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The Case in Question.Play. Ronald Millar, Suggested by C. P. Snow's novel In Their Wisdom When old Mr Massie dies he leaves almost his entire fortune to young
Julian Underwood, nothing to his daughter Jenny. Suspecting injustice,
tycoon R. J. Selby persuades the reluctant Jenny who works for one
of his charities - to contest the will. The resulting conflict sheds
light on many dark corners of present-day standards and attitudes,
and finally springs a variety of surprises. Cash on DeliveryFarce. Michael Cooney Michael Cooney's riotous farce has all the ingredients for rib-tickling
hilarity and offers a colourful selection of character roles. Eric
Swan (aided by his Uncle George and unbeknown to his wife, Linda)
has pocketed thousands of pounds through fraudulent DSS claims. When
Norman Bassett (the lodger) opens the door to Mr Jenkins, the DSS
Inspector, deceptive mayhem follows - as do the undertaker, bereavement
counsellor, psychiatrist, Norman's fiancee, a corpse, the ominous
Ms Cowper and a rather rebellious washing-machine! Cash FlowComedy D.B. Gilles. 4 men, I woman. Interior. Things are not going well at the Gallagher Publishing Company, an
old-line textbook house which is faced with mounting losses because
of the failure of its latest publishing venture. Staving off financial
ruin is the pressing problem, and the men who head up the company
have varying opinions as to how to deal with the crisis. Elliot Gallagher,
the ineffectual son of the former (and very dynamic) president (and
now president himself) wants to bring in a rather shady outside investor,
but his colleagues fear that this would lead to a takeover which
could cost them their cushy jobs. Marty Blasingame, the meekmannered
company treasurer, urges that they file for bankruptcy; while Casey
McDermott, the hard-driving veteran sales manager, has a more draconian
suggestion - burn down their warehouse and collect the insurance
money. They even go so far as to interview a professional arsonist,
who proves to have more conscience than they do when he turns down
the job because of the possibility of harming people in nearby tenements.
One glimmer of hope is an imaginative new educational program devised
by the resourceful editorial chief, Carolyn McNeil, but where to
find the money to develop it? In the end Elliot, after wrestling
with the spectre of personal as well as professional disaster, pulls
himself together and decides to invest his own money in the business
- a move considered radical in corporate circles but, in this instance,
perhaps the only way to salvage not only the company but also the
integrity of those committed to it. The Castro ComplexComedy. Mel Arrighi. 2 men, 1 woman. Interior. Smitten by fantasies of Fidel Castro, Betsy finds that she cannot
respond to the advances of her fiancé, Hadley, unless he assumes
the guise of the Cuban leader - beard, army cap, cigar and all. Hadley
has reached the point of suggesting psychiatric help when onto the
scene bursts Paco, a bearded revolutionary, seeking refuge from (he
says) the CIA men who are pursuing him. Betsy's immediate attraction
to the debonair stranger is the last straw for poor Hadley - and
from there on the plot, twists and turns hilariously until the truth
is out (or is it?) and Betsy's hang-up has (or has it?) been overcome
for good. Cat Among the Pigeons.Farce. Georges Feydeau. Translated by John Mortimer Feydeau's lady this time has two lovers: a ne'er-do-well who has
secretly affianced himself to a baroness's daughter, and a flamboyant
Spanish general who challenges anyone who comes near her. Complications
arrive with an amateur composer of a bad song which he hopes the
lady will sing in the theatre ... This translation was presented
at Wyndham's Theatre. 'A triumph of ingenuity, gaiety, absurdity
and laughter.' Daily Telegraph. Period early 1900s Cat Among the PigeonsComedy. Duncan Greenwood Three generations of Tinsleys live in uneasy contentment dominated
by Nora and her daughter Edna until Nora's son comes home from National
Service in Indo-China. Explosive disruptions occur with the arrival
of Yvonne Chartreuse, an exotic French dancer, to whom the male Tinsleys
gravitate, while the females are suspicious, jealous and determined
to expel this dangerous intruder. Salvation comes when Grandma helps
Ernest to win lots of money on the pools! The Cat and the Canary.Melodrama. John Willard by arrangement with Alan P Twyman for the
Rohauer Collection The family of Ambrose West attend a reading of his will at midnight.
Mr West feared that a touch of insanity ran in his family. Annabelle
West is made sole heir of his estate, but if there is any indication
of insanity another will should be opened and a different heir named.
From then on the family attempts to frighten Annabelle, by murders,
tales of lunatics and the like. One of the most successful of mystery
melodramas. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.Play. Tennessee Williams This award-winning play is set in a Mississippi plantation house where the family celebrate Big Daddy's birthday. '... a stunning drama ... It is the quintessence of life. It is the basic truth ... The tone is gay. But the mood is sombre. For a number of old evils poison the gaiety- sins of the past, greedy hopes for the future, a desperate eagerness not to believe in the truths that surround them ...' New York Times Cat On a Hot Tin RoofDrama. Tennessee Williams. 8 men, 5 women, 4 children. Interior. The rich, tyrannical owner of a cotton plantation, Big Daddy, returns
home from a clinic unaware that he is dying of cancer. Except for
his wife, the older members of Big Daddy's family, two sons and two
daughters-inlaw, all know his true condition. Indeed, it is really
because of Big Daddy's illness and the hope of featuring in his will
that his eldest son Gooper has taken time off from his law practice
to bring his wife and children to visit the plantation. The excuse
for the visit is that Big Daddy's homecoming coincides with his birthday.
As Gooper and his wife angle for advantage over Big Daddy's favourite
son, the retired football player Brick, they flaunt their brood of
six children, and deride Brick's drink problem and barren marriage
to Margaret. Brick and Big Daddy retire after the birthday celebrations
for an awkward, intimate conversation during which it is revealed
that Brick's alcoholism was precipitated by the suicide of his closest
friend. Discovering from Big Daddy that family and friends all thought
the friendship `unnatural' Brick angrily reveals Big Daddy's true
condition in reprisal. At the same time, it becomes evident that
Brick's marriage is barren because he has rejected Margaret, after
learning that she had once successfully tried to seduce this same
friend. Big Daddy retires to his room, furious and fearful, where
he is followed by a hysterical Big Mama after she, too, learns the
truth. The play closes with Margaret trying to seduce Brick in the
hope that she will conceive and produce an heir for Brick and Big
Daddy's fortune. Cat on the Fiddle.Farce. John Dole As David's Italian penpal, Mario, is coming to stay, his wife Kate
goes to her mother's so that they can practise their languages in
peace. When the penpal turns out to be a shapely brunette named Maria
David is in big trouble, not least because Maria has smuggled in
a packet of diamonds. The flat is soon besieged with assorted gangsters,
a lady plumber, a curate, the police and an angry Kate! Cat On the Rails(in Czech Plays) : Josef Topol, Trans G. & C. Voskovec An ordinary couple from Prague out on a day's ramble are stranded
at a country railway station. They pass the time with games and reminiscences,
but are interrupted by a boy in flight from a local vendetta and
his two pursuers. Catfish MoonComedy. Laddy Sartin. 3 men, 1 woman. The old fishing pier out on the end of Cypress Lake has just fallen
under the magic of another Catfish Moon. It was the favorite hangout
for three best friends when they were kids - skipping school, skinny
dipping, and even experiencing the mysteries of kissing girls. Now
Curley, Gordon and Frog are older and they have tasted the bitterness
of life as well as the sweetness, and the pressures and problems
that come with middle age have eroded the closeness between Frog
and Gordon. The final straw comes when Frog discovers that Gordon
is dating his ex-wife. Curley, the "big brother" of the bunch, in
an attempt to recapture the friendship and settle all disputes, convinces
Frog and Cordon to go on an overnight fishing trip like old times.
On the pier, the weight of adulthood is lifted by laughter and their
love of fishing and the three guys discover that their friendship
was never really lost. However, in the midst of catching the biggest
fish of all time, life brings them back to a painful reality. The
poignant resolution of the play brings Gordon and Frog to the realization
that life is too precious and too short to let true friendship get
away. Cat's CradleLeslie Sands :Thriller/Suspense 4M 4F Interior set In a last desperate attempt to resurrect his career in the CID,
Inspector Frost re-opens the case that ruined him - a kidnap and
possible murder he failed to solve some years before. With a new
piece of evidence, he returns to the village in which the disappearance
occurred. Where he was once a welcome guest, he now finds the villagers
are no longer interested in reliving the past and in seeing old faces.
As it becomes increasingly apparent he is facing a conspiracy of
silence and hostility, he enlists the assistance of a local ambitious
journalist to help him with his investigations. The guilty and terrible
secrets of those who have spent years shouldering the burden of the
truth is finally resolved in a series of startling revelations, much
to the Inspector's horror and the surprise of the audience. The Caucasian Chalk Circle.Play. Bertolt Brecht Translations: W. H. Auden and James and Tania Stern M38 F11 with doubling possible. Various simple settings. In this adaptation of an old Chinese legend, a cruel town governor is murdered. His wife escapes but abandons her baby, who is harboured by a kitchen-maid, Grusha. Later the governor's widow returns and a trial is ordered with the test: which woman can drag the child out of a chalk circle? In refusing to harm the child by pulling it, Grusha is ruled to be the 'true' mother. Period 1945 Caught in the Act.Comedy. Trevor Cowper Cherry awaits the return of her lover Bill. However, it is not Bill
who creeps into her dark flat but Martin, mistaking it for the one
opposite which is inhabited by his own fiancée, Helen. Unfortunately,
he mistakes the bed as well and Cherry, thinking it is Bill, welcomes
him with open arms. The hilarious ensuing complications are compounded
by Cherry's need to cultivate an amorous sheikh for business purposes!
Presented at the Garrick Theatre with Judy Geeson and Martin Jarvis. Caught on the Hop.Comedy. Derek Benfield When Phil tells his friend George that he is leaving his wife, Maggie,
to move in immediately with a girl he met on the top of a bus, George
is appalled. However, George is persuaded to give a helping hand-thus
setting in motion the most frenetic confusion of mistaken identities,
plotting and counterplotting that ever erupted on one quiet summer's
day. Cause Célèbre.Play. Terence Rattigan When Alma Rattenbury, attractive wife of an elderly man, engages
the handsome but uncouth Wood as odd job boy it has tragic consequences,
culminating in murder. The story follows the course of the trial,
and also the lasting effect on a woman member of the jury. The play,
first presented in London at Her Majesty's Theatre, was partly inspired
by the facts of a well-known case. Period 1934-5 Cavalcade.Play. Noel Coward Written before the Second World War, this is the story of a family and a nation, with a message of faith in the future. Its grand procession of time and events opens with bells ringing in the twentieth century as the Marryots drink a toast to the year 1900 and follows the family and friends over the next thirty years, mingling their private ups and downs with more public events. Cave LifePlay. David Steven Rappoport. 5 men, 4 women. Unit Set. Charleston is a young woman living in Manhattan who has a history
of mental illness. She hallucinates visions of a Neanderthal caveman
named Enki who seems to be more accepting and loving of her than
her husband, Frank. The household is further complicated by Frank's
emotionally disturbed teenage son from a previous marriage, Frank's
lover Sophronia, and Charleston's disturbed mother, Irene. Charleston
has become pregnant, and Enki tells her that she will have to choose
between being crazy or having the baby. Frank, comes to the realisation
that he too has choices to face - the choice of remaining with Charleston
or getting on with his life in a healthier way. Rappoport's sharp-edged
humour dissects the despair, brokenness and pain of life. Cave
Life, powerfully and unusually, explores what Sophronia calls
the "geography of good intentions," raising the questions of what
we owe ourselves, what we owe others and what borders between them. Cavern of the JewelsChildren's Play. John Heuer. 2 men, 3 women, 2 boys, 2 girls. Exterior. The greedy Buncharot, a blustering tycoon, treats his son and daughter
like servants, while his wife clucks over him and dotes on the fortune
he has amassed. Sent out to search for strawberries, the children
go off to the forest, where they befriend two enchanting gnomes,
Peri and Ponke, who guard the treasure of glittering jewels from
which Nature draws its brilliant colors. The gnomes give their new
friends a gigantic emerald, and Buncharot, once he lays eyes on it,
realizes that the children have stumbled across the richest treasure
in the world. He and the unscrupulous Reverend Archer plot to seize
all the jewels and, for a time, they apparently succeed. But the
children, along with Peri, ponke and their woodland allies, soon
outwit the thieving adults - restoring Nature's Treasure to its rightful
guardians, while teaching Buncharot and his cronies a lesson they
will not soon forget. |