Tim Luscombe
Intimate Exchanges
Location: Stephen Joseph Theatre Scarborough and 59E59 Theatre, New York
Date: 2008
When Alan Ayckbourn suffered a debilitating stroke, his theatre in Scarborough phoned me up to ask if I’d take over his production of Intimate Exchanges. It had already been cast and designed and was due to start rehearsals very shortly. Would I therefore immediately get on a train and go to Scarborough for six months? It was six months because Intimate Exchanges is actually a suite of plays with 16 possible endings.
It was something I had longed to direct for years, having done several other of Ayckbourn’s masterpieces, and amazingly I had longed to do it with Bill Champion who Ayckbourn had already cast! So, the answer to the question about getting on a train was ‘yes’. A New York transfer was cream on the cake.
Such a formidable stage production is seldom attempted and not to be missed. Tim Luscombe and Mr Ayckbourn, who co-directed, have made unforgettable theatre
The Sun, New York
Directors Tim Luscombe and Alan Ayckbourn guide the production with a sure-handed sense of the play’s quicksilver shifts in tone…The directors allow the bittersweet writing to sparkle with humour even as it stings with melancholy
Andy Propst, Backstage
****
The Guardian