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Original play (Les Corbeaux) by Henry Becque, translated
by David Walker and adapted by Alan Ayckbourn When a sudden heart attack claims the life of the father of the
Vigneron household, the family is plunged into economic turmoil.
Madame Vigneron and her children are forced to rely on the advice
of others in sorting out the complicated estate, and find they are
surrounded by wolves at every turn in the form of creditors, business
associates and 'friends'. Period nineteenth century Play. Georgina Reid Joan, a renowned sculptor, forgets she has engaged Mrs Bond as cook,
until the lady and her daughter, Sarah, turn up. Put off by Mrs Bond's
attitude, they are won over by her cooking and the charming Sarah
(who sits for Joan). Mrs Bond is furious when she finds out and a
sequence of sinister events is set in train leading to the near-death
of Gran. Mrs Bond is arrested for attempted murder, but it is up
to Gran to reveal the would-be killer. Play. Clare Booth Luce Mary Haines's friends are cynical about her happy, successful marriage. When news reaches the friends that Stephen, Mary's husband, is enjoying a dalliance with the gold-digging Crystal Allen, Mary is soon informed. Her mother, wise and worldly, advises her to forgive him, but she feels divorce is the only solution. Eventually, having learned from her friends the laws of the female jungle, Mary sharpens her claws, and prepares to win back the man she still loves. Play. Alan Ayckbourn Seen at the Vaudeville, London, in 1986 with Julia McKenzie and
Martin Jarvis this is one of Ayckbourn's blacker comedies, dealing
with the gradual mental collapse of Susan. Starved of affectionate
companionship and understanding love by an appalling husband and
priggish son Susan conjures up an ideal family. But gradually she
loses control over this dream and finally breaks down in a nightmarish
fantasy involving her real and imaginary families. The Woman in White Play. Constance Cox, adapted from the novel by Wilkie Collins The story of unhappy Laura Fairlie and the plot to deprive her of her fortune is as gripping now as when Collins first wrote it. Lovers of period drama will welcome Constance Cox's admirable dramatisation, neatly constructed as to allow presentation in one set. Period 1861-2 Play. John Patrick Shanley. Rhonda, Judy and Billie are having dinner, over which they lament
the fact that, while their careers are flourishing, their emotional
lives are a wreck. Rhonda has just broken up with her boyfriend (but
is unable to jettison the oversized sneakers still sitting in the
corner of her room); Billie,
"happily married," frets that she and her husband are stuck in their
honeymoon phase; and Judy despairs of ever meet-ing an attractive
man who isrit gay. But then, in a series of sharply written, subtly
revealing scenes, their situations change. Billie fixes-up Judy with
her ex-boyfriend, a debonair black executive who proves to be more
than an adequate lover; Billie's husband gives her a black eye (which
delights her because it finally proves that the honeymoon is over!);
and Rhonda, still alone, summons up the courage to dispose of her
boyfriend's sneakers. As the play ends, the three are hopeful about
better times ahead, but also painfully aware that the brittle, competitive
Manhattan lifestyle disappoints as quickly as it rewards. Play. Marie Jones. Music by Neil Martin Vera and Anna have made the trip to Donegal to see their singing
idol Daniel O' Donnell. Vera has been abandoned by her husband and
Anna is content to dream of Daniel whilst sustaining a loveless marriage.
Singing waiter, Fergal, invites the women to join him at dawn. In
a series of dreamlike meetings the women confront their spouses and
each other. Neil Martin's country style songs enhance this easily
staged, telling look at the spirit of women. The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband Debbie Isitt : Comedy Kenneth and Hilary have been married nearly twenty years, but as
middle age approaches, Ken finds himself in the arms of another woman.
At first, Laura appears to be everything that is missing from Ken's
life with Hilary - young, slim, attractive and a vibrant free spirit
- but his little fling quickly becomes desperately out of hand. Juggling
the affections of two women, his world becomes a tangle of lies and
deceit. After his initial denials to Hilary's increasing suspicions,
he is soon forced to confront the truth and leaves Hilary for Laura.
Only one problem ... Laura can't cook. As time passes, Kenneth mourns
the loss of Sunday roasts and haute cuisine, and the comforts of
the settled life he once knew. When Hilary invites Ken and Laura
over for dinner, he readily accepts, unaware of what delicacies Hilary
plans to serve. Told through a series of flashbacks interspersed
with the 'last supper', The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband is
a highly entertaining exploration of the old adage, "the way to a
man's heart is through his stomach"! Play. Romulus Linney. Based on the author's novel, Slowly, By
Thy Hand Unfurled. The place is a small American town. The time 1900. As the play begins
the characters enter and seat themselves in a semicircle of antique
chairs. The last to enter is the Woman, who carries a ledger, (her
journal) from which she starts to read. It is quickly evident that
the journal is not only a record of the Woman's daily life, but also
a measure of her intellectual and emotional growth as she copes with
the trials and tribulations with which she and her family are beset.
As her story unfolds, the various characters involved in each episode
leave their chairs and enter the action, while the others watch in
silence. The Woman is sorely tried as she loses one daughter to a
bungled abortion, another to a brain tumor, and a son to TB. But,
despite all, she manages to grow in learning and strength of character,
to deal with her husband's descent into alcoholism; to forgive the
young doctor whose clumsiness caused her daughter's death; and to
accept the malevolence of her surviving son, who holds her responsible
for the tragedies which the family has suffered. In the end the play
is a study in compassion, determination and the indomitability of
the human spirit - soaringly depicted through the character of a
simple, unschooled woman who, in coming to terms with herself and
her life, was able to achieve a freedom and sense of being which
her "betters"
would never know. Comedy. Jonathan Marc Sherman. Linus Worth is graduate film student in California, getting ready
to attend his best friend's wedding in New York. The morning of the
flight, mistakenly thinking that this is the honest thing to do,
he tells his girlfriend, Robin, that he's been unfaithful. She dumps
him. Confused and dateless, he leaves for the airport. On his way,
a fellow student, Betsy, asks him if she can video tape him doing
something spontaneous. Linus and Betsy are strangers but have seen
each other on campus. Linus agrees to be spontaneous, and what he
does is offer her the extra ticket to New York. She accepts. Their
time together over the weekend reveals a longing for intimacy they
both feel, but look for in different ways. Attracted to each other,
the find they enjoy spending a great deal of time kissing. They eventually
fall into bed but Linus is looking for more. He's searching for a
love he feels doesn't exist, so he hesitates to take what love he
finds. He resists learning someone new, because too quickly, they
become old and familiar. Yet he won't let go of the familiar, as
unsatisfying as it has become, because he doesn't trust the new and
unknown. Linus is a young romantic, and Betsy is a find he may lose.
When they return to California, Betsy feels Lions withdraw, so takes
him to her family beach house. They watch the waves break and Betsy
invites Linus to the bedroom. He accepts, but he'll follow her in
a moment. She goes inside, and calls to him, several times, but as
the lights fade, Linus continues to watch the waves, unable to reach
a decision. Play Edmund Morris. The story concerns the cold war between a housewife (Clara) and
the father-in-law she has been trying to dislodge ever since she
married: a tough, asthmatic old wreck combining all the pride and
cunning of his age with the simplicity of a baby. His son, Glenn,
is tossed helplessly from one loyalty to another, and Clara has grown
desperate enough for anything - even an attempted love affair with
another man - to release her from this burden. When Pop finally gives
up the fight to remain in his son's home, it is left to his granddaughter,
Susan, to see with the compassion that only youth can feel for age,
the true tragedy of his going. Words by Alan Ayckbourn. Music by John Pattison This futuristic musical is set in a small-town railway station,
sometime all too soon. Harry Wooller, a vicar, is looking for sponsorship
for his group's musical Mystery play. His call is intercepted by
a dubious but immensely powerful source - Valda/Valder who alternates
between male and female forms. Artistry is soon compromised; this
drastic interference forces the group to reveal their past deeds,
and recognize the need for change. Play. Georg Buchner, translated by John MacKendrick This anti-romantic and starkly realistic tragedy is about a common soldier, Woyzeck, who attempts to make sense out of life in the face of the intolerance of those about him who think him stupid. Driven mad by external forces- inhuman military discipline, environment, class and religion he slaughters his wife and then drowns himself. Buchner's portrayal is ironic and compassionate: the play was a remarkable nineteenth-century call for the need for social reform. Play. Bill C. Davis. Moving back and forth in both time and place, alternating flashbacks
with present action, the play illuminates the lifelong rivalry of
two brothers who differ radically in attitude and temperament. Bobby,
the dominant older brother, was the one who always excelled at sports
and studies, and from whom great things were expected; while his
younger sibling, the easygoing, less ambitious Monty, always seemed
to be cast in the role of the loser. But, as the play begins, Bobby,
having flunked out of law school and making do with a dead-end job
in a Manhattan department store, is the one adrift; while Monty,
now a gym teacher, is happily ensconced with his girlfriend, Angie,
in an upstate village. Concerned about his brother, Monty invites
Bobby to -join them on weekends but, as the juxtaposition of scenes
from the past and present so effectively underscores, the old competitiveness
soon flares up, this time with Angie caught in the middle. While
she loves Monty, she is drawn to the tidy, efficient and more worldly
Bobby, and when he proposes to her, Monty, reacting instinctively
to his accustomed domination by his brother, reluctantly backs off
- before pulling himself together and making a counterproposal. In
the end, however, Angie can't (or won't) decide between the two and
departs - leaving Monty and Bobby as they were and always will be:
two brothers inextricably bound by a filial affection forever challenged
by rivalry and conflict. Mystery/Drama. Frederick Knott. The action of the play takes place in Rodingham Manor, an ancient
but rather run-down stately home in England. There are two Rodingham
brothers, sons of the lord of the manor who wastes no time in dying,
off-stage, of natural causes. Upon the death of Lord Rodingham, eldest
son Clive immediately sells the family estate and all its contents
to local self-made businessman Charles Sturrock, and then goes off
to Texas with his new American wife, a millionairess. Younger brother
David, a well-known short-story writer, is disappointed, but strikes
up a friendship with Sturrock's wife Julia. She is a would-be writer
and he helps her plot a murder story set in the study of Rodingham
Manor for an Evening News competition. But when her husband
becomes objectionable, they decide to carry out the plot in earnest.
It proves unnecessary; Charles is killed in a car smash, David and
Julia marry and she begins a new story set on a houseboat. A year
later while Julia is in London, Clive returns - he is broke and his
marriage has failed. When he discovers David is interested in following
through Sturrock's plans to exploit the estate, he threatens to blackmail
him and expose the development plans to the local villagers. David
then kills him according to the original story, but when Julia returns
she reveals to David she has won first prize and was published in
the Evening News - only it was not the houseboat story she
entered - it was their murder collaboration. David looks out of the
window and sees the police with the newspaper on the point of finding
the incriminating evidence buried beneath a sundial. Play Leonard Spigelgass. The action takes place in an apartment house in Brooklyn that is
practically a slum. Harold Axman, the protagonist, is a young liberal
of infinite goodwill who has inherited the apartment after the death
of his grandfather. His tenants are a varied lot - a black woman
and her militant son, a sexy Puerto Rican girl who shortly is sharing
her landlord's bed, a gently humorous Jewish woman who knew him as
a boy and uses this knowledge to get favours, a family of strict
orthodox Jews - and at first they are filled with distrust of their
new landlord. Little by little they begin to warm towords him, all
except the black militant, filled with hatred of all whites, especially
Jews. When the latter is arrested after the Jewish woman has been
assaulted and robbed, a riot breaks out in the neighbourhood. A Turkish
bath which has been left to Axman burns down and people are wounded
and killed. The militant, released from arrest, is triumphant at
one more incident to call attention to his cause. Axman is beaten,
eager to retreat from the scene of what he believes is his failure
and to find a place free of hatred and strife. He realises that there
is no such place in our world today, but his message is tempered
with hope. Play. Emily Brontë, adapted for the stage by Charles Vance A new version of Emily Brontë's great classic, the immortal
love story set amid the bleak beauty of Haworth Moor, the landscape
over which towers the wild, terrible figure of Heathcliff. The tale
of his searing passion for the beautiful Catherine Earnshaw has the
vividness of nightmare, the beauty and simplicity of an old ballad
and the depth and intensity of ancient tragedy. Period nineteenth
century. |