Alan Ayckbourn's world premiere of a musical adaptation of his 1998 play The Boy Who Fell Into A Book opens in Scarborough tomorrow.

In Alan Ayckbourn’s story for children and adults alike, ten-year-old Kevin Carter falls into his book when secretly reading in bed. There he meets his fictional hero, hard-bitten private investigator Rockfist Slim, 220 pounds of solid muscle and now only too real. Together the gallant, if incongruous, pair set out on a quest to save the world, pursued by arch enemy Monique.

What’s On learns why the book is to be re-opened this summer.

What is the story behind this new musical version?

“Yes, it’s unusual in that, in a sense, I had nothing to do with it. The lyricist, Paul James, and the composers Cathy Shostak and Eric Angus, contacted me several years ago saying they wanted to do this. They sent me a song and then, a little later on, they sent me another song and I was thinking, ‘this isn’t going to be ready till 2030’! And then last year they contacted me to say they’d finished it. They sent me the script, which I approved and I asked if they’d like to come to Scarborough to play it through for me here. Which they obligingly did and I liked it enough to want to proceed. So I talked to the SJT about doing it this summer.”

What happened next?

“They asked me to direct it, so we did a workshop in London at the end of last year which seemed to work well. We cut a couple of numbers and put a couple of new ones in where we felt it needed it.”

What was it like working with something you had created but which someone else had adapted?

“It was very interesting. Paul not only trimmed the book but wrote all the lyrics as well. “I think they’ve, all of them, caught the spirit of the play very closely. Paul, Cathy and Eric obviously love the piece. But then you can’t work on something you don’t love, can you, and gratifyingly I think they are as passionate about it as I was when I first wrote the play. As a director, I’ll happily hitch a ride along with that sort of enthusiasm.”

Have there been any significant changes to your play?

“Not really. It’s stayed very faithful to the original. Tiny things, that’s all. Like the Wooblies becoming the Wubblies; just for rhyming purposes, really.”

Who do you think The Boy Who Fell Into A Book will appeal to?

“Well, it’s a family show, not a children’s show, it’s definitely more a family show. It’s for anyone who ever secretly read under the bed clothes as a child and who has ever been captivated by a story in a book. In terms of a musical, it’s really quite small scale, in that it doesn’t have a cast of hundreds, but I feel with big potential.”

- The Boy Who Fell Into A Book runs in The Round at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, from tomorrow until August 31 with daytime and evening performances. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com