|
Bodies.
Play. James Saunders Mervyn, Anne, David and Helen are
middle-class, respectable couples. Years before, each man
had an affair with the other's wife. For nine years they had
not met. Now Mervyn has asked them over for dinner. The
meeting leads to a discussion in which a great deal of the
inner lives, opinions, prejudices and outlooks of the four
are revealed. In the first act dialogues between the couples
in their separate houses alternate with monologues from each
character in which earlier events are recalled. The second
act is set in Mervyn and Anne's home, in more
straightforward style, on the evening of that significant
meeting. Boeing-Boeing.
Comedy. Marc Camoletti,
translated by Beverley Cross Bernard thought he could easily cope with
his three air hostess fiancees. It was all a question of
timetables and a reliable, down-to-earth maid who never
forgot to change the photographs in the bedroom. Only when
the 'Super' Boeing takes over is he landed with a triple
problem. His old school friend, Robert, arrives unexpectedly
from Paris and joins the set in a hilarious whirl of
confusion and matchmaking. Bold
Girls. Play. Rona
Munro The dramas of everyday life in Belfast
are but off-stage events in this stirring play about the
lives of three women whose men have been killed or
imprisoned for their political activities, but where bread
must still be bought between explosions. In spite of its
chilling theme there are many humorous and heart-warming
moments - a play about people, not politics, which offers
excellent acting opportunities. Rona Munro received the
Evening Standard Most Promising Playwright Award for
1991 for Bold Girls. La
Bolshie Vita. Comedy. Ken
Whitmore Osip, a fervent young Patty member, is
confused with Ivan, a Jewish dissident poet. Ivan is en
route for Siberia and imprisonment, while Osip is
travelling there to inspire the residents of Poshlost to
heroic efforts. Anton, the local Party Secretary, has just
returned from a trip to the West with his suitcase loaded
with forbidden luxuries, and together with the other local
party officials, is thrown into a panic at the prospect of
the arrival of a keen Communist. Yet in the ensuing
hilarious confusion the dissident Ivan achieves quite
remarkable results ... Bonaventure.
Play. Charlotte Hastings A flood in the Fen country has trapped
two prison officials and their prisoner, Sarat Carp, who is
on her way to the gallows for the murder of her brother. In
spite of the evidence, Sister Mary Bonaventure is certain of
Sarat's innocence. She uncovers a hitherto unknown
connection between Sarat's friend Dr Jeffries and a woman
for whose death Sarat's brother had been responsible. Just
before the police launch arrives, a confession is forced
from the real murderer. Period 1950s Bone-Chiller.
Comedic Mystery-Thriller.
Monk Ferris On Friday the 13th, thirteen people
gather for the reading of the late Josiah Travers's will.
The will consists of a rebus which offers the lucrative
estate to anyone who can solve the puzzle. To make
things tougher, the lights keep going out and people keep
being murdered. This is not only a very funny farce, it is
also a superbly crafted mystery. Borders
of Paradise. Play.
Sharman Macdonald Ellen and Rose have arrived from Scotland and set up their tent on a Devonshire cliff top. Down on the beach Rob, David, Charlie, Cot and John are enjoying a surfing break. A touching and humorous piece with seven excellent roles for young actors. 'No-one writes about the mysteries of young adulthood with more truth ... combines warm and funny naturalism with an appropriate touch of the mystic.' The Times Born
in the Gardens. Play.
Peter Nichols Maud, a decidedly eccentric woman, lives
in a dilapidated mock-Tudor Victorian house with her son Mo.
The other children, Hedley, an ineffectual Labour MP, and
Queenie, an expatriate in America, arrive and try to
persuade Maud to go to a modem 'duplex' in London, and Mo to
join Queenie in California, but both prefer to remain as
they are. Not all of us, Mo says, 'want freedom. Captivity
has its points as well.' Bottom's
Dream. Play. Alan
Poole Who dreamt the Midsummer Night's Dream?
What were the reactions of the Artisans' relatives to their
play-acting activities? The author considers the play from
the point of Bottom - and the women as members of the
audience. Bottom and his wife are discovered settling down
for the night-as twelve o'clock strikes, Bottom dreams a
'most rare vision'. All the Artisan scenes are preserved
intact - but here the women also have their say. Boundary
Waters. Play. Barbara Field,
A Nobel Laureate in physics, Declan, invites his close friends and fellow scientists to the woods of Boundary Waters National Park to get away from their blackboards and observe the snowy owl. While waiting for a fleeting glimpse of the great bird, Spindlequick cooks elabourate meals no one would expect in the wild, and informs Natalie that she has been named the coveted Feynmann Lecturer for the year. Though pleased, the idea of delivering a speech means travelling close to where her estranged son lives, forcing Natalie to decline the offer, triggering an all-night discourse, full of revelations, with her husband, David. The ongoing discussion is constantly interrupted, first by the appearance of Cometti, a former student of Declan's, and his new girlfriend, Sylvia then by everyone's own misadventures. Cometti, invited by mistake and not exactly welcome, wants to reveal to Declan his almost finished solution to 'cosmic strings' and maybe learn of the missing link he needs for his equation. But the rules of camping state that no work can be discussed, throwing Cometti into a angry panic his girlfriend must try to calm. Declan, taken with Sylvia, convinces her he would be a perfect candidate for her to teach the secrets of cosmic travel, so around the campfire, she takes him to other places, while Cometti decides whether a gun he brought with him to fend off wild animals might really be meant for other purposes. Through the night, the partners mix and mismatch with results akin to A Midsummer's Night Dream, waking the next morning to find they have rediscovered themselves and their scientific calling with the help of the redemptive powers of nature itself. The
Boys in the Band.
Play. Mart Crowley Michael, a homosexual, has invited a
number of friends to his birthday party. A 'straight' friend
of his, Alan, rings up and wants to see him. Though anxious
about the outcome, Michael agrees to his joining them.
Alan's presence acts as a catalyst to the emotions - never
far from the surface - of those at the party. The result is
a mixture of bitter humour and physical violence. Alan goes,
leaving behind him the debris of the party.
|
|
|