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My Wonderful Day

  • Alan Ayckbourn
  • Full Length Play, Drama, Contemporary
  • 2M, 4F
  • ISBN: 9780573699498

Alan Ayckbourn back on blistering form...My Wonderful Day finds him in top form -- and breaking new ground. The play is often blissfully and farcically funny. But there is an ache of sorrow here for children who have to grow up too quickly.

Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph

More information

Description

  • Full Length Play
  • Drama
  • 90 minutes

  • Time Period: Contemporary
  • Target Audience: Adult
  • Set Requirements: Interior Set

  • Performance Group:
  • Community Theatre, College Theatre / Student, Professional Theatre
Winnie is nearly nine. Her mum, Laverne, is second-generation Afro-Caribbean and heavily pregnant but continues with her cleaning job since her husband left while she dreams of moving the family back to Martinique. 

Tuesdays are special: Laverne insists that Winnie speaks only French (in preparation for Martinique) and today is Tuesday — not her usual day to clean at the north London house of Kevin Tate, an affluent, bad-tempered, philandering, minor television personality. Not well enough to go to school, Winnie accompanies her mum and settles down to her homework: an essay entitled 'My Wonderful Day.' 

Throughout the course of the next few hours, the shy, astute and ever-watchful Winnie will amass plenty of material for her essay as a variety of adults parades before her: Kevin's baby-talking and patronizing mistress, his vengeful wife, and the hungover family friend who pours out his heart believing that Winnie doesn't speak English. But as events reach a frenzied climax, Winnie's essay will speak volumes. 

This hilarious and bitter-sweet classic from Alan Ayckbourn is told through the child's eyes, without an interval, and there is much scope for imaginative lighting and staging.
REVIEWS:

Alan Ayckbourn back on blistering form...My Wonderful Day finds him in top form — and breaking new ground. The play is often blissfully and farcically funny. But there is an ache of sorrow here for children who have to grow up too quickly.

Daily Telegraph

...a startling play full of Ayckbourn's rueful, comic wisdom.

The Guardian
Premiere Production: Premiered at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough before transferring to New York and a UK tour.

Characters

  • Casting: 2M, 4F
  • Casting Attributes: Roles for Children
  • Casting Notes: It is appreciated that one of the difficulties of this play is in casting Winnie the right age. Either she needs to be played by a young actor of a similar age with all the ensuing legal and logistical problems which casting an under-age performer entails or the role may be played by a slightly older actor who is able to create a truthful and credible impression of the character's age. This, after all, is theatre! In either case, it is vital that the role is not in any way "up-aged". Winnie is a child and the play is told through a child's eye.

  • WINNIE (WINONA) BARNSTAIRS - nearly 9
    LAVERNE BARNSTAIRS - her mother, late 20s/early 30s
    THE MAN (KEVIN TATE) - 40s
    PAULA - his wife, 30s
    TIFFANY - the secretary, 20s
    JOSH - the friend, 40s

    • Available Material

    Name Price
    My Wonderful Day Script Order Now

    Winnie is nearly nine. Her mum, Laverne, is second-generation Afro-Caribbean and heavily pregnant but continues with her cleaning job since her husband left while she dreams of moving the family back to Martinique. Tuesdays are special: Laverne insists that Winnie speaks only French (in preparation for Martinique) and today is Tuesday — not her usual day to clean at the north London house of Kevin Tate, an affluent, bad-tempered, philandering, minor television personality. Not well enough to go to school, Winnie accompanies her mum and settles down to her homework: an essay entitled 'My Wonderful Day.' Throughout the course of the next few hours, the shy, astute and ever-watchful Winnie will amass plenty of material for her essay as a variety of adults parades before her: Kevin's baby-talking and patronizing mistress, his vengeful wife, and the hungover family friend who pours out his heart believing that Winnie doesn't speak English. But as events reach a frenzied climax, Winnie's essay will speak volumes. This hilarious and bitter-sweet classic from Alan Ayckbourn is told through the child's eyes, without an interval, and there is much scope for imaginative lighting and staging.

    		$24.95

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