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Play. Claire Luckham The choice is whether or not to abort a foetus after an amniocentesis test reveals that the unborn child has a chromosome deficiency. Sal, a journalist in her thirties, is the mother, and she must make the most difficult decision of her life in the midst of the conflicting opinions of those around her. Sally's story is framed within Claire Luckham's own personal tale - she grew up with a handicapped brother. Comedy. Phil Bosakowski. 7 men, 3 women. Unit Set Ranging across two centuries and jumping from Paris to Warsaw to
Washington, D.C., and back to Paris, the action of the play is a
tumbling procession of heightened short scenes, mostly very funny
and all strikingly inventive, which dramatise the plight of the artist
(Chopin) who seeks to use his fame and talent to serve his beleaguered
homeland (Poland) in its fight for freedom and national identity.
Both a Polish hero and an international celebrity, Chopin is sometimes
changed into Lech Walesa, while others in the play move from being
famous personages of Chopin's time to such diverse, and modern, figures
as Hitler, Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and Pope
John Paul II - plus a friendly, yet clearly menacing Russian bear.
In the end the forces of destiny overwhelm the opposition - but not
the spirit - of the frail artist who, in describing his own death
and burial, makes it clear that his heart still beats for Poland
- and for freedom from oppression wherever and whenever it may occur. Play. Israel Horovitz. Based on stories by Morley Torgov. 5 men, 3 women. Unit Set The time is 1947, and Stanley Rosen and Irving Yanover, lifelong
friends now approaching young manhood, find themselves pitted against
each other on two fronts. Both are piano prodigies, and will. be
rivals in a forthcoming, and prestigious, competition. And both,
unfortunately, are smitten by the same girl, the lovely Fern Phipps,
who (to the dismay of both the Rosen and Yanover families) is not
even Jewish. But friendship wins out over ambition when both boys
contrive to play poorly in the competition - so that neither will
win. Also, as Fern has decided to award her favour to the winner
of the piano contest, that problem is dealt with as well. And, again,
all is put forth with such good humour and warmth that the play,
like the others in the trilogy, becomes a lesson in the value of
simple, family virtues and the essential brotherhood of man. Play. Alan Ayckbourn Alan Ayckbourn skilfully draws parallels between John Gay's The
Beggar's Opera and the day-to-day activities of the amateur
dramatic society who are performing it, showing how painfully embarrassed
are the British in the face of emotion and keeping us laughing
in happy recognition. A Chorus of Disapproval played very
successfully at the National Theatre in 1985. '... symmetrically
shaped, psychologically acute and painfully, heartbreakingly funny
...' Guardian Play. Adapted by John Mortimer
from the story by Charles Dickens Charles Dickens' famous tale of Ebenezer Scrooge's transformation
from embittered skinflint to generous benefactor has been dramatised
by John Mortimer with typical flair and wit in this definitive adaptation,
first performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Retaining Dickens'
own ironic point of view through the use of a Chorus, Mortimer has
created a panoramic view of Victorian London with all the much-loved
characters in place. There is plenty of scope for imaginative doubling,
and the staging requirements are flexible. Play with Music. 5-8 men, 3-6 women, 1 boy. Pop-Up Sets, Minimal. A highly inventive adaptation of the classic Dickens story, paired
down to its essential elements. In this version, we encounter a company
of traveling players about to enact the Dickens story. As the on-stage
trunk of supplies opens, actors and downs spill out and roll on.
The gruff stage manages and prop boy check the show's props, which
are shabby and third rate. but the troupe improvises by creating
a magical world of makebelieve. The acting troupe soon discovers
that the actors playing Scrooge and Tiny Tim have abandoned the tour;
but the show must go on, and the prop boy eagerly volunteers for
the part of Tim while the cynical stage manager must be forcibly
drafted to play the old miser. The troupe proceeds to make their
way through the tale, creating fog, snow, fire and ghosts through
mime, imagination and wonderful visual effects. The rag tag players
(including the stage manager and prop boy) quickly become the characters
of the story, and we are pulled into the life of Ebenezer Scrooge.
The Christmas Spirits work their magic and warm the heart of Scrooge,
as well as the old stage manager. Drama. Christopher Schario, adapted from the book by Charles Dickens. 4 men, 2 women and 1 other, either a man or a woman. Unit set Focusing on Dickens' powerful language, humor and warmth, this charming
version of A Christmas Carol simply and directly tells the
story of the redemption of a human soul. The play follows the ever
powerful story of Scrooge, a lonely miser, who, through the help
of spirits and visions from his past, present and future, finds a
second chance to become a loving, generous human being. Adapted for
a company of six actors, accompanied by a fiddler, the play requires
a minimum of sets, costumes and props. It begins with a child reading
the story for the first time. As the scenes are played out behind
him, the child becomes totally caught up in the story, and is finally
invited by the other characters to enter the play as one of them.
With traditional carols and English folk tunes creating the proper
atmosphere, the world of Scrooge, Fezziwig and Tiny Tim comes alive,
igniting the holiday spirit for young and old. Christmas Play. Adapted by Shaun Sutton
from the story by Charles Dickens. This adaptation follows its well-loved original in tracing Scrooge's
conversion from miserliness to benevolence. We first see him in the
counting house berating his unfortunate clerk Bob Cratchit and then
receiving the visitations of the Spirits of Past, Present and Future.
He learns to feel compassion for Tiny Tim and remorse for his avarice.
Some scenes are introduced that elaborate a Christmas play into a
simple form of pantomime. Period early Victorian Play. Harry Kondoleon. 2 men, 2 women. Interior. Set in a bright, starkly bare apartment, the action centers on a
young couple, Bruno and Audrey, who are planning to marry now that
Audrey is pregnant. In order to pay the rent Bruno has invited Audrey's
mother, Ingrid (whom Audrey detests), to move in with them, but he
is not prepared for the unexpected arrival of his lifelong friend
Nissim who, upon learning of the expected birth, announces that he
will also stay on. He, like the others, looks to the baby for redemption
from the disappointments and emptiness of his own life - and the
hope, at last, of pure and ennobling love. It is in the barbed and
very funny exchanges of these four unlikely roommates that the more
serious concerns of the play are shadowed, culminating, after Audrey
has departed for the hospital, in a bizarre but genuinely moving
scene in which the wonder and promise of the Nativity are strikingly
invoked. Play. William Douglas Home The first Christmas of World War I was marked by an unofficial 24-hour
truce on the Western Front with British and German troops calling
spontaneously to each other. Tentatively they emerge from their trenches
and meet in No Man's Land to exchange names, cigarettes and information.
William Douglas Home's intensely moving dramatisation of this remarkable
event was premiered in 1989. ' ... this well-made play with its built-in
humanitarian message is a worthy piece of theatre.' Daily Telegraph Play. Moss Hart. 12 men, 2 women. Interior/Exterior The story shows, in between realistic scenes just before and during the judge's decision on the divorce of Mr. and Mrs. Blake, how their son Christopher reacts to the situation. In his dream scenes, he imagines himself an international hero, a great actor, etc. In the end Christopher, facing the realities of a hard situation, makes his decision, realising that this is something no one else can do for him. |