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Thriller. Tony Clayton The problems arise when bad times hit previously successful writer
Stephen Ryder, forcing him to auction his very large and expensive
insurance policy. This presents his wife, Sheila, with the opportunity
to cash m by plotting Stephen's death with 'friend of the family'
Gordon Crawford. But how many people is Gordon fooling'? Is old flame
Harry Manley as naive as he appears and how does Christine, Stephen's
faithful secretary, fit into the scheming The final twist leaves
the audience buzzing. Play. Sam Bate When Nurses Iver and Boone inherit £100,000 after years of
looking after old Mrs Deeming rather than the £500 everyone
had expected - it appears that something sinister is going on. When
the lawyer of the deceased asks Nurse Boone for a signature, he is
later shot dead. But then, it could have been his wife who shot him:
she had just surprised him kissing his secretary. Helped by the flighty
servant Flora, Superintendent Forrest sifts the clues. Drama. Dramatized by Moie Charles and Barbara Toy from the novel
by Agatha Christie Everyone has a motive for wishing Colonel Protheroe dead. Amidst
the heightening tension fostered by anonymous letters and bogus telephone
calls moves the gentle figure of Miss Marple, whose old-maidish exterior
conceals a very shrewd brain. She has the uncanny knack of knowing
most people's secrets and it is she who is ultimately responsible
for solving the mystery. Play. Frank Williams This play cleverly manipulates modern trends and conceptions of
behaviour to the murderer's advantage. Building on present psychological
ideas of heredity and sexual tendencies the author has designed such
a plot that not only is the murderer's identity concealed right to
the end but the audience is lured into condemning the wrong man,
not once, but twice. Red herrings abound to make this into an exciting
and devious thriller for ambitious societies and adult audiences. Play. Edward Taylor Laughs, thrills and mind-boggling twists abound in this ingenious
thriller which played at the Vaudeville Theatre in 1992 with a cast
including Gerald Harper and William Gaunt. Despite their success
as authors of TV thrillers, Harold Kent has become dissatisfied with
his writing partner, and wants to dissolve their association. So
he takes inspiration from one of their scripts ... 'It has a lastscene
denouement which turns every available table, until you are left
giddy with bewilderment ... ' Evening Standard Thriller. Duncan Greenwood and Robert King Crisp, witty exchanges of dialogue pepper this light-hearted and
inventive thriller. A thriller writer indulges in vitriolic verbal
duels with his estranged wife, until she turns a gun on hi and fires.
An amateur detective from the next flat attempts to solve the murder
puzzle- then the 'corpse' rises, full of life, and the tables are
turned, more than once, for victim and killers alike ... Play. Constance Cox Brian and Sheila Hamilton live in apparently affluent comfort; but
in reality their marriage is breaking up. In fact, it would be considerably
to Brian's advantage if Sheila were to die. His friend Gerry suggests
a fool-proof method of bringing this about. The murder is carried
out - and successfully-but it is not long before Brian realizes that,
by putting himself in Gerry's power, he has indeed exchanged the
frying-pan for the fire. Ghost Story. Emlyn Williams There is a legend concerning a murder once committed at the St James'
Theatre, that a dumb woman will appear on stage to reveal the murderer.
Sir Charles Jasper holds a dinner-party in the theatre. Tonight he
will come into a vast fortune. Should he die before eleven, his nephew
Maurice will inherit it. Maurice arrives and engineers his uncle's
murder. Then the dumb woman of the legend appears ... Play. Philip King and John Boland A dramatic society is assembling on the stage of a church hall to
rehearse a production of a mysterythriller. The rehearsal proceeds
under difficulties until the mysterious death of the caretaker brings
the situation of the whodunit even more closely into real life. It
transpires that almost everyone might, and could have, murdered the
dead man - eventually the identity of both killer and prowler is
revealed. Thriller. Douglas Post. 2 men, 2 women. Interior. Thomas Devereaux, a successful architect and local contractor, and
his beautiful wife, Joan, have just moved into their dream house
in the quiet suburban town of Green Meadows when they are visited
by their new neighbors, Carolyn and Jeff Symons and a friendship
develops quickly between the two couples. But underneath the cool,
middle-American exterior, something is truly rotten. A previous sexual
relationship between Joan and a teenage lawn-boy is revealed, as
is the fact that Thomas learned of the infidelity and may have murdered
his wife's lover. To make matters worse, an affair has begun to develop
between Joan and Jeff Symons. One summer evening, following the Symons
departure after a friendly game of cards, Thomas lets Joan know that
he is aware of this new deception, and his violent, possessive nature
surfaces. He makes two demands of his wife: one, she must stop seeing
Jef. Two, she must kill him. What follows is a diabolical plot that
continues to thicken through the final showdown between a murderer
and an aggrieved widow. Play. Terence Feely Mary, an international art dealer, arrives home to find her house
occupied by three 'strangers' claiming to be her husband, cousin
and sister. Even more mysterious is the fact that they seem aware
of details of her family life which could only have been known to
her most intimate circle. The nightmare situation becomes more and
more complicated, including the sudden appearance of a murdered man
... Thriller. Stewart Burke Panic grips West Lynstead when a famous dress designer is raped
and strangled. Andrew Wingate, headmaster of the local school, sets
up his own 'neighbourhood watch' and, disguised as a woman, walks
the woods at night, laying himself open as bait for the killer. Suspense
builds in this exciting play as Andrew is accused by an anonymous
caller of attempted rape and a schoolgirl is lured into the hands
of the killer ... Play. Simon Brett Boris Smolensky's budget repertory production of "Murder at Priorswell
Manor" is looking decidedly shaky. The cast are more interested in
their egos than the play and life imitates art when Boris's wife,
Renee, is murdered on stage. Simon Brett's hilarious text, a worthy
companion to his Charles Paris theatrical thriller novels, ruthlessly
satirizes the politics of the inept company and the numerous red
herrings keep the audience guessing until the final moments of the
play. Play. Agatha Christie. Adapted by Leslie Darbon The 'announcement' is in the local paper, stating time and place
of a murder to occur in Miss Blacklock's early Victorian house. However,
the victim is not one of several occupants, temporary and permanent,
but an unexpected and unknown visitor. What follows is a classic
Christie puzzle, with Miss Marple on hand to provide the final solution
in a dramatic confrontation scene just before the final curtain. Melodrama. Janet Green. 2 men, 4 women. Interior Murder is his business and generally speaking Edward Bare is a successful "business
man." Married first to Monica, rich, doting and many years his senior,
Edward waits amicably for her to die. It is not "poor Monnie's fault" that
he comes one day to the mistaken conclusion that she is about to
make a will in favor of her sister, and decides that, his only course
is to hasten her end. But Edward has misjudged the old woman for
she meant to leave him everything. As it is, he finds himself with
less than he had when she was alive. Edward is not daunted: he looks
around for another rich fish to net, and finds the answer to this
pressing necessity in the person of Freda Jefferies, wealthy widow
of a hotel proprietor. Freda, who has always seen that her head ruled
her heart, marries Edward, at the same time keeping a tight hold
on her purse strings. This does not suit Edward and when Charlotte
Young, another rich woman, arrives on the scene, he is all set to
remove the one that irks him most. Charlotte appears easier game
than the tough Freda, and Edward sets about staging the scene for
an exciting last situation. Which lady will receive the brunt of
his murdering tactics? Packed with suspense and thrills, the machinations
of the killer's mind are laid bare for the observation of the audience,
and the twists are unexpected and spine-chilling. Thriller. Janet Green. The original play on which the motion picture Midnight
Lace was based. Lesley Paul, young wife of a prosperous London bookmaker (gambler),
lives, quite literally, like a "bird in a gilded cage." Home is a
posh maisonette in a small section of London, her husband is adoring
and attentive, and there is money enough to satisfy her every wish.
Then the shocking phone calls begin. An unearthly sing-song voice
tells Lesley that she will be killed before the month is out. Not
once, but again and again the strange voice mutters its ugly threats
- but only to her. At first Max Paul finds it difficult to condone
his wife's growing terror. She is, in his mind, -still the childish "Matildâ
who shouted "fire" when there was no fire at all. Gradually, as the
uncanny omniscience of the killer seems to draw him nearer and nearer,
the doubters are shaken in their doubts. Max, Lesley's Aunt Bee,
Peggy Thompson the neighbour who lives downstairs - all who had scoffed
at Lesley's fears begin to sense the gravity of her plight. The nearing
presence of the unseen murderer throbs like a macabre counterpoint
beneath the even tenor of their lives. How it all ends adds up to
one of the most chilling and exciting climaxes ever written for the
theatre. No one will guess the outcome - but no one will forget it
either. The Murder of Maria Marten or The Red Barn Melodrama. Brian J. Button In 1827, Willam Corder murdered Maria Marten, the mother of his illegitimate child, and buried her body in the Red Barn. Because of his wife's recurring dream, Thomas Marten searched the barn and discovered the body of his daughter. The fact that this production gets unsullied, hearty fun from these macabre ingredients is proof of its sureness - of its energy that pushes aside any attempt to think seriously about the horrors. Period 1820s Play. Agatha Christie Simon and Kay Mostyn are honeymooning aboard a Nile steamer. With
them, apparently by accident, are Canon Pennefather, Kay's guardian
and Jacqueline, Simon's ex-girlfriend. During the course of the voyage
Jacqueline works herself into a state of hysteria and shoots at Simon,
but only wounds him in the knee. A few minutes later Kay is found
shot. Canon Pennefather lays bare an audacious conspiracy and ensures
that the criminals shall not go free. Mystery/Drama. Irving Gaynor Neiman. 5 men, 2 women. Divided Interior. A respected member of the community, Dr. Ronald Cato has prospered
in carrying on his father's medical practice. But there are those
who harbour suspicions about his past activities - particularly one
patient, Walter Manning, who also suspects (correctly) that his wife
and Dr. Cato are having a clandestine affair. Manning has engaged
a private detective to investigate Cato's past, and the evidence
gathered is so damning (although Cato tries at first to discount
it) that the doctor's only course is to murder his patient. His clever
and coolly executed plan of action shifts suspicion to another patient,
and suspense builds as it appears that the good doctor may have committed
the perfect crime. In the end this proves to be not so, but the method
of Cato's undoing - and the surprising twist which follows it - will
keep the audience guessing until the final, shocking moments of the
play. Mystery Farce. Jack Sharkey Two days after their marriage Edgar catches Mavis, a villainess
if ever there was one, telling obvious lies about where she has spent
the evening. After a first attempt to kill him by poisoning his cocoa
fails - the cat dies instead - she fires three shots into him and
phones her lover. Later it transpires that the pistol contained only
blanks, and Edgar's body vanishes. From then on complication follows
complication until chaos reigns supreme. Play. Francis Durbridge Many people dislike Larry Campbell but none feel more embittered
than David Ryder. Ryder pursues his vendetta by nefariously obtaining
a key to Campbell's flat to kill him. Deceit, suspicion blackmail
and incrimination are woven into the web of crime which is completed
by a second killing and a tantalizing twist at the climax. Peter Gordon : Comedy Thriller 5M 5F Interior set This play is an hilarious spoof of the best Agatha Christie traditions,
with an assembled cast of characters guaranteed to delight: Bunting
the butler, an English Colonel with the prerequisite stiff upper
lip, a shady French art dealer and his moll, bumbling local inspectors
and a well meaning local sleuth who seems to attract murder - they're
all here, and all caught up in the side-splitting antics which follow
the mysterious death of the owner of a country manor house. But will
the murderer be unmasked before everyone else has met their doom,
or will audiences die laughing first? Play. Anthony Shaffer An unusual and macabre beginning to this play sets the audience's
nerves twitching well before any dialogue confuses their minds! Norman
apparently murders his girlfriend, Millie, and is in the process
of disposing of her body when he is interrupted by a Sergeant Stenning.
The ensuing hunt for the victim and the ghoulish discovery of a head
burning in the stove is fiendishly climaxed by the revelation that
it is only a dummy. Yet is Millie really dead or not? For connoisseurs
of murders only. (NB This play contains violent scenes) |