Confusions: In Brief
Confusions
Play Number: 17World Premiere: 30 September 1974
Venue: Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre, Scarborough
Premiere Staging: Three-sided
Published: Samuel French
Other Media: Radio
Cast: 3m / 2f
Run Time: 1hr 50m
Synopsis: Five loosely linked one act plays: Mother Figure, Drinking Companion, Between Mouthfuls, Gosforth's Fête and A Talk In The Park.
- Confusions is Alan Ayckbourn's 17th play.
- The world premiere - directed by Alan Ayckbourn - was held in the Large Lecture Room at The Library Theatre on 30 September 1974; the Concert Room where the company's summer seasons were held was unavailable and the play had to be presented three-sided in the smaller room at the library.
- The London premiere - directed by Alan Strachan - took place at the Apollo Theatre on 19 May 1976.
- The New York premiere - directed by Alan Ayckbourn - took place at the 59E59 Theaters on 28 May 2016; more than four decades after its world premiere!
- The play originated with Mother Figure - a piece already written and performed as part of the anthology play Mixed Blessings. A second play, Between Mouthfuls, was inspired by Alan's first screenplay, Service Not Included, which had premiered on television earlier in the year.
- Confusions was originally conceived with a winter tour from Scarborough's Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre in mind; the tour would visit Scarborough, Whitby and Filey in repertory each week for several weeks. Each venue had different staging requirements so for each week of the tour the play was performed in-the-round, end-stage and three-sided!
- The play was written originally for five actors with the intention of showcasing their talents in an evening with 20 different characters.
- It was the first Ayckbourn play to have been optioned for production in the commercial West End prior to its first performance.
- The West End production of Confusions was hit by a string of bad luck which notably included John Alderton breaking his leg with one evening performing in a wheel chair and for several performances with a walking stick and leg in cast.
- Gosforth's Fête is set in Alan Ayckbourn's fictional town of Pendon, where he has set a number of plays including Relatively Speaking, Ten Times Table and A Chorus Of Disapproval. As each of Confusions' one act plays are loosely connected by characters, it can be assumed all but Drinking Companion are set in Pendon (despite only Gosforth's Fête making specific reference to the town).
- Confusions was the first play by Alan Ayckbourn to be included in the National Curriculum in the United Kingdom.
- It has been adapted for the radio by the BBC on four separate occasions. None of these adaptations has ever adapted all five plays which comprise Confusions.
- Although published as a play text by Samuel French, Confusions has also been published as a student edition (Methuen / Bloomsbury).
- It has frequently been reported by Concord Theatricals / Samuel French that Confusions is the most produced Ayckbourn work by amateur companies.
- All five plays are loosely connected. The unseen husband, Harry, from Mother Figure appears in Drinking Companion. The waiter who appears in Drinking Companion is the waiter who is the focus of Between Mouthfuls. The diner Mrs Pearce in Between Mouthfuls returns in Gosforth's Fête. Finally, Gosforth's ex-wife who is mentioned in Gosforth's Fete is Doreen in A Talk In The Park).