Miss Yesterday: Frequently Asked Questions
Alan Ayckbourn's Archivist Simon Murgatroyd's answers some of the most frequently asked questions about Alan Ayckbourn's Miss Yesterday. If you have a question about this or any other of Alan Ayckbourn's plays, you can contact the website via the Contact Us page.Is Miss Yesterday available to produce?
Yes, Miss Yesterday is available for production by both professionals and amateurs. However, due to having not been published, any enquiries about potential productions and requests for reading copies should be directed to Alan Ayckbourn's agents Casarotto Ramsay.
Has Miss Yesterday been published?
Miss Yesterday has not been published, although it is hoped this will change in the foreseeable future. Enquiries about reading copies for possible production should be directed to Alan Ayckbourn's agent Ayckbourn's agents Casarotto Ramsay.
Is it possible to read Miss Yesterday for research purposes?
A manuscript for Miss Yesterday is held in the Ayckbourn Archive in the Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York. The manuscript is accessible onsite for research purposes.
The play makes reference to the 'butterfly effect', what is this?
The 'butterfly effect' is a scientific concept theory that essentially postulates that a small cause can have huge unseen effects; it was coined in relation to weather prediction when trying to predict tornado patterns. Here something insignificant - a butterfly flapping its wings several weeks earlier, for instance - could contribute to significantly different outcomes.
The actual idea that a butterfly could have the most profound effects can be traced back to Ray Bradbury's famous 1952 short story A Sound Of Thunder. Set in a future where time-travel has become a reality, it sees people able to travel into the past to hunt dinosaurs. As long as the hunter stay on a predesignated path and kills only the specific target, it will have no effect on the future due to the target dying within the same timeframe. When on one expedition, one of the party steps off the track and accidentally kills a butterfly, it has huge ripple effects through time. When the party returns, it is discovered history has been altered significantly by the apparent insignificant death of the butterfly.
Alan Ayckbourn also touches upon the principles of the butterfly effect and how Bradbury uses time travel in his play Surprises.
All research for this page by Simon Murgatroyd.