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Comic Potential

Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy  /  5w, 5m

Alan Ayckbourn

Comic Potential
by Alan Ayckbourn

" Comic Potential hurts you with the sheer exuberance of its laughter and liberates you with its seriousness." - London Sunday Times

Comic Potential

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    5w, 5m
Accolades
Accolades

  • 2000 Olivier Award nomination for Best Comedy

    2000 Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play.

Details

Summary
A sensation in London and New York, this is one of the funniest and most inventive plays by Britain's grand master of comedy. A hilarious satire of television and a touching romantic comedy, it begins in a television studio where a hospital soap opera is being taped. One actor starts speaking gibberish; he is an "actoid," a robot, and his programming is off-kilter. Adam, the young nephew of the producer and an aspiring writer who worships the director (once a great movie director and now a broken-down has-been), is on the set. Adam starts chatting with Jacie Tripplethree, the actoid (serial number JC333) playing the nurse and finds, to his surprise, that not only can she carry on a conversation but, due to what she calls a fault in her programming, she has a creative imagination. Adam wants to build a new television series around her, but the studio will not hear of it. He also finds he is falling in love with the charming robot! Will Adam get the green light on his series? Will love prevail? Jacie is one of Ayckbourn's greatest characters; her portrayer won all of London's major acting awards.
M5 (20s, 40s, 50s, 80s) F5 (20s, 30s, 40s)
  • Time Period Contemporary
  • Setting A TV studio and various simple hotel settings

Media

Videos

  • Alan Ayckbourn Growing As a Dramatist youtube thumbnail

    Alan Ayckbourn Growing As a Dramatist

  • Alan Ayckbourn on Comparisons youtube thumbnail

    Alan Ayckbourn on Comparisons

  • Alan Ayckbourn on How to Approach His Plays youtube thumbnail

    Alan Ayckbourn on How to Approach His Plays

  • Alan Ayckbourn on Getting Started youtube thumbnail

    Alan Ayckbourn on Getting Started

  • Alan Ayckbourn on the Difference Between Then and Now youtube thumbnail

    Alan Ayckbourn on the Difference Between Then and Now

  • Alan Ayckbourn on Ideas youtube thumbnail

    Alan Ayckbourn on Ideas

  • Alan Ayckbourn on Writing a Well Made Play youtube thumbnail

    Alan Ayckbourn on Writing a Well Made Play

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Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £70 per performance plus VAT when applicable.
    This title may have restrictions in place for London based productions. Please submit a licence request to confirm specific availability.

Scripts

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Authors

Alan Ayckbourn

Alan Ayckbourn

A playwright and theatre director, to date Alan Ayckbourn has written 89 plays – Family Album attracted four-star reviews when it premiered in September 2022 at the Stephen Joseph, where nearly all his plays are first staged.

However, this year he will stage his 88th play Welc ...

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