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Comedy. William Douglas
Home When Lady Boothroyd hears that the planning authorities are determined
to drive a road through her grounds she announces her intention to
kill herself the precise moment the bulldozers start on their shameful
work. As the hour strikes and the bulldozers' roar is heard the old
General enters in full regimental regalia, while his old ex-army
servant sounds the Last Post. Then, as the whole family stands stricken,
the door opens ... Play. Richard Harris An earlier version of Party Piece, this play ingeniously
uses the same set to represent three different homes. We see Charles,
preoccupied with finding a fancy dress costume, and Norma, obsessed
with her garden and kitchen; Hilary, returned from a health farm
to find her mother-in-law in residence; and Susan and Keith, unable
to enjoy a weekend without their children. Add a suicidal Katy and
an incorrect party date and we are set for a confusing evening! Play. Eduardo de Filippo. Translated
by Carlo Ardito Antonio Barancano acts as the arbitrator in local disputes, but interference in a certain quarrel is resented and he is fatally wounded. His last hours are spent covering up the cause of his death so that his sons will not seek to avenge him. However, his assistant, Dr Fabio, feels that for once he must tell the truth, even if a blood-feud which will last for generations is the result. Thriller. Peter Whalley Alan is accused of murdering a young woman of dubious morals and
this has a devastating effect on his family. His father, convinced
the police are framing Alan, does some detective work of his own.
He discovers a friend, Ron, visits the road regularly and the real
reason for this, coupled with Alan's eventual confession, makes him
tae matters into this own hands with tragic results. A domestic thriller
with more than one surprising twist. Play. Edward Albee. Adapted from the novel by Vladimir Nabokov. 6 men, 8 women. Unit Set Lolita details the controversial obsession of Humbert Humbert,
a middle-aged man of some education and refinement, to possess Dolores
Haze, a pre-teen "nymphet." Comprised of a series of interrelated
scenes which are commented on by an urbane narrator, the play follows
the peregrinations of the increasingly desperate Humbert as he first
marries Dolores's mother and then engineers her death - after which
he and Lolita embark on a zigzag tour of America's motels, always
one step ahead of another "dirty old man" with whom his hostage is
in love. In the end, Lolita escapes Humbert's clutches only to marry
a deaf man and die in childbirth - her tormentors, in turn, follow
their own destinies toward either madness or murder. Comedy/Drama. Donald Margulies. 3 men, 2 women. Interior. The setting is a new "luxury" high rise apartment with Spanish decor
in Coney Island, the home of a middle-class Jewish family struggling
to put up a good front even though continually short of cash. The
father, Herbie, who sells lighting fixtures, is chronically overworked
and underpaid; his wife, Doris, tells herself (and whomever may be
listening) that she loves her life - even though, as the play begins,
she is shredding her wedding dress to make a Halloween costume, their
older son, Stewie, eagerly awaits his bar mitzvah with an eye less
on its religious aspects than on the potential loot to be gained
in gifts;, and the youngest son, Mitchell, is absorbed in writing
a musical version of Death of a Salesman (entitled "Willy!")
for his class at school. While they all strive to present an appearance
of contentment and closeness, the family is beset by underlying tensions
which burst forth when Herbie seizes his son's bar mitzvah money
and, after an unseemly confrontation with everyone about how the
bills for the celebration should be paid, storms out of the apartment.
Mitchell's pain prompts him to show us a good portion of his new
musical about the picnic. the Loman family should have. When - and
if - Herbie returns home is dealt with ironically by the interpretation
of four possible endings, played one after the other, and culminating
in the most comically depressing of all - the actual outcome, in
which Herbie and Doris sit in their usual oppressive silence while
Herbie stabs moodily at his tuna salad diet plate. Play. Edward Ravenscroft adapted by John Byrne Originally written in 1681, this adaptation by John Byrne, seen
in Leicester and at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, in 1985, allows
Ravenscroft's Rabelaisian wit to be sophisticated and polished rather
than crudely vulgar. Two aldermen with young wives argue about the
qualities in a woman that make for the secure marriage. But before
long both husbands find themselves cuckolded, not once, but several
times! Period 1600s Gill Adams : Comedy 2M 2F Interior set A sparkling tale of romance and relationships. From school discos
to Rita and Bernie's wedding day, Lonely Hearts spans twenty
years in the lives of Rita and Bernie, and their best friends Silv
and Bob. Their all-out search for the perfect mates of their dreams
begins at the last school dance, when a shy and awkward Bernie and
an equally uncomfortable Rita almost hit it off- but not quite. Bob
is preparing to leave for the army, and sets out for one final conquest,
with disastrous results for him and Silv. Rita and Bernie drift apart,
and over the years each character finds themselves still trying to
find true love. Finally, with ten days to Valentines Day, Rita hatches
a plan. She and Silv decide to try the lonely hearts columns . .
. and so do Bernie and Bob. In a hilarious scene of confused identities,
all arrive unknowingly at a cowboy theme pub, dressed as Butch Cassidy
and Calamity Jane in preparation for their blind dates. When they
eventually meet, Bernie and Rita's encounter quickly leads to the
wedding aisle, while the barbed wit of Silv and Bob quickly boils
over into jealous tensions - neither can bury the past and begin
anew. A farcical romance on one level, Lonely Hearts also
skilfully explores the parts of relationships where things are too
often left unsaid and emotions misdirected. Drama. Steven Dietz. : 2 men. Interior Jody is in his forties and runs a map store. Not one for the outside
world, he stays in his store all the time. His friend, Carl is in
his late thirties and has been bringing chairs of dead friends into
Jody's store and leaving them there. When Jody needs to take an AIDS
test, Carl tries to convince him it is not only okay to leave the
store, but also that he must take responsibility for his life. If
he doesn't, he will join the set of chairs that Carl has taken great
pains to place in the right spots around the store. Through their
interaction, the two realize how grateful they are to have such a
strong lasting friendship. Jody finally leaves the map store to take
his HIV test and returns to find Carl sitting in a chair of his own.
With this gesture, we know that Carl has joined the many of their
friends who have died, but now Jody must take Carl's place as the
caretaker. Drama. Martin McDonagh. 3 men, 1 woman. Unit set Walene and Coleman, two brothers living alone in their father's
house after his recent death, find it impossible to exist without
the most massive and violent disputes over the most mundane and innocent
of topics. Only Father Welsh, the local young priest, is prepared
to try to reconcile the two before their petty squabbling spiral
into vicious and bloody carnage. |