Plays 3: Haunting Julia / Sugar Daddies / Drowning on Dry Land / Private Fears in Public Places

by Alan Ayckbourn

In this third volume of his collected plays, Alan Ayckbourn takes his signature acerbic wit into the territory of the lonely and isolated, focusing on everyone from the fantastically famous to the lowliest of Eleanor Rigbys. Collected here are Haunting Julia, Sugar Daddies, Drowning on Dry Land, and the universally acclaimed Private Fears in Public Places , described by Newsday 's Linda Winer as "an exquisitely modulated chamber sextet about the unpredictable depths and overlapping absurdities of middleage melancholy."

Genres: Plays, Theatre

416 pages, Paperback

First published November 28, 2006

About the author

Sir Alan Ayckbourn is a popular and prolific English playwright. He has written and produced seventy-three full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their first performance. More than 40 have subsequently been produced in the West End, at the Royal National Theatre or by the Royal Shakespeare Company since his first hit Relatively Speaking opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in 1967. Major successes include Absurd Person Singular (1975), The Norman Conquests trilogy (1973), Bedroom Farce (1975), Just Between Ourselves (1976), A Chorus of Disapproval (1984), Woman in Mind (1985), A Small Family Business (1987), Man Of The Moment (1988), House & Garden (1999) and Private Fears in Public Places (2004). His plays have won numerous awards, including seven London Evening Standard Awards. They have been translated into over 35 languages and are performed on stage and television throughout the world. Ten of his plays have been staged on Broadway, attracting two Tony nominations, and one Tony award.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

immaculate writing...

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read all of these yet, but I did read Private Fears in Public Places. I have an audition for it tonight. I really hope to experience more Alan Ayckbourn in my life. He's like Miranda July for the theatre. The play follows around these few characaters that would have nothing ever to do with the other under completely different circumstances and yet, there they are. I love how Ayckbourn is able to just allow them to be peculiar without explaining too much. He's fine with leaving a million questions unanswered and the effect is that these characters have a butt ton of depth, a million layers, they're deliciously flawed and you can't help but being supremely curious about them.

See, this is what I wonder though. As an actor, I really enjoy character-driven pieces. I'm fine to sacrifice plot for character. Certainly, a story is important, but if the characters are interesting enough, I can forgive a plot that doesn't make much sense or isn't linear or doesn't have much pay off. I don't know if your average theatre goer Joe feels the same way. I think probably not. But man, I love me a good character-driven piece.

It seems to be the trend here at Good Reads that whenever I review a play I hate or I'm not too sure about, I get cast in it. This review is almost certain documentation that I won't get cast. Oh well. I'll go see it.

[Daisy Leather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the episodic nature of private fears and how all the stories interweave. I imagine, on stage, it'll look quite smart and very clever.