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The Crafty Art of Playmaking. By Alan Ayckbourn. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003; pp. xii + 173. $22.95.
Alan Ayckbourn's introduction to The Crafty Art of Playmaking offers three clear hints about what to expect in the rather brief book. First, as a writer/director who stages his own plays, Ayckbourn admits to having trouble separating the usually disparate activities. And although he divides the ensuing text into two sections, his instincts as a director quietly inform the content of the one labeled "WRITING," while his sensibilities as a playwright subtly shape the material in the one called "DIRECTING." Ayckbourn's cross-functional perspective no doubt contributes to Ins professional success. It likewise contributes to the appeal of his treatise. Indeed, the book's value lies primarily in the author's offhand expressions of his practical wisdom. Who but someone with Ayckbourn's wealth of experience could note, in discussing the challenge of creating sympathy for a character of unconventional morality, "Going to need an actress with a great deal of charm. (Charm is very difficult to write.)" (17)?
Ayckbourn provides a second early indication of the volume's substance through his frank assertion that any aspect of his process not unique to him "is really just...