Communicating Doors: In Brief
Communicating Doors
Play Number: 46World Premiere: 2 February 1994
Venue: Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round, Scarborough
Premiere Staging: In-the-round
Published: Samuel French
Other Media: No
Cast: 3m / 3f
Run Time: 2hr 10m
Synopsis: Set in a near dystopian future, a dominatrix flees for her life through a hotel communicating door only to find herself 20 years in the past. Stalked by a psychopath in the present and the past, the opportunity to alter time for the better puts the lives of three women at stake.
- Communicating Doors is Alan Ayckbourn's 46th play.
- The world premiere - directed by Alan Ayckbourn - was held at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, Scarborough, on 2 February 1994.
- The London premiere - directed by Alan Ayckbourn - was held at the Gielgud Theatre, London, on 7 August 1995. It transferred to the Savoy Theatre, London, on 29 January 1996.
- The New York premiere - directed by Christopher Ashley - was held at the Off-Broadway venue, the Variety Arts Theatre, on 20 August 1998.
- Alan Ayckbourn initially intended to write an entirely different play called Private Fears In Public Places, but when his idea fell apart he came up with another idea for a time-travelling thriller which became Communicating Doors.
- It marks a relatively rare foray into the thriller genre for Alan Ayckbourn. His notable other thrillers include It Could Be Any One Of Us (1983) and Snake In The Grass (2002).
- The play is inspired by Alan Ayckbourn's love of film and makes references to a number of movies, most notably Hitchcock's thrillers. There are very specific references though to Psycho, Carrie and Back To The Future. It is also influenced. By J.B. Priestley's 'time' plays.
- It is considered one of Alan Ayckbourn's science fiction plays and the future-set portions of the play share a similar dystopian future to Henceforward… and Comic Potential.
- The Regal Hotel in the play was originally - and very loosely - based on the Savoy Hotel in London.
- Communicating Doors won Alan Ayckbourn his first Molière Award (the French equivalent of the Oliviers). He also won the Writers' Guild Of Great Britain Best West End Play award for the play, which was also nominated for an Olivier Award.
- Although published as a play text by Samuel French, Communicating Doors was also published as a single play text by Faber.