Sir Alan Ayckbourn Suffers Stroke

Prolific British playwright Sir Alan Ayckbourn is recovering in a hospital in his hometown of Scarborough, North Yorkshire, after suffering a stroke. In a statement released to the press, the author said, “I hope to be back on my feet, or at least my left leg, as soon as possible.”

The 66-year old Ayckbourn has written more than 60 plays over his career, many of them renowned for their incisive commentary on British middle class life. He was most recently represented in New York by the Manhattan Theatre Club’s revival of his 1972 play Absurd Person Singular this past fall, while 59E59 Theaters debuted one of his latest works, Private Fears in Public Places, last year.

Among Ayckbourn’s many other notable plays are Comic Potential, Communicating Doors, The Norman Conquests, How the Other Half Loves, Bedroom Farce, Woman in Mind, A Small Family Business, and House and Garden. He also collaborated with Andrew Lloyd Webber on the musical By Jeeves, which had a brief Broadway run in 2001. Ayckbourn was knighted in 1997 and has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain.