fateful day Charlie has an encounter with Marsha, a children's entertainer otherwise known as Mr Chortles, and his marriage and his career go into freefall...

The Rodales seem like an ordinary family, but beneath the surface things are beginning to crack. Jill and Mal have lost the spark in their marriage, their son Sam resents his father and their daughter Chrissie has recently become a mum and is dealing with marriage issues of her own.

Characters: 3 male, 2 female Composite set: part of a bedroom, sitting-room, eating-area in kitchen The Rodales seem like an ordinary family, but beneath the surface things are beginning to crack. Jill and Mal have lost the spark in their marriage, their son Sam resents his father and their daughter Chrissie has recently become a mum and is dealing with marriage issues of her own. And while they all share advice on how others should live their lives, nobody is really taking it on board

It's Downstairs areas in a modern town house. Winnie is nearly nine. Her mum, Laverne, is second-generation Afro-Caribbean and heavily pregnant but continues with her cleaning job since her husband left while she dreams of moving the family back to Martinique.

Dennis spends his spare time messing about in his untidy garage, indifferent to the fact that his wife is being driven to distraction and beyond by his possessive mother. The hidden tension and antagonisms under an apparently normal surface build up to a climax of bizarre violence and madness.3 women, 2 men

A thunderstorm. A windswept country house. A family of failures - a detective who has never solved a case, a writer, an artist, a composer, and a dysfunctional teenager - are all arguing over a bequest. But the victim is not who we think it will be and the murderer could be one of three people.

Benjamin Cooper provides comfort and satisfaction to his wealthy patients, by improving their good looks with the aid of surgery. One of his patients is Angie Dell, a model at the peak of her powers. Her charms do not escape Benjamin, nor his old friend and former mentor, Hravic Zyergfoovc.

Henry Bell has come to the Albert Bridge to throw himself off because he has lost his wife and his job. Instead, he saves Karen Knightly who has thrown herself off the bridge already and is dangling by her caught coat. They spend a long night driving. Henry learns that Karen has been jilted by a lover who has gone back to his wife. She suggests revenge as a way to heal their emotional wounds: she will fix Henry's dreadful former boss and Henry must ruin her ex lover's wife.-12 women, 11 men

What could be more pleasant than cruising through the picturesque English countryside? This voyage combines the comedy touches that make Ayckbourn one of the world's best loved playwrights with a darker thread of menace.-4 women, 3 men

Time of My Life charts the decline and fall of a successful family business founded and nurtured by Gerry and Laura Stratton. It is Laura's fifty-fourth birthday and Gerry has organized a small family dinner at their favourite restaurant. Domestically, all seems well. Glyn, their eldest son, has patched up his marriage with Stephanie; younger son Adam has a new girlfriend and is deeply in love. But, as we suspect, all this is surface stuff. For, as their evening proceeds, the play reveals skeletons from the past and a spectre of the future.