Composers and their stage works 



 

The Baltimore Waltz

Comedy/Drama. Paula Vogel. 2 men, 1 woman (double casting). Unit Set

When Anna, an unmarried schoolteacher, is diagnosed with ATD, Acquired Toilet Disease, a fatal new malady with a high risk factor for elementary school teachers, she and her brother Carl take flight to Europe. Anna decides she wants to drown herself in the sensuality of food and sex, while Carl becomes involved in a wild Third Mannish espionage scheme to find a cure for his sister on the Continent. Something is not quite right with the scenario, and the largest hint is dropped when Anna shows slides of their trip to Europe where each frame looks exactly like Baltimore. Carl's quest for a cure dead ends with a mad Viennese quack. Their European idyll is broken by Carl's death, and the tragic revelation that the entire play was Anna's valiant fantasy to keep alive her brother's spirit when she could not save his life.
ISBN: 0-8222-1359-1

The Bandwagon

Play. Terence Frisby
M 14 F5. Extras. A living-room and kitchen, changing to exterior.

The Botterills are a fertile family. Mum, elder daughter and younger daughter Aurora are all imminently expecting. Aurora announces that her lot is quins. When a newspaper and the TV take her up, bringing in thousands of pounds, dismay turns to rapture. But Aurora must be married. The father is flown back from Hong Kong and they are married, the service turning to a race against time as all three women start labour pains at the same moment.
ISBN 0 573 01031 5

Bang Bang Beirut

Ray Cooney and Tony Hilton : Farce 9M 4F Interior/exterior set

An outrageously funny fame set in the lobby and courtyard of a small hotel in the Middle East, where a group of British undercover agents (in a variety of unlikely disguises) arc trying to weather a local military coup, while devising a plan to smuggle a young native prince out of danger. The bungling spies arouse the suspicions of the meal military and we are off on a mad whirl of double-takes, sliding panels, missing bodies and mistaken identities - the perfect ingredients for a fast-moving and hilarious evening's entertainment.

Barefoot in the Park

Comedy. Neil Simon
M4 (26, 30, 58, 60) F2 (young, 60). New York apartment.

Corrie and Paul are newlyweds who have just moved into their cold eyrie of an apartment. Corrie is starry-eyed, Paul less so after staggering up five flights. Their house seems to be populated by unusual people, the most bohemian being Victor whom Corrie finds entertaining. Conic tries matchmaking between Victor and her lonely mother but after a disastrous dinner party she learns that walking barefoot in the park may not necessarily denote joie de vivre - in February it is simply silly!
ISBN 0 573 01551 1

Bargains

Comedy. Jack Heifner. 3 men, 2 women. Interior.

The author assumes, according to new York Times, "... that a few modern people can cast spells and perform feats of supernaturalism. Gillian Holroyd, of the Murray Hill district, cast a spell over an unattached publisher, partly to keep him away from a rival and partly because she is attracted to him. He falls head over heels in love with her at once, and wants to marry her. But witches, unfortunately, cannot fall in love, and this minute imperfection leads into a number of difficulties." Ultimately the lady breaks off with her companions in witchery, preferring the normal and human love offered her by the attractive publisher, Shepherd Henderson, but before the happy conclusion of the romance, Gillian comes very near losing him - but doesn't.
ISBN: 0-8222-0104-6

Barnaby and the Old Boys

Play. Keith Baxter
M6 (16, 20s (1 Black), 30s-50s) F4 (30s, 40s). A sitting-room.

The Morgan family are gathered for one final celebration in their childhood home in Wales before it is sold. Tensions begin to rise, and when Hywel returns after fifteen years in Canada with an unexpected lover, who is s both male and black, violent prejudice is revealed. The attempt to recreate the Wales of their youth turns into a nightmare, in which family skeletons tumble out of every closet and which ends in tragedy.
ISBN 0 573 01721 2

A Barrell Full of Pennies

Comedy John Patrick. 3 men, 3 women. Interior

In the household of Adonis Samaritan, cab driver and lover of mankind, all homeless creatures, dogs, lame ducks and people - are welcome, much to the distress of daughter Alicia, who wishes she didrit have to be embarrassed at the thought of inviting her elegant boyfriend, Milton, to dinner. But plans are made, only to be jeopardized by the arrival of still another "stray," a self-proclaimed folk singer named Alvin, whom Adonis brings home to join "Cousin' Lu, "Uncle" Nemo, and the assorted animals quartered in the cellar. Despite the best intentions of Adonis and'his wife, Mina, to have things go smoothly, they go, as luck would have it, quite the opposite, and the complications multiply hilariously. In the end Milton (who never does show up) is forgotten about in the turmoil, while Alvin (who shows up better than expected) proves that love will find a way - and, what is more important, that the wild and wonderful life style of the Samaritans has found a new champion to keep it spinning along merrily for many years to come.
ISBN. 0-8222-0095-3

Barrymore's Ghost

Drama. Jason Miller. 1M. Single set

Barrymoor's Ghost opens up the life of the legendary actor, John Barrymore, in a unique, theatrical manner. Mr. John Barrymore, or Jack Barrymore or Jake Barrymore, is presented as a ghost haunting an unknown theater which, at the moment, is in rehearsal for a play. The gods have sentenced Barrymore to this purgatorial existence as penance for his abandonment of the theater and the squandering of his talents in the pursuit of fame, greed, and dissipation. Barrymore disputes these assertions of the gods as he painfully and humorously examines the spectrum of his life. He chronicles his ascendancy to the throne as the finest classical actor of his generation; his arrival to the pinnacle of movie stardom; his intimate and compassionate relationships to his sister Ethel and his brother Lionel; and the explosive debacles of his four marriages.
ISBN: 0-8222-1563-2

Bartholomew Fair

Ben Jonson : 10-18m, 8f, 10m/f, doubling. Classic comedy/drama. Simple set.

The annual Fair for St Bartholomew's Day is a bawdy celebration peopled by tricksters, thieves, prostitutes, pedlars and entertainers. Also drawn to the festivities are a group of ordinary people who encounter a range of colourful characters trying to rob, cheat, mock or beat them. As they become separated from each other, they find their respectable lives turned upside down, and their intolerant attitudes challenged by what they experience. First performed in 1631. Recently revived by the RSC, 1998.
ISBN 1854593048

A Basinful of the Briny

Leslie Sands : Comedy 3M 6F Interior set

A basinful of mishaps and misunderstandings occur in the second of Leslie Sands' 'Seaside Trilogy'. When Mr and Mrs Pepper return to the 'Seaview Guest House' to celebrate their 1st Anniversary, not only do they once again encounter the dragonish proprietress Mrs Austin, but are surprised by the unexpected arrival of their interfering in-laws and are driven to distraction and separation by the glamorous Miss Windermere. Together, this unlikely gathering stumble across a couple of small-time crooks and set out to foil their dastardly capers and win the day. An Anniversary for Mr and Mrs Pepper to remember - and a play the audience will not easily forget!

The Batting Cage

Drama. Joan Ackermann. 1 man, 3 women. Interior.

In a Holiday Inn in romantic St. Augustine, Florida, two estranged sisters travel unlikely journeys as they struggle to regain their bearings after the loss of their much loved third sister. One talks, the other doesn't. Their efforts at redefining themselves and their relationship are both poignant and humorous. A dashing conquistador, a lost suitcase, a bellhop with a barnacle growing in his ear, are but a few of the many surprising turns in this unusual, and very moving story.
ISBN: 0-8222-1654-X

Battle of Angels

Play. Tennessee Williams
M 11 F 11.

As in its later, and substantially rewritten version (entitled Orpheus Descending) the play deals with the arrival of a virile young drifter, Val Xavier, in a sleepy, small town in rural Mississippi. Taking a job in a store his smouldering animal magnetism draws out the latent sexual passion in the love starved store keeper, whilst her husband lies dying upstairs. A sense of inevitable tragedy grows and there is a denouement of overwhelming and chilling intensity.

Bazaar

(in Spanish Plays) David Planell. Trans J. Clifford
3m. Black comedy. Flexible staging.

In an attempt to be famous for a day Hassan, the owner of a bric-a-brac shop, enlists his neighbour Anton to help make a video for a You've Been Framed style TV programme. In the process, poisoned undercurrents of racism rise to the surface. Premiered at the Royal Court, 1998.
ISBN 1854594184

Bazaar and Rummage

Comedy. Sue Townsend
F6 (20s, 30s, middle-age). A mufti-purpose church hall.

Gwenda, an ex-agoraphobic, leads a self-help group of three who have been unable to leave their homes for a variety of reasons. She forces them to help at a local bazaar, enlisting the support of Miss, a trainee social-worker. While sorting through the rummage their individual fears erupt but calm is restored by the ever-sensible Fliss. As they leave the hall it is apparent their agoraphobia is not cured but they have made the effort.