A Brief History of Women: In Brief
A Brief History of Women
Play Number: 81World Premiere: 5 September 2017
Venue: Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough
Premiere Staging: In-the-round
Published: Samuel French
Other Media: No
Cast: 3m / 3f
Run Time: 2hrs 10mins
Synopsis: A journey through 60 years of the life of an unremarkable man and the remarkable women who loved, left or lost him and of the equally remarkable manor house which saw and heard it all.
- A Brief History Of Women is Alan Ayckbourn's 81st play.
- The world premiere - directed by the playwright - was held on 5 September, 2017, at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough.
- The New York premiere - directed by the playwright - was held on 1 May 2018 at the 59e59 Theaters, New York, as part of the Brits Off Broadway festival.
- The playwright originally considered calling the play On The House before choosing A Brief History of Women.
- The play is set in a single location: a manor house which later becomes a girls' school, arts centre and hotel. The set is multi-location though representing several rooms in the manor house.
- The play spans 60 years of time - the longest time-span of any Ayckbourn play; the lead character, Anthony Spates, is played by the same actor who ages from 18 to 78 during the course of the play.
- Alan considers the play more autobiographical than most of his work, not only in the women Alan says that he has met and shaped his life, but also how the key decisions in his life were not made consciously but happened as the result of being in the right place at the right time.
- The third act - the arts centre - was inspired by the company's tours from the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round during the late 1970s.
- As well as being published as a play text by Samuel French, A Brief History of Women was also reproduced in the collection Alan Ayckbourn: Plays 6 (Faber).