Map
of the Heart.
Play. William Nicholson Albie,
dissatisfied with his life, decides to perform charitable
work in The Sudan with his doctor lover, Mary, but his
decision has damaging repercussions on those around him,
especially his wife, Ruth. Whilst in The Sudan, Albie is
held hostage leaving Ruth and Mary to poignantly take stock
of their emotions. ' ... the most profoundly moving play in
the West End since Shadowlands, which isn't
surprising as William Nicholson wrote them both.' Daily
Express The
March on Russia.
Play. David Storey The sixtieth
wedding anniversary of Tommy Pasmore and his wife is little
cause for celebration. The elderly couple live together
despite each other - their bickering banter revealing deep
disappointment - but only by incanting memories can they
come to terms with their barren present and terrifying
future. Seen at the Royal National Theatre in 1989 this is a
worthy successor to the author's earlier In Celebration.
' ... deeply moving ... a play of delicate half-tones
and pastel shades ... impressive ...' Guardian Mariana
Pineda.
Play. Federico Garcia Lorca. Translated by Gwynne
Edwards Lorca's
second play, and his only historical play which is based on
a traditional tale, tells the story of a liberal heroine of
Granada, her opposition to King Ferdinand VII in the late
1820s, her love for another liberal, Don Pedro de Sotomayor,
and her final execution.
Marisol.
Play. Josh Rivera. Marisol
Perez, a young Latino woman, is a copy editor for a
Manhattan publisher. Although she has elevated herself into
the white collar class, she continues to live alone in the
dangerous Bronx neighbourhood of her childhood. As the play
begins, Marisol narrowly escapes a vicious attack by a golf
club-wielding madman while travelling home on the subway.
Later that evening Marisol is visited by her guardian angel
who informs her that she can no longer serve as Marisol's
protector because she has been called to join the revolution
already in progress against an old and senile God who is
dying and taking the rest of the universe with him. The war
in heaven spills over into New Yolk City reducing it to a
smouldering urban wasteland where giant fires send noxious
smoke to darken the skies, where the moon has not been seen
in months, where the food has been turned to salt, and water
no longer seeks its level. Alone, without her protector,
Marisol begins a nightmare journey into this new war zone
where she is attacked by a man with an ice cream cone
demanding back pay for his extra work on 'Taxi Driver.'
Marisol finds herself on the streets, homeless, where her
many encounters include a woman beaten for exceeding her
credit limit and a homeless burn victim in a wheelchair
looking for his lost skin. With the apocalypse well under
way, the angels have traded in their wings for uzis and wear
leather motorcycle jackets and fatigues. As the action
builds to a crescendo, the masses of homeless and displaced
people join the angels in the war to save the
universe.
Marking
Time.
Comedy. Michael Snelgrove In a tiny,
tatty room in a residential teachers' centre, Team B are up
to their eyebrows in A level English Literature marking.
Elsewhere in the building, the dreaded Team A are coping far
better with their marking band guidelines, matrix grids and
marked pilot samples and managing to spend plenty of time in
the bar; Team B, led by the far-from-perfect Howard, lurch
from disaster to disaster. Doors slam, tempers are lost and
personalities crumble as the situation becomes ever more
chaotic. Marlboro
Man
(in Greatest Hits) Clare Dowling Set in the
cramped quarters of an army barracks, Marlboro Man is
an intimate portrait of a modern Irish marriage. An
infertile Irish couple struggle to cope with the blatant
jeers of his arty comrades and the condescending attitudes
of her indiscreet family. MARRIAGE
1 man, 1
woman. Interior
Jack comes
home from a middling day at the office quickly to announce
to his wife, Gillian, that he is leaving her. Suspecting for
some time a mid-life crisis, Gillian goads Jack about this
announcement, forcing him to try it again going outside and
coming in again twice! Jade wants his wife, whom he still
loves, to really understand his fears and his.reasons he
must leave her. His days seem unknown to him; his secretary
of 15 years is a total stranger; his sex is by rote. Gillian
understands, but feels the investment of a 30 year marriage
is worth holding on to because so much is in place, and
quite frankly, they've been through these changes before:
affairs, neglect, sections of time forgotten. Jack accuses
Gillian of not listening, an accusation she easily returns,
and when Jade then does start to leave, Gillian blocks him
and a small battle ensues. Retreating to their corners, both
recount memorable points in their marriage and lives, and
discovering that through it all, nothing is really enough.
As the lights fade, they prepare for a departure, but don't
make a move. Marvellous
Party.
Play. John Wynne-Tyson This
sophisticated, revealing comedy supposes a middle-age
reunion in Las Vegas between Noel Coward and Esmé
Wynne-Tyson, his real-life, oldest, closest and most
exacting female friend. Although entirely imaginary, it is
based on special knowledge and offers a character assessment
of two very real, remarkable people. Period 1950s. 'I
enjoyed fit] hugely. You have caught Noel completely
-the whole man.' Richard Briers. 'Terribly clever ... so
convincing ... a brilliant play, extremely amusing and often
touching.' Dodie Smith
MARVIN'S
ROOM Drama 5M 4F
Flexible staging
This is a
dark yet hilarious account of one woman's commitment to
loving others first, in spite of her own personal struggles.
Bessie lives in Florida, where she cares for her aunt and
ageing father Marvin. After years of chronic pain, Aunt Ruth
now has an electronic device which helps control her pain,
but which also unfortunately interferes with the normal
operations of household appliances. Marvin, unseen and
unable to speak, has been confined to his bed for many
years. Bessie has devoted her life to caring for them both,
but when she learns that she is suffering from leukaemia,
her only hope lies with her estranged sister Lee for a
possible transplant. Lee reluctantly arrives with her two
dysfunctional sons in tow, and an uneasy reunion ensues.
Bessie refuses to commit her aunt and father to nursing
homes as caring for them makes her own position bearable,
and she attempts to patch up the strained relationship
between her sister and nephews, who have suffered years of
neglect from Lee. When the play ends, we are left with a ray
of hope from Bessie's belief that giving such love to those
around her has made her life unbelievably rich, even as she
faces her own death. Mary
Stuart
Freidrich Schiller. Trans. and adapted by Jeremy Sams 'Schiller's
Mary Stuart, one of the greatest of all romantic
tragedies, is the tale of two queens separated by historic
identity but joined in their dramatic isolation'
Observer. Mary Queen of Scots has been held prisoner
for nineteen years by her cousin, Elizabeth I, who has
condemned her to death, but is reluctant to be seen to carry
out the sentence. Leicester, Elizabeth's favourite and
Mary's ex-lover, engineers a meeting of the two Queens - an
encounter which never took place in historical fact - from
which Mary emerges triumphant but doomed. 'Jeremy Sams's
succinct and sharp new adaptation gives it all a telling
urgency' Daily Mail. Premiered at the National in
1996 with Anna Massey as Elizabeth and Isabelle Huppert as
Mary. The
Mask of Moriarty.
Play. Hugh Leonard Sherlock
Holmes' arch-enemy Moriarty must be captured before he can
seize the plans for a topsecret scientific device; Holmes
must also find out who murdered the maid of beautiful Gwen
Mellors, before Gwen's half-brother is arrested for the
crime. Meanwhile Moriarty, transformed by plastic surgery to
resemble Sherlock Holmes, is given the plans by an
unsuspecting messenger. A comedy-thriller, full of quirky
characters, ludicrous deductions and absurd
situations.
Terry
Pratchett's Maskerade.
Play. Adapted by Stephen Briggs All is not
well in the Ankh-Morpork Opera House. A ghost stalks the
dark corridors, leaving strange letters for the management
and ... killing people. Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg, two
Lancre witches, investigate, and are soon involved in all
kinds of skulduggery, mayhem and ear-splittingly loud
singing. Quirky and original characters, a labyrinthine plot
and numerous witty one-liners make this a treat for
Discworld fans and 'uninitiated' theatregoers alike. MASS
APPEAL 2 men. Unit
Set
Father Tim
Farley, a lover of the good things in life, is comfortably
ensconced as priest of a prosperous Catholic congregation.
Without realizing it, he has resorted to flattering his
parishioners and entertaining them with sermons that skirt
any disturbing issues, in order to protect his Mercedes, his
trips abroad and the generous supply of fine wines which
grace his table (and his desk drawer). His well
ordered world is
disrupted by the arrival of Mark Dolson, an intense and
idealistic young seminarian whom Father Farley reluctantly
agrees to take under his wing. There is immediate conflict
between the two as the younger man challenges the older
priest's sybaritic ways, while Father Farley is appalled by
Marks confession that he had led a life of bisexual
promiscuity before entering the priesthood. In the final
essence their confrontation is a touching yet very funny
examination of the nature of friendship, courage and the
infinite variety of love, as the older man is reminded of
the firebrand he once was, and the younger comes to realize
that forbearance is as vital to the Christian ethic as
righteousness. The
Master Builder.
Henrik Ibsen, Trans K.McLeish One of
Ibsen's later plays (1893). Solness, the master builder of
the tide, is a self-made and successful businessman. He has
stopped building the churches and towers of his youth in
order to concentrate on ordinary houses for people, ever
since the house his wife inherited burnt down with their own
children inside. His guilty feelings of worthlessness spur
him into absurd power struggles in his office, but he is
forced to face his guilt when the provocative Hilde arrives
with her story from the past. Master
Class.
Drama. 1996 Tony Award Winner for Best Play. Terrence
McNally Maria Callas
is teaching a master class in front of an audience (us).
She's glamorous, commanding, larger than life - and
drop-dead funny. An accompanist sits at the piano. Callas's
first "victim" is Sophie, a ridiculous, overly perky
soprano, dressed all in. pink. Sophie chooses to sing one of
the most difficult arias, the sleepwalking scene from La
Somnambula - an aria which Callas made famous. Before
the girl sings a note, Callas stops her - she clearly can't
stand hearing music massacred. And now what once was a class
has become a platform for Callas. She glories in her own
career, dabbles in opera dish, and flat-out seduces the
audience. Callas gets on her knees and acts the entire aria
in dumb show, eventually reducing the poor singer to tears.
But with that there are plenty of laughs going on,
especially between Callas and the audience. Callas pulls
back and gives Sophie a chance to use what she's learned.
Though as soon as Sophie starts singing, Callas mentally
leaves the room and goes into a sprawling interior monologue
about her own performance of that aria and the thunderous
applause she received at La Scala. Callas wakes up
and sends Sophie off with a pat. The next two sessions
repeat the same dynamic, only the middle session is with a
tenor who moves Callas to teas. She again enters her
memories and we learn about Callas's affair with Aristotle
Onassis; an abortion she was forced to have; her first,
elderly husband whom she left; her early days as an ugly
duckling; the fierce hatred of her rivals; and the
unforgiving press that savaged her at first. Finally, we
meet Sharon, another soprano, who arrives in a full ball
gown. With Sharon singing, Callas is genuinely moved, for
the young singer has talent, but Callas tells her to stick
to flimsy roles. Sharon is devastated and spits back every
nasty thing you've ever heard about Callas: she's old,
washed up, she ruined her voice too early in her career, she
only wants people to worship her, etc. Sharon rushes out of
the hall and Callas brings the class to a close with a
beautiful speech about the sacrifices we must make in the
name of art.
Massage.
Play. Michael Wilcox Tony Dodge
hires Rikki from a massage agency to help him celebrate a
child's birthday tea. The absent child in question-for whom
Dodge has more than a tender affection- is Simon,
twelveyear-old son of Dodge's former girlfriend Jane. Rikki,
though a rent boy, is heterosexual with his own childhood
memories of sexual abuse. Gradually, under his sharp
questioning, the complex nature of Dodge's dilemma is
revealed: what began as innocent paternal friendship for a
child has developed into a great deal more.
The
Matchmaker.
Farce. Thornton Wilder An rich old
merchant in Yonkers decides to take a wife and employs a
matchmaker. She subsequently becomes involved with two of
his menial clerks, assorted young, lovely ladies, and the
headwaiter at an expensive restaurant where this swift farce
runs headlong into a hilarious climax of complication. Ater
everyone gets straightened out romantically, and everyone
has his heart's desire, the merchant of Yonkers finds
himself affianced to the astute matchmaker herself. Period
1880s. 'Loud, slapdash and uproarious ... Something
extraordinarily original and funny.' New York Times.
MATILDA
LIAR! Comedy 2M 3F
Interior set
This is fable
for adults about Matilda, a compulsive liar who tells so
many lies that even she cannot keep up. Matilda lives a
reclusive life at home with her family - a despairing
mother, suicidal brother and deluded father - and only her
correspondence with an agony aunt for outside company. Life
for Matilda's family is hard enough without the
embarrassment of her lies, but Matilda lies to protect them.
Matilda lies because she loves them, and anyway, Matilda
just can't stop. Just when she thinks life at home can't get
any worse, one morning she experiences a sudden change and
finds herself compelled to tell the truth at all times and
to everyone! Secrets are exposed, myths explode ... havoc!
Chaos! If the lies were bad then the truth is worse -
Matilda must be stopped!! THE
MATING GAME Farce 2M 3F
Interior set
The hugely
successful and attractive chat show host Draycott Harris has
a problem ... he has no luck with women. Draycott enlists
the help of his long- lost, worldlywise brother to assist
him in the pursuit of his new, sexy PR girl, Honey Tooks.
What neither brother anticipates however is that Draycott's
long-suffering secretary Julia has been nurturing a growing
passion for her boss, which is set to explode. Misdirected
desires, mistaken bodies and disregarded articles of
clothing all feature heavily in this frantically paced and
energetic West End farce.
M4 (20s-40s) F4 (17, 30s, 40s). Extras. Various interior and
exterior settings.
ISBN 0 573 01832 4
M2 (30s, 80) F3 (30s, 70). A living-room.
ISBN 0 573 01698 4
M8 F10, 1 boy, 1 girl. Extras. Various settings.
4 men, 5 women, (flexible casting); unit.
M3 (20s-50s) F2 (30s-40s). A room.
ISBN 0 573 01828 6
2m 2f. Short drama. Single interior set.
ISBN 1 85459 352 8
Play: Drama. Edward Albee.
ISBN: 0-8222-1422-9
M6 F4 or M5 F3, with doubling. An hotel suite.
Scott McPherson
ISBN: 0 8222 1312 5
15m 5f Historical drama. Multipurpose set.
ISBN 1 85459 294 7
M 14 (young, middle-age, 80s) with doubling, F4 (young; one
American, one Eurasian). Interior and exterior
settings.
M16 F9. Extras. Various simple interior and exterior
settings.
ISBN 0 573 01829 4
Play: Bill C. Davis.
ISBN: 0-8222-0738-9
4m 3f, extras. Classic drama Single interior set.
ISBN 1 85459 351 X
3 men, 3 women.
M2 Fl. A living-room.
M8 F7. Four interiors.
Debbie Isitt
ISBN: 0 85676 214 8
Robin Hawdon
ISBN: 0 85676 204 0