Suburban Strains, premiered at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round in 1980, was Alan Ayckbourn’s first full-length musical since his notorious West End flop Jeeves in 1975. It was the diametric opposite of Jeeves; a small-scale musical-play for Scarborough, rooted in character and plot. It was almost as if Alan was proving to himself he could write a successful musical.
The play was conceived as a result of Alan’s working relationship with the composer and musician, Paul Todd. They had collaborated successfully on the small-scale revue Men On Women On Men in 1978 and Alan suggested they work on a full-length musical-play. The process began with Paul composing a variety of different tunes - despite apparently being told next to nothing about the show! Alan then began working with this material, shaping it into what would become Suburban Strains.
From the start, Alan decided the play would be rooted in the book and have strong characters and plot. Even at this stage of his musical writing career, Alan’s belief that songs should be there for a purpose, driving the plot forward and having a real point, is obviously in force. It is unusual in Alan’s musicals to ever hear someone sing for no apparent reason – everything must have a purpose.
It quickly became obvious Alan was expecting much of his cast; he needed his usual high calibre of actor to deal with the book but also required they be able to cope with the musical demands. If this were not ambitious enough, the play also saw a double revolve built into the auditorium. With an inner and outer revolve, both going in different directions, Alan was able to cleverly and – relatively – simply indicate whether the plot was moving forwards or backwards in time. The revolve was another first for the Scarborough theatre, but clearly Alan was asking much of his acting and stage companies.
Suburban Strains is unusual as it has a star role in the shape of the play’s protagonist, Caroline, and the plot is presented from her perspective. For this role, Lavinia Bertram was cast and received high acclaim for her performance. Ironically, she had previously played Kitty in Taking Steps, a role in which much silence is demanded. The part of Caroline could not be more different.
Despite the many challenges presented, the play opened in Scarborough and was well-received by audiences. The critics were more divided, but were more impressed than has generally been reported. Although the revolve caused odd problems, Alan’s main concern was where to put the live band, something he felt he never satisfactorily solved.
Alan and Paul Todd had not considered Suburban Strains as particularly suitable for London and after the lack of success with Taking Steps in London, Alan’s usual producer Michael Codron was not willing to take it on. However, Alan was invited by Thelma Holt, artistic director of the Round House in London, to bring the musical to that space. Alan agreed and Suburban Strains was premiered in London in February 1981, the first Ayckbourn play to be produced in-the-round in London and the first to feature the Scarborough company. Unfortunately, the theatre was vast and dwarfed the production. Located as it was away from the West End, the production failed to attract an audience and the critics were not very receptive either.
Prior to opening in London though, it had a test run in Scarborough with an altered book. The production was again well-received at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round.

Copyright: Simon Murgatroyd 2006 / Images copyright: Scarborough Theatre Trust. Please do not reproduce these images without the permission of the copyright holder.