SIR Alan Ayckbourn will direct the world premiere of his 74th play, Life Of Riley, at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, from September 16 to October 16.

Now in the seventh age of man himself, the 70 year-old Scarborough playwright depicts the winter days of one George Riley. With only a few months of George’s life remaining, his closest friends remember with love, nostalgia and occasional bursts of downright fury how deeply he has affected their past lives.

George, however, is plotting one final farewell that threatens to upset all their future lives, so what exactly is the eccentric, maverick Riley playing at?

This sage play likewise looks backwards, forwards and, now and then, sideways with wry comic affection for the lives we lived or might have lived.

Sir Alan also will direct the SJT revival of another time-flitting play, his 1994 comedy thriller Communicating Doors, in a summer repertory run on various dates between August 5 and October 8.

Have you ever wondered what lay behind the mysterious locked door in the corner of your hotel room or ever fancied trying to walk through it? Beware the consequences of doing so or, like the dominatrix call girl Ms Poupée Désir, you could find yourself running for your life – backwards!

Sir Alan draws cinematic inspiration from early film noir, through Hitchcock’s Psycho, to The Twilight Zone for a time-travelling exploration of the choices between good and evil, set over a 40-year span in a sixth-floor suite of a five-star London hotel overlooking the Thames.

Box office: 01723 370541 or www.sjt.uk.com