Play. Joanna McClelland Glass
F4 (18, 40s, 60s). A beach-house veranda, a kitchen and dining area.
Jessica, a writer approaching middle age, her mother Ruth (who is
unable to read or write) and her Jewish mother-in-law, Rachel, find
themselves emotionally stranded in Jessica's Connecticut beach home.
Weighing the choices each have made as women, as daughters, as mothers,
their recollections of guilt and regret are punctuated by wry observations
on sex, history, ideas and their relationships with the men in their
lives.
ISBN 0 573 13009 4
Drama. Joanna McClelland Glass. 4 women. Exterior
Two grandmothers, a daughter, and a granddaughter gather on the
deck of a beach house in Connecticut. One grandmother has flown,
for the first time, from the Canadian prairie. She is an illiterate
woman whose parents were homesteading pioneers. "If only I had gotten
my eighth grade diploma."
Her daughter is a novelist whose lover died recently. "If only I
had a college degree." The second grandmother has driven up from
Pennsylvania. She is an agnostic Jewish intellectual with a Master's
degree. "If only I had gone to Oxford." The granddaughter is 18 and
is slated to go to Yale in the autumn. After staying out all night
with a young man, she arrives on the scene to announce a reversal
of plans. The three-older women discuss their pasts and. presents
poetically, poignantly and humorously as they attempt to pass down
the wisdom of their years. When the granddaughter disregards all
that she hears, the prairie grandmother observes that "every time
a kid is born, we start from zero.."
ISBN: 0-8222-1560-8
Thriller. Peter Colley
M2 (30s, 50s) F2 (20s). A farmhouse living-room.
Following a nervous breakdown, Jan is brought to an isolated farmhouse
by her husband Greg, ostensibly to complete her recovery. But unsettling
things start to happen as soon as they arrive. First, Greg's sister
Laura, with whom he seems to have an unnaturally close relationship,
arrives. There is also George, the slightly demented old farmer who
lives nearby. A nightmare of frightening occurrences results in a
thrilling and heart-stopping ending!
ISBN 0 573 01652 6
Farce. Philip King
M4 (20s, 40s, 60s) F5 (20s, 40s). A lounge-hall.
Peter, a famous television series hero, seeks refuge at a country
rectory with his mild Uncle Humphrey from all the females who continually
chase after him. Humphrey. horrified by the dismissal of his housekeeper
by his formidable sister, advertises for a wife, but absent-mindedly
omits the important word 'marriage'. Answers to the advertisement
arrive by the sack-load and the arrival of the dignified Bishop of
Lax adds to the hectic confusion.
ISBN 0 573 01533 3
Comedy. Noel Coward
M4 (20s, 40s) F6 (young, middle-age). 1 girl. A hall.
A poor widow with five grown-up children, Mrs Dermott turns to her
rich brother Dan for help. When Dan arrives, he finds the charming,
lazy family all ready to live on his supposed wealth. He announces
that he will leave his fortune to the member of the family who has
accomplished the most in three years; after three years he then informs
them he has no money at all. Period 1920
ISBN 0 573 61060 6
Comedy. Herb Gardner
M5 (16, 35, 40s, 80 (one black) ) F2 (25, 40s). Central Park.
This warm comedy concerns two octogenarians determined to fight off all attempts to put them out to pasture. Nat is a lifelong radical determined to fight injustice (real or imagined) and has a delightful repertoire of eccentric personas, which makes the role an actor's dream. The other half of this unlikely partnership is Midge, a black apartment janitor who spends his time hiding out from tenants who want him to retire.
The Imaginary Cuckold, or Sganarelle
Comedy. Molière, translated into English by Richard Wlbur. 6 men, 3 women. Exterior.
Gorgibus wants his daughter, Celie, to marry a rich man, Valere,
instead of Lelie, whom she loves. Celie, lamenting this turn of events
while her beloved is away, faints. Her maid catches her and calls
out for help. Sganarelle, who happens to be passing, runs over to
hold Celie while her maid runs for aid. Sganarelle's wife, however,
sees him holding Celie and suspects the worst. She finds a portrait
of Lelie, dropped by Celie when she fainted, and admires his good
looks. Sganarelle returns and sees his wife gazing at the portrait,
and he too suspects an affair. They argue and run off just as Lelie
arrives home, after hearing rumours of Celie's wedding plans. Sganarelle
enters again, holding the portrait, and Lelie is shocked. He asks
Sganarelle how he came to have the portrait, and Sganarelle replies
that he took it from his wife. Sganarelle's wife comes back and finds
Lelie now ready to faint, so she invites him into their home to rest.
Sganarelle, of course, then sees Lelie with his wife, and his suspicions
are confirmed. But Celie also sees Lelie leaving the house, and approaches
Sganarelle, who tells her that Lelie has cuckolded him with his wife.
Celie is stunned and decides that she will then marry the rich man.
The two, now estranged lovers, then meet and are trading recriminations
when Sganarelle returns in full armour and carrying a sword ready
to kill Lelie, but lacking the courage. Sganarelle's wife then enters
and upbraids Celie for stealing her husband away. None of the offended
lovers are specific in their accusations so confusion reigns until
Celie's down to earth maid resolves everything by asking some direct
questions and setting everyone straight. Things still look bleak
for the young lovers, however, as Gorgibus still insists that Celie
marry the rich man, but just then Valere's father arrives to announce
that he has discovered that his son married secretly four months
ago freeing Celie and Lelie to marry after all.
ISBN: 0-8222-1331-1
Play. Molière. Adapted
by Miles Malleson
M8 (25, middle-age, 50s-70s) F4 (15, 20s, 30s). A sitting-room.
To reduce his medical fees, hypochondriac M. Argan decides to many
off his daughter Angelica to a physician's son. Unfortunately, Angelica
loves Cléante. Argan's brother Béralde and Toinette,
an inventive maid, save the situation for the lovers and expose Mme
Argan's schemes to bleed her husband of his fortune. Then they persuade
the hypochondriac to turn physician so that he can quack himself
free of charge. Period 1674
ISBN 0 573 01200 8
Drama. Peter Parnell. 6 men, 1 woman. Unit Set
Matt Abelman, a playwright and a divorced, middle-aged man has found
a lump that may or may not be malignant. As his fear of death overtakes
him, the fabric of his life begins to unravel. He retreats to his
typewriter, weaving fantastic tales while searching for a fictional
way out of his very real problems. While we watch the tales unfold,
are we seeing Matt's reality or his fantasies? Matt's tales become
a play-within-a-play that is both dizzying and breathtaking. At a
time when illness and premature death permeate our society, the play's
positive philosophy of living life to the fullest is enormously uplifting.
ISBN: 0-8222-1394-X
Comedy. Reggie Oliver
M2 (30s, 60s) F3 (20s, 30s, 60s). A flat and a bookshop.
Wanda takes things Very Seriously Indeed. Matchmaker, idealist dreamer,
she is the despair of the men - gentle, serious bookshop owner Howard
and successful MP and publisher Sir Michael Thurston - who love her
and who try vainly to beat paths, imaginary or otherwise, to her
door. This delightful new comedy was first seen at the Stephen Joseph
Theatre in the Round in a production directed by Alan Ayckbourn.
ISBN 0 573 11241 X
Play. Peter Hedges. : 2 women. Unit Set
The action takes place in Nashville, where two women meet after
church and strike up a conversation. One is Dana Sue Kaye, a brassy,
voluble bleach blonde, who chatters on about her wonderful, perfect
husband her high school sweetheart and the "best looking man in Tennessee." The
other is Brad's wife (Valerie grown), a shy, soft-spoken newlywed
who has just moved down from Philadelphia and is as close-mouthed
about her husband as Dana Sue is forthcoming about hers. In time,
however, it is revealed that Brad is a grotesque freak: armless,
legless, blind and bedrid den; while Dana Sue's husband is unmasked
as a depraved, brutal wife abuser who, in truth, has made her life
a hell. Ironically it is actually Brad, the helpless "bag of flesh",
who can feel but not inflict hurt, who is really the "perfect man" and,
as the play ends, Dana Sue is sorely tempted to accept Brad's wife's
invitation to move in with them and share his protection.
ISBN: 0-8222-0554-8
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