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In
A Little World Of Our Own (in
Tearing the Loom) Set in North Belfast, the play shows how
the Troubles affect whole families, and bring the violence
of the streets right into the heart of the home. Premiered
in Dublin by the Abbey in 1997 and in London at the Donmar
Warehouse in 1998, this 'utterly compelling piece of
theatre' (Irish Times) is 'that rarest of
experiences: a viscerally and emotionally charged juggernaut
which slams into the body leaving the head and heart reeling
in its wake' Tribune In
for the Kill.
Thriller.
Derek Benfield Paula has arranged to receive a young
admirer, Mark, one evening when her husband, James, is away,
but before he arrives an old friend of James's turns up and
seems to suggest a plot to kill him. Mark appears, as does
James, unexpectedly. Mark then dies in an apparent car
accident which soon proves to be deliberate murder. The
suspicions, accusations and unexpected revelations among the
four characters culminate at last in a surprising and
dramatic climax. In
Praise of Love.
Play.
Terence Rattigan Lydia has an incurable disease, a fact
she conceals from her husband Sebastian, a man apparently
totally bound up in himself. They are visited by Mark, who
discovers that in reality Sebastian has known about Lydia's
illness but thinks she does not know of it herself, and puts
on a false front to protect her. Mark contrives that Lydia
should discover the truth, knowledge which she decides to
keep to herself. In
the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel.
Play.
Tennessee Williams An artist, Mark, is worn to a nervous ruin by a breakthrough in his painting technique and is abandoned and destroyed by his witch of a wife. The intensity of the work, the unremitting challenges and demands it makes of him leave so little of him after the working hours that simple comfortable being is impossible for him ... In
the Jungle of the Cities (In the Cities'
Jungle).
Play.
Bertolt Brecht Gerhard Nellhaus M 12 F5. Extras. Interior and exterior
settings. Inadmissible
Evidence.
Play. John
Osborne This is a partly impressionistic portrait of Bill Maitland, a seedy middle-aged solicitor, head of a small firm. Everything around him is crumbling away: his business, his marriage, his love affairs. In an opening sequence he dreams of his own trial, with his colleagues as judge and clerk of the court. The scenes that follow represent both actual events - his relationships with colleagues, staff and clients and the deepening turmoil in his own mind. The
Inconstant Couple.
Play. John
Bowen, translated and adapted from L'Heureux
Stratagème of Monsieur de Marivaux Marivaux wrote with a pointed wit and cunningly affected style, and this translation preserves the light, satirical flavour of the original. This play tells of the involved amorous relationships between the country gentleman, the Chevalier, the Countess and the Marquise, which are reflected in and influenced by corresponding situations between their servants. After many complications and conspiracies the gentlefolk are paired off - with a six months' trial of constancy. The
Increased Difficulty of
Concentration.
Comedy.
Václav Havel. Translated by Vera Blackwell. First performed just four months before
the Russians invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968, the play was
presented in London at the Old Red Lion in 1989. Here we see
a doctor with his mistress and his wife and a female social
worker with a special computer that interrogates and
interviews. The gaps in our lives cause the gaps in
concentration. Very deftly the author elides one scene with
another, one situation with another. Indian
Ink. Play. Tom
Stoppard Flora Crewe, a liberated English poet,
travels to India for health reasons in 1930 and meets Nirad
Das, an Indian artist. Their developing friendship mirrors
the shifting relationship between the Indians and English in
the latter stages of the Raj. Five and a half decades later
her sister Eleanor helps an earnest American
academic, Eldon Pike, research Flora's life. As he travels
to India, Nirad's son, Anish arrives in Shepperton ...
Period 1930 and 1985 Ines de Castro (in First Run 2 - now out of print) Photocopy of single play available £5.00 - Apply to Nick Hern Books John Clifford, 3m 3f. Historical drama. Simple set. The story of a doomed love between a Portuguese prince and his Spanish mistress. 'A sombre, beautiful play... Based on historical events, the story has the sober majesty of a Schiller tragedy and the graceful condensed wit of Clifford at his non-whimsical best' Michael Coveney. First performed at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. Infidelities
(in First Run 3) Winner of the 1990 West London
Playwriting Competition, this 'prize-winning tragedy about
the suspicions and jealousies that mar the relationship of
young marrieds is a compelling, potent drama with ... a hint
of marital violence and a wholly unexpected denouement'
Time Out Inner
Voices.
Play.
Eduardo de Filippo. English version by N. F. Simpson This English version, commissioned by the Royal National Theatre, was presented at the Lyttelton Theatre in 1983. Alberto accuses the Cimmarutas of murdering Aniello. The police arrest the whole Cimmarma family, but Alberto begins to think he dreamt the murder. The Cimmarutas are freed but, one after another, each member of the family denounces another. Solemn farce and knockabout tragedy become indistinguishable and fear makes a fool of everyone. The
Innocents' Crusade.
Comedy. Keith Reddin, Bill and his parents are on a road trip to check out prospective colleges. Dad is a loveably failed father and dipsomaniac; Mom is sweetly concerned for her son and has a tinge of wifely sadness about her, too. In a series of successively disastrous interviews, Bill reveals himself to be ill-equipped for higher education, tending to blather on and on about how diverse his talents are, but never wholly convincing any of the admissions officers that he's anything more than a wishful thinker with average test scores. As the trip wears on, Bill and his father begin chipping away at each other's failings; Bill is especially concerned about his father's drinking. One night, hoping to inspire Bill, Mom reads him a magazine article about a medieval crusade of children (all of whom eventually starved or drown on the way to the holy land). The next day, Bill meets Laura, a runaway heiress, whom he convinces to join him on some kind of modern day crusade of his own, the goals of which Bill hasn't quite determined yet. Soon enough, they start to pick up other followers, including a homeless man who only speaks in Middle English. Dad hates the whole idea; Mom is supportive; Bill and Laura eventually fall in love. Finally, Dad lays down the law and out-and-out calls Bill a failure. He kicks the hangers-on out of the car, but by the next day Bill has vanished. The ghost of the medieval crusader Mom read about tells the parents that Bill has left them to pursue his crusade and life.
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