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Comedy. Richard Ingham It is opening day at Ernst Edelbaum's hotel and already things are
going wrong. His English niece turns out to be Leslie, a male punk,
most of his guests don't arrive and the tour company are about to
discover that his required wife doesn't exist. As for the guests,
they all have their own problems ... But this hilarious farce, complete
with man in drag and indoor tobogganing, ends happily of course. Play. Thornton Wilder Down through the ages the Antrobus family have survived. They are
indestructible. Antrobus invented the alphabet, the multiplication
table, the lever and the wheel, and Mrs Antrobus invented the apron.
Their beginnings are to be found in the Garden of Eden, although
they speak in the accents of New Jersey. They are humanity, and whatever
happens, they survive all catastrophes - by the skin of their teeth. Play - Jean de Hartog. The play is a timely and powerful dramatic fable about a pious and idealist Dutch captain with a shipload of Jewish refugees who are refused admittance wherever they go. The captain, who takes his Christianity seriously, is determined to give his passengers a decent chance of finding a safe home. So, after fruitless efforts to get them into America legally, he wrecks his ship thus allowing the refugees to be rescued and taken ashore. Play. Catherine Hayes. The scene is the bedroom of a house in provincial England, where
a senile old woman lies on her deathbed, attended by her two-middle-aged
daughters. One of them, Jean, has stayed at home and has borne the
brunt of her mother's illness, from the first stroke to her present
almost total incapacity. The younger sister, Rita, has long since
moved away and returns now, grudgingly, only out of a sense of duty.
Jean, childless and rather slovenly, is unhappily married to a traveling
salesman; while Rita, attractive and well dressed, is the happily
married mother of three children. Their differences, and the long-standing
resentments which these have bred, pour out with bitterness and black
humor as the two squabble at their mother's bedside - sure that the
old woman is unable to comprehend what they say. That she does -
and what her final reaction to their bickering is - constitutes the
ironic heart of the play, and provides a telling comment on the power
of the dying to continue their sometimes baleful hold on the lives
of those who survive them. Caryl Churchill Premiered at the National Theatre in 1994, with Kathryn Hunter as
the malevolent Skriker, this extraordinary play by one of Britain's
leading playwrights combines English folk tales with modern urban
life in a physically and verbally stunning creation. It follows the
Skriker, 'a shapeshifter and death portent' in its search for love
and revenge as it pursues two young women through London, changing
its shape at every new encounter Comedy/Drama. Martin McDonagh. For one week each autumn, Mick Dowd is hired to disinter the bones
in certain sections of his local cemetery to make way for the new
arrivals. As the time approaches for him to dig up those of his own
late wife, strange rumours regarding his involvement in her sudden
death seven years ago gradually begin to resurface. Comedy. Samson Raphaelson. Tony is completely absorbed by his advertising business. What should
be a joyful 10th wedding anniversary turns out disastrously with
Tony offering his wife Lydia's cook to Mrs. Valentine, with whose
husband he hopes to close a deal. This is too much for Lydia. To
get away from the stuffy party she takes a ride with Bill Blake,
a guest who Mrs. Valentine fancies. On her return, Tony insists Lydia
phone Mrs. Valentine, to reassure her that she and Bill merely went
for a casual ride. This done, Tony selfishly feels the happiness
of their anniversary has been restored, but Lydia walks out. When
she returns to pack that evening, her husband realises she is determined
to get a divorce. Taking his partner's advice, Tony bluffs her into
believing he too wants freedom from his success. He will give up
his job, they will sell the house and fire the servants. But Tony's
bluff is called by the arrival of the jealous Mrs. Valentine, who
still believes Lydia has won Bill away from her. In a rage, she announces
she is having Tony fired. Lydia, thrilled, urges her to do so. Tony
is stunned, but does not reveal his true feelings. Lydia sells her
watch, Tony's anniversary present, and treats him to the little pleasures
he has not had time to enjoy for years. A splendid position is offered
Tony, which he pretends not to want. But Lydia, realising he has
worked hard to deceive her so he won't lose her, recognises her own
frailties, and joins him as he goes to accept his new job. Play. David Hare Kyra Hollis is a dedicated teacher in a run-down east London school.
Tom Sergeant is a successful businessman. When young, Kyra worked
for Tom and his wife Alice, became part of the family, and then Tom's
lover for six passionate years finally severing all connections with
the family when Alice discovered the affair. Now, a year after Alice's
death, Tom's son Edward unexpectedly arrives at Kyra's flat seeking
help for his father who cannot cope. Tom also visits Kyra but what
is it he seeks? Drama. David Auburn. The scene is a rainy night in Chicago where six strangers collide
on the rooftop of an historic building targeted for demolition. Jessica,
a young photographer fighting to save the building, has injured herself
trying to take pictures of the crumbling skyscraper. She and her
lawyer, Jane, are suing the demolisher, Raymond. Raymond has his
own troubles: he has just been forced to fire his dreamy and unreliable
brother, Joseph. Meanwhile, Louis, a 110-year-old man whose life
is bound up with the building, tries to rescue Vivian, a distraught
young woman determined to leap from the roof. Jessica inadvertently
saves Raymond's life; Jane seduces Joseph; Louis struggles with Vivian
and his failing memory, and all of their lives are changed as they
uncover the threads that connect them to Chicago, this building,
and each other. Tennessee Williams The Gnadiges Fraulein. Tragicomedy Play. Norman Robins Ageing horror star Romney Marsh has gathered together a group of
theatre people in his great country house. Once the guests realise
they are actually trapped, it is revealed that someone has been blackmailing
Romney. Shortly thereafter one of the guests is found with her throat
cut, and afterwards Romney is poisoned by one of his own chocolates.
Marooned in the house, the finger of suspicion is pointed at each
guest until the final truth is revealed with fatal consequences. Play. Christopher Fry. The story is presented as a highly imaginative, poignant drama about
four prisoners of war locked up in a church in enemy territory. Thus
confined, their problems are magnified as they struggle to understand
themselves and the world. The action comes in a sequence of dreams
in which each prisoner demonstrates his own inner response to events
- extending himself, his companions, and the problems they face on
to a spiritual plane. The immediate surroundings suggest Biblical
protagonists to each dreamer, and the attempted murder of one soldier
by his friend is seen successively as the story of Cain and Abel,
of David and Absalom, and of Abraham and Isaac. Thriller. Don Woods After Myra is unexpectedly summoned to her twin sister Elaine's
posh residence, she finds that Elaine and her husband have been killed
in a car crash and she is to inherit all their possessions. Irma,
a sinister character, comes on the scene and starts to blackmail
Myra. The story unfolds with a series of macabre twists and murders,
until the deep-freeze door opens and a blood-stained, zombie like
Irma emerges from it. Play. Neal Bell. The play begins on the roof of a Manhattan office building where
Park, a hard-driving (and dishonest) insurance executive, and Sling,
his protégé, are discussing the dire trouble Park has
got them, and the company, into by selling policies to bogus clients
(Judge Crater, Jimmy Hoffa, Amelia Earhart, to name a few) and then
pocketing the proceeds after declaring them dead. Sling, who confides
that his wife is pregnant and he is suffering from terminal brain
cancer, is also the holder of one of Park's worthless policies, an
aggregation of problems which he solves by leaping from the roof
- only to turn up later in the play as a grisly ghost who communes
with Parks dissatisfied suburban wife, Sally. But, for Park, the
more pressing concern is to retrieve a collection of incriminating
computer discs which are locked up in his sealed office, a manoeuver
which involves a burnt-out, sleazy private detective and Park's brash,
sexy secretary (who is not overly pleased to find her own name on
one of Park's phony policies). Trying to keep one step ahead of the
SEC auditors and the police, Park flirts with the idea of absconding
to Argentina, but his fate is ultimately sealed by his vengeful wife,
the moribund family dog, Nana (played by an actress in a shaggy sweater)
and, in the final essence, by his own consuming ennui as he contemplates
the wreckage which greed - and betrayal - have made of his once grandiose
dreams. Occasional fairy tale. Terence Rattigan The Regent, the Grand Duke Charles, intends to spend the eve of
the coronation with a chorus girl, but when Mary Morgan arrives the
liaison turns out to be a disastrous failure. Mary realises what
loveless and lonely lives these aristocrats lead, and the Regent
responds to Mary's naive philosophy that everything can be solved
by adding more love to life. They fall deeply in love but even fairy
tales must have an end. Period 1911 An occasional fairy tale. Terence Rattigan. The Prince Regent of Carpathia, in London for the coronation of King George V, has arranged for a midnight supper with a pretty chorus girl. But to his dismay, he finds the chorus girl has her own ideas as to how the supper should be conducted. By the time he has persuaded her to fall in with him, she has also fallen in love with him. But the Royal Family of Carpathia abhors love and considers it unnecessary for the efficient conduct of their affairs. Just as the Regent thinks he is getting rid of the chorus girl, his wife decides she must accompany her to the Coronation as her Lady-in-Waiting. When that is over and the Regent again thinks he's going to be rid of the girl, his son, The King of Carpathia, asks her to go with him to an official ball. The Regent and his son are having a tussle as to which political party is to control the country; the King is too young to have any official voice, but he's hoping his party may depose his father and put him on the throne before he attains his majority. During the ball, the chorus girl persuades the King to co-operate with his father - in exchange for a motorcycle and the promise that he won't have to marry a neighbouring princess who is a first-class brat. When the chorus girl has achieved all this for the Regent, he decides that he too is in love, but by then it's time for him to return to Carpathia, leaving the chorus girl to bid a wistful farewell to the royal family, and to take home an outsize collection of royal decorations and signed royal photographs. Play. Anthony Shaffer Your programme for this play will list five names for five roles, but the actual cast will be two, for no-one is ever what he seems in this brilliant whodunit, where every event is bizarre. The scene is set in a beautiful English country house owned by a famous mystery writer. A young guest arrives and they begin a convivial round of scotch and dialogue. Suddenly the host says '1 understand you want to marry my wife' and from that moment the two are locked in mortal combat. The play is a study, set mainly on the east side of Cardiff. of
the relationships between two boys, their relationship to each other
and to their respective mothers, and how these conflicting attachments
affect them through life. It is non-naturalistic except for the dialogue,
and none of the characters leaves the stage throughout. The 'scenes'
are linked by monologues from all four. Comedy. Damon Runyon and Howard Lindsay. Remy Marko, racketeering ex-beer baron of Prohibition days, has become a legitimate brewer, chiefly at the wish of his wife, Nora. Their daughter, Mary, is arriving home after receiving an expensive education abroad. While abroad she met the handsome and wealthy Chancellor Whitelaw, scion of an old line family. But Mary insists she won't marry Chance unless he gets a job. The Markos and an assortment of ex-thugs, who now play with great discomfort the roles of chauffeur, cook and butler, arrive at the house they have rented for the racing season at Saratoga. But they find the lifeless remains of four gangsters resting peacefully in an upstairs room. These "parties" just brought off a sensational highjacking job worth half a million dollars and came to the house to satisfy a grudge against Remy. At the same moment a traffic cop arrives. But the cop is none other than Chance, who decided to get work as a policeman. Remy "don't like cops," and his dislike is further emphasised when Chance's father comes to the party at the house the same evening. Father is a rather narrow-minded gentleman who is taken aback at the strange antics that go on at the party, and he is determined to break off the match between his son and Mary. Chance, however, is given a marvellous opportunity to make himself a hero. He is urged on by Remy to make it look as though he captured the four highjackers himself. This reconciles the two families. The figure of Douglas Fairbanks Rosenbloom, the orphan boy whom Remy has brought up to Saratoga in order that he may enjoy the cultural advantages of the place, pursues its ridiculous way through the play. It is through him that Remy discovers the cash stolen by the highjackers and which enables him to weather a financial crises with two hardboiled bankers. Slow Dance on the Killing Ground Play. William Hanley. As the curtain rises a poor, dusty shop with its dirty window obscuring
the dark hostile night, with its mean little counter, and with its
juke box glaring vulgarly from the side, the storekeeper is taking
inventory. The door is flung open, letting in a lithe young Negro,
weirdly dressed in a soft, high-crowned hat over his kinky little
mop, sunglasses, a cape, short slacks and sneakers. Mr. Hanley calls
this act Pas de Deux. In this dance for two, the characters make
hesitant approaches, circle, feint, threaten each other with gun
and ice pick but scarcely make contact. The young man is obviously
a hunted man. Through the circumlocutions of his odd mixture of jive
talk and fancy literary allusions, there pants a sense of terror.
The storekeeper is a non-Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany, is close-mouthed,
suspicious, anxious to avoid self-involvement ... In the second act
the Pas de Deux becomes Pas de Trois. The third dancer is Rosie,
an 18-year old from Riverdale, has wandered into the shop after losing
her way while looking for the address of an abortionist. Rosie has
no illusions about her homeliness or about the encounter that has
led to her troubles ...The laconic German and the flowery young man
react to her with a sensitivity and concern that seem to diminish
the furies within them. But not for long. Finally the German is driven
to revealing the truth about himself as the young man, at last, in
the third act, faces his inexorable fate out there on the killing
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