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Play.
James Saunders Mervyn, Anne, David and Helen are middle-class, respectable couples.
Years before, each man had an affair with the other's wife. For nine
years they had not met. Now Mervyn has asked them over for dinner.
The meeting leads to a discussion in which a great deal of the inner
lives, opinions, prejudices and outlooks of the four are revealed.
In the first act dialogues between the couples in their separate
houses alternate with monologues from each character in which earlier
events are recalled. The second act is set in Mervyn and Anne's home,
in more straightforward style, on the evening of that significant
meeting. Play James Saunders. 2 men(40s), 2 women (30s). Unit set (Two living-rooms) As the play begins, Anne and Mervyn, a seemingly well-setded middle-aged
couple, are awaiting the arrival of Helen and David, a younger couple
who were formerly their neighbors and close friends. Their reunion
begins on a light and humorous note, but as the after-dinner talk
grows more serious we become aware that the two couples had once
engaged in an adulterous arrangement - and both have found it difficult
to deal with the self-recriminations which this has created. Mervyn
has begun to drink more than he should; Anne is coldly cynical; and
Helen and David have turned to group therapy. But their problems
still remain and, as the conversation becomes more revealing - and
provocative - the underlying values of human existence are drawn
into question. In the end the inescapability of the deep-seated guilt
is powerfully evident with Mervyn, his vulnerability touchingly evident,
sinking into tearful, defeated despair. Play. Roger Hedden. 4 men; 5 women (several roles may be doubled). Interior. The place is a small and rather rundown house in Enfield, Connecticut,
the "pad" shared by Nick and Beth. Rootless and undecided about what
to do with their lives, Nick keeps them going by selling TVs, but
his plan (to which Beth reluctantly agrees) is to head off to the
Midwest for a fresh start. As the play begins Nick is lounging about,
drinking with their mutual friend (and his former lover) Carol, while
waiting for Beth to return with more booze. When she arrives they
discuss their imminent departure for Ohio but then, and abruptly,
Nick takes off - alone - for parts unknown. Left in the lurch, Beth
is drawn into a brief but fervid affair with a hip young house painter,
Sid, who shows up to redecorate the house for the next tenants. But
while Sid begins to take their relationship seriously, Beth does
not, and echoing Nick, she sells the furniture (except for the colour
TV which Nick got from his former employer) and vanishes without
a goodbye. When Nick, having had a change of heart, returns, it is
to an empty house which, in a very real way, symbolises the inertia
and rootlessness which have brought them all to where and what they
are. As the play ends Nick drifts back into a relationship with Carol,
while Sid, abandoning his buckets and brushes, goes off in search
of Beth. But the lesson of the play is that nothing has really changed,
nor will it do so until those involved find something to believe
in and pursue, with a seriousness they have, thus far, failed to
find. Drama. Jenna Zark. Three playlets that follow the lives of 9 people who become involved with sacred Jewish rituals. 3 men, 11 women (flexible casting). Unit Set
ISBN: 0-8222-1390-7 Comedy.
Marc Camoletti, translated by Beverley Cross Bernard thought he could easily cope with his three air hostess
fiancees. It was all a question of timetables and a reliable, down-to-earth
maid who never forgot to change the photographs in the bedroom. Only
when the 'Super' Boeing takes over is he landed with a triple problem.
His old school friend, Robert, arrives unexpectedly from Paris and
joins the set in a hilarious whirl of confusion and matchmaking. Play. Rona Munro The dramas of everyday life in Belfast are but off-stage events
in this stirring play about the lives of three women whose men have
been killed or imprisoned for their political activities, but where
bread must still be bought between explosions. In spite of its chilling
theme there are many humorous and heart-warming moments - a play
about people, not politics, which offers excellent acting opportunities.
Rona Munro received the Evening Standard Most Promising Playwright
Award for 1991 for Bold Girls. Comedy. Ken Whitmore Osip, a fervent young Party member, is confused with Ivan, a Jewish
dissident poet. Ivan is en route for Siberia and imprisonment,
while Osip is travelling there to inspire the residents of Poshlost
to heroic efforts. Anton, the local Party Secretary, has just returned
from a trip to the West with his suitcase loaded with forbidden luxuries,
and together with the other local party officials, is thrown into
a panic at the prospect of the arrival of a keen Communist. Yet in
the ensuing hilarious confusion the dissident Ivan achieves quite
remarkable results ... Play.
Charlotte Hastings A flood in the Fen country has trapped two prison officials and
their prisoner, Sarat Carp, who is on her way to the gallows for
the murder of her brother. In spite of the evidence, Sister Mary
Bonaventure is certain of Sarat's innocence. She uncovers a hitherto
unknown connection between Sarat's friend Dr Jeffries and a woman
for whose death Sarat's brother had been responsible. Just before
the police launch arrives, a confession is forced from the real murderer.
Period 1950s Comedic
Mystery-Thriller. Monk Ferris On Friday the 13th, thirteen people gather for the reading of the
late Josiah Travers's will. The will consists of a rebus which offers
the lucrative estate to anyone who can solve the puzzle. To
make things tougher, the lights keep going out and people keep being
murdered. This is not only a very funny farce, it is also a superbly
crafted mystery. Drama. Michael Tremblay. 2 men, 6 women. Interior Serge has returned from overseas and his trip allows everyone to
get lost in the fantasy of vacation, ignoring the trouble brewing
inside of Serge. Serge has really returned to consummate a love affair
with one of his sisters, while his other two sisters, also infatuated
with him, want his attention. This family-sexual relationship is
heightened when we find that Armand, Serge's father, has in the past,
practiced incest himself. Though the question of hereditary traits
is not answered, Serge finds an understanding soul in his father.
Father and son find themselves compatriots in this family of desperate
women and wicked men. Mystery/Drama. Ron Cowen. 2 men, 4 women. Divided Interior Henry T Aythecliff, a much married and once successful writer, now
heavily in debt, summons his three ex-wives to his mansion, his plan
being to extort a sizable amount of money from each of them. He has
a secret meeting with each in turn, and when he is discovered murdered
the dues indicate that each of his wives (including his present one)
could have done the deed - and had a strong motive to do so. Patiently
and resourcefully the young detective assigned to do the case sifts
through the ingeniously devised evidence - until, in a surprise ending,
the truth is finally revealed and the guilty party is apprehended. Play. Robert D. Hock. 16 men, many bit parts for men and women. Unit Set Borak is a drama of brisk action and soaring dialogue, which
captures the excitement and meaning of a crucial battle in the Civil
War. It projects the "feel" of actual conflict, and probes deeply
into the fears and motivations of men at war. The play functions
on two levels. On the surface is a Civil War story in which the hard,
bitter duty of an officer must override his love for his son. But
the play is also a religious parable of God and the sacrifice of
his Son. Play. Sharman Macdonald Ellen and Rose have arrived from Scotland and set up their tent on a Devonshire cliff top. Down on the beach Rob, David, Charlie, Cot and John are enjoying a surfing break. A touching and humorous piece with seven excellent roles for young actors. 'No-one writes about the mysteries of young adulthood with more truth ... combines warm and funny naturalism with an appropriate touch of the mystic.' The Times Play. Peter Nichols Maud, a decidedly eccentric woman, lives in a dilapidated mock-Tudor
Victorian house with her son Mo. The other children, Hedley, an ineffectual
Labour MP, and Queenie, an expatriate in America, arrive and try
to persuade Maud to go to a modem 'duplex' in London, and Mo to join
Queenie in California, but both prefer to remain as they are. Not
all of us, Mo says, 'want freedom. Captivity has its points as well.' |