Curtain up on 90th play from Alan Ayckbourn at Scarborough's Stephen Joseph Theatre

Directed by the author, Bill Champion, Paul Kemp, Frances Marshall, Richard Stacey and Olivia Woolhouse will perform Show & Tell.

Jack’s planning a big party for his wife’s birthday.

He’s pulling out all the stops and has booked a touring theatre company to perform in the main hall of the family home.

The only problem is that Jack is getting a bit forgetful in his old age and cannot remember all the details of the booking…

The Homelight Theatre Company is on its knees.

It desperately needs a well-paid gig and Jack’s booking is very well paid. Pinning him down on the details has been tricky and something does not feel quite right.

Show & Tell is performed in the year in which the author turned 85 and is a celebration of theatre, a delightfully dark farce lifting the lid on the performances we act out on a daily basis.

Alan Ayckbourn said: “Show & Tell is about something which has preoccupied me for the past 60 years and probably more – theatre. It’s a love letter to theatre.”

Sir Alan was artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre for 37 years.

Set and costume design is by Kevin Jenkins with lighting design by Tigger Johnson. The associate sound designer is Ernest Acquah and the wardrobe supervisor is Julia Perry-Mook. Casting is by Sarah Hughes.

Show & Tell can be seen at the Stephen Joseph Theatre from Thursday, September 5 to Saturday, October 5.

It then plays at The Old Laundry Theatre, Bowness on Windermere, from Tuesday, October 8 to Saturday, October 12 and the New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme, from Tuesday, October 15 to Saturday, October 26.

A rehearsed reading of Father of Invention, a never-before-heard play written by Alan Ayckbourn during lockdown, is on at the venue on Sunday, September 15 at 3pm.

The cast of Show & Tell performs the play about the family of technology magnate Lord Conrad Onsett.

Tickets for the Stephen Joseph Theatre on 01723 370541 and at www.sjt.uk.com