My Sister Sadie: In Brief
My Sister Sadie
Play Number: 65World Premiere: 2 December 2003
Venue: Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough
Premiere Staging: In-the-round
Published: Faber
Cast: 3m / 4f
Run Time: 1hr 50m
Synopsis: An army helicopter crashes near a remote farm; the sole survivor is the mysterious young girl Sadie. But who is Sadie, what do the military want with her and could she be a threat to her new-found family?
- My Sister Sadie is Alan Ayckbourn's 65th play.
- The world premiere - directed by Alan Ayckbourn - was held at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, on 2 December 2003.
- It is one of his 'family' plays; these plays are written with a family audience in mind, but are considered by the playwright to be part of his full-length play canon and as significant in his canon as any of the other plays. Alan Ayckbourn's first family play is considered to be Mr A's Amazing Maze Plays in 1988.
- The family plays are frequently thematically linked to one of Alan Ayckbourn's 'adult' plays. My Sister Sadie is most frequently associated with Comic Potential, another play featuring an android for a central character and which questions what it is that makes us human.
- My Sister Sadie is the first of Alan Ayckbourn's family plays to feature a teenage protagonist in 17 year old Luke, who befriends the apparently teenage Sadie.
- It is one of several plays by Alan Ayckbourn to feature an android as a significant protagonist and is thematically linked to plays such as Henceforward…, Comic Potential and Constant Companions.
- My Sister Sadie is definably influenced by science-fiction movies and Alan Ayckbourn's fondness for the genre. The play makes direct references to Blade Runner, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and The Terminator amongst others.
- It is the first Ayckbourn play to feature military characters. Although other plays, such as Private Fears In Public Places, features characters who have military backgrounds, this is the first time military characters on active duty have been portrayed.
- It is one of his family plays which feature an absent father (in this case, the father ran off with another woman). Absent fathers / parents are a recurring element found in plays such as Mr A's Amazing Maze Plays, Callisto 5 / Callisto#7, Whenever and The Jollies.