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Things We Do for Love

Full-Length Play, Comedy  /  2f, 2m

Alan Ayckbourn

"Handles a potentially tragic theme with a rueful comic zest.... This is a Private Lives for the nineties." - The Guardian

Things We Do for Love

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    2f, 2m
Accolades
Accolades

  • 2003 Moliere for Best Comedy

    1998 Olivier Award nomination for Best Comedy

Details

Summary
An ingenious set greets the audience of this award winning play: the cross section of a Victorian house that has been divided into three flats. The owner, a fastidious, elegant executive named Barbara, contentedly occupies the ordered, male free ground floor visible in its entirety. The basement ceiling can be seen and this is were Gilbert, a boorish postman and handyman, is painting a nude study of his landlady. Barbara is letting Nikki, a schoolfriend, and her fiance use the upstairs flat even though she has taken an instant dislike to him. Ever life's victim, Nikki is destined to suffer yet again when Barbara succumbs to an unexpected and violent passion.

    Media

    "Handles a potentially tragic theme with a rueful comic zest.... This is a Private Lives for the nineties." - London Guardian

    "It comes at you with a sense of new minted inspiration, and of wit and comedy, which is both bruising and healing. As with all of [Ayckbourn's] best work, the structure of the play and the structure of the set are expressions of the play's subject." - London Sunday Times

    Videos

    • Alan Ayckbourn on Comparisons youtube thumbnail

      Alan Ayckbourn on Comparisons

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

      Alan Ayckbourn on the Difference Between Then and Now

    • Alan Ayckbourn on Writing a Well Made Play youtube thumbnail

      Alan Ayckbourn on Writing a Well Made Play

    • 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 Ideas youtube thumbnail

      Alan Ayckbourn on Ideas

    • Alan Ayckbourn on Growing As a Dramatist youtube thumbnail

      Alan Ayckbourn on Growing As a Dramatist

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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.
    • Mandatory Music/Media Fee: £10 per performance
      Mandatory Music/Media Fee: £18 per performance

    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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