Play. Louise Page
M2 (30s, 50s) F2 (38, 60). Various simple interior and exterior settings.
First performed at the Tricycle Theatre, London, in 1984, this is a touching, sensitive play which stirs deep emotions. Jenny, single and pregnant, returns to visit her mother after twenty years, hoping to find some kind of assistance and support, and possibly a home in which to raise her child. As the play unfolds, the characters are visibly fighting to penetrate each other's defences and ultimately Jenny realises that her mother is not prepared to give up her happiness for her daughter's sake.
The Real Story of Puss in Boots
Play. David Foxton
M6 F3, or M7 F4. Various interior and exterior settings.
The story of Puss in Boots is ingeniously combined with
that of Cinderella in this hilarious new show. Puss in Boots
transforms humble Colin Miller into Prince Charming. Cinderella's
Fairy Godmother helps her to become Princess Priscilla, despite the
meddlings of her stepsisters. Prince Charming and Princess Priscilla
marry, thus providing happy endings for both their stories. This
hugely likeable show, which can be performed by a small cast without
songs, is suitable for any scale of production.
ISBN 0 573 06497 0
Play. Tom Stoppard
M4 (20s, 40s) F3 (l7, 30s). Various interior settings.
Tom Stoppard's brilliant, award-winning play of surprise and deftly
witty comparison was premiered at London's Strand Theatre in 1982
starring Roger Rees and Felicity Kendal. Henry is a successful playwright
married to Charlotte who has the lead role in his latest play about
adultery. Her co-star, Max, is married to another actress, Annie,
and Annie and Henry are madly in love but is it any more real than
the subjects of Henry's play
ISBN 0 573 01637 2
Play. Daphne du Maurier. Adapted by Clifford Williams
M8 (young, 30s, middle-age) F3 (young, middle-age). Extras. A lounge-hall.
Max de Winter brings his shy young bride to Manderley, his great
house in Cornwall. Everywhere, she senses the overpowering presence
of Rebecca, Max's drowned wife. Mrs Danvers, the grim housekeeper,
will not allow her to forget her shortcomings. She doubts Max's love
until Rebecca's body is found. Max confesses that he murdered Rebecca,
hating her depravity. The husband and wife now face the exciting
light to save Max from the gallows. Period 1940
ISBN 0 573 01373 X
Drama. Daphne du Maurier. The author's stage version of her famous
novel.
7 men, 3 women (plus bit parts). Interior
The play unfolds the story of Rebecca, Maxim de Winter's first wife,
whom the audience never meets. The action takes place in the living
room of Maxim's estate, Manderley, where he brings his second wife,
a sincere young girl. The new Mrs. de Winter, knowing nothing of
Rebecca, strives to penetrate the mystery of the impalpable presence
of her husband's first wife and assume her rightful position as mistress
of Manderley. There is, however, the sinister Mrs. Danvers, Rebecca's
housekeeper, who refuses to allow the new Mrs, de Winter to take
the place of Rebecca. It is Mrs. Danvers who pursuades Mrs. de Winter
to wear at a fancy dress ball the costume Rebecca had worn the year
before. But the sight of her in Rebecca's costume arouses painful
thoughts in Maxim and he turns on her in a towering rage. His wife,
utterly bewildered, decides she can no longer cope with the mystery
that surrounds Rebecca, and since she loves Maxim she is completely
perplexed. A climax is reached by the discovery of Rebecca's body
in the sea where she had been supposedly drowned. The bride becomes
a pillar of strength for her husband who reveals the tragic story
of his first marriage and admits the love he has for his bride, a
love he never felt for Rebecca. The drama rises to a climax, involving
a police investigation and attempted blackmail, but because Maxim
and his wife face the future with confidence the drama ends on a
note of triumph.
ISBN: 0-8222-0933-0
Play. Mark Lee.
2 men, 2 women. Unit set
The place is Nairobi, Kenya, where Dove, a brittle, aging correspondent
for Reuters, the British news agency, brings home a young American "stringer" named
Neal, who has been expelled from neighboring Uganda for reasons not
yet fully explained. Worried about his own position, because of previous
negligence, Dove hopes to Use the story of Neal's expulsion to his
own advantage, and he enlists the services of two black prostitutes
to help him get at the truth of what happened. One of the girls,
Mary, is a world-wise Kenyan who has become skillful at playing the
sexy fool for the white man; the other, Christina, is a former student
from Uganda who fled her country after being raped and brutalized
by government troops. It is Christina who is delegated to pry Neal's
story from him but, as the two exchange confidences, it becomes disturbingly
clear that both are idealists who have been defiled - and violated
- by the terrors of modern Africa, and neither can betray the other.
Eventually the sardonic Dove does learn the truth - that Neal, in
his careless reporting of a story about local dissidents, precipitated
the massacre of an entire village - but his triumph is a hollow one
and, as the play ends, even Dove is sobered by the realization that
he, and his fellow Europeans,°have done little to alleviate
and much to exacerbate the failings which they now so smugly and
cynically report to the world beyond.
ISBN: 0-8222-0934-9
Play. Thomas Babe.
9 men, 4 women (several of the men are bit players). Interior.
As the Union forces approach their gracious Georgia mansion, a group
of southern gentlewomen nervously await the appearance of General
Sherman himself - sure that he is a barbarian who will allow their
estate to be pillaged and looted. When Sherman arrives he proves
to be gruff enough but, at the same time, a complex and feeling man
whose intellect is at odds with his responsibilities. One of the
ladies, several months pregnant, pleads for the release of her husband,
a minister who has been taken captive by the northerners; while another,
young and impressionable, falls under the spell of the Yankee mercenary
whose job is to provision the troops. Out of the fascinating confrontations
which follow come understanding - and even romance - and, in the
end, an illumination both of the awful accommodations which must
be made between unwilling enemies, and of the disturbing uncertainties
which still he ahead for all.
ISBN: 0-8222-0935-7
Comedy/Mystery Reginald Denham in a free adaptaion of Receta
a para un crimen by Alfonso Paso.
8 men, 3 women. Interior
In their tour of Mexico, Charles and Emlyn arrive at a remote inn
in the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountains and a surprise encounter
with Lloyd, a friend from Charles' college days. Although their meeting
is fortuitous, it also happens that Charles and Lloyd share a common
interest in the ancient legend of "El Aguila Negra," the Black Eagle,
a Spanish grandee who built the fortress which has since become the
guest house of the play. The legend which surrounds him is a tale
of murder and unrecovered treasure. Its story is echoed in another
unsolved crime which occurred in the same place and under cloudy
circumstances just a short while before the action takes place. Adding
to the aura of Mystery are Laura, a beautiful and taciturn guest
from New York, Dr. Anton, the local physician and Adriana and Daniel,
the brother and sister who manage the hostelry. All are somehow,
it appears, connected with the most recent murder and all would seem,
as well, to provide clues to the untangling of the earlier crime.
Charles and Lloyd discuss the limited information available. Charles
becomes convinced that by adding logic where facts are missing he
will be able to reconstruct and solve both crimes. Charles sets to
work in earnest, reluctantly abetted by a timorous Emlyn and then
joined by Laura as well. But as the process of reconstruction and
reasoning brings the trio closer to the truth, it also draws them
ever deeper into danger. The last moments of the play become breathtaking,
and the denouement, when it comes, is shattering.
ISBN: 0-8222-0936-5
Comedy - George Farquhar
The play combines the intricacies of country love with lust and
a burlesque of the practices then current under the Mutiny and Empressment
Acts. Arriving on a recruiting mission among the honest but gullible
yokels of Shrewsbury, Captain Plume, attended by the devious Sergeant
Kite, proceeds to drum up volunteers. His main efforts, however,
are directed toward the beautiful Silvia, Justice Balance's daughter,
who returns his love but wants proof of his constancy. Captain Plume's
friend and confidant Mr. Worthy is having difficulties with the haughty
Melinda, who plays him off against the braggadocio Captain Brazen.
While Sergeant Kite masquerades as a fortune-teller, predicting spinsterhood
for Melinda if she lets Worthy leave town without her, Silvia, to
investigate Plume's activities, poses as a man and narrowly escapes
being conscripted into the army. She is unmasked, however, and becomes
betrothed to Plume, who instantly resigns his commission to live
a life of middle-class ease on her substantial inheritance. First
staged in 1706.
ISBN 1 85459 340 4