Producing Company: The Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough in association with Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
Further Information
www.sjtsurprises.co.uk
Surprises
Written and directed by Alan Ayckbourn
Alan Ayckbourn returns to Oxford Playhouse with a new comedy of love stories yet to happen, in a future filled with surprises.
Who is the amorous stranger, Titus, who materialises in young Grace’s bedroom? For her parents, Franklin and Martha, does love everlasting still hold true if death is postponed indefinitely?
After unhappy affairs with everyone from deep sea divers to space shuttle pilots, will lonely secretary Sylvia ever find her Mr Right?
A comedy with its head in the future and its heart in the past, this production delighted audiences and critics on its premiere last summer. Surprises is Alan Ayckbourn’s 76th play in a career spanning over 50 years; he recently became the first British playwright to receive both Olivier and Tony Special Lifetime Achievement Awards and was knighted for services to the theatre in 1997.
Ayckbourn’s allegorical science fiction delivers serious fun. Observer
Venue: Main Stage | Category: Drama Comedy | Running Time: : Approx 2 hours 40 minutes with two intervals