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Play. Ralph Pape. The place is a shabby apartment in New Yorks East Village, which
Jerry. an aspiring young actor, shares with Ginny, a secretary. They
are joined by Jerry's high school friends Steve, a prankish would-be
poet and television writer; and Bobby, a musician who has been scraping
by with dates in small clubs in suburban New Jersey, and who arrives,
with his girl friend Catherine, a beautiful but rather kinky airline
stewardess. Their intention is to attend their high school reunion,
and as they while away the hours before it is time to leave, they
talk and smoke pot, their conversation becoming funnier - and more
revealing - as the smoke thickens. Jerry, bitter that his acting
career is at a standstill, decides that he doesn't want to go to
the reunion, but the others (whose disappointments are as keen as
his) try to cheer him up and urge him on. In the end, however, they
fail - for Jerry and themselves. These are children of the idealistic
60s, unable to come to terms with the uncertain 70s, and trying to
evade, with their ever funnier and more biting comments, the sobering
truth that haunts them all - that there are, unfortunately, no clear
and simple answers anymore. Comedy. Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall A telephone booth is an important cast member in this comedy! Every Friday evening David Lord's wife, Sarah, lends their flat to her unmarried friend, Valerie, so that the latter can entertain her married lover, Stuart. David does not know of this arrangement and Stuart believes that Valerie is married to David! When David rebels one Friday at being dragged to yet another foreign film and Stuart has a fit of masochistic jealousy the resulting embroilments defy further description. (in Latin-American Plays) - Griselda Gambaro. Trans. S.
Doggart A man goes for a haircut and gets more than he bargained for from
the inscrutable hairdresser ... This shocking story is by Argentina's
leading woman playwright. 'One of the most innovative and powerful
writers in the world today' Diana Taylor. Peter Saunders : Drama Based on a true story, Scales of Justice is a fascinating
exploration of the nature of British justice and sense of fair play.
At the height of the 1914-18 war between Great Britain and Germany,
Hans Mühler, a recently naturalized German, is interned. After
his release he claims that his internment was the work of Richard
Neville, a prominent Member of Parliament who has also taken over
his business. Mühler decides to sue Neville for fraud, but in
war-time England he has difficulty in finding any one willing to
represent him except a young and inexperienced barrister. As the
second half of the play moves into the courtroom and finds Mühler's
case facing a defense composed of the best available councillors
in the country, can the scales of justice possibly remain balanced? Scandal Point Play. John Patrick. 3 men, 1 woman. Interior Comedy Bill Irwin and Mark O'Donnell, adapted from Molière. This adaptation of Molière's farce, Les fourberies de Scapin, and borrowing some final lines from Molière's La Contessa d'Escarbagnas. 9 men, 3 women (flexible casting). Exterior The crafty Scapin, servant to the household of Geronte, jumps into
the story as he first promises to help in the affairs of his neighbour's
son, Octave, then to aid in those of his own charge, Leander (Geronte's
son). Both young men have fallen in love with unlikely, and penniless
beauties, and both need money to help solve their dilemmas. Scapin
knows a good ruse will always win the day and he drafts Sylvestre,
Octave's servant, into his schemes. Convincing Sylvestre he's a wonderful
actor (and allowing him to build characterisations using movie clichés),
Scapin has him play characters who will deceive the family patriarchs
into parting with large sums of money. The final scene of the first
act is a vaudeville/music hall version of Molière's famous
scene in which Scapin spins a tale of kidnapping, foreigners and
ransom. Once the money is obtained, however, Scapin pushes further
in order to exact a little revenge on those he's served. Thinking
Geronte has said something nasty about him, Scapin sets out to teach
him a lesson. The roguish words, however, are Scapin's own lies and
stories finally coming back to him. His revenge backfires and he
must flee. In the end however, Scapin's schemes help in revealing
the penniless beauties to be exactly the right mates for the young
charges -being of high birth after all, since they are discovered
to be the missing children of both patriarchs. Scapin returns to
his post with the pleasant punishment of having to marry the maidservant
of one of the daughters. There is a final chase and dance among all
the participants, which, inevitably, becomes the raucous, delightful
curtain call. Play. Frank Dunlop and Jim Dale, a long way off from Molière Inspired, at some distance, by Molière's Les Fourberies de Scapin, this 'comic madness' is set in present day Naples. Ottavio's and Leandro's fathers are away, leaving their sons in the care of guardians - Scapino and Sylvestro. Ottavio marries Giacinta and when he learns that his father plans to 'marry him off' he seeks Scapino's help. The spirit of the play is evident at the outset, when a slapstick sequence is accompanied by a crazy song made up from the menu at an Italian restaurant. Play. Phyllis Nagy, adapted from the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne The setting is Boston, Massachusetts, 300 years ago, a puritanical
world dominated by religious obsession, superstition and secrecy.
Hester Prynne, a convicted adulteress, will not reveal the identity
of the father of her curious, illegitimate daughter, Pearl. Her bitter
husband, Chillingworth, plots a wicked revenge which leads him to
the guilt-ridden minister, Dimmesdale. A symbolic and tragic depiction
of the human response to love, sin, betrayal and repression. Play. Baroness Orczy adapted by Beverley Cross This swashbuckling tale of English aristocrats rescuing their French
brethren tom the jaws of Madame la Guillotine in revolution-torn,
eighteenth-century France has something for everyone - humour, adventure
and just a dash of romance! Beverley Cross's spectacular adaptation
was seen at Chichester and subsequently at the Theatre Royal, London,
starring Donald Sinden. 'It is a long time since the theatre saw
an adventure so joyous ... a stunning adaptation ... an evening of
simple but unalloyed theatre magic.' Daily Telegraph Play. James Saunders. When we first come upon Zoe, there is a strange ambience about her.
She watches while a coffin is brought in by two comic and appealing
young cockney assistants to Scrivens, the most dignified and comforting
of undertakers. And little by little we come to realise that it is
the body of Zoe that is in the coffin and that only her spirit is
about. From then on, there are alternating scenes of her past, when
she was very much alive, and of her present. These transitions are
as effortless as the smooth passages from comedy to drama. In the
end it is a portrait not only of a premature death but of life, and
love, and the poignant failure of those who reach out to help but
cannot retrieve the loss to which they have unwittingly contributed:
interest, concern, even love, are not the same as compassion and
charity. Although it is a poignant story, the dialogue is unsentimental,
often grimly comic. Play. Marisha Chamberlain. As the play begins, Eve, arriving home in the late evening, is seized
by a man in a ski mask who forces her to take him to her apartment.
Once there he rapes her - and announces that, as she has ripped away
his mask, he will have to kill her. But first there is a chilling
pas de deux in which Eve stalls for. time and-the rapist (Joe) reveals
that he has been watching her for months from a nearby rooftop, and
knows even the smallest details of her daily life. Controlling her
fear and loathing, Eve tries to convince Joe that she finds him attractive,
that she is ready to give herself to him willingly. Although suspicious
at first, Joe's vanity overrules his caution, and Eve seizes the
moment to flee, fortunately into the hands of two policemen who are
patrolling outside her apartment. The trapped Joe tries to convince
the officers that Eve is hysterical, that she has invited him to
her apartment, but the ruse fails and he is taken off. Yet the ordeal
is not over, for Eve must exorcise the shock and repugnance which
she now relates to men in general, and it is the remaining officer
who lets her do this - allowing Eve to act out her trauma, even at
his own peril, by quietly shedding his official image and. becoming,
for the moment, a vulnerable, caring human being who sense another's
anguish and who knows that he can help her work through it to survival. Comedy. Molière, translated into English verse by Richard
Wilbur. Two brothers, Sganarelle and Ariste, have been named guardians of
a deceased friend's two daughters, to raise and even marry if they
see fit. Ariste has raised Leonor with great freedom, allowing her
to go to parties, indulging her whims and leaving her free to marry
whomever she chooses. But Sganarelle has raised Isabelle quite differently,
keeping her a virtual prisoner and intending to marry her, no matter
what she desires. Ariste has tried to convince his younger brother
that this will only inspire Isabelle to seek escape from him. Sganarelle
believes that if she was given the same freedom as her sister she
would immediately cuckold him. Meanwhile Sganarelle's young neighbour,
Valere, has fallen in love with Isabelle from a distance, and she
with him. Isabelle tricks her guardian into delivering secret messages
to Valere by playing on Sganarelle's fears of suitors for her affections,
and Sganarelle unwittingly delivers message after message, thinking
Isabelle is spurning Valere's love. In the end Isabelle disguises
herself as Leonor, goes to Valere's house while Sganarelle happily
fetches a magistrate to marry them. Believing his views of Ariste's
raising of Leonor has been proven correct, Sganarelle drags his brother
out of his house to view the wedding. When Sganarelle discovers that
he has been the victim of this deception however, he is shocked and
swears off women forever. Comedy. Molière, translated into English verse by Richard
Wilbur. Fearing cuckoldry above all else, Arnolphe has painstakingly trained
the guileless Agnes from childhood to become his obedient and faithful
wife. Although he has carefully shielded her from the outside world,
romance finds her in the form of the dashing Horace, son of one of
Arnolphe's best friends. Unaware of who his rival is, the trusting
Horace enlists Arnolphe's aid in wooing Agnes - which leads to a
series of hilarious and inventive twists and turns of plot, until
the inevitable conclusion is reached: the wily Arnolphe is duped
into outwitting himself and young love, as it will, carries the day. Comedy. Molière. Freely adapted by Miles Malleson from L'Ecole
des Femmes Arnolphe has selected as his wife the charming innocent Agnes, his
ward, whom he trusts will not succumb to the prevailing vice of infidelity.
But Agnes falls in love with Horace, whose father, Oronte, is Arnolphe's
friend. Oronte, delighted at the romance, confides to Arnolphe that
the young lady is bedevilled by a tyrannical guardian. Furious. Arnolphe
plans to remove Agnes to a safer place but the lovers are united
in the end. Period 1660 Richard Brinsley Sheridan A tale of two brothers. Joseph Surface is apparently a model citizen,
his brother Charles a dissolute wastrel. But when the schemings of
the scandal mongers go awry, the reverse is shown to be true. First
staged in 1777. Peter Whelan : Drama On May 30th, 1593, Christopher Marlowe was killed in a brawl ...
or was he? In the company of Thomas Kyd, Sir Walter Ralegh and the
mysterious Tom Stone, Marlowe sets about writing his finest poem
while charges of treason and atheism hang over him. When Kyd is arrested
soon after, he implicates Marlowe who is forced into hiding at the
now deserted Rose Theatre, once home to his greatest triumphs. Faced
with increasing danger, Marlowe must plot his escape from England
with the assistance of others whose loyalties appear united but remain
tragically divided. Was his death simply a fight over a tavern bill,
as officially recorded? Or was Marlowe, caught up in the minefield
of dissidence and treason surrounding the Elizabethan Court, brutally
murdered in a trap set by mercenary spies? The mystery surrounding
his death and his membership in the clandestine School of Night is
brought vividly to life against a backdrop of a politically and religiously
divided England. First seen in Stratford upon Avon and then in London
at the RSC's Pit Theatre during 1992-1993 season. Schweyk in the Second World War. Play. Bertolt Brecht Translations: M12 F3. Numerous simple sets. Brecht transposes Jaroslav Hasek's satirical 'hero' from World War I to the Prague of Hitler and Heydrich. Schweyk gets out of awkward situations in his farcical adventures by a combination of cheek and guile. Eventually he is sent to fight the Russians at Stalingrad, and on the way he meets an equally lost Hitler who asks him if he knows the way back. Interludes show Goering, Goebbels and others assuring Hitler of the loyalty and devotion of the Little Man. (in Spanish Plays) - Juan Mayorga. Trans. N. Drake A group of inmates has been locked up in a mental hospital since
the Spanish Civil War. For forty years their only contact with the
outside world has been with an elderly doctor. Until Benet, a young
medical student arrives and unveils their histories and madness.
Premiered Royal Court, 1998, in a staged reading. Mystery. Jeffrey Hatcher: In the last decade of the twentieth century, a beautiful young woman
in nineteenth-century clothing is found floating on an iceberg in
the middle of the North Atlantic. When rescued, she says only one
word, "Titanic". The woman, Winifred, is taken to an isolated spot
on the coast of Maine where an expert on the sinking of the liner,
a mysterious man named John, has arranged to interrogate her for
6 days. His goal: to crack her story, get her to confess she's a
fake, and reveal her true identity; his one clue: her enigmatic references
to an unknown place called "Scotland Road." In a stark, white room
furnished only with a ship's deck chair, John, assisted by a skeptical
doctor named Halbrech, plays a cat-and-mouse game with Wnifred, probing
and searching for ways to break her down. But Winifted is a formidable
opponent, and as John is drawn closer to her, he becomes desperate.
As time runs out, Halbrech tracts down the last, living survivor
of the disaster, a reclusive old woman named Frances Kittle who has
lived in seclusion for 75 years. Miss Kittle is brought to meet Winifred
to test her, but the tables turn when Winifred recalls an earlier
confrontation with Miss Kittle, one that took place on board the
fated liner the night is sank, three quarters of a century before.
By the play's end, one of the characters is dead, all the character's
identities have been questioned, and John and Winifred's shared secret
is revealed as they make one final journey to Scotland Road. Play. Graham Holliday Michael has always harboured an ambition to direct Macbeth, so when
he is offered he autumn production by the Shellsfoot Thespians he
seizes his opportunity. He encounters problems, of course, from finding
enough men, to telling grande dame Geraldine shat he doesn't
want her as Lady Macbeth, despite being offered a bribe that would
pay production costs. The theatrical jinx surrounding the play extends
to amateur productions and Michael's life, too. A witty, humorous
play, totally true to life, which was first broadcast on BBC Radio. Play Dailey Paskman. Adapted from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. 10 men, 2 women. Unit Set This excellent adaptation of Dickens' beloved story has all the
humour and spirit of the Christmas season. The Narrator, who appears
as Charles Dickens, takes us along each scene as the characters speak,
linking all of the scenes as the story unfolds. The play is framed
musically by a choir of young people who are in character as the
Carollers. They sing Christmas carols to bridge the connecting scenes,
and serve as background, in colourful tones, to the words of the
Narrator. A Tense Comedy. Bruce Jay Friedman. The play concerns the misadventures of an American in the South
of France. His wife has just gone off with a black skin-diver, and
he is trying to be very fair and non-racial about it, although with
indifferent results. His next-door neighbour is a bikini-clad American
girl who drops in chiefly to tell him pointless stories. She is also
willing to comfort him, but his main interest is dramatising himself
as interchangeably forgiving and vengeful. The other visitors include
a thief and a policeman who, being French, patriotically takes the
French thief's side against him. The fatuous psychiatrist shows up,
as does an impossible American who thinks he understands other races.
The wife and her two black friends arrive; one, the skin-diver who
puts on a bogus genial kind of minstrel act, the other, a romantic
type who makes love poetically. They are a well-assorted and, on
the whole, an amusing set of people. |