Making Tracks: Quotes by Alan Ayckbourn

"The idea was there, but I was thinking of it as a play, and it never really took off - but it makes sense as a musical…. It’s certainly a progression from our [Alan and Paul Todd's] earlier work. Nothing we have done has been wasted - experience has brought us closer together, and that is a necessary process to go through. One is never thoroughly happy with anything, but this time the words don’t seem to get in the way of the music. It is the most fun we’ve had with a musical - Suburban Strains was a bit sad, and this is lighter, more up-tempo, and fun. The most revolutionary part for us is that the band is beginning to get integrated into the company."
(Scarborough Evening News, 15 November 1981)

"It's a jolly evening. It came straight after Way Upstream and that was very dark, I think, and I wanted to have some fun. I just like to keep moving."
(The Standard, 11 March 1983)

"I based this on my five years as a radio drama producer when one could sit securely behind soundproof glass and make caustic remarks about the performers. Then, whenever, the microphone was faded down, they did the same to us. But in their case, they could never be sure whether the mic [microphone] was on or not. The show was great fun to work on and we solved the difficulty of a live band in the round by including the musicians in the action. It did terrific business at Greenwich but never made the West End."
(‘Ayckbourn At 50’ souvenir programme)

"I don't know what happened with that [Making Tracks]. I thought it was quite a good idea, but it never took off in quite the way that we meant it to. I think it works within its own scale....
"In Making Tracks I wanted to write a musical which said it wasn't OK out there, really. But I tried to compromise a bit by giving her [Lace] a big number at the end, where it all came right - and that didn't work."
(Interview from Conversations With Ayckbourn, by Ian Watson)

Copyright: Haydonning Ltd.