Even by Alan Ayckbourn’s standards, the past 12 months have gone pretty well.

There have been a couple of ecstatically received revivals of two of his most popular works, The Norman Conquests trilogy at the Old Vic and the Rose Theatre’s staging of the manic comedy Bedroom Farce.

One of the prolific playwright and director’s latest efforts, My Wonderful Day, packed out houses from Richmond to New York and the Orange Tree is hoping some of the Ayckbourn magic will rub off on its revival of Taking Steps.

The show, which opens at the theatre on Wednesday, is directed by the man himself and Ayckbourn, who suffered a stroke in 2006, says he is pleased to get the chance to revisit a play that was first performed in 1980.

“Sam [Walters, Orange Tree Theatre’s artistic director] knew that this is the one out of all my plays that cries out to be done in the round,” he explains.

“It had a rather unhappy London run in a conventional proscenium theatre that didn’t last very long and he knew this rankled with me – it was the one that got away.

“The whole concept of the play is to do with the shape of the space and that makes it special for me to do it here at the Orange Tree.”

The play is typical Ayckbourn, with unhappy couples, mistaken identity and the odd romp all thrown into the mix.

Where the playwright stamps his unique mark on the farce is by setting it on three floors of a crumbling Victorian house.

He explains: “Somebody said to me once, ‘you can’t do farce in the round because there are no doors’, but then I thought for doors read floors, and I came up with this triple floor conceit.

“I played with space once or twice earlier in my career.

“How the Other Half Loves was done with two rooms superimposed on the same level, so this is just a step further.”

Although snootier theatregoers and critics may not approve, Ayckbourn continues to delight his audiences and he says he feels lucky to have found such a loyal following.

“I guess I have the lucky knack of chiming with a lot of my audience,” he adds.

“They say: ‘I recognise that character’ or ‘I’ve been in that situation’, and, if they are going to be quite mature, they’ll say they recognise themselves too.”

Taking Steps, Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, March 24 – May 29. For more information and to book tickets, visit orangetreetheatre.co.uk

See next week’s RT2 for the second part of our interview with Alan Ayckbourn, in which he discusses how his writing has changed over the years, why he has always avoided politics and his recovery from his stroke.