A Man Of Letters (1991)

Author:
New Play:

Venue:
Location:
Staging:

First performance:
Opening night:
Final performance:
Tim Firth
Yes

Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round
Studio
End-stage

12 June 1991
12 June 1991
4 September 1991
Director:
Lighting:
Design:
Music:

Assistant Stage Manager:
Connal Orton
Jackie Staines
Juliet Nichols
John Pattison

Kevin Riley
Character
Frank
Alan
Actor
Jeffrey Chiswick
Gary Whitaker

Why is this play significant?

The professional playwriting debut of Tim Firth, who would go on to find huge success on stage and screen. After Alan Ayckbourn, he is the most successful writer to have worked extensively with and been nurtured by theatre in the round in Scarborough. Tim worked extensively with the Literary Manager Connal Orton, who directed this play, and was commissioned immediately afterwards to write the full-length play Neville's Island, which was a huge hit.

Notes

○ A Man Of Letters was a lunch-time show performed in the Studio at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round.
○ A Man Of Letters was the first play at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round by Tim Firth, who would forge a strong relationship with the theatre before finding success on stage, television and film. He is notably the writer of the hit film and play Calendar Girls amongst many other successes.
○ A Man Of Letters was later expanded by Tim Firth into the full-length play Absolutely Frank, which premiered at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in 2009. This was later retitled Sign of The Times.
All research for this page by Simon Murgatroyd.