Family Album: Quotes by Alan Ayckbourn

"It's one of my proto-feminist plays because there was a whole generation of women whom the parents never considered them worthy of a career. So the boys always got the education and when the money ran out, the girls were sent to somewhere inferior in the expectation they'd then get a job in Woolworths when they left school and marry the first bloke. That was like a life cancelled out really."
Alan Ayckbourn (4 February 2022)

“I was intrigued by a BBC programme called A House In Time in which the presented traces the history of a house usually over two or three centuries and reveals the history of the various owners and occupants. I shortened the time-span so that it encompassed roughly my own life."
Alan Ayckbourn (2 March 2022)

“What I want to show in the play is how lifestyles have changed and also how many similarities there are. The 1950s couple are saying ‘What’s happening to this country? It’s disgraceful, we’ve still got rationing’ and the 2022 family are saying ‘What the hell’s happening to this country? Why is food so scarce?’ We’re going in cycles, and what is interesting for anyone fortunate enough to live as long as I have, is to look at the cycles going on."
(Big Issue North, September 2022)

“Staging-wise, Family Album is really incredibly simple. All you need is an empty room and a bit of furniture."
(Big Issue North, September 2022)