Damsels in Distress (plays)

Damsels in Distress (trilogy)
Programme cover from touring version of SJT production
Written by	Alan Ayckbourn
Characters	Troy Stephens / Sam Berryman / Justin Lazenby Sorrel Saxon / Tracy Taylor / Julie-Ann Jobson Kelly Butcher / Rosie Seymour / Paige Petite Dan Endicott / Tommy Angel / Micky Rale Leo Tyler / Maurice Whickett / Derek Jobson Grace Page / Edna Stricken / Dee Jobson Lynette Saxon / Annette Sefton-Wilcox / Arabella Lazenby
Date premiered	24 May 2001 (GamePlan), 3 July 2001 (FlatSpin), 4 September 2001 (RolePlay)
Place premiered	Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough
Original language	English
Subject	Various
Genre	Various
Setting	Various flats, London Docklands, 2001
Official site
Ayckbourn chronology
Whenever (2000) Snake in the Grass (2002)

Damsels in Distress is a trilogy of plays written in 2001 by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. The three plays, GamePlan, FlatSpin and RolePlay, were originally performed as a set by the Stephen Joseph Theatre Company (SJT). The plays were written to be performed by the same seven actors using the same set. Although the plays loosely shared some common themes, the three stories were independent of each other and unconnected.

This trilogy is considered Alan Ayckbourn's first major success of the 21st century. It also began a dispute between Ayckbourn and the West End.

Damsels in Distress began as an experiment to revive the Stephen Joseph Theatre's repertory system. Throughout the theatre's time at its first two venues, plays had largely been staged on a repertory basis, with plays being chosen and written around the actors available. After the move to the theatre's current venue in 1996, however, the system largely ended (apart from the 10×10 season in 1998), with the theatre relying more on actors hired for single roles. Partly because of this, and partly because of the ongoing financial pressure on the theatre, in 2001 Ayckbourn chose to write a set of plays which could be performed by the same company of seven actors available at the time. This included three long-standing SJT performers (Robert Austin, Jacqueline King and Bill Champion), two recent additions (Alison Pargeter and Saskia Butler) and two newcomers (Beth Tuckey and Tim Faraday).

It was originally planned for Damsels in Distress to be two plays, GamePlan and FlatSpin. Indeed, this remained the intention when GamePlan was premiered in May. It was only during rehearsals for FlatSpin when Ayckbourn considered the "company" effect to take hold, and the idea for a third play started to emerge. After getting agreement from the cast to take on a third play, it was written in the week after FlatSpin began performances, and the summer programme was rescheduled to include this play, RolePlay, late in the season.