Simon Murgatroyd - Archivist & Writer

Unseen Ayckbourn - 2022 Edition

Unseen Ayckbourn - 2022 Edition is the latest edition of the book by Alan Ayckbourn's archivist Simon Murgatroyd, looking at the playwright's unpublished, withdrawn and unwritten plays; revised and updated to 2022.

Named as one of The Stage newspaper's best theatre books, Unseen Ayckbourn examines Alan Ayckbourn's phenomenal career in theatre by exploring the plays which have rarely been seen, withdrawn, lost or - occasionally - altered. It draws from unused or abandoned concepts and ideas as well as looking at variations of existing plays, alternative titles as well as other ephemera from the playwright's five and a half decades of writing.

The extensively revised edition includes extensive updates (up to and including the playwright's work in 2022) including previously unpublished plays written during the lockdowns of 2020 / 2021 and new research which completely redraws the creation of his seminal play, Absurd Person Singular.

It also contains a biography of the playwright and a complete list of Alan Ayckbourn's plays and writing as of 2022.

Unseen Ayckbourn will be available in softcover priced at £15 from summer 2022. It is published by Lulu and will be available from all major online bookstores. Watch this space for details.

If you have any enquiries about Unseen Ayckbourn, please contact Simon Murgatroyd via archivist@alanayckbourn.net.

Unseen Ayckbourn - Illustrated Edition

The previous edition of the book, Unseen Ayckbourn - Illustrated Edition is still available until the 2022 edition is published this summer. This edition was published during 2017 and includes information about the playwright's work until that year.

It also contains - uniquely - 20 illustrations drawn from the Ayckbourn Archive including notes by the playwright, poster designs, rare programmes and press cuttings, all relating to some of the plays featured in Unseen Ayckbourn.

Unseen Ayckbourn - Illustrated Edition is available in softcover priced at £12. It is available from amazon.co.uk, Lulu Books, amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

A PDF ebook is also available from Lulu Books priced at £9.

Unseen Ayckbourn Ltd Edition

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Unseen Ayckbourn: Anniversary Edition

A special limited edition of Unseen Ayckbourn was published during 2019 to mark the 80th birthday of Alan Ayckbourn and the 60th anniversary of his playwriting debut.

This edition - limited to a numbered and signed 50 copies - has now sold out and only the previous Unseen Ayckbourn: Illustrated Edition is now available.

If you bought a copy of Unseen Ayckbourn: Anniversary Edition and associated your name with the edition number, you can find details here (or click the button in the right hand column).

For any enquiries, please email archivist@alanayckbourn.net.