Henceforward...

The play Henceforward... is the first comedy in which Alan Ayckbourn includes elements of science fiction. It concerns Jerome, a composer, who develops a plan to persuade his estranged wife Corrina that his home life is sufficiently stable for her to allow their daughter to stay with him. The plan involves both an actress and a gynoid (the female equivalent of an android). Henceforward... was Ayckbourn's thirty fourth full-length play. It was first performed at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough in 1987. It received its West End premiere at the Lyric Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in October 1988 where Jerome was played by Ian McKellen, (who was knighted in 1990, becoming Sir Ian McKellen). Corrina was played by Jane Asher. This production won the 1989 Best Comedy category at the Evening Standard Awards for London theatre. The play is in 2 acts, the first of which has 2 scenes. It is set in London, England, in the future but "sometime quite soon". It is a bleak future where...