Alan Ayckbourn Encyclopaedia: Dates - May
1 May: World premiere of Alan Ayckbourn and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical By Jeeves at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in 1996; New York premiere of A Brief History Of Women at the 59E59 Theaters.2 May: World premiere of A Chorus Of Disapproval at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round in 1984; Alan Ayckbourn receives a telegram from Noël Coward congratulating him on the success of Relatively Speaking in 1967; Alan Ayckbourn directs his first play by the farceur Ben Travers - Rookery Nook - at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round in 1978.
3 May: Radio premiere of the BBC's adaptation of Absurd Person Singular in 1977.
4 May: World premiere of Drowning On Dry Land at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in 2004.
5 May: London premiere of Private Fears In Private Places at the Orange Tree, Richmond, in 2005.
6 May: World premiere of Wildest Dreams at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round in 1991; world premiere of All Lies at The Old Laundry Theatre, Bowness-on-Windermere, in 2022.
8 May: By Jeeves live-streamed on Youtube as part of The Shows Must Go On! initiative during the Covid-19 theatre lockdown in 2020.
9 May: London premiere of Table Manners (The Norman Conquests) at the Greenwich Theatre in 1974; marries his first wife, Christine Roland, in 1959.
10 May: Radio premiere of the BBC's adaptation of Man Of The Moment in 1992.
14 May: Radio premiere of the BBC's adaptation of Woman In Mind in 2000.
15 May: West End revival of Absurd Person Singular at the Whitehall Theatre in 1990.
16 May: World premiere of Welcome to the Family at The Old Laundry Theatre, Bowness-on-Windermere; West End revival of Relatively Speaking at Wyndham's Theatre in 2013.
18 May: Television premiere of ITV's adaptation of Time & Time Again in 1976.
19 May: West End premiere of Confusions at the Apollo Theatre in 1976.
20 May: Television premiere of the BBC's Service Not Included - the first produced screenplay written by Alan Ayckbourn in 1974; Alan Ayckbourn quits the Arts Council's Drama Advisory Panel in protest at Government reforms in 1998; London premiere of Alan Ayckbourn and Paul Todd's revue The Westwoods at the Etcetera Theatre, Camden, in 1987.
21 May: World premiere of A Small Family Business at the National Theatre in 1987; world premiere of Body Language at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round in 1990; London premiere of Living Together (The Norman Conquests) at the Greenwich Theatre in 1974; New York premiere of House & Garden at the Manhattan Theatre Club in 2002; revival of Things We Do For Love at The Old Laundry Theatre, Bowness-on-Windermere, directed by Alan Ayckbourn.
22 May: World premiere of Alan Ayckbourn and Paul Todd's revue Mere Soup Songs at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round in 1986.
23 May: World premiere of Alan Ayckbourn and Paul Todd's revue Boy Meets Girl at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round in 1985; Queen Elizabeth II sees her first Ayckbourn play - Relatively Speaking - in 1967; Alan Ayckbourn announces his retirement as Artistic Director to the Stephen Joseph Theatre company in 2007.
24 May: World premiere of GamePlan at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in 2001; Alan Ayckbourn and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Jeeves closes in London after less than a month in 1975.
25 May: World premiere of Alan Ayckbourn and Paul Todd's Girl Meets Boy at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round in 1985; New York premiere of Communicating Doors at the Variety Arts Theatre in 1998; world premiere of Anno Domino - the first Ayckbourn play to be premiered as a digital stream (due to the Covid-19 pandemic) in 2020.
27 May: London premiere of Haunting Julia at the Riverside Studios in 2011.
28 May: New York premiere of Joking Apart at the T. Schrieber Studio in 2010.
29 May: World premiere of Alan Ayckbourn and Paul Todd's revue of The Westwoods at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round in 1984; New York premiere of Arrivals & Departures at the 59E59 Theaters in 2014.
30 May: World premiere of Woman In Mind at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round in 1985; in a possibly unique achievement for a playwright, Alan Ayckbourn has a production at the National Theatre (A Chorus Of Disapproval), in the West End (Woman In Mind) and on the London fringe (The Westwoods) all running on the same day in 1986.
31 May: World premiere of Improbable Fiction at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in 2005; New York premiere of Intimate Exchanges at the 59E59 Theaters in 2007.
Original research for the The Alan Ayckbourn Encyclopaedia section is by Simon Murgatroyd and copyright of the author.