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Play. William Nicholson Albie, dissatisfied with his life, decides to perform charitable
work in The Sudan with his doctor lover, Mary, but his decision has
damaging repercussions on those around him, especially his wife,
Ruth. Whilst in The Sudan, Albie is held hostage leaving Ruth and
Mary to poignantly take stock of their emotions. ' ... the most profoundly
moving play in the West End since Shadowlands, which isn't
surprising as William Nicholson wrote them both.' Daily Express Play. David Storey The sixtieth wedding anniversary of Tommy Pasmore and his wife is
little cause for celebration. The elderly couple live together despite
each other - their bickering banter revealing deep disappointment
- but only by incanting memories can they come to terms with their
barren present and terrifying future. Seen at the Royal National
Theatre in 1989 this is a worthy successor to the author's earlier In
Celebration. ' ... deeply moving ... a play of delicate half-tones
and pastel shades ... impressive ...' Guardian A Fantasy for Children. Jonathan Levy. 10 men, 1 woman. Open Stage. Everyone is familiar with the tale of Marco Polo and his epic journey
into the remote and exotic kingdom of Kubla Khan. But here the story
is given extra dimension through elements of court intrigue, the
attraction between the hero and the Khan's lovely daughter; and the
greedy machinations of Marco's father and uncle. Using mime, magic
and staging of imaginative simplicity, the play builds steadily in
suspense until its exciting conclusion, when the villain is punished
and virtue rewarded at last. Comedy. John Guare. 5 men, 3 women. Unit Set. The time is 1999; the place; an island off the coast of Norway.
Stony McBride, a young movie director and adopted son of an ageing
Hollywood star, is writing a film about Marco Polo, in which, it
is hoped, his father will make a comeback. Stony is also attempting
to deal with his attractive wife, a former concert pianist whose
lover, a dynamic young politician who has obtained the cure for cancer,
is also on hand. Adding to the rapidly multiplying complications
are Stony's mother (a transsexual, as she later confesses); a friend
named Frank (who has been in space orbit for the past five years);
a maid (who is impregnated astrally by Frank); and another friend,
Larry (who is fitted with a set of mechanical legs). There is also
an earthquake; the discovery of a planet; and the birth of a new
hero (Stony himself?); all coming together within the bizarre action
of the play to yield some chilling, albeit very funny, glimpses of
the future which may await us all. Marcus Is Walking: Scenes From the Road Comedy/Drama. Joan Ackermann. Eleven vignettes in an automobile. 3 men, 3 women (flexible casting). Unit Set On the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the car, the play
examines the emotional landscape we roam as we travel in our cars.
Control, navigation, love and escape, are some of the themes explored.
A protective father shepherds his son through the neighbourhood ,
on Halloween; an actor on his way to perform Hamlet provokes a yearend
collision and confrontation with a Czech émigré cab
driver; a devastated businessman strikes up an unlikely alliance
with a homeless woman who sleeps in his car. This is the landscape
of human frailty and vulnerability, charm and strength; a playwright's
whimsy combined with a shrewd sense of observation. Melodrama. Clare Boothe. 7 men, 2 women. Interior. The Nazi Consul in New York is so odious that he tries to force
his secretary to commit suicide so that he will not reveal the Consul's
theft of funds. Certain facts of importance to the German government
have been leaking out of the Consul's office and he is being recalled
to Berlin. Knowing of his wife's affection for an American newspaper
man, the Consul suspects her of being the informer and he threatens
to deport her to Germany unless her lover brings out new headings
in his favour. In addition to the stolen funds, the Consul has accepted
bribes from a Dr. Jennings whose daughter and son-in-law are in a
concentration camp, supposedly to set them free. When the Doctor
finds the Consul has failed to keep his promises (his daughter has
died and his son-in-law has gone insane) he shoots the Consul as
he sits listening to a blaring radio speech of Hitler's. All of the
other's in the room had their backs to the Consul so no one saw the
crime committed. As he attempts to solve the crime a vastly entertaining
Jewish policeman slips in some of the shrewdest and most humorous
ribbing you will find anywhere. To add to his bewilderment, it is
revealed that the Consul has also been stabbed and poisoned! Play. Federico Garcia Lorca. Translated by Gwynne Edwards Lorca's second play, and his only historical play which is based on a traditional tale, tells the story of a liberal heroine of Granada, her opposition to King Ferdinand VII in the late 1820s, her love for another liberal, Don Pedro de Sotomayor, and her final execution. Play. Wallace Shawn. 5 men, 4 women (several roles are doubled). Unit Set As the play begins Marie and Bruce, a young married couple, are
still in bed, he sleeping soundly, she excoriating him and vowing
that she will put an end to their marriage. It seems that she had
thrown away his ancient typewriter, which precipitated an ugly scene,
but there is more to their problem than this. However, when Bruce
wakes and prepares breakfast, he seems impervious to her insults
and blithely unconcerned about her threats to leave him. Later, in
an hilarious party scene (where some of the guests are impersonated
by mannequins) Marie and Bruce mingle with a bizarre assortment of
New York "types," while she tries to muster the courage to make the
final break. Then, after they have adjourned to a Chinese restaurant
(with a rather coarse, but very funny group at the next table) Marie
finally boils over and attempts not only to leave Bruce but virtually
to destroy him. But, again, Bruce reacts as though he has barely
heard her and she, in turn, realises that it is his weakness, his
vulnerability, which makes her need him. Their marriage, they both
know, is terrible - and, of course, it will last forever. Play. Josh Rivera. 4 men, 5 women, (flexible casting); unit. Marisol Perez, a young Latino woman, is a copy editor for a Manhattan
publisher. Although she has elevated herself into the white collar
class, she continues to live alone in the dangerous Bronx neighbourhood
of her childhood. As the play begins, Marisol narrowly escapes a
vicious attack by a golf club-wielding madman while travelling home
on the subway. Later that evening Marisol is visited by her guardian
angel who informs her that she can no longer serve as Marisol's protector
because she has been called to join the revolution already in progress
against an old and senile God who is dying and taking the rest of
the universe with him. The war in heaven spills over into New Yolk
City reducing it to a smouldering urban wasteland where giant fires
send noxious smoke to darken the skies, where the moon has not been
seen in months, where the food has been turned to salt, and water
no longer seeks its level. Alone, without her protector, Marisol
begins a nightmare journey into this new war zone where she is attacked
by a man with an ice cream cone demanding back pay for his extra
work on 'Taxi Driver.' Marisol finds herself on the streets, homeless,
where her many encounters include a woman beaten for exceeding her
credit limit and a homeless burn victim in a wheelchair looking for
his lost skin. With the apocalypse well under way, the angels have
traded in their wings for uzis and wear leather motorcycle jackets
and fatigues. As the action builds to a crescendo, the masses of
homeless and displaced people join the angels in the war to save
the universe. Comedy. Michael Snelgrove In a tiny, tatty room in a residential teachers' centre, Team B
are up to their eyebrows in A level English Literature marking. Elsewhere
in the building, the dreaded Team A are coping far better with their
marking band guidelines, matrix grids and marked pilot samples and
managing to spend plenty of time in the bar; Team B, led by the far-from-perfect
Howard, lurch from disaster to disaster. Doors slam, tempers are
lost and personalities crumble as the situation becomes ever more
chaotic. (in Greatest Hits) Clare Dowling Set in the cramped quarters of an army barracks, Marlboro Man is
an intimate portrait of a modern Irish marriage. An infertile Irish
couple struggle to cope with the blatant jeers of his arty comrades
and the condescending attitudes of her indiscreet family. Play: Drama. Edward Albee. : 1 man, 1 woman. Interior Jack comes home from a middling day at the office quickly to announce
to his wife, Gillian, that he is leaving her. Suspecting for some
time a mid-life crisis, Gillian goads Jack about this announcement,
forcing him to try it again going outside and coming in again twice!
Jade wants his wife, whom he still loves, to really understand his
fears and his.reasons he must leave her. His days seem unknown to
him; his secretary of 15 years is a total stranger; his sex is by
rote. Gillian understands, but feels the investment of a 30 year
marriage is worth holding on to because so much is in place, and
quite frankly, they've been through these changes before: affairs,
neglect, sections of time forgotten. Jack accuses Gillian of not
listening, an accusation she easily returns, and when Jade then does
start to leave, Gillian blocks him and a small battle ensues. Retreating
to their corners, both recount memorable points in their marriage
and lives, and discovering that through it all, nothing is really
enough. As the lights fade, they prepare for a departure, but don't
make a move. Comedy. Nikolai Gogol. New English version by Barbara Field. 6 men, 4 women. Two Interiors. Deciding that it is time he was married, Podkoliosin, a long time
bachelor (and minor court councillor) engages a match-maker, Fiolka,
to find him a wife of suitable social status - not to mention fortune.
Fiolka comes up with Agafya, the spinster daughter of a wealthy merchant,
who is seeking a husband of demonstrably higher social position.
Podkoliosin agrees to visit the charming Agafya, only to discover
that the bustling Fiolka has rounded up four other suitors as well,
which leads to some unseemly - and hilarious - bickering among the
preening competitors. The suitors are all quite different (one enormously
fat, one painfully skinny, one terribly tiny, another notoriously
prissy), which enriches the farcical contretemps which result - and
adds to the relish with which Podkoliosin's sidekick, the scheming
Kochkariev, sets about winning Agafya for his friend. In the end
he succeeds, but perhaps too well, as he also provides Podkoliosin
with a glimpse of what marriage really entails and, as the curtain
falls, the terrified would-be suitor makes his escape - leaping unceremoniously
from a second story window, and back to the comforting routine of
blissful bachelorhood. Comedy Christopher Durang. 5 men, 5 women. Unit Set As the play begins Bette and Boo are being united in matrimony,
surrounded by their beaming families. But as the further progress
of their marriage is chronicled it becomes increasingly clear that
things are not working out quite as hoped for. The birth of their
son is followed by a succession of stillborns. Boo takes to drink
and their respective families are odd lots to say the least. His
father is a sadistic tyrant, who refers to his wife as the dumbest
woman in the world, while Bette's side includes a psychotic sister
who endures lifelong agonies over her imagined transgressions and
a senile father who mutters in unintelligible gibberish. For solace
and counsel they all turn to Father Donnally, a Roman Catholic priest
who dodges their questions by impersonating (hilariously) a strip
of frying bacon. Conveyed in a series of dazzlingly inventive interconnected
scenes, the play moves wickedly on through three decades of divorce,
alcoholism, madness and fatal illness - all treated with a farcical
brilliance which, through the author's unique talent, mines the unlikely
lodes of irony and humour residing in these ostensibly unhappy events. |