Neil Simon's actually made a funny play
from the Book of Job-transferring the scene to a Long Island
mansion where resides a tycoon his wife, a prodigal son and
a pair of zany twins. Then a messenger from God enters
(wearing a big 'G' on his sweatshirt) and everything becomes
a test of the tycoon's faith, including his family.
'Awesomely funny ... The work of a man of vision. It'll make
you laugh out loud.' New York Daily News A
Going Concern : Stephen
Jeffreys The technological revolution has not yet
reached Chapel & Sons, an ailing family business making
billiard tables. In the dilapidated workshop, three
generations conspire against each other for control of the
firm. The play is at once a lament for the passing of an
industrial age, a retelling of the classic mythical struggle
between fathers and sons, and a thoroughly entertaining
story. 'Blisteringly tough and funny' Sunday
Times The
Golden Pathway Annual.
Play. John Harding and John
Burrows The structure of this play is a loosely
connected sequence of sketches, some deliberately written
for great comic effect and others pitched in a much lower
key. It is about a boy growing up in the period from the end
of the Second World War to the late 1960s. The Golden
Pathway Annual has things to say, says them well, looks
you in the eye.' Plays and Players Goldhawk
Road. Play. Simon
Bent Paul, a retired coach-driver, will soon be dead (or so he thinks) and the battle is on for his money. Paul's two illegitimate sons (of different mothers) are summoned to the scene. The dodgy, dealing Ralph is working for his financial stake, whilst John, a philandering coach driver, is equally keen to benefit from the will. Mary the cleaner has her own problems when her daughter Julia arrives having run away from her husband. This biting, funny look at contemporary living is easily staged. Gone
Up in Smoke. Thriller.
Georgina Reid Set on Guy Fawkes' night, this thriller
has all the ingredients for a spectacular evening, full of
surprises for everyone. Rod, a master at an exclusive girls'
boarding school, and his wife Marian prepare the firework
display. They are visited by a man who attempts to kill Rod
but gets shot himself. In the ensuing panic Marian
substitutes the body for the guy and it is now the twists
and turns begin. ' ... good evening's entertainment.' The
Stage The
Good and Faithful Servant.
Play. Joe Orton This is a savage study of the disintegration of an old man when he retires after fifty sterile years in the service of a factory. More badgered than solaced by the attentions of the personnel officer and the works club for retired employees, George Buchanan's belated search for happiness lurches breathtakingly from moments of hilarity to moments of extreme pathos. The
Good Doctor. Comedy. Neil
Simon. Music by Peter Link This comedy, a composite of Neil Simon
and Anton Chekhov, from whose short stories Simon adapted
the twelve vignettes of this collection, was first seen at
the Eugene O'Neill Theatre in New York in 1973 with
Christopher Plummer playing a variety of leading roles.
NB: certain Musical Material must be used in all
productions, a tape of which is available on hire
from Samuel French Ltd. 'As smoothly polished a piece of
work as we're likely to see.' New York Daily News 'A
great deal of warmth and humour-vaudevillian humour-in his
retelling of the Chekhovian tales.' Newhouse
Newspapers Good
Grief. Play. Keith
Waterhouse A sensitive, wryly humorous study of a
middle-aged widow who finds the courage to break with the
past. June keeps a diary in the form of private
conversations with her late husband Sam, a national
newspaper editor. Her stepdaughter, Pauline, determines to
keep an eye on June. Likewise, Eric Grant, an ex-colleague
of Sam's. But June strikes out on her own and befriends
Duggie, who, like June, is lonely. June, however, discovers
that Pauline, Eric and Duggie have their own hidden
agenda. The
Good Person of Sichuan. Play.
Bertolt Brecht, translated by Michael Hofmann This translation for the National Theatre production in 1989 starring Fiona Shaw, is based on Brecht's 'Santa Monica' version of the play first staged in 1943. Vibrant and hard-hitting, Brecht's famous theatrical parable begins when the gods award money to the prostitute Shen Te but greedy neighbours instantly take advantage of her good nature. 'Michael Hofmann's translation is engagingly free ...' Daily Telegraph ' ... a beautifully natural-sounding translation.' Sunday Correspondent The
Good Person of Szechwan
(The Good Woman of Setzuan). Parable play.
Bertolt Brecht Three gods appear on a mission - to find one really 'good' person. A kindly prostitute, Shen Te, offers them lodging and is rewarded. To protect herself from spongers she masquerades as her male cousin, Shui Ta. Later she falls in love with an unemployed airman, finds he also is a sponger, reverts to the cousin impersonation, and is accused of murdering the missing Shen Te. The gods appear as her judges and accept her plea that everything she did was with good intentions. The
Good Thief (in The Lime
Tree Bower) : Conor McPherson A monologue by the author of The
Weir following the misfortunes of a petty criminal whose
conscience beats him up when he becomes involved in a
bungled kidnap. 'The writing is terse, lucid and
admirably dispassionate' Irish Times. Goodnight
Mrs Puffin. Play.
Arthur Lovegrove The Fordyces are preparing for the
wedding of their daughter, Jacky, to Victor, son
of Stephen Parker, with whom Henry Fordyce is
planning a business merger. Then in walks Mrs Puffin from
Clapham who announces that she saw in a vision that Jacky
would not marry Victor, and that she will in fact marry the
young business associate, Roger Vincent, a friend of the
Parker family. She also announces that Victor is in love
with Jacky's younger sister, Pamela. The oracle proves
accurate but no wonder as Mrs Puffin has been carefully
primed for her role as suburban seer. Goose-Pimples.
Devised by Mike Leigh Vernon, Irving and Frankie have gone out
to dinner. Meanwhile, Jackie, Vernon's lodger, returns to
the flat with Mohammed, a non-English-speaking Arab who
thinks he has been brought to a brothel. When the others
return Mohammed assumes Vernon is the barman and produces
wads of cash. The others make Mohammed the hapless butt of
their tawdry humour, mocking, abusing and feeding him
alcohol until he collapses sick, in tears and most of all
bewildered at this strange display of English
hospitality. The
Government Inspector A small corrupt Russian town receives a
letter informing them of the imminent visit of a government
inspector travelling incognito, and a passing civil servant
is mistakenly bribed and flattered accordingly. A classic
satire of bureaucracy first performed in Russia in 1876. |
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