Written by Alan Ayckbourn Original language English First performance 20 April 1995 | Date premiered 20 April 1995 Subject Temptation Playwright Alan Ayckbourn | |
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Characters Harry
Janice
Gussie
Francis
Nonie
Rache
Earl
Valda
Valder Place premiered Stephen Joseph Theatre (Westwood site), Scarborough Similar Alan Ayckbourn plays, Other plays | ||
Logic a word from our sponsor official audio
A Word from Our Sponsor is a 1995 musical by Alan Ayckbourn and John Pattison. It was the final Ayckbourn play to be premièred at the Stephen Joseph Theatre's old Westwood site. It is about a vicar, who is tempted by the devil (Valda/Valder) offering a sponsorship deal for dubious return favours.
This play was one of Ayckbourn's less successful works, but the production was marred most of all by the death of a member of the cast, Sophie Winter, who collapsed the afternoon before the final Scarborough performance and died the day. As a respected member of the company, a memorial was made to her in the theatre, and a trust in her name was set up to sponsor new plays at the Stephen Joseph Theatre between 1996 and 2008.
It is also the name of a short-story written by Fredric Brown in 1951.