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Mr Puntila and his Man Matti. Play. Bertolt Brecht Translations: John Willett, music by Dessau M 14 F7 (children). Extras. Interior and exterior settings. Mr Puntila suffers from a dual personality. When drunk he is human and humane; when sober he is surly and self-centred. In the former condition he proposes to Eva to marry his own loyal and sardonic friend, his chauffeur Matti. When he sobers up he throws Eva out and abuses Matti. However, after putting Eva's suitability to the test, and having had enough of Puntila's instability, Matti leaves him, saying 'water and oil can never blend.' Mr
Quigley's Revenge.
Play. Simon Brett Frinsley Village Hall is the hub of
community life, lovingly tended by the amiable Mr Quigley,
whose little blue book ensures the aerobics class never
clashes with the wedding bookings. But plans are afoot to
change this cosy existence ... the invidious Keith has plans
to sell the site. Feeling sure of success, Keith launches
his attack on Mr Quigley -a big mistake, for Mr Quigley is
wilier than he looks. Offers acting opportunities for all
and great fun for the audience! Mr
Thomas (in First
Run 3). Kathy Burke A consciously Ortonesque piece, by an
author better known for her acting roles (Nil By
Mouth and Harry Enfield), explores the issue of
sexuality in a society where respectability is paramount.
Set in a tatty 1950s bedsit, George arranges to go to a bar
with some friends and his landlady, but the evening is
interrupted by the arrival of Mr Thomas. The play 'develops
from a very funny comedy of kitchen-sink manners to a
sinister comment on social stereotyping' Time Out Mr
Whatnot.
Comedy. Alan Ayckbourn Mr Whatnot is Mint, a piano tuner,
summoned to the stately home of Lord and Lady
SlingsbyCraddock. Once there he falls in love with their
daughter, Amanda, elopes with her, fails to save her from
marriage to Cecil but wins through in the end. With plenty
of mime and sound effects Mr Whatnot offers great
opportunities to an imaginative director for a highly
entertaining and unusual production. Mrs
Klein.
Play. Nicholas Wright Seen in London at the Natonal and Globe theatres in 1988 starring Gillian Barge, Francesca Annis and Zoë Wanamaker, this powerful drama centres on an episode in the life of controversial childpsychoanalyst Melanie Klein. Because of the death of her son, Hans, Melanie is confronted with the irony of being a successful child analyst but a failed mother. She attacks her own daughter Melitta who leaves for good and whose role as daughter is replaced by Melitta's friend, Paula. Period 1934 Müller's
Dancers (in Hungarian
Plays). Akos Nemeth. English version D. Mornin Müller has deserted the dance
company he founded, and his dancers' careers and private
lives fall apart without him. Explaining the metaphor at its
heart, the play's first director commented: 'For forty years
we (in Hungary) had been held tightly by the hand - and it
was comfortable. Now they let go, and we all feel
confused.' The
Mummy's Tomb.
Play. Ken Hill. Songs by Alan Klein and Ken
Hill In ancient Egypt, Pharaoh's wife Ashayet
kills her lover's mistress. Pharaoh banishes Ashayet and
entombs and mummifies her lover. But Ashayet also is
immortal, having bathed in the River of Life. AD
1922-Professor Niven sets out for Egypt with his daughter,
Nancy, and rather unwisely, both her present and past
fiancés. Almost at once strange things happen. Period
1380BC; AD 1922 Murder
Assured.
Thriller. Tony Clayton The problems arise when bad times hit
previously successful writer Stephen Ryder, forcing him to
auction his very large and expensive insurance policy. This
presents his wife, Sheila, with the opportunity to cash m by
plotting Stephen's death with 'friend of the family' Gordon
Crawford. But how many people is Gordon fooling'? Is old
flame Harry Manley as naive as he appears and
how does
Christine, Stephen's faithful secretary, fit into the
scheming The final twist leaves the audience buzzing. Murder
at Deem House.
Play. Sam Bate When Nurses Iver and Boone inherit
£100,000 after years of looking after old Mrs Deeming
rather than the £500 everyone had expected - it appears
that something sinister is going on. When the lawyer of the
deceased asks Nurse Boone for a signature, he is later shot
dead. But then, it could have been his wife who shot him:
she had just surprised him kissing his secretary. Helped by
the flighty servant Flora, Superintendent Forrest sifts the
clues. Murder
at the Vicarage.
Drama. Dramatized by Moie Charles
and Barbara Toy from the novel by Agatha Christie Everyone has a motive for wishing Colonel
Protheroe dead. Amidst the heightening tension fostered by
anonymous letters and bogus telephone calls moves the gentle
figure of Miss Marple, whose old-maidish exterior conceals a
very shrewd brain. She has the uncanny knack of knowing most
people's secrets and it is she who is ultimately responsible
for solving the mystery. Murder
by Appointment.
Play. Frank Williams This play cleverly manipulates modern
trends and conceptions of behaviour to the murderer's
advantage. Building on present psychological ideas of
heredity and sexual tendencies the author has designed such
a plot that not only is the murderer's identity concealed
right to the end but the audience is lured into condemning
the wrong man, not once, but twice. Red herrings abound to
make this into an exciting and devious thriller for
ambitious societies and adult audiences. Murder
by Misadventure.
Play. Edward Taylor Laughs, thrills and mind-boggling twists
abound in this ingenious thriller which played at the
Vaudeville Theatre in 1992 with a cast including Gerald
Harper and William Gaunt. Despite their success as authors
of TV thrillers, Harold Kent has become dissatisfied with
his writing partner, and wants to dissolve their
association. So he takes inspiration from one of their
scripts ... 'It has a lastscene denouement which turns every
available table, until you are left giddy with bewilderment
... ' Evening Standard Murder
by the Book.
Thriller. Duncan Greenwood and Robert
King Crisp, witty exchanges of dialogue pepper
this light-hearted and inventive thriller. A thriller writer
indulges in vitriolic verbal duels with his estranged wife,
until she turns a gun on hi and fires. An amateur detective
from the next flat attempts to solve the murder puzzle- then
the 'corpse' rises, full of life, and the tables are turned,
more than once, for victim and killers alike ... The
Murder Game.
Play. Constance Cox Brian and Sheila Hamilton live in
apparently affluent comfort; but in reality their marriage
is breaking up. In fact, it would be considerably to Brian's
advantage if Sheila were to die. His friend Gerry suggests a
fool-proof method of bringing this about. The murder is
carried out - and successfully-but it is not long before
Brian realizes that, by putting himself in Gerry's power, he
has indeed exchanged the frying-pan for the fire. A
Murder Has Been Arranged.
Ghost Story. Emlyn Williams There is a legend concerning a murder
once committed at the St James' Theatre, that a dumb woman
will appear on stage to reveal the murderer. Sir Charles
Jasper holds a dinner-party in the theatre. Tonight he will
come into a vast fortune. Should he die before eleven, his
nephew Maurice will inherit it. Maurice arrives and
engineers his uncle's murder. Then the dumb woman of the
legend appears ... Murder
in Company.
Play. Philip King and John Boland A dramatic society is assembling on the
stage of a church hall to rehearse a production of a
mysterythriller. The rehearsal proceeds under difficulties
until the mysterious death of the caretaker brings the
situation of the whodunit even more closely into real life.
It transpires that almost everyone might, and could have,
murdered the dead man - eventually the identity of both
killer and prowler is revealed. Murder
in Mind.
Play. Terence Feely Mary, an international art dealer,
arrives home to find her house occupied by three 'strangers'
claiming to be her husband, cousin and sister. Even more
mysterious is the fact that they seem aware of details of
her family life which could only have been known to her most
intimate circle. The nightmare situation becomes more and
more complicated, including the sudden appearance of a
murdered man ... Murder
in Neighbourhood Watch.
Thriller. Stewart Burke Panic grips West Lynstead when a famous
dress designer is raped and strangled. Andrew Wingate,
headmaster of the local school, sets up his own
'neighbourhood watch' and, disguised as a woman, walks the
woods at night, laying himself open as bait for the killer.
Suspense builds in this exciting play as Andrew is accused
by an anonymous caller of attempted rape and a schoolgirl is
lured into the hands of the killer ... Murder
in Play.
Play. Simon Brett Boris Smolensky's budget repertory
production of "Murder at Priorswell Manor" is looking
decidedly shaky. The cast are more interested in their egos
than the play and life imitates art when Boris's wife,
Renee, is murdered on stage. Simon Brett's hilarious text, a
worthy companion to his Charles Paris theatrical thriller
novels, ruthlessly satirizes the politics of the inept
company and the numerous red herrings keep the audience
guessing until the final moments of the play. A
Murder is Announced.
Play. Agatha Christie. Adapted by Leslie Darbon The 'announcement' is in the local paper,
stating time and place of a murder to occur in Miss
Blacklock's early Victorian house. However, the victim is
not one of several occupants, temporary and permanent, but
an unexpected and unknown visitor. What follows is a classic
Christie puzzle, with Miss Marple on hand to provide the
final solution in a dramatic confrontation scene just before
the final curtain. The
Murder of Maria Marten or The Red
Barn.
Melodrama. Brian J. Button In 1827, Willam Corder murdered Maria Marten, the mother of his illegitimate child, and buried her body in the Red Barn. Because of his wife's recurring dream, Thomas Marten searched the barn and discovered the body of his daughter. The fact that this production gets unsullied, hearty fun from these macabre ingredients is proof of its sureness - of its energy that pushes aside any attempt to think seriously about the horrors. Period 1820s Murder
on the Nile.
Play. Agatha Christie Simon and Kay Mostyn are honeymooning
aboard a Nile steamer. With them, apparently by accident,
are Canon Pennefather, Kay's guardian and Jacqueline,
Simon's ex-girlfriend. During the course of the voyage
Jacqueline works herself into a state of hysteria and shoots
at Simon, but only wounds him in the knee. A few minutes
later Kay is found shot. Canon Pennefather lays bare an
audacious conspiracy and ensures that the criminals shall
not go free. The
Murder Room.
Mystery Farce. Jack Sharkey Two days after their marriage Edgar
catches Mavis, a villainess if ever there was one, telling
obvious lies about where she has spent the evening. After a
first attempt to kill him by poisoning his cocoa fails - the
cat dies instead - she fires three shots into him and phones
her lover. Later it transpires that the pistol contained
only blanks, and Edgar's body vanishes. From then on
complication follows complication until chaos reigns
supreme. Murder
with Love.
Play. Francis Durbridge Many people dislike Larry Campbell but
none feel more embittered than David Ryder. Ryder pursues
his vendetta by nefariously obtaining a key to Campbell's
flat to kill him. Deceit, suspicion blackmail and
incrimination are woven into the web of crime which is
completed by a second killing and a tantalizing twist at the
climax. Murderer.
Play. Anthony Shaffer An unusual and macabre beginning to this
play sets the audience's nerves twitching well before any
dialogue confuses their minds! Norman apparently murders his
girlfriend, Millie, and is in the process of disposing of
her body when he is interrupted by a Sergeant Stenning. The
ensuing hunt for the victim and the ghoulish discovery of a
head burning in the stove is fiendishly climaxed by the
revelation that it is only a dummy. Yet is Millie really
dead or not? For connoisseurs of murders only. (NB This
play contains violent scenes) Murmuring
Judges.
Play. David Hare When Irina Platt embarks on her first case as a lawyer, she finds that all sections of the criminal justice system - police, courts and prisons - are running far from smoothly. With its large multicultural cast and contemporary settings ranging from prison interiors to the Inns of Court, Murmuring Judges presents a broad yet finely detailed picture not only of the judicial system but of British society in the 1990s. Music
Lessons (in
Cinzano). Ludmila Petrushevskaya. Trans S.
Mulrine A realistic, domestic drama, set in a
Moscow apartment block, tells the story of two interrelated
families. Their lives are depressingly full of problems, but
the individuals are drawn with great warmth and
understanding. The
Musical Comedy Murders of
1940. Thriller/Farce -
John Bishop Under the guise of a backer's audition for their new musical, the production team of a recent Broadway flop assemble at an isolated country mansion to try to piece together the identity of the mysterious "Stage Door Slasher", who murdered three of the chorus girls in the show. While a blizzard rages outside and the composer, lyricist, director and actors prepare for their performances, the Slasher reappears, striking again - and again, and again! Assassins stalk each other through secret passageways and behind hidden library panels in an ever-increasing romp through comic pastiche involving German spies, a bumbling police investigator and a maid who is apparently four different people - all of which figure in the intrigue and hilarity before the Slasher is finally unmasked.
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