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Pack
of Lies. Play. Hugh Whitemore Based on the true story of the Krogers, convicted in 1961 of spying
for the Russians, Whitemore has written a fictional account of the
quiet, totally unsuspecting Jackson family who live opposite the
Krogers and consider them their closest friends. When an M15 official
arrives suddenly to use the Jackson's house as a surveillance post
their decent, happy life is shattered as they are plunged into a
sordid, alien world of deceit and intrigue. Paddywack.
Drama. Daniel Magee Damien, a young Irishman, moves into lodgings in London where he
is befriended by a student and his girlfriend. When the IRA mounts
a bombing campaign, it seems the enigmatic Damien may be involved.
He is drawn into an affair with the girlfriend who is attracted by
the IRA spectre, but when he confesses he's a dispatch clerk with
no IRA ties, she shuns him and Damien returns to the lodgings where
misconceptions and resentments explode into sudden violence. Comedy-Thriller. Larry Beghel In this stylish comedy-thriller, attractive glamour model Jenni
Brandon and her ex-live-in boyfriend Len Carrington have concocted
what appears to be the perfect plot to acquire a very large amount
of money. The would-be murder plan involves Jenni's current boyfriend
Tom and his parents - lustful MP Geoffrey Holden and stepmother Marion.
But these two characters are not the only ones plotting-everyone,
it seems, is double-crossing the another. Play. Ferdinand Bruckner, translated by Daphne Moore Written in 1926, this was the play that established Ferdinand Bruckner. It depicts with unprecedented candour the moral corruption and cynicism of a group of medical students. For these young people, youth itself is a fatal disease and the idea of death by suicide is always present in their minds. Play. Tina Howe Gardner Church, once a famous poet, slips in and out of senility
as his wife Fanny valiantly tries to keep them both afloat. Their
daughter Mags, an artistic celebrity, comes home hoping to finally
paint their portrait and, in this way, to come to terms with them
- and they with her. Mags triumphs in the end as Fanny and Gardner
actually step through the frame and become a work of art, ineffable
and timeless. Play. Howard Moss. 2 men, 1 woman. Open Stage. The Queen and Edward meet, as if for the first time, and slowly discover that they are repeating, or are meant to repeat, the tragic action of Sophocles' Oedipus. The settling is ambiguous: at first abstract, then possibly a playroom in a suburban house, and, finally, the throne room of the palace at Thebes. Drawn to each other and to the fate that awaits them, the Queen and Edward, caught in an intense love-hate relationship, try to avoid a destiny that appears to be inevitable. Figure, the third actor, plays a various roles at various times: an Elizabethan fool, a stage manager, a disappointed actor, the Greek seer Tiresias. He is a foil, and a dangerous one. The play is a study in jealousy and explores the relationship between and older woman and a young man. It is a play of shifting moods and changing tones, a modern investigation of a theme suggested by ancient Greek tragedy, and a psychological play with historical tones. Play. Meade Roberts. 3 men, 5 women. Unit Set. Rose Frobisher once won a beauty contest and on the strength of that came to Hollywood. After years of frustration she settled down to keep an apartment-rooming house which she called the Rose Garden. For a while she pinned her hopes on her daughter, but Lila was not interested in getting into the movies so Rose turned to a succession of roomers, young, beautiful and all with a burning desire to be a movie star. One after another these young girls disappointed her. When Barbara Parris moves into the Rose Garden, Rose again lets her hopes soar. She lends Barbara money, won't take rent from her and sees in Barbara another version of herself. Meanwhile, Lila is interested in another roomer, Mr. Jonas, a middle-aged' refugee, kindly and sensitive. But because Jonas is neither young nor handsome and Rose can't understand Lila's interest in him does her best to break off Lila's romance. What Rose fails to see is the desperation in Barbara, whose repeated failure to get a part brings her to an attempt at suicide. When Rose realises that Barbara has failed, she turns again to Lila and finally acknowledges that Lila has the right to lead her own life. Farce. Derek Benfield Chester Dreadnought has bought a lovely country cottage, dreaming
of idyllic peace, but is he able to enjoy it'? Not with Abel Bounty,
the local un-handyman always around, and not with Carol, an attractive
girl who seems to have mysteriously moved in. Those who have met
Chester already in Wild Goose Chase and Post Horn Gallop know
his aptitude for social and antisocial blunders, and Lord and Lady
Elrood and scatty Miss Partridge also make a reappearance. Play. Kenneth Cameron. 3 men, 1 woman. Interior. As Edith Oliver, writing in The New Yorker, describes. "The lines
are filled with puns - outrageous and lightly blasphemous - and the
theme is destruction. The play is set in the private library of the
Pope at the Vatican - or, to quote the dramatist, 'of Papp at the
Vatican.' The room is overgrown with vegetation and is thick with
grime; the books are inches deep in dust, and so is a statue of Buddha
on one of the bookshelves. There are jungle noises outside, and organ
music within. The time is some future Dark Ages ...Something serious
and human and touching does come through all the verbal rigmarole
- even a story. An extraterritorial Demolition Man named Mak, a plastic
helmet on his head and a pack of explosives on his back, comes to
blow up the place. Papp detains him by quoting garbled proverbs and
telling him garbled stories from Scripture, trading a story for a
'boom,' and then Mak, who can read, picks up a Bible and starts to
correct Papp who cannot. All ends with a public book burning and
an explosion, and with Papp, back in his old form, pronouncing that
'God hurts those who hurt themselves.' The play is neither comedy
nor tragedy, funny nor sad; it is facetious and pessimistic, both
on purpose." Play. Anton Chekhov. Adapted from the novel Three Years by
Frank Dunai The Parasol has an authentic Chekhovian feel - the bourgeois boredom and guilt, the aching, aimless loneliness - without the musty archaism we get in some translations. It's crisp and sharply witty and has the emotional directness of the real thing ... It's a richly intricate, carefully crafted fusion of sociology and psychology and the private pains of a pre-revolutionary world ... It's like discovering an old master in the attic.' Robin Thornber, Guardian Farce. Edward Taylor and John Graham The Prime Minister and Chancellor are preparing a puritanical budget
taxing amusements such as bingo, gambling and night-clubs out of
existence. On the afternoon before its presentation, however, each
in turn appears to be the father of the pretty Shirley, the result
of a post-party conference night many years ago. In an even less
expected family bombshell, it transpires that the Prime Minister's
deferential Parliamentary Private Secretary, Campbell, is, in fact,
his son ... Parallel Lives: The Kathy and Mo Show Comedy. Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy : 2 women. Unit Set In the opening scene, two Supreme Beings plan the beginning of the
world with the relish of two slightly sadistic suburban wives decorating
a living room. Once they've decided on the color scheme of the races,
a little concerned that white people will feel slighted being such
a boring color, they create sex and the sexes. Afraid women will
have too many advantages, the Beings decide to make childbirth painful
and to give men enormous egos as compensation. From this moment,
the audience is whisked through the outrageous universe of Kathy
and Mo, where two actresses play men and women struggling through
the common rituals of modern life: teenagers on a date, sisters at
their grandmother's funeral, a man and a woman together in a country-western
bar. With boundless humor, Parallel Lives re-examines the
ongoing quest to find parity and love in a contest handicapped by
capricious gods or in this case, goddesses. Comedy. Richard Harris Paul, a scriptwriter, and Graham, a novelist, have to produce a film 'treatment' of Graham's novel. The film producer has lent them his luxurious penthouse. They make a stab at their 'treatment' but it's impossible - who can work in these fabulous surroundings? Their train of thought is continually interrupted by strings of girls telephoning to speak to the producer. What a good life the man must have! They see no reason why they shouldn't enjoy a bit of it too. Comedy. Richard Harris, suggested by the author's earlier play, Local
Affairs This is a fast-paced and very funny play set in the back gardens
of feuding neighbours. It is the night of Michael's and Roma's fancy
dress house-warming party. The evening looks set to be a lively one
until a string of hilarious disasters strike, including a distinct
lack of guests, a burning garden shed, a marauding Zimmer frame and
the prospect of an irate husband on the prowl. Thriller. Olive Chase and Stewart Burke When Norma Brent is killed there are a number of people with reason
to welcome her departure. For one frightening moment it seems Norma
may have come to life again, but the apparition is actually her cousin
Diane, who strongly resembles her. At the climax of the play Norma's
husband Stephen makes good use of this resemblance in a carefully
staged and eerie scene which leads to the unmasking of the killer. Play. Marcia Kash and Douglas E. Hughes Writer Charles Prince has invited six people to play a murder mystery game at a rustic cottage on an island somewhere in North America. They appear set for a fun weekend until past ghosts begin to haunt the proceedings and all is not as it seems. The game takes on a sinister dimension when guests begin to die and the remaining players realize that they are playing for their lives. |