Communicating Doors: Facts

Key facts relating to Alan Ayckbourn's Communicating Doors.
  • Communicating Doors is Alan Ayckbourn's 46th play.
  • The world premiere was held at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, Scarborough, on 2 February 1994.
  • The London premiere was held at the Gielgud Theatre, London, on 7 August 1995 and was directed by Alan Ayckbourn. It transferred to the Savoy Theatre, London, on 29 January 1996.
  • The New York premiere was held at the Off-Broadway venue, the Variety Arts Theatre, in 20 August 1998. It was directed by Christopher Ashley.
  • 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 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.
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