It is a mind-blowing fact that when Show & Tell opens at Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph theatre in early September, it will be Alan Ayckbourn’s 90th play. Talking to the dramatist at his home in the town, I discover something even more astonishing: that he has a reservoir of yet more plays still awaiting production.
“During Covid,” he says, “I was stockpiling plays, and each year in Scarborough we have a special weekend when I stage a reading of one. Last year, it was Truth Will Out, which was about a boy sitting in his bedroom in Barnsley who tries to hack into the computer of a girl he fancies, and inadvertently brings the country to its knees. This year’s reading will be of a play called Father of Invention and – given that I’ve already written a new piece for full-scale production next year, and sketched out another for 2026 – I guess the full total is getting near to 100.”
