Theatre critic and biographer Michael Billington will be at York University to direct rehearsals for a production of one of Sir Alan's comedies – while the playwright is in the audience.

Mr Billington is the theatre critic for the Guardian and the author of a study of Sir Alan's plays as well as the authorised biography of Harold Pinter.

Mike Cordner, professor of drama in the university's department of theatre, film and television, said: "The support of the UK's leading comic playwright and its most authoritative theatre critic has been crucial to the development of our work in this field at the university.

"Having them with us together, as part of the department of theatre, film and television's unique visiting professional programme of masterclasses, promises a very special event."

Mr Billington will direct a public rehearsal of the concluding sequence of Act One of How the Other Half Loves, one of the most technically complex scenes in all of Sir Alan's comedies.

He will work with a cast of four students and two ex-students and an elaborate stage set-up in the Dixon Studio Theatre in Wentworth College.

Sir Alan, 70, has written and produced more than 70 full-length plays. He became the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough in 1972, but stepped down from the role earlier this year. His work has been translated into more than 35 languages.