Alan Ayckbourn
Title: Sir Alan Ayckbourn
Birthdate: April 12, 1939
Birthplace: Hampstead, London, England, United Kingdom
Occupation: Playwright
Profile: Awarded an Olivier, Tony, and Moliere Award. Knighted in 1997.
Website: http://www.alanayckbourn.net/
Number of Quotes: 17
A comedy is just a tragedy interrupted, I once said. Do you finish with the kiss or
when she opens her eyes to tell him she loves him and sees blonde hairs on his collar?
A play is not a flat thing on a page; it’s a three-dimensional event.
From interviews about his approach to theater, emphasizing the importance of live performance over text.
As a writer one is allowed to have conversations with oneself. What is considered sane in writers is made for the rest of the human race.
Comedy is tragedy interrupted.
A recurring theme in his discussions of humor, reflecting his belief in the thin line between laughter and pain.
Directing is like being a chef: you assemble the ingredients, but ultimately, it’s the actors who have to make the meal.
On his dual role as playwright and director, quoted in The Guardian (2009).
Few women care to be laughed at and men not at all, except for large sums of money.
He really is terribly heavy going. Like running up hill in roller skates.
I write plays because I love the theatre. It’s as simple as that.
From a 2018 interview with The Stage, discussing his lifelong passion for theater.
If you are flattering a woman, it pays to be a little more subtle. You don't have to bother with men, they believe any compliment automatically.
If you want to write, you have to write. It’s no good waiting for the muse. She’s probably off having a coffee with someone else.
Advice to aspiring writers, cited in his masterclass talks on playwriting.
Salad. I can't bear salad. It grows while you're eating it, you know. Have you noticed? You start one side of
your plate and by the time you've got to the other, there's a fresh crop of lettuce taken root and sprouted up.
The darker the subject, the more light you must try to shed on the matter. And vice versa.
Theatre is the most immediate of all the arts. It’s happening right there in front of you, and if it goes wrong, it goes wrong in real time.
From a BBC Radio 4 interview (2012), highlighting the live, unpredictable nature of theater.
There are very few people on top of life, and the rest of us don't like them very much.
Woe betide the man who dares to pay a woman a compliment today ... Forget the flowers, the chocolates, the
soft word - rather woo her with a self-defence manual in one hand and a family planning leaflet in the other.
Writing a play is like building a house. If the structure’s wrong, it doesn’t matter how nice the curtains are.
On the importance of dramatic structure, from The Craft of Playwriting (2000).
You don’t need to be cruel to be funny. Cruelty is the easiest form of humor—and the laziest.
Critiquing mean-spirited comedy in a lecture at the National Theatre (2015).
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