Sisterly Feelings: Articles

This section features articles by Alan Ayckbourn about the play Sisterly Feelings. Click on a link in the right-hand column below to access the relevant article.

This article was written by Alan Ayckbourn for the National Theatre's production of Sisterly Feelings during 1980.

Sisterly Feelings

This is a play about two sisters and the choices they make (or have made for them) over the course of a few months.

Ever since The Norman Conquests, I have been intrigued by writing a piece that contained variable scenes that could be spontaneously chosen during the action.

In Sisterly Feelings I have combined (at 'chance' performances) one totally random factor, the tossing of a coin on stage at the beginning of the play with, later on, an opportunity for an actress to make her spur of the moment choice of second acts.

If this is your first visit to the play, perhaps you have chosen a 'chance' performance. If so, once you've seen whatever it is you will see - and at the start no one knows that - I hope you will return to see a version you didn't get. To make this possible, we are also doing performances where the course of the action is pre-determined, and you know which version you are at in advance.

To help find your way through the ifs and buts, overleaf (click here) is a map of the possibilities. This shows the play can be staged in four different ways - though each can be enjoyed singly.

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