Britain's most performed living playwrights, Sir Alan Ayckbourn and John Godber, launch their latest plays next week.

From Ayckbourn comes his new family musical show, the time-travelling Whenever, at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough. From Godber, the world premiere of On A Night Like This, a nocturnal tale of power struggles, dangerous liaisons and twisted truths, at Hull Truck Theatre, Hull.

Writer-director Ayckbourn transforms the Round stage into a time machine for his new musical adventure, which opens in 1886 as nine-year-old orphan Emily flees for her life. Climbing aboard her uncle's time-travelling device, she undertakes a journey to the end of time itself and in the process changes not only her own but all our lives forever.

Intrepid young Emily visits 1940, ending up in the middle of the Second World War, and is then propelled to a time when communication is carried out solely through a computer keyboard. At the end of time, she meets the last human being, who has completely lost the ability to communicate intelligently.

The theme to this musical collaboration between Ayckbourn and Denis King echoes Ayckbourn's concerns over communication breakdown in Virtual Reality. "I like to do a children's play that ties in with my adult play, and I suppose there's also a bit of re-telling of Communicating Doors," Alan says. "Whenever has a slightly pessimistic view of a possible future, where we need to talk to each other more.

"In a way the play is a moral lesson about thinking about the future now and not leaving it till it's too late."

If Ayckbourn draws on his childhood love of science fiction and The Wizard Of Oz for his story of a young girl's rites of passage, then Godber's new comedy of bad manners also involves a journey, a passage of rights and wrongs.

His central character, university-educated Rich Jackson, has swapped his daring disco days for mediocre middle age, arty films and a fruity red wine on his perfect wild night in. However, Rich's suburban idyll is shattered when reckless Romeos Leo and Danny, the decorators from hell, throw his world into disarray. Suddenly, and unwillingly, Reliable Rich finds himself swept along on a crazy night of liquor, ladies and Northern Soul.

"The night on the town with the lads reveals parts of him that he'd long put in the attic and cupboard," says Godber, whose latest play continues his exploration of culture and class clashes.

"John Major may have talked of having a classless society but the class divide is still there: he can't have been walking down the same streets as me."

Godber now falls into the arty film and fruity red category himself. "But we've all had that night where we've performed differently from normal because of the company we've been in. In Rich's case, he's dragged to a club and must play machismo. He has to act out of his skin... out of fear," he says. "I think there'll be plenty of knowing laughter in the audience!"

* Whenever, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, December 5 to January 6. Box office: 01723 370541. On A Night Like This, Hull Truck Theatre, Hull, December 7 to January 13. Box office: 01482 323638.