Composers and their stage works 



 

Ghetto

Play. Joshua Sobol, in a version by David Lan, with lyrics translated and music arranged by Jeremy Sams
M14 (young, 30s, 40s, 50s) F5 (20s, 30s). Extras. Various simple settings.

Set in the Jewish ghetto of Vilna, Lithuania, in 1942, and based on diaries written during the darkest days of the holocaust, Ghetto tells of the unlikely flourishing of a theatre at the very time the Nazis began their policy of mass extermination. Premiered in Britain in 1989 at the Royal National Theatre.

The Ghost of Rhodes Manor

Mystery/Comedy: Jean Lee Latham. 10 women. Interior.

Rhodes Manor is a strange old house, and rumoured to be haunted. Mrs. Rhodes, the owner has long been absent and a forbidding housekeeper, Deborah Cass, is the sole tenant. A letter from "an unknown friend" brings Helen Underwood, a mystery writer, to the manor in search of first-hand material. She rents the house for the weekend and brings Mary Fitzgerald, her efficient secretary, (who publicly pretends to be "Helen Underwood" to spare the timid Helen from publicity) and Glory, her maid. But two others have preceded them, Marcia Stone and Alda Iverson, a professional hypnotist. These two are prepared to take a hand in whatever happens in the eerie old house. Tillie Van Winkle, a perky old woman who wants to be a detective, also arrives at the Manor, and Biddy Hagerty, vigorous sheriff, come having been summoned by the housekeeper. Mrs. Rhodes also turns up, in reply to a letter from Deborah, which the housekeeper, strangely, insists she did not write. Nor did she rent the house to Helen. As the fast-moving story unfolds, it becomes evident a sinister force is bent on putting Helen Underwood out of the way; but since Mary pretends to be Helen, peculiar things happen.

The Ghost Train

Drama. Arnold Ridley : M8 (young, 20s, 60, elderly) F4 (20s, elderly). A station waiting-room.

Arnold Ridley's classic drama was first produced in 1925 and filmed no less than three times. A very silly young man accidentally strands six passengers at a small Cornish wayside station. Despite the psychic stationmaster's weird stories of a ghost train, they decide to stay the night in the waiting room. Soon they regret this decision as ghostly and not so ghostly apparitions materialise before the young man reveals the true reason behind the night's events.
ISBN 0 573 01155 9

Ghosts

Drama. Henrik Ibsen, translated by Michael Meyer. 3 men, 2 women. Unit Set.

Self-righteous pastor Manders visits widowed Helen Alving who has built an orphanage in her husband's memory. Her son Oswald has just returned from living away in Paris, and Manders is shocked to learn that he has been living with an unmarried family of which Helen approves. Her own marriage has been a sham, her husband having been debauched all his life; she left him once and Manders persuaded her to return. A child Alving had by a maid has been brought up by a local carpenter Engstrand as his own, for a fee, and Helen is haunted by the past when her son has an affair with the now grown-up illegitimate girl, Regine, in fact his halfsister. Helen is about to reveal the truth about his father to her son, who has a congenital disease, when a fire breaks out at the orphanage. Engstrand offers to take the blame for the fire in return for a favour from Manders. Regine learns of her parentage and decides to leave Oswald who is now having severe attacks which affect his brain. The agony continues as he pleads with his mother to give him a fatal dose of pills.
ISBN: 0-413-46330-3

Ghosts of the Loyal Oaks

Play Larry Ketron. 3 men, 2 women. Exterior.

The scene is the backyard terrace at the up-to-date home of Wylan, a once-adventurous young man who has settled down to the small town affluence provided by his family's auto parts stores. Wylan has also lost his wife, Esta, to the easygoing, beer-guzzling Cooper, who once worked for him and whom he has hired to paint his house. Esta also turns up to ask whether she can use Wylan's shower, and shortly thereafter they are joined by Davis, once Cooper's best friend and now the manager of one of Wylan's stores. As it happens, the reason why Cooper lost his own job was because he "covered" for his erstwhile friend when Davis stole time off to visit a bordello - and the resulting feud between the two forms the very funny heart of the. play. Add in Estâs announcement that she plans to move away for good and the declaration by Davis' wife, Roxy, that she is departing for Paris and three years at cooking school; and you have the ingredients for some hilarious complications - in which friendship and forbearance are sorely tested but, somehow, prevail.
ISBN: 0-8222-0440-1

The Giants' Dance

Romantic Comedy : Otis Bigelow. 9 men, 2 women. Simple Unit Set

The first act is a farce. The scene is the Palace of King Ambrose of England in the year of 470 AD A war has just ended and the soldiers and the populace are indulging in all sorts of delightful human sacrifices. The Queen, a thoroughly domestic type, just loves sacrifices and is bustling about busily seeing to everyone's welfare, except, of course, the victims', while the wizard Merlin is up to his old tricks, one of which is to make Muzak accompany him on his entrances. The Princess is engaged to a Prince and all is well until the King sights a prisoner and, on a whim, snatches him from the axe, to the displeasure of the Druid head-priest. In Act II farce gives way to a sort of philosophical comedy. The prisoner, a Roman Christian, becomes the Princess' bodyguard and shortly thereafter they fall in love. Then the King, worrying about his conquering army becoming too rambunctious, decides to send them on a mission to Ireland, headed by the Prince and his barbarian uncle, to pick up some mammoth rocks, known as the Giants' Dance, which are to serve as a peace monument. In Act III there is a blend of farce, ironical comedy and a dash of romance and sentimentality, in addition to a revolution that unseats the King but reseats him in time for the curtain with, as one need hardly add, the timely aid of Merlin's magical powers. All ends as it should, with the evil-doers punished, the true lovers united and the folly of war made clear in an eloquent plea for brotherhood and forbearance.
ISBN: 0-8222-0441-X

Gift of Murder

Comedy/Thriller. George Batson. 3 men, 5 women. Interior.

The scene is an estate cottage in the north of England, where the famous actress, Stella Cavendish, accompanied by her attractive young niece, Mary, is recuperating from a hectic season - and a bit too much high living. They are looked after by a cook-housekeeper (and local character) named Wimpie, and are soon joined by Dennis Mordaunt, Stella's producer and would-be suitor, and her fellow actress and arch rival, Flavia Dartega. And in the surprise appearance of Oliver Keane (Stella's former leading man) and his dashing young nephew Peter (who is immediately captivated by Mary) and both the plot and the romantic possibilities quicken. The arrival of the bustling Nurse Pepper rounds out the cast and begins the progression of chilling (and frequently funny) events (including murder, actual and attempted) leading on to the unexpected and ingeniously devised denouement - in which the true identity of the villain is shielded until the last possible moment.
ISBN: 0-8222-0443-6

Gigi

Comedy. Colette and Anita Loos
M2 (30, elderly) F5 (16, young, 32, 60, 70). Two interiors.

In Paris in 1900, amidst a froth of fin de siècle gaiety, Gigi celebrates her sixteenth birthday. She is now ready to carry on the family tradition of stylish courtesan and, accordingly, her great-aunt, her mother and her grandmother train the tomboyish Gigi. Unfortunately, the first rich 'protector' they choose is Tonton and what should be a decently unrespectable business arrangement goes wrong when the two parties fall in love.
ISBN 0 573 01158 3

The Gin Game

A tragicomedy. D. L. Coburn : M1 F1. A sun porch.

In a seedy nursing home, the destitute Weller sits playing a lonely, unsuccessful game of solitaire. Prim, self-righteous Fonsia Dorsey joins him and they begin to play gin rummy while revealing intimate details of their lives. Fonsia wins every time and finally Weller leaves, a broken man, while she realises her rigidity in life has left her an embittered, lonely old age. ' ... a vibrant study on loneliness, disillusion, old age and death yet fiercely funny.' Boston Globe
ISBN 0 573 60976 4

The Gingerbread Lady

Play. Neil Simon | M3 (20s-40s) F3 (17, 40s). A flat.

Evy, a popular singer and an alcoholic, completes a ten-week drying-out period. Her friend, her daughter and an actor try to help her adjust to sobriety. But all have the opposite effect: the birthday party washes out, the gingerbread lady falls off the wagon and careers onward to her own tragic end. 'His characteristic wit and humour are at their brilliant best, and his serious story of lost misfits can often be genuinely and deeply touching.' New York Post
ISBN 0 .573 60935 7

The Gingham Dog

Lanford Wilson : Drama 2M 2F Interior set

Gloria and Vincent, a once happily married couple, are suffering through the first days of their separation. Vincent has decided to move out, and as they divide their possessions amidst the mutual recriminations and accusations, their tolerance level for each other sinks. Vincent does indeed leave, but returns early the next morning in a semi-drunken state. The household possessions, which had proven to be so symbolic in defining their relationship are no longer there, for they are no longer important. They bicker again, but this time, with their defenses lowered, the young, innocent and honest couple they had been during the first year of their marriage resurfaces. Neither gets their trust up far enough to admit their shortcomings, however. They lapse into a cheery charade of friendliness, until Vincent leaves Gloria for good, casting a shadow on any hope of renconciliation.
ISBN: 0 8222 0445 2