Advocates: Christopher Godwin

Christopher Godwin is an actor who worked extensively with Alan Ayckbourn during the 1970s. Since then he has worked with the RSC, the National Theatre and Shakespeare's Globe theatre as well as appearing extensively on screen. He is most famous for originating several of Alan Ayckbourn's most famous characters such as Norman in The Norman Conquests, Trevor in Bedroom Farce, Dennis in Just Between Ourselves and Algy in Better Off Dead.

Quotes

"It's a hackneyed phrase used about Alan, that he’s the english Chekhov, but in some respects he has kept straight theatre on its feet for the last thirty or forty years - by straight theatre I mean non-musical theatre. He also developed in the first instance - and continues to develop - the mirror that theatre holds up to society. And also to tell us that some things in the human condition don’t change. I think what he does so brilliantly is to give us flashes of insight not only into other people but ourselves as well and he has done that and continues to do that so well. He has a terrific sense of the absurd and the serious and what’s important about life but also what’s risible about life."
(2018)

"I think Alan’s writing has an enduring quality about and I think it will still resonate in fifty or a hundred years time."
(2018)

"Alan's writing, well, you don’t really need to say much about that, but as a director people often overlook how good he is. I would say he is definitely in the top three or four I’ve ever worked with.”
(2018)

“It has been said before but it is worth saying again that Alan is the English Chekov. He has a very good insight into human nature and the inter-relationships between men and women, the way in which people approach life and what life does to them.”
(2018)

“Alan has a unique ability to prepare us with laughter and at the same time hit you between the eyes with emotional truth.”
(2018)

"There’s a feeling in rehearsal that between the actor and the best directors - and I think Alan is one - you transcend the script and make something different. It’s obviously the same basis but it becomes something else, because it goes beyond itself thanks to the collaboration between director and actor. I think that that certainly happens when I work with Alan."
(2018)
Copyright: Christopher Godwin. All research for this page by Simon Murgatroyd, please credit this website if reproduced.