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(in Cinzano) -
Ludmila Petrushevskaya, Trans S. Mulrine A man and a woman return to the Moscow flat she shares with her
mother. They have just got married, and they bicker and churn over
their loveless courtship. He is about to walk out when her mother
comes back. Faced with her hostility; the two newly-weds leave together
after all. Alfred Shaughnessy, adapted from the original Coup de Soleil by
Marcel Mithois A deliciously light and very funny version of the highly successful
Paris comedy Coup de Soleil set in Paris in the spring of
1925. Valentine Matignon is a passionate and vivacious lady in her
40s who becomes bored with her regular lover and falls madly in love
with a dashing young florist. When her son returns home with an older
woman he wishes to marry, she is clearly not in approval but hardly
in a position to criticize. Sparkling dialogue and excellent characterizations
invest this play with a great sense of style. Drama. Elmer Rice. 8 men, .5 women. Unit Set. Supported by a grant, archaeologist Arthur Dewing, a man of sixty, and his wife Suzanne, who is half his age, are studying the Roman ruins at Baalbek in Lebanon. The site is visited by a group of American tourists, including a Protestant bishop, his wife and daughter, a spinster school teacher, an aggressive businessman type and Suzanne's ex-husband, Neil. Having made a shamble of their marriage and his subsequent relationship, Neil begs Suzanne to return to him. Suzanne is torn between the safe, serene love she found with her husband and rekindled passion for Neil. As she weighs her dilemma the others begin to reveal themselves. The bishop and his wife lament their failure as parents, the school teacher confesses the arid loneliness of her life and the businessman endangers them all by pursuing the young daughter of a fierce Bedouin who had come to their camp. By the time they must leave, little has been left unsaid and Suzanne has been offered her freedom by Arthur. Her decision, to stay with the wiser, better man, brings deepened insight to all of them and underscores the evolving truth that men must seek life's true values as individuals before they can hope to find answers to the problems which plague society. Comedy. Anita Rowe Block. 4 men, 4 women. Interior. The Pringles, mother, father, engaged daughter and 18-year-old son,
inhabit a comfortable house in a pleasant suburb of Detroit. The
approaching nuptials of the daughter and an eligible young lawyer
occupy the greater part of the family's attention until, on the day
of his high-school graduation, son Buzzy Pringle announces that he
has just married 15-year-old Rosemary Cotts with whom he has been
going steady. Abruptly the attention shifts to these two. It is discovered
that this is no shotgun wedding but, on the contrary, a mating of
two innocents. Father Pringle is something of a meddler, a sort of
gentle, male Gertrude Berg, and before he is through displaying his
'popism', he has helped to break up the marriage of his son and daughter-in-law,
the engagement of his daughter and her fiancé and his own,
hitherto placid, alliance. In the end, however, the children decide
that they are to lead their own lives. Father mends his ways and
smooths theirs and Mother tips him off that her bedroom was never
really locked against him. Joe Penhall. 2 men, 1 woman. Unit Set Live-in lovers Neal and Rachel are overworked doctors. They rarely
see each other and their relationship suffers for it. Enter Neal's
old good-for-nothing friend, Richie, for a surprise visit, straight
from South America - or somewhere. He needs a place to stay and Neal
is too weak to say no. Rachel doesn't want him either, but Richie
manipulates her, creating a sexual tension between them. Richie immediately
uses this charge to stir up trouble between the couple, insinuating
that Neal is boring and that Rachel needs a good time with a black
sheep like himself. And while he works on Rachel, Richie steals drugs
from Neal's office. By the end of Act One, Richie has declared his
interest in Rachel, but she resists. In Act Two, she tells Neal about
the pass, but Richie denies it. Thinking Neal doesn't care, Rachel
sleeps with Richie, but the couple is caught by Neal. Richie almost
delights in the trouble he's caused, and with more drugs, ends up
comatose from an overdose. The strain of all that's happened causes
Rachel and Neal to split up. Richie recovers, and takes off for Wales,
leaving Neal and Rachel with a new-found understanding of one another
which may or may not lead to reconciliation. Comedy. Harry Kondoleon. 3 men, 4 women. Interior Orin, a disenchanted librarian, arrives at his parent's home for
dinner to find that his sister, Sandy, left her husband, moved back
home, and began an affair with Mike, the next door neighbour, and
an old childhood friend Orin used to taunt. Mrs. Anderson, Mike's
mother, pops in and out of the action, constantly offering food and
reminding Orin's family that she still blames them for her other
son's death. Orin's parents, Gerry and Dennis, return home, having
forgotten they invited Orin for dinner. With everyone together, crazy
accusations, witty retorts and hilarious remembrances fill the scenes.
Into this melée comes Frieda, a foreign exchange student destined
for Mrs. Anderson's, but getting the wrong house. Frieda immediately
falls for Orin, then takes over the gathering with her charm. To
Orin she reveals she is actually the stand-in for the real exchange
student, and can change accents to prove it. Frieda's ideas on love
and how it can heal situations like the one she stumbled into, become
overpowering when she infuses a tea party with a magical love potion
made from flowers. She then delivers her "love diatribe" on how to
cure the ills between all her new friends. Challenging Orin and Sandy
to follow her advice, they have no choice but to do as she asks when
everyone who drinks the tea becomes unconscious. Orin and Sandy pour
out love to their family and friends who wake up more refreshed than
they have ever been. Underneath the farcical tone, the play is a
provocative call to recognising and using the healing power of love. Play. Frank Vickery As Marcia and Ralph prepare to celebrate their Ruby Wedding Anniversary,
Marcia reflects on lonely years spent in an empty, loveless marriage.
Conjuring up memories, Marcia watches her young self and Boy Ralph
re-enact the pledges they made and the subsequent self-deception,
lies and infidelities. Finally she decides to leave but with the
help of Girl Marcia and Boy Ralph, the anniversary will be celebrated;
the lie is buried again - and will continue. Comedy. Norman Krasna. 4 men, 2 women. Interiors. Being a young intern, Howard is overworked and underpaid, but fortunately
his girlfriend, Amy, has both a job teaching school and an apartment
directly under his - which solves the problems of entertainment and
transportation (not to mention romance) very handily. Mutual openness
and trust are the keystones of their relationship, at least until
Amy stumbles onto the fact that Howard has planted a "bug," or electronic
listening device, in her apartment, and has been monitoring her comings
and goings for months. Feeling betrayed by this evidence of calculated
eavesdropping, Amy, in league with her married sister Bea, decides
to manufacture some really choice bits of
"conversation" for Howard to listen in on, suggesting for one thing
that she is probably pregnant and for another that she has decided
to take up again with a former, and very wealthy, boyfriend. Needless
to say, Howard is rocked by this "news," although he can't let on
to Amy. He and his roommate Mitch, a fellow intern, take turns maintaining
a constant vigil at their listening post, waiting for further developments.
What they overhear resolves Howard to "do the right thing," but his
decision to propose to Amy is thwarted by her prior announcement
that she is planning to marry her ex-fiancé. But if the exposure
of Howard's deception started the whole thing, it is the eventual
discovery of Amy's counter-deception which brings all back to balance,
making Howard realize how much he has really loved her all along,
and all ends as happily as it should. Comedy John Patrick : 1 man, 1 woman. Interior As is necessary for a pretty girl with her own student apartment,
April McGregor has learned to fend off wolves although she is hard
pressed to cope with Skipper Allen, a particularly persuasive graduate
student who is convinced that her secret wish is to have him move
in with her. Thanks to a bad back, which suddenly acts up and leaves
him temporarily immobile, Skipper unexpected achieves his goals,
although not with the pliant acceptance he has hoped for. But then
his challenge is to win April over to his amorous point of view-which
results in a series of uproarious happenings, plus near expulsion
for both of them. What finally almost thaws our steadfastly proper
heroine is jealously managed through the unlikely,and silent, assistance
of a department story dummy. But the ruse is discovered in time to
preserve honor, and even the indomitable Skipper ultimately concedes
defeat. However, true love (which was always there for the finding)
comes to the fore when the two, at last, share a real and genuine
moment of loss, which tells them how mature and meaningful their
relationship could and should (and most certainly will) be. Comedy. Patricia McLaine. 4 men, 7 women. Interior The action takes place in the Greenwich Village apartment of Sam
Harway, artist, and Robbie Winters, newspaper reporter. Robbie's
sister, Sally, wide-eyed and fresh from the farm, unexpectedly arrives
in the "big city" looking for a place to stay, and hoping her brother
will take her in. Against his better judgment (and his roommate's
advice) he does. In no time she turns Sam's beloved art studio into
her bedroom, adds feminine touches to the apartment, and makes friends
with the landlady, the nosey spinster next door, a mercenary cab
driver, a chronic gambler, a French pin-up model and other Village
characters. She also helps to mend her brother's often broken engagement
with Diane, his career-minded girlfriend, and falls in love with
Sam's painting, and then (secretly) Sam himself. Warming to her,
Sam decides to give Sally a surprise birthday party, but the surprise
is his when Sally invites his former (and jealous) flame to the affair,
in a well-meaning attempt to make things right. Some tense moments
follow, but the merriment never slackens and true love, as it should,
triumphs in the end. A R Gurney : Performance piece 1M 1F Open stage A unique and imaginative theatre piece which needs no theatre, no
lengthy rehearsal, no special set, no memorisation of lines and no
commitment from its two actors beyond the night of performance. The
piece is composed of letters exchanged over a lifetime between two
people who grew up together, went their separate ways, but continued
to share confidences. As the actors read from the lifetime of exchanged
letters aloud, what emerges is an evocative, touching, frequently
funny but always telling pair of character studies in which what
is implied is as revealing and meaningful as what is actually written
down. Comedy Doris Frankel : 6 men, 5 women. Interior Four people in love, search for a place to live and a way of life.
A contested apartment becomes the background for the conflict between
two glamorous sophisticates and two straight-forward, conscientious
people, who have been used and abused by them. But it is more than
a lining up of two couples; it is also the lining up of two different
points of view. Vanessa Brooks : Comedy 7F Interior set "Remember girls - not slim for today. Not slim for tomorrow. But
slim for life!" With these words Siobhan, the 'Achiever of the Year'
inspires her hopeful new recruits in the Slim for Life dieting club.
Siobhan has lost seven stone, found a new self, a fulfilling job
and a wonderful husband. Armed with these she encourages others to
achieve the same through a combination of diet and personal philosophy.
Five stages - commitment, discipline, sacrifice, realisation and
salvation - for the key to a new life. Can Jean, Claudette, Rosie
and the rest win the fight with flab? The determination to succeed
comes with a price and one not everyone is willing to pay. When the
temptation rises and the motivation begins to wane, the edges begin
to unravel in the face of Siobhan's autocratic rule. Just how much
is the price worth paying? |