M.
Butterfly
David Henry Hwang : Drama 7M (3 non-speaking) 3F Flexible staging
A brilliant theatrical tour de force which is drawn from real life
events involving the strange tale of Rene Gallimard, a French diplomat
posted to Beijing who carried on a twenty year relationship with
Song Liling, a Chinese opera star, without (he contended) realising
that his 'perfect woman' was in reality a man. During the course
of their affair he passes along diplomatic secrets, an act which
eventually brings about his downfall and imprisonment. Underscoring
the irony of Gallimard's delusion and its curious parallel to the
events of Puccini's Madame Butterfly, the play combines realism
and ritual with vivid theatricality as scenes between the two lovers
are interspersed with scenes of Gallimard's wife and colleagues.
When Song metamorphoses into his true masculine self before our very
eyes, Gallimard cannot acknowledge or accept the transformation which
drives him finally - and fatally - deep into the fantasy with which,
over the years, he has held the truth at bay.
ISBN: 0 8222 0712 5
Comedy/Fantasy: Sidney Howard. 11 men, 4 women. Interior/Exterior
Mary Coyle, daughter of a corrupt Tammany politician who died in prison, is lonely and unhappy. She is also very rich, and wants to give back to the people of New York some of the money her father took from them. Mary tries to do this by giving free concerts in Central Park. But the concerts don't make people happy as she had hoped, and when she is visited by a Dr. Brightlee, H.D. (Doctor of Humanity) who has some suggestions on how Mary can spread more happiness, she is most enthusiastic. This enthusiasm isn't shared by Mary's aunt and guardians, who suspect Dr. Brightlee of being the devil, ... and they're right. But instead of being evil, the devil stands for the restless, rebellious individual spirit of man that hates conformity and is responsible for what human progress there is. Dr. Brightlee leads Mary away from an infatuation with a composer, the only man she has known until now, and finds her a real romance with a taxi driver who goes into a dance whenever he hears music.
John Patrick : Comedy 12M 9F Open stage
Fast-moving and outrageously funny, this play traces the trials
and tribulations of a community theatre production of Macbeth,
from casting rehearsals to the breathless deadline of opening night.
Gathering experience before tackling the big-time in New York, director
Larry Rencher has decided to undertake Macbeth drawing on
his faithful and generally ham group of local theatre buffs. The
role of Lady Macbeth is assigned to Dolly Dibble, whose husband owns
the theatre, and the other parts are cast with similar logic. As
rehearsals begin, so do the hilarious complications and misunderstandings
until, harried and out of patience, the director storms off in a
huff, leaving matters in the hands of a meddlesome newcomer. Can
everything be pulled together in time for that fateful moment of
opening night?
ISBN: 0 8222 0711 7
Comedy. Richard Greenberg. 5 men, 4 women. Unit Set
Focusing on the self-centered concerns of a rather inbred group
of Manhattan
"yuppies," the action of the play deals with the ultimately hilarious
misunderstandings which arise when one of their number, a frustrated,
somewhat overweight and definitely suicidal poet named'Charlotte,
is temporarily detained in a mental hospital. The news of Charlotte's
plight is misunderstood by the couple to whom it is reported (Dewy,
an ambitious would-be photographer, and Ritt, her stockbroker husband,
who is given to sudden "epiphanies") and assuming that Charlotte
has died they eagerly impart this privileged information to the others
in their set. This leads to a series of inventive and brightly satiric
scenes as the "news" is passed along (with incremental exaggeration)
from couple to couple, and culminates in an impromptu get-together
honoring the "deceased" at which Charlotte herself shows up as a
surprise guest! Among the others involved in the antic doings are
a literary couple, Chuck and Rena (who first reported Charlotte's
absence); asexually ambivalent publisher who affects an English accent;
a young poet who tends to fall asleep without warning; a man-crazy
feminist named Cuddles Molotov; and the current object of her desire,
a "hunky and faithless method actor, Danton, whose primitive grunts
apparently have an aphrodisiac effect on the other women present,
and whose hilarious obtuseness gives a fine point to the overall
irony of the play.
ISBN: 0-8222-0713-3
Thriller. John Patrick. 3 men, 5 women, Interior.
The setting is a remote mountain lodge where Dr. Polyantha Vashti
Cassandra (Cassie), a world-famous anthropologist, has come to recover
from a back injury. Confined to a wheelchair, Cassie is to be looked
after by Grace Hollis, a fellow teacher and lifelong friend, with
Grace's nephew, David, stopping by each week or so to deliver supplies
and bring them news of the outside world. After David has departed
the two ladies are surprised by the sudden appearance of three teenage
girls who claim to be students from a nearby college who have lost
their way on a hiking trip. Hospitable at first, Grace and Cassie
soon sense their visitors are not what they purport to be, and when
they come across a newspaper clipping which reports a Charles Manson-like
ritual slaying in a neighbouring town they are shocked into awareness
that their guests are the killers for whom a statewide search is
now in progress. When the girls realise that their identities are
known they take their hostesses prisoner and the long night of terror
begins, with Cassie and Grace using all their wits to stay alive
and bring their tormentors to justice - a hope which seems to be
perilously in vain until an unexpected turn of events sets things
right in the final, surprising moments of the play.
ISBN: 0-8222-0716 8
Play Laurence Klavan. 2 men, 3 women. Unit Set.
As the play begins. Mona Kale, an exuberant and good-natured sort,
is in the dock, accused of murdering her lifelong friends Alan and
Annabelle, two old high school sweethearts who were so deeply enamored
of each other that, in their youth, they nearly pined away when they
were parted by separate summer camps. The prosecution claims that
Mona did away with her friends because they were too happy, and in
revenge for her own crushing loneliness, but Monas defense is that
it was love, not she, which killed them - a love so perfect and overpowering
that it carried the seeds of its own destruction. Needless to say
the media have a field day with the case, with the,eveningTV news
offering its viewers a number to telephone. (50 cents a call) to
vote on Mortis guilt or innocence, with a verdict provided at the
end of the newscast, and with Mona herself becoming a national symbol
for the lonely (and the insane). But as the play alternates between
events and people of the present and those of the past, the truth
of what Alan and Annabelle's real relationship had become is gradually
(and often hilariously) revealed. In the end it is the audience which
becomes the jury, and is left to wrestle with the position and pertinence
of love, sex, ideals and other such components of life in our so
often disjointed modern world.
ISBN: 0-8222-0715-X
Play from Romania. Caryl Churchill
40 characters, may be played by a cast of 11. Various interior and
exterior settings.
Focusing on two families, life before the 1989 Romanian revolution is portrayed. The play, with a large cast, was performed by eleven actors and was seen at the Royal Court Theatre in 1990. 'The work is speedy, poetic, urgent and electrifying ... The trial and execution of the Ceausescus is done as a sickening revue sketch, an indicator of the double-edged, sceptical tone throughout. A triumph! The future of our theatre, if not that of Romania, is secure.' Observer
Thomas Middleton
11 m 3f, extras. Classic comedy. Multipurpose set.
A grandson tries to gull money out of his senile grandfather - only
to discover that the woman he wants to marry is his grandfather's
courtesan. 'Middleton runs the comic gamut. He has a talent for double
entendres, jokes about asking a doctor to be patient and strong farcical
scenes. Here verbal comedy joins hands with physical comedy in an
unpompus way that seems not to have dated' Independent on Sunday.
First performed in 1605, revived at Shakepeare's Globe, 1998.
ISBN 1 85459 409 5
Play. Anthony Minghella
M7 (20s, 30s, 50s) FS (30s), with doubling. Various interior settings.
The setting is Bangkok -market place of the world where everything is for sale; the message is a bleak indictment of commercial sex and the condemnation of human exploitation. The main characters are a bunch of British tourists who arrive in Thailand armed with good intentions but are soon unzipping their sexual frustrations of a lifetime. 'Minghella handles his powerful, complex theme with great accomplishment, building to a scarifying climax.' Time Out
A double bill by Martin Sherman
M4 (Part One: 18, 20s, 30s; Part Two: 19, 20s, 40s) F2 (Part One:
60s; Pals Two: 20s, 40s). Two verandas.
Part One: A Table For a King, chronicles the experiences of a young writer, David, who takes part in a plan to blackmail another guest into giving up her favourite table for the King of Greece.Part Two: Keeps Rainin' All the Time, moves to the volcanic island of Santorini, where the existence of several disparate expatriates is ruptured by nuclear rain, terrorism and the impending eruption of the volcano.
Play. Alan Bennett
M22 F5, with doubling. Various simple interior and exterior settings.
What, what? Is the King mad? The Whigs think so, and begin campaigning for the Bill of Regency to allow the power-hungry Prince of Wales to ascend the throne. Meanwhile the King endures humiliating, torturous treatment at the hands of incapable doctors. Bennett's clever, funny and ultimately compassionate play sheds new light on a monarch often dismissed as inconsequential. It was first performed to great acclaim by the Royal National Theatre with Nigel Hawthorne in the title role.
William Dinner : Light Drama 2M 5F Flexible staging
Switching between the 1950s and the present day, this play re-enacts
the romantic adventures of a Tory MP, Gerald Gray, with a fatal weakness
for the 'fairer' sex. While the house in which these adventures took
place is being demolished, Gerald's son Michael relates his father's
antics to the audience along with those of his mother, whose life
as a writer and long-suffering wife is only bearable when mixed with
a double measure of gin. She innocently refers to her daily tipple
as 'Mr Booth', a liquid companion, but later becomes convinced that
he really does exist as a source of inspiration to her. Gerald's
unfaithfulness, and her drinking problem build to an unavoidable
confrontation which ultimately leads them both to realise that all
they ever really needed was each other. Together they encourage each
other to disregard their vices and start their lives anew.
ISBN: 0 85676 210 5
Farce. A. W. Pinero
M 11 F5 or M 12 F4. A sitting-room, an hotel room, a magistrate's
room.
Pinero's classic farce follows the misadventures of Mr Posket, the
mild magistrate of Meek Street, who gets disgracefully involved in
the reprehensible junketings of his stepson. The hideous complications
that ensue result in Mr Posket unwittingly sentencing his wife to
a prison term: but needless to say all is happily resolved before
the final curtain falls. Period 1880s
ISBN 0 573 01264 9
Play. Rona Munro
M2 (30s-50s) F4 (14, 16, 30s, 40s). A boy. Children. Various simple
settings.
Set in the North-east of Scotland in the early nineteenth century, this tells a story of women struggling against their circumstances, desires and ambitions in the persons of Harriet, an educated English actress leading her touring troupe in search of work, and Bridie, the Scottish traveller she engages as a wet nurse.
Comedy/Drama. Nicky Silver. 3 men, 2 women. Unit Set.
The play opens at the wedding of Taylor and Cynthia, a golden couple
beloved by everyone - almost. Libby, Cynthia's hard-drinking sister,
is in love with Taylor herself and she can take it no longer. "The
hypocrisy, the bone-chilling grotesque hypocrisy!" Fleeing to the
back yard she discovers Paul, Taylor's best friend, a charming fellow,
who, since childhood, has harbored a secret love for the groom himself.
As Libby and Paul are forced to, deal with unrequited love, their
lives change dramatically. Paul, promiscuous by nature, finds himself
pursued by a young man, Andrew, who seems, at first, less interested
in true love than in available real estate. And Libby, her career
in a shambles, succumbs to a life without love, a life where sex
is connected to monetary gain, rather than affection. When Cynthia
gives birth to a still-born child, her marriage dissolves and Taylor
sinks into depression and alcoholism. Surprisingly, Libby, who has
viewed her sister as the enemy all her life, finds the strength to
sacrifice her own desires to help Cynthia through her grief. While
Paul, seemingly kind, always appropriate, betrays his dearest friend
and secret love. He gambles with Taylor's life, hoping his friend
will turn to him, at last, for comfort. The Maiden's Prayer follows
this quartet and Andrew as they struggle to learn the difference
between loving someone and needing them.
ISBN: 0-8222-1684-1
Play. James Robson
M2 (30, 50) F3 (26, 35, 55). 2M 4F, voices only. A large kitchen.
Martin, a craggy, hardworking Yorkshire landowner and bachelor,
lives with his punctilious spinster sister Ivy on the farm they inherited
from their parents. Desperate for companionship, Martin pays for
a Filipino woman, Maria - whom he has discovered through a video-dating
agency-to come and live with them. But Ivy resents the intrusion,
and, on the day of Maria and Martin's wedding, she digs up information
about Mafia's past, with shocking consequences for them all.
ISBN 0 573 01847 2
Play. Richard Harris
M1 (40) F2 (40). Two living-rooms represented by the same set.
A bitter-sweet, witty and perceptive look at the collapse of a marriage
and the development and decay of an affair. Bob is a do-it-yourself
enthusiast with a longing to be needed. Even after he is divorced
from Chris he constantly returns to his former home, until Diana,
his new love, begins to resent having to face competition for his
time from his children and his Black and Decker.
ISBN 0 573 01651 8
Play. Mark Medoff. 3 men, 2 women. Unit Set.
Aaron Weiss, a young activist lawyer, and his feminist classmate,
Ava Jean Pollard, have come to the Southwest to help the Apache Indians
in protecting their land from exploitation by monied interests from
the East, who are looking for a site to use as a toxic waste dump.
They quickly run afoul of a redneck judge, William S. Hart Finlay,
who is the most powerful man in the territory (and who stands to
profit from the land deal), and his erstwhile sweetheart, Lisa Belmondo,
who is beginning to tire of Judge Finlay's boorishness and possessive
ways. As the battle lines are drawn, Aaron, who in childhood had
often fantasized that he was really "The Majestic Kid," a two-gunned
hero devoted to fighting injustice, is joined by the model for his
imagined persona - a former movie idol named "The Laredo Kid," who
now reappears (to Aaron only) to goad and counsel his disciple. But
Aaron, his resolve weakening (and especially so when he falls in
love with Lisa Belmondo), is a disappointment to his mentor, who
fumes and fusses (unseen by the others) while Aaron wishes he were
back in Brooklyn. In the long run Aaron recovers his sense of purpose
- and backbone - but not before he realizes that to be of useful
service to others he must first discover himself. And this he does
in a series of warm-hearted and very funny scenes, which are infused
with a poignancy and gentle humor all too rare in the modern theatre.
ISBN: 0-8222-0717-6