Alan Ayckbourn’s first play, The Square Cat, is the focus of this episode of the SpotLight series in which the playwright’s Archivist, Simon Murgatroyd, heads back to 1959 to explore the early development of Ayckbourn as a playwright.

His inspiration and influences – including his early experiences working with Harold Pinter and Stephen Joseph – as well as archive material held by the Borthwick Institute for Archives feature within the podcast.

The SpotLight podcast draws on archive material held in the Ayckbourn Archive at the Borthwick Institute for Archives and adapts the SpotLight on Ayckbourn video from the Ayckbourn YouTube Channel and can also be heard on Apple Podcasts on the Alan Ayckbourn channel.