Alan Ayckbourn (born 1939), a prolific author of comedy plays about middle-class life in England, is considered one of the world's pre-eminent dramatists.

English playwright Alan Ayckbourn is a master satirist of middle-class manners who has often been compared to Noel Coward and Harold Pinter. He draws upon his own upbringing to paint scathing portraits of people leading dull, mechanical lives. Often his works straddle the line between comedy and farce. His plays have been translated into more than 25 foreign languages and have been performed all over the world. Harold Clurman, writing in the Nation, called Ayckbourn "a master hand at turning the bitter apathy, the stale absurdity which most English playwrights now find characteristic of Britain's lower-middle-class existence into hilarious comedy."

Unhappy Childhood

Alan Ayckbourn was born in Hampstead, London, England, on April 12, 1939. His father, Horace Ayckbourn, was an accomplished musician who served as deputy leader of the...