Alan Ayckbourn's theatricality and use of comedy in Woman in Mind, A Small Family Business and Henceforward: marriage, family, private-public and absence of standards

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to focus on three of Alan Ayckbourn's recent plays, namely Woman in Mind, A Small Business and Henceforward in order to analyse how Ayckbourn employs visual elements and how he creates comedy while he writes about such themes as the destruction of marriage and its effects on children,the inseparable nature of private and public and the absence of standards.