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Taking Steps

Full-Length Play, Comedy  /  2w, 4m

Alan Ayckbourn

Taking Steps
by Alan Ayckbourn

"A farce of riotous delight." - Evening News

"Superbly funny hilarious." - The Guardian

Taking Steps

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    2w, 4m
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Farce

Details

Summary
Roland, a hard drinking tycoon, is considering buying an old Victorian house, once a brothel. His solicitor and the vendor, a builder, arrive to complete the deal. Also in the house are his wife, a frustrated dancer who is always considering leaving him, her brother and later the brother's fiancee, who is uncertain whether or not to run away. In the course of one hectic night and morning, with continual running up and downstairs and in and out of rooms, these characters, each immersed in a personal problem, try to sort themselves out. The first act curtain finds the solicitor in bed with the wife thinking her to be a ghost and the fiancee inadvertently shut in the attic cupboard by the distraught tycoon who has taken refuge there in the spare bed. All this takes place in a highly ingenious and original setting in which all the rooms, passages and stairs are on a single level.
M4 (25-40s) F2 (20s, 30s)
  • Time Period Contemporary
  • Setting A lounge, bedroom, attic, hall and stairs

Media

Videos

  • Alan Ayckbourn on Growing As a Dramatist youtube thumbnail

    Alan Ayckbourn on 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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