Whenever: Quotes by Alan Ayckbourn
"I like to do a children's play that ties in with my adult play, and I suppose there's also a bit of re-telling of Communicating Doors. Whenever has a slightly pessimistic view of a possible future, where we need to talk to each other more. In a way the play is a moral lesson about thinking about the future now and not leaving it till it's too late."(Yorkshire Post, November 2000)
"She [Emily] makes a small 'feminist' journey. She grows up in the play: she becomes strong. At the end of the play she resists her cousin who bullies her. She's stronger, she's more independent and there's a bit at the end when her uncle says: "You can't help me with this, you're only a girl." Right at the end there, and you know she's going to go on and become Amelia Earhart or something. She's going to fly the first aeroplane!
"The story is, in fact, a kind of parallel to The Wizard Of Oz. The tin-man is the android, the scarecrow is the air-raid warden and the lion is the yeti, of course, the strange creature that turns out to the human race when left to its own devices."
(Extract from Albert-Reiner Glaap's A Guided Tour Through Ayckbourn Country)
Whenever: Quotes by Denis King
"Since Alan and I rarely see each other when we’re writing together, I look forward to the rehearsal period up in Scarborough, as it gives me a chance to observe at close quarters his extraordinary creative energy. I always tell actors if they ever have the opportunity of working with him they should grab it with both hands, even if it’s a small part or a cut in salary. The experience will be invaluable. Alan is a true man of the theatre. I’m fascinated watching him at work and the Whenever experience was no exception, we had the usual pleasurable and fruitfull four week rehearsal period, only spoiled slightly by the news at breakfast one morning that George W. Bush had been elected the new US President, which put us both off our corn flakes."(www.deniskingmusiclibrary.com)
Copyright: Haydonning Ltd.