This week saw the announcement of the discovery of the original abandoned manuscript for Alan Ayckbourn’s seminal play Absurd Person Singular.

The discovery – alongside early concept notes and a hand-written complete first draft of the script – have completely altered our understanding of how the play was conceived.

The launch of the website www.absurdpersonsingular.com looks into the story of the discovery but a more in-depth analysis can be found in a new podcast which examines the discovery, its significance and how it ties into other discoveries and recent acquisitions in the Ayckbourn Archive.

The podcast is researched, written and presented by Alan Ayckbourn’s Archivist Simon Murgatroyd M.A., who was responsible for the discovery at the Borthwick Institute for Archives.

The podcast is available from this page in the player above as well as on Apple Podcasts by clicking here.