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Surprises

Full-Length Play, Comedy  /  3w, 3m

Alan Ayckbourn

Love stories yet to happen, in a future full of surprises.

Surprises

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    3w, 3m
  • Duration
    Duration
    More than 120 minutes (2 hours)
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult
Accolades
Accolades
  • UK Theatre Awards Nomination for Best New Play

Details

Summary
Who is the amorous stranger, Titus, who materialises in young Grace's bedroom? Can she believe he is who he says he is? For her parents, Franklin and Martha, does love everlasting still hold true if death is postponed indefinitely? Can lawyer Lorraine, who prides herself on her infallibility, have finally discovered the ideal partner, one who is also never wrong? Will lonely secretary Sylvia, after unhappy affairs with everyone from deep sea divers to space shuttle pilots, ever find her Mr Right?

A comedy with its head in the future and its heart in the past, Alan Ayckbourn's Surprises premiered in July 2012 at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, in a co-production with Chichester Festival Theatre. - See more at: http://www.faber.co.uk/catalog/surprises/9780571297665#sthash.z2BLFPf4.dpuf

Who is the amorous stranger, Titus, who materialises in young Grace's bedroom? Can she believe he is who he says he is? For her parents, Franklin and Martha, does love everlasting still hold true if death is postponed indefinitely? Can lawyer Lorraine, who prides herself on her infallibility, have finally discovered the ideal partner, one who is also never wrong? Will lonely secretary Sylvia, after unhappy affairs with everyone from deep sea divers to space shuttle pilots, ever find her Mr Right?

 

A comedy with its head in the future and its heart in the past.

History
Alan Ayckbourn's Surprises premiered in July 2012 at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, in a co-production with Chichester Festival Theatre.
Keywords

Written originally for a cast of six, Surprises features 13 characters with actors doubling up roles.

  • Time Period The Future
  • Setting The near future
  • Features Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes
  • Duration More than 120 minutes (2 hours)
  • Cautions
    • No Special Cautions

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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