My Wonderful Day
| My Wonderful Day | |||
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| Written by | Alan Ayckbourn | ||
| Characters | Winnie Laverne Kevin Tiffany Josh Paula |
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| Date premiered | 13 October 2009 | ||
| Place premiered | Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough | ||
| Original language | English | ||
| Subject | Child's view of affairs, family breakdown | ||
| Genre | Comedy | ||
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My Wonderful Day is a 2009 play by Alan Ayckbourn. It is about a nine-year-old girl, Winnie, who has an essay to write about her day, and records the shenanigans of grown-ups around her.
This was the first Ayckbourn play to feature parts written specifically for black actors, and the first "adult" Ayckbourn play to feature a child as the main character.
When Alan Ayckbourn announced his retirement as Artistic Director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in early 2009, it was agreed with his successor, Chris Monks, that he would continue to première new works at the theatre, and also direct revivals of his plays. The first play directed at Scarborough under this arrangement was How the Other Half Loves, but it was not until October that year that his first new play was performed, with Ayckbourn technically working as a freelance writer and director under commission.
The character of Winnie was first developed in an early draft of another Ayckbourn play, Life of Riley, where it was intended that she would receive French tuition from another character. Winnie's age changed from 11 to 9, her mother was renamed from Glynis to Laverne, but the French tuition formed an important plot element of this play. (The final version of Life of Riley was only written and performed in the year after My Wonderful Day, with Winnie dropped from the story.) My Wonderful Day was originally titled Winnie's Wonderful Day, and this title became public after it was mentioned in the programmes for the Ayckbourn at 70 season at the Royal and Derngate in Northampton. However, it was later renamed after concerns the play might otherwise be mistaken for a family play.
This play was heavily based on the perspective of a child, described by Ayckbourn as a "small recording machine" – in this case, made more interesting by the fact that the adults ignore her and give away far too much information. He also acknowledged his own childhood was heavily shaped by observing the various adult women in his man-free world (whilst also suggesting this is how he writes for women.) However, Michael Billington went further and suggested that Winnie is treated as invisible not only because she is a child, but also because she is black.
This play was the first Ayckbourn play to have a part written specifically for a black actors (Ayesha Antoine and Petra Letang), but not the first one to feature a black actor in the original production – Drowning on Dry Land, with Billie Claire-Wright as Gale. It was also the first where the child played a lead role in a play for an adult audience, with children in previous plays (other than family plays) being either cameos or off-stage characters.
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