Melodrama. Reginald Denham and Conrad Sutton Smith, adapted from The Perfectionist by Margaret St. Clair. 2 men, 2 women. Interior Muriel Whitlock, a middle-aged English spinster, is a perfectionist. Small wonder that Virginia Whitlock, an attractive young girl, hopes to get away. Virginia is a sculptress and she has just finished a statute which she is convinced will win her a scholarship to an art school in Rome. Muriel is not pleased, when she realizes that Virginia's mind is made up, she agrees, and even offers to help finance the trip. All seems well, but when they leave for church one day Muriel slips back and smashes Virginia's statue. But Muriel's act was witnessed by Ricky Vidal, a young Latin-American, who has slipped into the house, unknown to Muriel. Ricky presents himself to Muriel as her long-lost nephew and she suspects of ulterior motives; but she is also intrigued by his charm. He flatters her, gets money from her, encourages her in her artistic endeavors, which consists of drawing the same life over and over. Ricky diverts her to other models, among them some goldfish which he gives her as a gift; but the fish keep moving around and Muriel can't get them to stay still until she puts them in the refrigerator, freezing them into position. Now Ricky realizes he is dealing with an unbalanced mind, and from this point on its a tug-of-war between his lack of principles and Muriel's single mindedness. Play. Norman Holland Into his tightly-knit, outwardly conventional and respectable family Rex introduces
young, forthright Nicola, his daughter by a former mistress. Her arrival causes
considerable consternation and her reception is anything but friendly. Understandably
resentful of her treatment Nicola - either indirectly by her mere presence
or, later, directly by her own action-brings disaster to the entire family
and her final surprise does nothing to mend matters. Period 1903 Play. Don Taylor Written for Chiswick Youth Theatre, this play of rich comedy and powerful
drama has a large cast, with a preponderance of good female roles. The daughters
are the young girls taken in as orphans and cared for by the Sisters of the
Pieta. The convent is famous for its girls' orchestra under the direction of
Vivaldi and the play follows the fortunes of three of the girls about to enter
the harsh commercial world. Period 1720 Play. Matthew Francis, adapted from the novel
by Charles Dickens Following the adventures of its eponymous hero from birth through three decades,
this acclaimed stage adaptation presents a plethora of brilliant characters
from the original novel: the Peggottys; 'umble Heep; eccentric Aunt Betsey
and Steerforth, young David's champion. Two actors play David Copperfield:
one the young David, the other David's older self, each interacting throughout.
This clever device moves the play effortlessly from scene to scene, ensuring
a vigorous momentum for the narrative. Period 1820s-1840s Ian Mullins, adapted from the novel by Charles Dickens Performed to critical acclaim in theatres around the country, this powerful
adaptation is now restructured and revised with an even stronger text. Scrupulously
faithful to Dickens' original, its remarkable achievement is that the audience
leave. the theatre with the impression it really has witnessed a dramatisation
of the entire book in a little over two and one half hours playing time. All
the characters are vividly portrayed, the magnificent Micawber, the scheming
'umble' Uriah Hero, the proud and loveable Mr Peggotty and his tender-hearted
sister, the wicked Me Murdstone, the irascible Aunt Betsey, the 'willing' Mr
Barkis, the 'lone lorn' Mrs Gummidge and a cast of thirty richly awarding parts,
with easy flexible doubling for all ages including children. The flowing narrative
of the story, told by David both as a boy and grown up, allows a myriad of
options to the director in the staging. Play. Frank Harvey, from a short story
by Thomas Hardy Anna, a servant, meets an attractive stranger from London, Charles, a budding
barrister, at the country town fair. Illiterate Anna persuades her mistress
to carry on a correspondence with him on her behalf. In writing her servant's
love letters, and reading out his replies, the mistress falls in love with
Charles and he with her. Charles, innocent of the deception, proposes to Anna.
Only when it is too late does he discover the real writer of the letters. On
this shaky foundation the couple start their marriage, leaving the mistress
desolate. Period late nineteenth century Comedy:. Edward R. Sammis and Ernest Heyn. 8 men, 7 women. Interior Charlie, an easy-going, impractical young man, is out of a job; his good-heartedness and deep-seated belief that telling the truth always pays, seen to have brought him nothing but debts and unhappiness! Suddenly Charlie is lifted into the limelight of national celebrity after he reading about a poor Italian who is on trial for his life. Charlie remembers having seen the Italian in the library on the night of the murder, and it looks as though his passion for truth and sincerity has at last brought him fame and success. He is besieged by the press, and innocently enjoys every minute of it. Certain members of his family, however, are anxious to have their day in the sun, decide that they will go into court and discredit Charlie. He sticks to his story and to his belief in the ultimate power of truth, and in the end not only saves the prisoner's life, but actually discovers the real culprit. The Days and Nights of Beebee Fenstermaker Drama. William Snyder. 3 men, 5 women. Interior. Snyder's heroine is a young, ambitious, romantic girl just out of college
and established in her first tiny apartment in some nameless city. She is writing
a novel, but when her savings give out she is forced to get a job, hopefully
one which 'wont drain her too much' and which will leave her time for her 'creative
work'. She, of course, ends up by working full time and writing in the evenings,
but it is generally made clear to her that she really hasn't much literary
ability, so she switches to painting, for which she isn't terribly endowed
either. Eventually, her hopes and aspirations burned away, she comes to an
acceptance of her condition, which includes the inability to create a permanent
relationship with a man because of her overwhelming need for absolute union.
His departure leads her, first to a swift decline, represented by beer cans
strewn around the untended apartment and an almost total isolation from the
world, and then to a kind of resurrection - the beginning of a fragile, undemanding
relationship with a stranger. Snyder has also written a counterbalancing element
into his drama: on a platform behind the main stage Beebees mother and aunts
talk about their own lives, the scenes being interspersed with those in which
her drama unfolds. Kevin Eyot In the 60s, Horace, Jerry and Judy were teenagers. Thirty years later, Jerry
is dead, Judy is in love and the gay but hesitant Horace is unable to get on
with his life until he receives a surprise visitor. 'Touches poignantly
on a universal theme: the way we cling to some golden moment in the past as
a protection against the uncertain present' Michael Billington, Guardian.
First staged at the National Theatre in 1998. By the author of My Night
with Reg. Play. Peter Nichols Joe Egg is the name given by Bri and Sheila to their spastic child. To make
their lives bearable they have evolved an elaborate series of fantasy games
about Joe. Yet ten years of devotion to a human vegetable have created terrible
strains on their marriage and when Bri sees an opportunity of allowing Joe
to die, he takes it. The attempt fails; Joe's living death will continue. Although
the theme is deeply serious the tone is one of biting, ironic comedy, giving
the work enormous theatrical effectiveness and compassion. Play. Bertolt Brecht - Translations:
Clive Barker and Arno Reinfrank, music by Harms Eisler, Jean Benedetti,
Ray Herman The story of the Paris Commune is told through fictional Men in the Street grouped round a Montmartre cafe, and a number of historical personages. The Men in the Street resist Thier's attempt to disarm the National Guard and watch its Central Committee seize power at the Hôtel de Ville. The Men in the Street put up a barricade, on which they fight and die. Set in Paris between January-April 1871. Georgina Reid : Comedy Flexible casting and set On their way to a choral gathering, the Revd. Tom Bowling and his choir boys
are involved in a serious motor accident, and are transported by angels up
to heaven to await further instructions. While the hospital battles to save
their lives, they battle on a cricket pitch - a team of heavenly angels versus
a rabble of unruly school boys- it s a matter or life or afterlife! "this lively
tale incorporating music, dance and slapstick humour is an ideal play for schools
and youth groups to perfium. Play. Pam Valentine A committee meets on a winter's night to arrange the summer village fête.
As protocol gives way to bickering and gossip, the personalities of those present
emerge - busybody Ethel; Pauline, the vicar's long-suffering wife; careworn
Gloria; horsy Marjorie who is very attentive to the shy new teacher, Angela;
elderly Mavis and Sally, the brisk Army wife. Six months on, the cathartic
events of the fête are related with humour and pathos, and the upbeat
ending affirms the enduring value of village life. Don DeLillo : Drama 6M 3F Flexible staging The play opens in a brightly lit hospital room occupied by two men. One, the
amiable Budge, does Tai Chi exercises while trying, without much success, to
strike up a conversation with his taciturn roommate, Wyatt. Then, slowly but
inexorably, their world begins to spin away from reality as they are visited
by a series of fellow patients and hospital staffers, all of whom, it turns
out, may not be what they seem. Oddly normal, but also oddly frightening, it
is soon apparent that they have strayed in from the psychiatric ward of the
adjacent Arno Klein Wing, and are all quite mad. In the second act, which in
set in the day room of the psychiatric ward, the same performers reappear,
but with different identities. Some of them, claiming to be actors, transform
the room into a tacky motel suite in which a play-within-the-play is to take
place; others become tourists searching for the renowned Arno Klein Theatre
Company; and one man, strait-jacketed and tied in a chair,
"becomes" a television set. At last Arno Klein himself appears and proves to
be the man (Budge) who started the play. So, in the end, we have come full
circle, with appearance and reality, madness and normality, still tantalisingly
undefined and with the growing conviction that all the world may indeed be
no more than a stage - and all its inhabitants merely players. Drama. Philip Kan Gotanda. 5 men, 4 women (flexible casting). Unit Set. Harry Kitamura, a successful law professor, begins to find his life unraveling
when he starts researching a paper about his involvement in a campus strike
in the early 1970s. Odd characters with violent and overt sexual impulses begin
to invade his night dreams eventually spilling over into his waking life. Soon
he is unable to distinguish between the two worlds, sending him on an uncontrollable
ride of obsession and ultimate revelation. The 1960s, the Red Guard, Eric Clapton
and a Japanese Peggy Lee impersonator all make their presences known in this
tale of a heart lost and a heart found. The Day They Kidnapped the Pope Joao Bethencourt : Comedy 5M 2F Interior set At the end of his triumphal tour of New York, Pope Albert is kidnapped by Sam, a Brooklyn taxi driver. The play opens as Sam arrives home with his hostage and we witness each member of the family's surprised reaction to their guest, who strangely seems quite unperturbed. Sam has demanded a ransom - for twenty- four hours there will be no killing in the world - and the Pope's kidnapping has become an international concern. 'he play is beautifully constructed, the characters arc larger than life and totally credible and the dialogue is constantly funny. The whole play has a marvellously heartwarming universality without a word of preaching, a total lack of pretentiousness. It has more to say about humanity and life than any message play.' Plays of 1983/4. Play James McLure. 7 men, 2 women. Open Stage. The action of the play takes place in the street in front of the Manhattan
apartment house where John Lennon was shot to death. Deeply moved and shocked
by this awful event, many New Yorkers spontaneously assembled there to pay
tribute to their slain idol. It is from the interwoven stories of a cross section
of these people that the author builds his play. Included are a young advertising
executive and a "women's libber" who had both been at Woodstock; a group of
high school students preoccupied with romantic disputes and entanglements;
a pair of Vietnam vets with larceny in mind; an elderly Jewish man from a neighbouring
building who mistakenly thinks that the murder victim was Jack Lemmon and a
hip young black would-be comic who, it turns out, is the son of the old Jewish
gentleman's doorman. Through the interaction of these people, sometimes humorous,
sometimes moving, sometimes menacing, the author points up the larger significance
of the event which has brought them together - the shock wave which was felt
across the nation by this further evidence of the violence and ugliness lurking
in our communal soul. Play: JP Miller. 10-15 men, 5-10 women and 1 girl. Unit Set In the fast-moving milieu of Madison Avenue, social drinking is almost
an occupational necessity, and one that fast-rising young Joe Clay adopts
with too ready ease. Unfortunately the girl he meets and marries shares
his proclivity, and while they continue to tell themselves that they
drink because they choose to, it is soon apparent that their habit has
become a serious problem. But their failure to acknowledge this plunges
them headlong into the shattering events of the play - a career in shambles,
a marriage destroyed, the esteem of friends and family lost, and a child
who has become the innocent victim of their obsession. In the poignant
ending of the play a spectre of hope arises but, more important, so does
a galvanising awareness of the depth of their torment, and of the lesson
which their compulsive self-destruction must have for others. Drama. Jo Carson. 4 women. Unit set Pat is the caretaker of both her mother, stricken with Alzheimer's disease,
and her grandmother, lonely and in need of help. The play involves a
series of day trips which Pat takes with her mother, Irene, to help her
grandmother, Rose. These trips evoke memories of the earlier day trips
made when Pat was a little girl and Irene was still capable. Through
a series of scenes which blend memories, dreams and realism, Daytrips piercingly
illuminates the troubling and complicated effects of old-age and disease
on already troubled and complicated relationships. The real journey of
the play is Pat's struggle with duty and obligation as she confronts
illness, madness and the ghosts of the past - and the present. |