Another feather in the cap for Dhaka stage

Paul Ackroyd

The Daily Star: What is your play "Chorus of Disapproval" by Alan Ayckbourn about?

Paul Ackroyd: It is about an English amateur operatic society producing a production of "The Beggar's Opera" by John Gay.

DS: Does it have a sub plot?

PA: Yes. The arrival of a newcomer, Guy Jones, who unintentionally gets mixed up in the corrupt efforts of various members of the cast to make money by getting him to find out the intentions of the company for which he works. In the short term, he benefits, but in the longer run he loses out.

DS: Why was this play been selected?

PA: It is an extremely cleverly written play which interleaves parts and music of the original "The Beggar's Opera" with some wonderful characters and very funny lines.

DS: Can you say something about the author and his work?

PA: Sir Alan Ayckbourn is Britain's most prolific contemporary playwright with almost sixty plays to his name, and still writing. His theme is relationships between friends, within families and most of all, between men and women. He is renowned as a writer of comedies; although most of his plays are extremely funny they are far from trivial: he is an acute observer of modern life and not far under the surface there are darker themes lurking; it is not unusual for the audience to emerge from an Ayckbourn play having had a thoroughly enjoyable evening but with a slight feeling of unease at having been a voyeur at others' discomfort. There will be few who do not recognise some of the realties of the scenes played out on the stage and as Peter Hall said, "If in a hundred years, anyone wants to know what is was like to live in the second half of the 20th century. I am quite sure they will turn to the plays of Alan Ayckbourn before they look at historians or sociologists."

Ayckbourn is also a superb dramatic craftsman and manipulates the form as well as the substance of his plays. In the well-known "Norman Conquest" trilogy he wrote three plays, with the same cast, taking place in different rooms in the same house over the same weekend. In "House and Garden" he took this idea one step further and had two plays playing simultaneously in two adjacent auditoria as the cast entered and exited between the stages. In "How the Other Half Loves" the set is two living rooms intermingled on the stage and in "Bedroom Farce": Three bedrooms. Some of his plays have alternative endings and some, such as "Time of My Life", a previous Dhaka Stage production, move backwards and forwards in time.

DS: Can you elaborate on the play?

PA: "Chorus of Disapproval" is one of Ayckbourn's musical plays where he demonstrates his skill by interweaving parts of "The Beggar's Opera." It is perhaps one of his lighter pieces but as ever under the mirth are some very human emotions. Anyone who has been involved in amateur theatre will recognise (at least some of) the real life dramas which are a part of every production. It was made into film starring Jeremy Irons and Anthony Hopkins which was set in Ayckbourn's home base of Scarborough where most of his plays are first performed.

DS: What were the production challenges?

PA: It is a demanding play to produce: having to mix dialogue and music and create many short scenes in different locations on a single stage. The lighting is particularly demanding.

DS: Will you say something about how you got involved with Dhaka Stage?

PA: I have been resident in Dhaka for four years. I have been involved in Dhaka Stage since arriving and have had some involvement in most Dhaka Stage productions. I have directed "Twelfth Night" and "Time and Time Again," also by Alan Ayckbourn. I have been extensively involved in amateur dramatics for many years in his home country of England and also in other postings in Africa. I leave Bangladesh this July for a new post in Ethiopia and there are many things I will miss about Dhaka including, of course Dhaka Stage.