Frequently Asked Questions: General Questions
This page contains FAQs concerning general questions about Alan Ayckbourn; more specific career related questions can be found on the other pages in this section (see links above). If there is a question not listed here which you feel should be listed, please contact the website via the Contact Us page.1) How do I pronounce Ayckbourn?
2) When was Alan Ayckbourn born?
3) Where was Alan Ayckbourn born?
4) How many plays has Alan Ayckbourn written?
5) When did Alan Ayckbourn suffer a stroke?
6) Is Alan Ayckbourn the second most performed playwright in the UK / World after Shakespeare?
7) I would like to produce an Ayckbourn play, who do I contact?
8) How can I contact Alan Ayckbourn?
9) Can I send scripts for Alan Ayckbourn to read / Can Alan Ayckbourn offer me advice on writing?
10) Is Alan Ayckbourn on social media or are there any official Ayckbourn social media channels?
1) How do I pronounce Ayckbourn?
Ayckbourn is pronounced Ache-born (Ache rhyming with wake).
2) When was Alan Ayckbourn born?
Alan Ayckbourn was born on 12 April 1939.
3) Where was Alan Ayckbourn born?
Alan Ayckbourn was born in Hampstead in London.
4) How many plays has Alan Ayckbourn written?
As of 2025, Alan Ayckbourn has written 91 full-length plays (as well as numerous other revues, one act plays and other pieces). See Writing FAQs for more details.
5) When did Alan Ayckbourn suffer a stroke?
Alan Ayckbourn suffered a stroke on 21 February 2006. This was a week before it was reported in the press and media with news of the stroke only being released once it was ascertained Alan Ayckbourn was making a full recovery.
6) I would like to produce an Ayckbourn play, who do I contact?
Providing the play is available to produce (and a list of which plays are available to amateurs and professionals can be found here), you need to contact Concord Theatricals about licensing a play if you are an amateur company. If you are intending to stage a professional production, you should contact Alan Ayckbourn's agents Casarotto Ramsay. Further details about contacts for productions and frequently asked questions about producing the plays can be found in the Staging The Plays section.
7) Is Alan Ayckbourn the second most performed playwright in the UK / World after Shakespeare?
There is a page dealing with this question on the website here. The short answer is probably not, but no-one has the statistics to prove whether it's true or not.
8) How do I contact Alan Ayckbourn?
You can contact Alan Ayckbourn via this website - all email messages are passed onto his Personal Assistant - via: admin@alanayckbourn.net. Alternatively you can write to him via the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough. Although he does not work at the venue, mail addressed to him is still regularly picked up. The address is: Alan Ayckbourn, ℅ Stephen Joseph Theatre, Westborough, Scarborough, YO11 1JW.
9) Can I send scripts for Alan Ayckbourn to read / Can Alan Ayckbourn offer me advice on writing?
Alan Ayckbourn no longer accepts script submissions nor offers advice to writers. Whilst Artistic Director at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, he spent 37 years reading and evaluating scripts (and five years at the BBC from 1965 - 1970 doing the same) as well as advising writers. With his retirement from the theatre in 2009, he felt it was time to pass the torch onto other people so that he could understandably concentrate completely on his own writing and directing for the first time.
With regard to advice to writers and directors, he sincerely feels that everything he has to say on the subject can be found in his book The Crafty Art Of Playmaking (Faber, 2002) which is available to buy and through libraries.
10) Is Alan Ayckbourn on social media or are there any official Ayckbourn social media channels?
No, Alan Ayckbourn is not on social media nor does he engage with social media. There are three official social media channels which are run by his Archivist, Simon Murgatroyd, and which are affiliated with this website. These are Instagram, Facebook, a Wordpress blog and Youtube. Any other social media sites or platforms claiming to be Alan Ayckbourn or affiliated to Alan Ayckbourn are fake and should be reported.
All research by Simon Murgatroyd. Copyright of Haydonning Ltd.