 |
|
Play. David Hare When Irina Platt embarks on her first case as a lawyer, she finds that all sections of the criminal justice system - police, courts and prisons - are running far from smoothly. With its large multicultural cast and contemporary settings ranging from prison interiors to the Inns of Court, Murmuring Judges presents a broad yet finely detailed picture not only of the judicial system but of British society in the 1990s. (in Cinzano). Ludmila Petrushevskaya. Trans S. Mulrine A realistic, domestic drama, set in a Moscow apartment block, tells
the story of two interrelated families. Their lives are depressingly
full of problems, but the individuals are drawn with great warmth
and understanding. The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 Thriller/Farce - John Bishop Under the guise of a backer's audition for their new musical, the
production team of a recent Broadway flop assemble at an isolated
country mansion to try to piece together the identity of the mysterious "Stage
Door Slasher", who murdered three of the chorus girls in the show.
While a blizzard rages outside and the composer, lyricist, director
and actors prepare for their performances, the Slasher reappears,
striking again - and again, and again! Play Robert Patrick. 2 men, 2 women. Interior. Having achieved recognition and some success as a playwright, after
a long period of struggle and apprenticeship, Scott has undergone
a breakdown and memory loss. Released from a hospital in Los Angeles,
he is taken in by Greg and Laura, the young couple with whom he had
been living before his illness. Greg, who is concerned and sympathetic,
had hoped to produce the brilliant new play (now apparently lost)
which Scott had written before his memory lapse; while Laura, seemingly
cold and calculating, is an actress who had starred in Scott's earlier
plays. Also present is Carol, a beautiful young actress whom Scott
had brought with him from New York some months earlier. The interaction
of these four, their differing versions of Scott's life before his
breakdown, form the intriguing heart of the play, and lead to its
surprising conclusion - in which Scott, without regaining his memory,
comes to understand more about himself, his past, and his supposed
friends, than he did before his senses failed. Drama. David Haig. 5 men, 2 women (flexible casting). Unit Set The year is 1913, war with Germany is imminent: Rudyard Kipling,
the British Empire's greatest apologist, is at the peak of his literary
fame. This play explores the nature of a man who loses his balance
when devotion to family and country clash. World War One breaks out,
and Kipling's son, Jack, is determined to fight, but the Army and
the Navy both reject him because of his extremely poor eyesight.
Undaunted, Kipling uses his influence to land Jack a commission in
the Irish Guards, sparking off a bitter family conflict. Jack goes
to war and is reported missing, believed wounded, in his first action.
The Kipling family live in vain hope for two years, before finally
learning of Jack's death. The effect on Kipling is profound and irrevocable,
as he struggles to confront his appalling sense of guilt and loss.
The play is a powerful and moving account of the anguish at the heart
of a man whose storytelling continues to delight millions throughout
the world. Play. Diana Morgan. From the novel by Daphne du Maurier Philip Ashley travels to Italy to find his cousin Ambrose has died
suddenly and Rachel, Ambrose's wife, has gone. Philip returns to
England convinced Rachel was responsible for Ambrose's death, hoping
to inherit his possessions. When Rachel arrives in England Philip
falls in love with her. One small event after another causes a kind
of see-saw of belief and disbelief. Is Rachel a scheming murderess
or a grossly maligned woman? Period mid-1800s Play. Diana Morgan, from the novel by Daphne du Maurier. 5 men, 2 women. Interior The setting is a great house in Cornwall, which has been inherited
by young Philip Ashley on the death of his uncle and surrogate "father."
Although deeply attached to his ancestral home, the uncle had gone
to Rome, married a young Italian widow of short acquaintance, and
then died under what his friends and family consider mysterious circumstances.
When the widow, "cousin" Rachel, comes to visit Philip, she is received
coolly at first, but her charm and grace, and the fact that she too
comes from Cornish lineage, soon wins her friends - and the ardent
devotion of Philip himself. This does not sit well with Louisa Kendall,
a lifelong friend and neighbour who is in love with Philip, or with
her father, Nicholas, who has acted as trustee for Philip's inheritance.
As his attraction for the alluring Rachel increases, Philip's health
declines, and he is soon the victim of "Roman fever" himself, confirming,
to Kendall and Louisa, the fear that Rachel, who is, treating Philip
with a specially prepared herb tea, is actually poisoning him. The
arrival of a faintly sinister friend of Rachel's from Rome; Philip's
decision to sign over his estate to her; and Rachel's cold refusal
of Philip's offer of marriage, even after they have become lovers
- all add to the mounting tension, and lead to the breath-stopping
final scene, the famous "twist" ending which leaves nagging doubts
as to where guilt, and evil, should fairly be assigned. Comedy. Jerry Horwin and Catherine Turney. 8 men, 5 women. Interior. The play shows how an immensely successful temperamental matinée idol is surprise by the appearance, on Christmas Eve, of three of his daughters, of whose existence he had little or no recollection. Each daughter brings to him her immediate pressing problems, and, under the stress of the situation the matinée idol begins to react in a charming and amusirìg way, playing the unfamiliar role of father. Comedy. Charles Laurence Vicky, a Hampstead bookseller, is a heavyweight. When a handsome
customer seems attracted to her she resolves that while he is abroad
she will slim. Aided by the two male 'characters' who share the flat
above her shop, hard exercise, diet and a graph, she manages to reduce
to a streamlined version of her former self - only to find that it
was her rotundity that attracted the book buyer in the first place. Comedy. Donald Churchill and Peter Yeldham When Tom Lambert receives a telephone call one morning from the
Inland Revenue enquiring about his public relations consultant, a
Miss Joanna Flint, he can honestly say he has never heard of her.
By lunchtime, however, he knows all about Miss Flint and rather wishes
he didn't, for Sarah, his accountant and ex-wife, confesses that
she invented Joanna Flint as a tax dodge and that unfortunately the
Revenue have rumbled her. A highly entertaining comedy. Ray Cooney and John Chapman : Comedy/Thriller 5M 3F Interior set Set in Lady Eppingham's house in India, this play has all the superb
comedy that one would expect from the masters of farce, plus a good
measure of thrills. The eccentric but aristocratic Lady Eppingham
lives in a world of fantasy and past glory of the Empire, whilst
the running of her tea estate is left in the hands of her unscrupulous
nephews. But when Beatrice Horrocks, Lady Eppingham's half sister
of decidedly lowly birth arrives to claim her right to manage the
estate, the situation changes and in a series of hilariously funny
scenes, she slowly but surely sorts everything out and unmasks the
schemes of her nephews. Play. Clare McIntyre Chris is an impoverished waitress, paranoid and angry at her lot in life. Hannah, a ceramics teacher with the beginnings of multiple sclerosis, is calm and genuinely unmaterialistic. Their weekend in Brighton is interrupted by visits from Tunis, shopaholic wife of the flat-owner, and Elliott, a drunken down-and-out. Chris also has spectral visits in the shape of Pest, a bad memory, and Luggage, the Patron Saint of Heavy Burdens. It seems Chris can never escape her lot. My Kinsman, Major Molineux (The Old Glory) Play. Robert Lowell. Based on a story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. 12 men, 1 boy, 1 girl. Exterior Young Robin and his brother arrive in Boston from their frontier home in Deerfield to seek out their illustrious uncle, Major Molineux, a man of wealth and position and an avowed Royalist. In their backwoods innocence they are unaware of the ferment which has seized the people of Boston, and they are confused by the oblique and taunting replies which greet their request for information on their uncle. They accost, among others, a barber, a tavern keeper, a clergyman, a prostitute, and a man in a grotesque mask, - half red, half white - but all to no avail. When they do find the major's house, the Union Jack has been ripped down and replaced by the Rattlesnake flag, and the major is nowhere to be found. Then their uncle is dragged, torn and bleeding before them, a fallen man now, the prisoner of those he dominated. He dies, and the boys' hopes for advancement would seem to expire with him. But the spirit of freedom has gripped them too, and they resolve to stay in Boston to fight for a new life which could bring greater rewards than those their uncle might have provided. Play. Charlotte Keatley Charlotte Keatley's first play was premiered at the Contact Theatre,
Manchester in 1987 and produced at the Royal Court, London. 'Totally
engrossing, warm, funny, human look at four generations of women,
Ms Keatley refuses to preach about a woman's nature and her place
in the world, letting action and characters speak for themselves.' Manchester
Evening News Play. Corinne Jacket. 5 men, 4 women. Unit Set The story poses a fascinating set of questions: why do we become
what we are? And if we were able to go back in time and deal with
unanswered questions, would we really know any more about ourselves?
Edward Howe, a young physicist whose life has reached a point of
stasis, endeavours to discover his true self by recreating the people
and events of his past: his parents; himself when younger; his first
love; and the grandfather he hardly knew. As the play progresses
the people of his fantasy made real, co-exist with those of his present
life: his parents grown older and the girl with whom he is now involved
until a mosaic of mingled actions begins to form. But while the orchestration
of his emotional rebirth expands Eddie's self-knowledge, it also
teaches him that some scars never heal and that, although he may
come to understand the past, he can never undo its power to influence
the present and the future, be it for good or ill. Kevin Elyot Premiered at the Royal Court in 1994, and then moving to the West
End with John Sessions, this play about gay morals and manners won
both the Evening Standard and Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Comedy,
as well as awards from the Writer's Guild and Critic's Circle. It
has since been filmed for the BBC. 'It marks the coming of age for
plays which portray gay men' Jack Tinker, Daily Mail 'The
best new play I've seen since I started reviewing' Paul Taylor,
Independent Play. Wendy Kesselman Set in Le Mans in the early 1930s, this extraordinary, award-winning
drama is based on a celebrated historical murder case in which two
maids, sisters, were convicted of murdering their employer and her
daughter. Wendy Kesselman's very cinematically structured work explores
the motivations which lead the two emotionally repressed sisters
to commit the most gruesome of murders. The play was presented by
Monstrous Regiment at the Hampstead Theatre Club in 1987. Comedy. Sam and Bella Spewack. From the French play Cuisine des
Anges by Albert Husson The scene is French Guiana, a region where, on Christmas day, the
temperature has graciously dropped to 104 degrees. It is Christmas
Eve in the tropical prison colony of Cayenne. Felix Dulay, a hopeless
storekeeper, is fearfully awaiting the owner, Gaston. Providence
has given the Dulays three guardian angels three convicts! The three
are employed as roofers by a family whose roof is in desperate need
of maintenance. On the way from France is an evil-minded cousin to
oust the father of the family from his business, and his cold-blooded
nephew, who is jilting the father's daughter for an heiress. The
three convicts - two of them murderers, the third a swindler - take
the visitors on. All three have warm hearts, and are passionate believers
in true justice. Possessing every criminal art and penal grace, they
set matters right, and in doing so redeem themselves as real life
angels to the grateful family, so that in no time they have cooked
Christmas lunch - and Felix's books - and will loose their own executioner
on Gaston for his cruel behaviour! MY THREE ANGELS is no longer available for performance because the term of the agreement between the authors, Sam and Bella Spewack, and the original French author expired. My Three Angels is based on a French play, and the Spewacks were given permission to adapt it and have it produced, but only for a certain time period, not in perpetuity. As the end of the time period came to a close the estate of the French author and the estate of the Spewacks were somehow unable to come to an agreement on new terms. Therefore, My Three Angels is no longer legally produceable. Play Len Jenkin. 7 men, 4 women. Unit Set My Uncle Sam was a novelties salesman who died one night, alone
and broke, in a Pittsburgh hotel. But he was also a larger-than-life
figure, a mythic hero, to his nephew who now seeks to discover his
uncle's true story. His quest is a quixotic and picaresque one, involving
a seductive night club singer who promises to marry Sam if he can
locate his ne'er-do-well brother (who absconded with the proceeds
from a robbery), and developing into a series of sometimes funny
sometimes hair-raising episodes as the nephew "becomes" his uncle
in his youth and journey's to a remote lighthouse, a rather sinister
university laboratory, an opium den, the clinic of a Mexican quack,
and a very odd miniature golf course - all intriguingly distorted
as though viewed through a funhouse mirror. In the end it is really
the landscape of the mind which is explored and illuminated as the
trail leads back to Old Sam and the disquieting knowledge that dreams
and reality are, in the final essence, often one and the same, with
the
"truth" still remaining tantalisingly out of reach. Made from the Lincoln Cycle of Mystery Plays. E. Martin Browne An adaptation and abridgement of the cycle of plays written about
1425 and now recognized as the Lincoln Cycle of Mystery Plays. This
version can be given in two hours, but the central elements of the
story have been preserved. It is the story of the creation, fall
and redemption of mankind, mixing the human with the divine, the
humorous with the solemn. The staging can be varied by each director
to suit his conditions. Trilogy of plays. Tony Harrison The Yorkshire poet Tony Harrison has taken the York, Wakefield, Chester and Coventry cycles of the Mystery plays and woven them into three separate and infinitely varied forms of story-telling and of English life. The Nativity begins with the Creation and ends with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. The Passion takes up the story from the baptism of Jesus to the Crucifixion. Doomsday traces the final part of the Bible from the Resurrection to the Last Judgement. The Mysteries: Part 1 The Creation 1 85459 391 9 Anon. Adapted by Edward Kemp Large cast, doubling. Drama. Minimal set. The original reworking by Edward Kemp for the RSC of the medieval dramatisations of Bible stories telling of the creation of the world and the life and death of Jesus Christ. Written as two plays of two and a half hours each, it can be cut to make one long play. Play. Karoline Leach Mr George Love is a gentlemanly diplomat, polite and charming, or
so he would have you believe; in fact, he is a fortune-hunter, marrying
vulnerable young women and stealing their nest-eggs. At first, Adelaide
Pinchin, an overweight milliner lacking in confidence, seems like
just another of his victims, but then the unexpected happens: Mr
Love begins to feel emotionally involved with her. From this point,
the plot twists and turns in many surprising ways until it reaches
a chilling conclusion ... Period 1910 Comedy of detection. J. B. Priestley In a big hotel in Derbyshire before opening for the season the staff
are coping as best they can, trying feverishly to get things ready.
The whole company, marooned in the snowbound hotel, is bullied by
Crowther, the stupid house detective, after the mysterious disappearance
of an unexpected guest. Miss Tracey, another guest, holds the key
to the mystery and the denouement is sufficiently unexpected. A penny dreadful. Charles Ludlam The definitive Gothic melodrama written to be performed as a quick-change
act in which two actors perform all the roles. A sympathetic werewolf,
a vampire and an Egyptian princess brought to life when they open
her tomb make this the play that has everything. This American awardwinning
romp was cited by Time magazine and the New York Times as
one of the best plays of its year. Play/Farce. Jean-Claude van Itallie. 5 men, 3 women. Interior. The action is set in the chic living room of a US Senator, during
a cocktail party. Present are the Senator, his wife, his schizophrenic,
bisexual son (played by two actors), a beautiful young woman who
may be the son's fiancée, a rather pompous Harvard professor.
a quietly efficient butler and a lady mystery writer from next door.
It is the mystery writer who holds the key to the bizarre events
which follow, as she explains to the actors and the audience what
will happen next and what part each character will play in the action
about to follow. At the snap of her fingers each sequence begins,
as this one is nabbed, that one drinks poisoned coffee, another is,
blown up - until only the mystery writer and the true culprit remain.
But, as the "corpses" keep popping up to add to the conversation,
the plot continues to thicken - providing both a delightful metaphysical
spoof and a scathing assessment of the social and political hypocrisy
of our disjointed times. |