The Complete Plays: Dad's Tale (1960)

Production Details
Title:
Author:
New Play:

Venue:
Location:
Staging:
Dad's Tale
Roland Allen (Alan Ayckbourn)
Yes

The Library Theatre, Scarborough
Concert Room
Round
First performance:
Opening night:
Final performance:
19 December 1960
19 December 1960
31 December 1960
Company Details
Director:
Choreography:

Stage Manager:
Assistant Stage Manager:
Clifford Williams
Gerard Bagley

Terry Lane
Philip Clifford
Character
Martin
Auntie
Dad
Jenny
Various roles
Removal Man / Policeman
Dancers
Actor
David Jarrett
Rosamund Dickson
Stanley Page
Hazel Burt
Alan Ayckbourn
Philip Clifford
Tonya Burcka, Brenda Elder, Frances Harper, Robert Horobin, Jennifer Wright
Notes
○ Dad's Tale was a co-production between Studio Theatre Ltd and the British Dance Drama Theatre. The two companies did not meet until the final dress rehearsal and Alan Ayckbourn was only told of the collaboration - and the need for it to include dance sequences - having already accepted the commission to write a family play.
○ Mimic Dance Theatre had performed at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre regularly during the summer season and had impressed Stephen Joseph, leading him to make the suggestion the companies work together.
○ Dad's Tale was Alan Ayckbourn's third full-length, commissioned play. Alan Ayckbourn joined the Studio Theatre Ltd company in 1957 as a stage manager, progressing to actor, later playwright, then director and eventually Artistic Director of the company in 1972.
○ Dad's Tale was also Alan Ayckbourn's first attempt at writing a play for families; by his admission, it was a failure.
○ Dad's Tale is credited to Roland Allen, a pseudonym used by Alan Ayckbourn during the writing of his first four plays.
○ Dad's Tale was presented without an interval.
Links
All research for this page by Simon Murgatroyd. Image copyright: Scarborough Theatre Trust