Laburnum
Grove.
Comedy. J. B. Priestley George is
apparently a respectable businessman with quiet domestic
hobbies. His daughter is bemoaning the monotony of their
suburban round at Sunday supper but to refute this George
makes the startling revelation that he has for years
belonged to a gang of counterfeiters. His wife pooh-poohs
the story but a different aspect is thrown upon it by the
arrival of Inspector Stack, whose investigations of a gang
have led him to George! Written in 1933 Ladies
of Spirit.
Comedy. Georgina Reid Gibraltar
School was founded as a private school for young ladies by
the two dear old Misses Pye, now deceased. The
long-suffering teachers have their lives made miserable not
only by their pupils but also by the present headmistress,
Miss Rowe, known universally as 'Hard Rowe'. They resign
themselves to the fact that there is very little they can do
about it, but they find help coming from a very unexpected
quarter indeed. LADIES
IN RETIREMENT Thriller 1M
6F Interior set
Based on a
famous murder which actually took place at the end of the
last century and set in the 1880s, this play has become one
of the most successful and most frequently performed in the
modern repertoire. An eerie atmosphere of mystery is evoked
in a dark, lonely house on the marshes of the Thames
estuary. The characters, presented with great psychological
realism and the strong vein of earthy comedy invest the play
with a liveliness unusual for such a genuinely horrifying
murder play. Ladies
Who Lunch.
Comedy. Tudor Gates In Ladies
Who Lunch, commissioned for the BT Biennial 1998,
Amelia, Rachel and Joane, wives of three of the world's
richest men, meet regularly to do charity work. In order to
increase the charity's turnover Amelia thinks up a scheme to
play the stock market exploiting the information gained
secretly from their spouses business dealings. When the
husbands find out, the resulting showdown is not the
walk-over they think it will be ... Lady
Audley's Secret, or Death in Lime Tree
Walk.
Melodrama. Brian J. Burton, based on the novel by Mary
Braddon Lady Audley
has recently married a rich old man and is secure in wealth
at last. A visitor from Australia is distraught to find his
wife died during his absence. But lo! yet she lives! This
same Lady Audley is the wife reported dead. Fearing her
ex-husband might upset the apple cart she cracks him on the
head and drops his body in the well. Period 1850s
A
LADY MISLAID Comedy 3M 4F
Interior set
Two unmarried
sisters have rented an isolated country house in search of
peace and quiet to aid the younger sister's recovery from a
recent nervous breakdown. They have hardly arrived before
the police come and start digging in the garden for the
dismembered body of the wife of the previous tenant who has
mysteriously disappeared. Their peace is shattered, the
quiet country atmosphere they longed for becomes chaotic and
when the husband of the supposed victim turns up in the
shape of a very meek and timid little man, the twists and
complications which follow lead to hilarious surprises for
everyone.
The
Lady's Not for Burning.
Play. Christopher Fry Mendip, an
embittered discharged soldier, demands to be hanged,
claiming to have killed the rag and bone man and another,
but no bodies are to found and the Mayor refuses - 'the
gallows are not a charitable institution'. Jennet enters to
seek the Mayor's protection, having been accused of
witchcraft and of changing the rag-and-bone man into a dog.
The Mayor, however, treats the absurd accusation seriously
and arrests her. Eventually the 'victim' turns up, alive and
tipsy. Jennet is allowed to escape and Mendip goes with her.
Period around 1400
Lake
Street Extension
Drama. Lee Blessing, The estranged
son of a middle-aged man returns home to find that his
father has taken in a young refugee from El Salvador. Not
only has the refugee moved in, but he's been given the son's
room and is sleeping in his bed. As this explosive situation
tests the already strained father-son relationship, we
discover that the son is a male prostitute and was sexually
abused on a regular basis by his average, working-class
father. Throw in the secretive young man from El Salvador
and the mix becomes deadly in this play rife with
recriminations, secrets, seductions, hypocrisy, confessions
and above all the desperate need of redemption and
atonement. As played out through the images of an unbalanced
father, his deeply wounded son and the young refugee,
Blessing unflinchingly delves into the psyche of fathers and
sons and patriarchal society in and of itself.
Largo
Desolato.
Play. Václav Havel. English version by Tom
Stoppard Professor
Nettles lives in constant fear because of his refusal to
denounce his work. The play's sense of the sinister gives a
chilling edge to this account of life in totalitarian state
by the once banned writer and president of Czechoslovakia.
Stoppard's English version was premiered at the Bristol Old
Vic in 1986 and seen subsequently at the Orange Tree,
Richmond, in 1989. 'It is unlikely that we shall see a
better play this year. Inconceivable that we shall see one
more important.' Daily Telegraph
The
Lark.
Play. Jean Anouilh. Translated by Christopher Fry To the great
lords of her time as well as the politicians of the Church
expediency was God. So the Maid had to die. So to Warwick
and Cauchon, her life has the somewhat artificial, and
certainly impersonal, quality of a play. Short scenes from
it are played out during the trial as they struggle to turn
her simplicity into heresy. But it is the glory of her life
rather than the tragedy that is the triumphant climax of the
play. Period 1429-31 Lark
Rise.
Play. Keith Dewhurst, from the book by Flora Thompson M
12 F7, with doubling. An open stage. Fee code M. (In a
volume with Candleford)
A literary
sampler of English village life in late Victorian
Oxfordshire, Lark Rise re-enacts the first day of
harvest. The play is written to be performed as a promenade
production with no distinction between stage and auditorium.
The interest lies in the lively picture of typical country
life of the period with music and songs, with a brief flash
forward to the 1914 war. Period 1880s The
Last Gamble.
Play. Bill Macllwraith From the
author of The Anniversary v comes an exciting
thriller. The Colonel has never got over the loss of his
elder son, killed in action in Cyprus. Peter, his younger
son, a corrupt solicitor, feels his father's resentment and
hates him for it. When Peter becomes involved in another
unethical scheme that goes badly wrong, he is forced to turn
to his father for help, with unexpected and tragic
results. Last
of the Red Hot Lovers.
Comedy. Neil Simon Barney, who
has been married to an irreproachable wife for twenty-three
years, feels the urge to join the sexual revolution before
it is too late. Taking advantage of the fact that his
mother's flat is unoccupied two days a week he invites three
women to his lair in succession. With no experience of
adultery he fails on each occasion. As the play ends he is
telephoning his wife - to meet him that afternoon in his
mother's apartment. Last
Tango in Whitby.
Play. Mike Harding For Pat,
recently widowed, this year's charabanc trip to Whitby is
tinged with sadness, but she is determined to enjoy herself.
Phil and Edna provide entertainment with old-time dancing.
Phil, too, is trying to enjoy himself, despite being trapped
in a dead marriage, and during their first dance together he
and Pat feel the unexpected spark of mutual attraction.
Despite disapproval from others, they decide to seize this
second chance and start a new life together. The
Last Yankee.
Drama. Arthur Miller Two men, one
in his late forties, the other twenty years older, meet in
the waiting room of a New England state mental health
facility only to discover that they have done business
together in the past. Inside the facility, each of their
wives recovers from a nervous breakdown. Leroy Hamilton, a
descendent of founding father, Alexander Hamilton, has spent
his life as a highly skilled carpenter. His wife, Patricia,
the daughter of Swedish immigrants and herself the mother of
seven children, cannot reconcile what she considers to be
Hamilton's deliberate under-achievement with her own
family's grasping attempts at assimilation and affluence.
Purposefully foregoing her anti-depression medication for a
number of weeks, Patricia has begun to display a new clarity
of thought that promises to shatter irrevocably the
status-quo of her life with Hamilton. The older, more
affluent couple, share an equally tense marriage despite
their prosperity. Karen Frick, though, has gone farther down
the path of no-recovery than even the more frequently
hospitalised Patricia. As roommates, Karen and Patricia have
been sharing stories about their husbands-and the final
meeting between them all, demonstrates the price and rewards
of even strained marriages.
THE
LAST YANKEE Drama 2M 2F 2
Interior sets
A play in two
parts which focuses on the relationships of two couples -
Leroy and Patricia Hamilton, married many years with seven
children, and John and Helen Frick, a childless couple. Both
women are patients at a mental institution, and act one sees
the two men meet for the first time in the waiting room on
visitors day. Helen has not long been institutionalised, and
Frick is having a difficult time coping with her mental
illness, while Patricia has been in and out of institutions
for many years. The two men struggle to communicate under
the circumstances, though even this breaks down in the face
of their respective situations. Patricia and Helen have
become friendly during their time together in the ward, and
act two sees the four characters brought together inside,
where a picture emerges of a society whose members feel
obscurely cheated and where success is equated with
failure.
The
Late Christopher Bean
Comedy.
An adaptation of Réné Fauchois's Prenez
Garde à la Peinture by Emlyn Williams The Haggetts
extended asylum to a tubercular stranger, Christopher Bean,
fifteen years ago. The many paintings he left were used to
patch up leaks in the roof, etc. Only one portrait has been
treasured -that of Gwenny, their servant. Suddenly strangers
call, announcing the paintings are worth a fortune. These
innocent folk become eaten up with comical cupidity and do
their best to get hold of Gwenny's portrait. But Gwenny is
Bean's widow, owner of the portrait, and seventeen other
pieces she rescued from the fire! The
Late Edwina Black.
Please see Edwina
Black.
The
Late Middle Classes
-Simon Gray
England in
the 1950s. Celia, desperate for distraction, fills her time
with tennis and gin; Charles, a pathologist is buried in his
work among the living and the dead; and their gifted son,
Holly, is having his first lessons on the piano and in life.
The Late Middle Classes is a darkly funny study of
the conflict between emotional needs and family restraints.
Its premiere production was directed by Harold Pinter with a
cast including Harriet Walter, James Fleet, Nicholas
Woodeson and Angela Pleasence. The
Late Mrs Early.
Comedy. Norman Robbins Terry Early's
announcement that he and Susan intend to marry rouses the
fury of his overbearing mother Alice. Alice's sudden demise,
following her handling of a faulty electric kettle, promises
a peaceful solution. But Alice as a vengeful ghost is even
more formidable than as a live wife and mother. Much drama
ensues in which both families are involved before Alice's
ashes can be persuaded to lie quiet in her urn. Laugh?
I Nearly Went To Miami!
Comedy. Miles Tredinnick A zany,
fast-moving comedy of confusion. When Tom, an Elvis fanatic,
and Alice his fiancee are unable, due to fog, to fly to
Miami for an Elvis Convention, they arrive back at Tom's
flat to find they have inadvertently picked up the wrong
suitcase at the airport and are now in possession of hall 'a
million dollars. Confusions arise when Auntie arrives with a
bag containing $20,000 as does Frankie, a thug working for
the owner of the suitcase dollars, and it takes Inspector
Hendy to sort everything out. Laughing
Wild.
Comedy. Christopher Durang In the first
section ("Laughing Wild") the Woman enters and
embarks on an increasingly frenetic (and funny) recital of
the perils and frustrations of daily life in urban America -
waiting in line, rude taxi drivers, inane talk shows, and
the selfish people who block the aisles in supermarkets. In
particular she is incensed by a man who prevented her from
buying a can of tuna fish by standing. in her way-and whom
she attacked in a fit of pique. In the second monologue
("Seeking Wild") the Man appears, and while the
subjects on which he expounds (nuclear waste; the rigidity
of the Catholic Church, particularly in sexual matters; the
threat of AIDS) may be broader in context, he also dwells on
an incident in a supermarket, when a strange woman hit him
over the head in the tuna fish aisle. In the final portion
of the play ("Dreaming Wild") the two protagonists meet at
last, and re-enact the supermarket incident via six varying
interpretations; tell us more fully of their overlapping
dreams; and then launch into an explosively funny parody of
a talk show. In the end the two find an accommodation of
sorts as they come together at the Harmonic Convergence in
Central Park - both still hoping to instil a sense of
optimism and purpose in their lives, but both still
sceptical that they will succeed in doing so. Laughter
in the Dark.
Comedy. Victor Lucas Strange but
very funny happenings are occurring at the faded manor of
Creeching Cheyney in Hampshire where a nicely assorted group
of people are assembled on Christmas Eve to hear the reading
of a will which makes it a condition that they live in the
place a year before they get their legacies. There are also
some unforeseen guests including a skeleton rattling chains
and a ghost or two! LAURA Suspense 5M
3F Interior set
When
Detective Mark McPherson first falls under the spell of
Laura, he believes he has fallen in love with a ghost. He
has come to her former flat to investigate the circumstances
of her murder. From her portrait, her letters and her
personal effects he builds up an image of a tantalisingly
attractive and real woman. When she actually turns up in the
middle of a violent thunderstorm, it becomes obvious that it
was not she who was murdered, and a web of complications
begins to weave its way into McPherson's life. Well-handled
mystery and suspense assured this play's success both on
Broadway and in the subsequent film version. Lazybed
(in Scotland Plays) The story of
a man who cannot, or will not, get out of bed one morning
for 'metaphysical reasons'. As the day progresses he is
visited by his brother, neighbours, doctor, Death and
Immanuel Kant ...
M6 (young, 40, middle-age, 50) F3 (20, 40s). A
living-room.
ISBN 0 573 01221 0
F9 (20s, 40s, elderly). A school staff room.
ISBN 0 573 13002 7
Edward Percy and Reginald Denham
ISBN: 0 85676 104 4
M3 (middle-age, 50s) F7 (21, 30s, 40s, middle-age), with
doubling. 1 male voice. A drawingroom, a duplex apartment,
an apartment.
ISBN 0 573 01853 7
M4 (20s, 60s) F4 (20s) Various settings.
Kenneth Horne
M8 F3. A room.
3 men; interior.
M9 (middle-age) F3 or M7 F3. A living-room.
M 16 F5. A permanent setting.
ISBN 0 573 01225 3
ISBN 0 573 10011 X
M2 (36, 64, 72) F2 (27, 64). A living-room and a
kitchen.
ISBN 0 573 01821 9
M 1 (46) F3 (20, 30s). An apartment.
ISBN 0 573 61143 2
15 speaking, 6 plus non-speaking can be played by M4
(middle-age) F8 (young, middle-age), with doubling. Extras M
and F. Various simple settings.
ISBN 0 573 01822 7
2 men, 3 women; interior.
Arthur Miller
M5 (20, young-elderly) F4 (young, 20s, 50). A
living-room.
ISBN 0 573 01227 X
ISBN 1 85459 433 8
M4 (14, 40, 60) F4 (17, 40s). A living-room.
ISBN 0 573 01586 4
M4 (30, 40) F3 (20, 30, 60). A sitting room.
ISBN 0 573 01633 X
M1 F1. A supermarket.
ISBN; 0-8222-1528-4
M6 (20s, 50s) F5 (20s, 50, 70s). Extras. A manorial
hall.
ISBN 0 573 11218 5
Vera Caspary and George Sklar
ISBN: 0 8222 0646 3
IainCrichton Smith
4m 3f, doubling. Comedy. Single interior set.
ISBN 1 85459 383 8