In Brief
Detailed History | In Brief- Snake In The Grass is Alan Ayckbourn's 61st play.
- The world premiere - directed by Alan Ayckbourn - was held at the Stephen Joseph Theatre on 5 June 2002.
- The London premiere - directed by Lucy Bailey - was held at The Print Room, London, on 14 February 2011.
- It is the first - and as of writing, only - play by Alan Ayckbourn to feature an all-female cast.
- A major inspiration for the play was the influential French film Les Diaboliques, released in 1955 and directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot.
- The play was written with the same staging requirements as his play Joking Apart (1978); this was due to the original production being staged in repertory with Joking Apart.
- The play's original title was Grass Widow, which Alan used to describe his plans for the new play in correspondence from 2001.
- Snake In The Grass is considered a companion piece to Haunting Julia (1994); a supernatural play with similar themes and an all-male cast.
- Unlike Haunting Julia - where a supernatural presence is definitely intended - it is left ambiguous as to the nature of the supernatural element in Snake In The Grass and could be interpreted as all being in Miriam's mind.
- Contrary to what other websites might report, Snake In The Grass is not part of a trilogy called Things That Go Bump. This is because Alan Ayckbourn has never written a trilogy called Things That Go Bump nor does he consider Snake In The Grass to be part of a trilogy.
- Although published as a play text by Samuel French, Snake in the Grass was also published in the collection Alan Ayckbourn: Plays 5 by Faber.
© Simon Murgatroyd