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The Death and Life of Sneaky Fitch A Farcical Tragedy: James L. Rosenberg. 10 men, 3 women, extras. Exterior To the ambitious little town of Gopher Gulch Sneaky Fitch is an
abrasive disgrace - a no-good, drunken, brawling nuisance. When he
falls ill there is a sigh of relief, and when he apparently dies
(thanks to some suspicious "medicine"
administered by the departing Doc Burch) there are few tears. But
when Sneaky rises from his coffin the picture changes, for no one
dares confront a man who has come back from the dead. Capitalising
on his "invincibility" Sneaky soon takes over as sheriff, mayor and
town banker - not to mention being the man who faces down Rackham,
the fastest gun in the West. In short, where he was formerly unbearable
he is now insufferable. But mortality (thanks to the reappearance
of Doc Burch) suddenly returns, and once the truth is out it's curtains
for Sneaky - this time for keeps - and all ends boisterously and
happily. Play. Ariel Dorfman Set in a fragile new South American democracy, this piece concerns Paulina who fifteen years ago, was picked up by the police blindfolded and tortured. When Roberto stops to help Gerardo, whose car has broken down, and brings him home, Paulina is convinced he is one of her torturers. Husband and wife are caught in a gripping, passionate deadlock: one liberal and judicious, the other victimized and full of hatred, coming to grips with an oppressor. NB. The text of the 1992 Broadway premiere must be used in all performances. Play. Georgina Reid After twenty years abroad beautiful Sylvia returns to visit her
mother and spinster sister, Mavis, bringing with her her daughter
Rose whose plainness arouses in old Mrs Bell the same enmity that
has led her to mistreat Mavis for so long. Rose shows spirit and
humour in dealing with her grandmother, but when Mrs Bell is frightened
almost to death, and the family are the only suspects, this gentle
play develops sinister overtones, and surprising revelations about
Mavis come to light. Period early twentieth century. Arthur Miller : Drama 8M 5F Interior set A probing examination of the myths of the self-made man, this Pulitzer Prize- winning play presents the last days of Willy Loman, a failing salesman who seeks to find out by a tragic series of soul-searching revelations of the past life he has lived with wife, his sons and his business associates, just where and how he has failed to win success and happiness. A moving piece of theatre from the master. Alan Pollack : Drama 3M 2F Flexible staging At the centre of Alan Pollock's satirical black comedy is Switch,
a charismatic graduate who makes a substantial living from large-scale
benefit fraud. With the help of two hangers-on, the would-be club
DJ Richie and Tara, an aspiring actress, Switch has assumed a variety
of identities up and down the country. With regimental planning effective
as clockwork, he aims to be the greatest fraudster of his generation
despite the misgivings of his best friend Lisa, who rightly suspects
that his scheming can't last forever. This heady mix quickly reaches
boiling point with the arrival of Terry Nei man, a builder who has
been working abroad. Switch has been using his identity in the mistaken
belief that he is dead, but a very much alive Newman wants vengeance.
His attempt to blackmail Switch and the others leads to a white-knuckle
ride through the underside of contemporary Britain in an age of scams,
schemes and deception. Play Horton Foote. 4 men, 7 women, 1 boy. Unit Set. The play begins by introducing the next generation of Robedauxs
in the person of Horace's son, Horace Jr., who comes home from school
to find that his maternal grandfather, Henry Vaughn, has died suddenly
of a heart attack. From this point two main story lines are traced
in the play. One deals with young Horace's coming to terms with the
concepts of life, death and familial relationships. He finds that
his mother, Elizabeth, is expecting another baby; he listens to,
and asks many questions about, the widely contrasting accounts of
his two grandfathers; and he. endures the fussing of his paternal
grandmother, who's fearful that his love of reading will make him
too introspective and "ruin him" for the real world. He must also
come to grips with the drowning of Gertrude, a young black girl who
was his confidante and friend. The other story line concerns "Brother" Vaughn,
Henry Vaughn's dissolute son, who, in the short time during which
he has control, heads his late father's farms and other holdings
on a course toward rapid ruin. When his mother takes back control
of the estate, Brother heads off to Galveston where he subsequently
kills a man in a drunken brawl. Through all of this, Horace Sr. maintains
his own counsel, although he stands up to his mother concerning his
son's love of reading, and he comforts his wife, Elizabeth, through
the crises affecting her family. But he refrains, even when asked,
from interfering in the family's affairs and, as the play ends, the
suggestion is strong that things are subtly, but inexorably, beginning
to flow his way. Play. Richard Strand. 4 men, 1 woman. Interior. Preparing for their usual morning conference, three sales associates
discover their supervisor, Zukasky, dead, with his feet up on his
desk. All three of them are next in line for Zukasky's job. A.C.
immediately begins to scheme; Anne is insecure; and Barry is all
indecision and blithering. What's worse, their department head, Marlino,
announces that Barry will, indeed, take over, leaving Anne stupefied
and unacknowledged for her ten years of experience in the company.
Bit by bit, A.C. begins to plant sly suggestions in his co-worker's
minds, embroiling them all in a feud that should leave him coming
out on top. In a farcical climax, A.C. and Anne stage a break-in
that inadvertently gets both she and Barry fired. The last scene
of the play has A.C. in triumph, ascending to the managerial level,
where it's clear this climber won't be satisfied for long. Play. Bettine Manktelow Celia, lonely and highly strung, is struggling to run her small
country hotel. Her charming, rakish step-son, Rex, is no help. Joan
and her tearaway sister, Eva, are staying at the hotel which represents
something of a romantic pilgrimage for loan who, after ten years,
still believes herself in love with Rex. Events lead to a suicide
(or is it murder?). The climax involves mistaken identity and mislaid
cyanide! Thriller: Ira Levin A hugely popular stage and screen success, this ingeniously constructed
play offers a rare and skilful blending of two priceless theatrical
ingredients - gasp-inducing thrills and spontanteous laughter. Unknown
dramatist Clifford Anderson has sent his new thriller to award-winning
Broadway author Sidney for comment - or has he? Without a success
to his credit for some years, Sidney plots with his reluctant wife
Myra about how best to plagiarise 'Deathtrap' and when Clifford turns
up to discuss the play with the 'Master' events take a sinister turn. Thriller. Ira Levin. 3 men, 2 women. Interior. Seemingly comfortably ensconced in his charming Connecticut home,
Sidney Bruhl, a successful writer of Broadway thrillers, is struggling
to overcome a "dry" spell which has resulted in a string of failures
and a shortage of funds. A possible break in his fortunes occurs
when he receives a script from a student in the seminar he has been
conducting at a nearby college - a thriller which Sidney recognizes
immediately as a potential Broadway hit. Sidney's plan, which he
devises with his wife's help, is to offer collaboration to the student,
an idea which the younger man quickly accepts. Thereafter suspense
mounts steadily as the plot begins to twist and turn with devilish
cleverness, and with such an abundance of thrills and laughter, that
audiences will be held enthralled until the final, startling moments
of the play. Pam Gems : 4m 3f. Drama Multipurpose set. Deborah, widow of an oil tycoon, and her daughter, Stephanie, are
caught in a coup in the North African state where their inherited
riches lie. Gems, the award winning author of Stanley, has
created an intense play which examines the global issue of the West's
role in the developing world through the more personal issue of the
relationship between Deborah and her daughter. Comedy/Drama. Beth Henley. 2 men, 5 women. Unit Set This stunning comic drama, set in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, begins
the morning of Teddy Parker's débutante ball, that archetypal
phenomenon in Southern culture known as a maiden's "coming out." Teddy's
mother, the beautiful and formidable Jen Parker Turner, has willed
this event into being. Ostracised from polite society ever since
she was accused and - under much speculation and gossip - acquitted
of the murder of her wealthy husband, Jen has been looking to Teddy's
coming-out gala to revive her and her family's reputation. As the
play unfolds, various secrets emerge: an unwanted pregnancy, an illicit
romance, self mutilation, mendacity and murder. Polite facades crumble
and ugly truths twist and polka across the ballroom floor. This is
a play about the price of secrets and the power that love and lovelessness
hold over our lives. Play.
Paul Wheeler Julia Smythe is a psychiatrist. A mysterious young man comes into
her Mayfair consulting rooms for treatment for impotence and a tendency
towards compulsive lying. Quickly, the psychoanalyst becomes hooked
on the case of this strange young man, curing him to the point where
he seemingly stops lying and falls in love with her. We are plunged
into a complex, perverse situation right, it seems almost, out of
Jacobean drama. '... intriguing ... neatly structured and snappily
written.' Independent Bertolt Brecht See The Measures Taken Comedy. Donald Churchill : M I (53) F2. A flat. Marcia has a surprise visitor: Jane, the wife of the man with whom
Marcia is having an affair, who has come to take her revenge by informing
Marcia's husband of his wife's infidelity. Marcia is at her wits
end then has a brilliant idea. It seems her housepainter is a part-time
professional actor. Marcia hires him to impersonate her husband,
Reggie at the big confrontation later that day, when the wronged
wife plans to return and spill the beans. From then on hilarity piles
on hilarity ... |