A Word From Our Sponsor was the final Alan Ayckbourn play to be premiered at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round. Since 1990, Alan had been immersed in efforts to move the company to a new home at Scarborough’s former Odeon building. By 1995, the new building was nearing completion and the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, home to the company for 20 years, entered its final year.
From the moment the play was announced, it was widely interpreted as being Alan’s comment on funding his new theatre and the arts in general in the UK. The play came at a time when money to the arts was being slashed and the Government was insisting arts organisations become more self-sufficient through higher prices or outside sponsorship. A Word From Our Sponsor is a Faustian tale where the devil offers a vicar the opportunity to stage a community nativity play, but with certain compromising provisos which creep in.
A Word From Our Sponsor is a musical and the second collaboration between Alan Ayckbourn and the then Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round musical director John Pattison. It opened at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round in February 1995 and was well-received by audiences and had good attendances. The critics were less than happy with the experience though with many reviewers drawing their daggers. The play was roundly mauled critically with many reviews taking particularly offence at the ‘easy’ ending, where the devil is beaten away by a clarion call of ‘We Can Do It’. The critic Charles Spencer began his call for Alan to take a break from writing, which he has since done with predictable regularity for plays he dislikes.
The critical reception was lost in a genuine tragedy. On the afternoon of 3 June, prior to the play’s final performance in Scarborough, the actress Sophie Winter collapsed. She died in hospital the following day from complications following an ectopic pregnancy. Alan had worked with Sophie on three prior productions and she was a very-well liked member of the company. Alan told the company the news himself and would write Sophie’s obituary for The Independent and led a memorial service in Scarborough.
A Word From Our Sponsor was due to open the Chichester Festival at the Minerva Theatre the following week. This was delayed by a week and the role of Gussie recast with Phyllida Hancock, who Alan had seen in recent auditions. The play ran for four weeks at the festival and, although published, has rarely been produced since.
The company moved into the Stephen Joseph Theatre in 1996, where Sophie’s Fountain, a permanent tribute to the actress, can be found in the atrium.

Copyright: Simon Murgatroyd 2006 / Images copyright: Adrian Gatie. Please do not reproduce these images without the permission of the copyright holder.