Farce. Richard Harris and Leslie Darbon
M6 (40, middle-age) F4 (young, 20s, 30s, middle-age). An entrance
hall.
Running a Health and Strength Home in a large mansion can be a hazardous
undertaking, as Eddie Manchip knows. He is beset by a sinister crook,
a complete desertion of the staff except for one half-witted and
hysterical maid, an erring, pompous brother, his suspicious wife,
a nude tennis-player, a quick-change artist, the tennis-player's
kilted husband and a hearty countrywoman grabbing second-hand clothing
for charity. The result? Chaos!
ISBN 0 573 01546 5
Play. Tudor Gates
M2 (45, older). (1M 1F, voices only). An apartment.
John Terry considers his career as an actor and writer has been
blighted by venomous attacks from Arthur, a drama critic. In revenge
he invents a highly ingenious and original plot in which Arthur is
held responsible for the murder of John's wife and Arthur's boyfriend
who have been having an affair. He wears Arthur down to a condition
of abject terror, his plan being that Arthur, who has a weak heart,
will be found dead. The plan is entirely successful and further revelations
follow.
ISBN 0 573 04015 X
Play. Terence Feely
M6 (young, 20s, 30s) F2 (30s). A Chelsea house.
Barbara Love is a popular television 'auntie'. It is Christmas,
and a number of men connected with her are coming to a party. Her
secretary, Connie, is also there. Before they arrive she is threatened
by a disguised voice on her Ansaphone, and is sent a grotesque 'murdered'
doll in a coffin, in a dress resembling one of her own. It becomes
apparent that one of her guests is planning to kill her ...
ISBN 0 573 01510 4
Play. Tudor Gates
M3 (30s, middle-age) F1 (20-30). Extras M. Composite setting: a surgery,
a living-room, a cellar.
Former Police Superintendent Pratt is a man with an obsession -
to track down the criminal John Rawlings who has eluded him so long.
When summoned to Dr Adcock's surgery and presented, apparently, with
Rawlings' body Pratt is totally defeated, his purpose in life gone.
Things are not what they seem and as a result of a intricate and
cunning criminal plot Pratt finds himself engaged in a ruthless duel
of wits and bluff that leads to a grim and tense climax.
ISBN 0 573 01568 6
Play. Philip King and John Boland
M3 (20s, 40s) F3 (20, young, 40). A lounge.
Doris and Frank return home to find their lounge in a state of chaos
but nothing seems to have been stolen. During ensuing discussions
it becomes apparent that the family has more than its fair share
of skeletons in the cupboard. When the young, somewhat 'simple' son,
Barry, reveals a girl's naked body this appalling discovery is taken
advantage of by Trevor to blackmail his father-in-law. He agrees
to dispose of the body, but then a young naked girl appears at the
window ...
ISBN 0 573 01582 1
Comedy thriller. Anthony Shaffer
M7 F3. An eighteenth-century library.
This witty, wickedly funny satire, a long-running success on Broadway,
is firmly in Agatha Christie country of the 1930s, complete with
her stock characters and situations. A group of six strangers have
gathered for dinner at Orcas Champflower Manor. One of the guests,
an oily Levantine, informs each of his fellow guests that he has
the means to blackmail them. Not surprisingly he gets murdered -
but whodunit? In Act II the surprise is unveiled.
ISBN 0 573 61823 2
Comedy. Konstantin Simonov, translated and rewritten for the American
stage by Thelma Schnee.
7 men, 3 women. Interior
A delightful comedy about the housing shortage presenting a plea
to the post-war world to forget its hatreds.
ISBN: 0-8222-1248-X
Play. Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall
M3 (middle-age) F3 (young, middle-age). A living-room and patio.
James and Iris live comfortably in their greenbelt bungalow enjoying
a placid existence in which a discussion on cornflakes can take on
major significance. With them is their daughter, about to divorce
her husband for his 'certain habits'. They await the arrival of their
new neighbours, the Smedleys, with interest which turns to dismay
when the Smedleys turn out to be brash aggressive intruders who start
by taking over their phone and continue by trying to run their entire
lives.
ISBN 0 573 11486 2
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Play. Edward Albee
M2 (30, 40) F2 (26, 52). A living-room.
George, an assistant professor of history, and his wife, Martha, invite Nick and Honey to their home on the campus of a small New England college. Throughout the long liquor-drenched night, the strangers are forcibly initiated into the demoniac misery of George and Martha's eternal matrimonial corrida. Martha exposes a secret, which George cannot forgive, and the guests slip away, leaving George and Martha, who love each other but hate themselves and therefore can only hurt each other.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Drama. Edward Albee.
2 men, 2 women. Interior.
George, a professor at a small college, and his wife Martha have
just returned home, drunk from a Saturday night party. Martha announces,
amidst general profanity, that she has invited a young couple-an
opportunistic new professor at the college and his shatteringly naive
new bride-to stop by for a nightcap. When they arrive the charade
begins. The drinks flow and suddenly inhibitions melt. It becomes
clear that Martha is determined to seduce the young professor, and
George could care less. But underneath the edgy banter which is cross-fired
between both couples lurks an undercurrent of tragedy and despair.
George and Marthas inhuman bitterness toward one another is provoked
by the enormous personal sadness which they have pledged to keep
to themselves: a secret that has seemingly been the foundation for
their relationship. In the end, the mystery in which the distressed
George and Martha have taken refuge is exposed, once and for all
revealing the degrading mess they have made of their lives.
ISBN: 0-8222-1249-8
Comedy. Oliver Hailey.
3 men, 2 women. Interior.
The setting is an East Texas small-town bar, and the action covers
three periods in the main character's life, at 6, 16 and 20. He and
his resilient, but resigned, mother frequent the bar so that the
boy may at least get to know his father - who comes there every day
with his girl friend, a waitress named Faye Precious. As the years
pass a sort of whimsical accommodation is achieved between these
very different people, and the boy grows up divided between avenging
his mother for the father's disloyalty and getting back at him for
his own hurts, while still trying to win the paternal love and approval
he so desperately wants. The son's talent for song writing eventually
gives him the means to get away-but when he asks his mother to join
him she refuses. Once before she had tried to leave, but couldn't,
and she has learned that it is better to shed her pride and keep
even a share in the man she loves than to stand on this and have
nothing.
ISBN: 0-8222-1250-1
Farce. Marcia Kash and Doug Hughes
M5 (20s, 40s, 50s) F2 (30s). An hotel suite.
Jane and Sybil are on the verge of the deal of their lives. They
plan to convince the world famous Italian designer Bruno Fruferelli
to buy their 'Passion Fashion Wear' line of lingerie. They arrange
to give him a private fashion show in a fancy hotel suite. The models
are booked, the champagne is on ice, the sexy samples are on display
- and then their jealous husbands arrive, inevitably jumping to the
wrong conclusions!
ISBN 0 573 69389 7
Comedy. Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall
M2 (middle-age) F2 (middle-age). Music trio: Ml F2 (optional). An
hotel lounge.
Set in a Brighton hotel lounge - a place of faded elegance, centre
of an inextricable maze of corridors -Act I follows the confusion
that Black and White create in their efforts to cover up a clandestine
weekend: a confusion which ends with no-one knowing anyone else's
identity. In Act II White argues that the trouble would never have
occurred if the positions had been reversed. The situation is re-enacted
on these lines with even more calamitous results.
ISBN 0 573 01562 7
Play. Brian Clark
M9 F5. Multiple set.
Ken Harrison has been so severely injured in a car crash that he
is totally paralysed; only his brain functions normally. He is being
kept alive by the miracles of medicine, but wishes to die. This he
could achieve by discharging himself from hospital but being wholly
helpless has to gain the authorities' consent. The play examines
the moral and legal aspects of the situation and the reactions of
the hospital staff.
ISBN 0 573 01587 2
Comedy. Stanley Price
M3 (19, 30, middle-age) F3 (30, 40, 60). A living-room, a dining
area.
A very funny comedy of unemployment which starred Richard Briers
as redundant civil engineer John, a bitter recipient of a 'tarnished
chrome' handshake. During the ensuing summer he struggles bravely
with job rejections; loss of dignity in the face of his wife's hugely
successful pizza business; an adulterous affair; the incipient break-up
of his marriage and repeated forays into his house by his mother-in-law
who refuses to stay in her granny flat!
ISBN 0 573 01622 4
Comedy. Gene Stone and Ray Cooney M3 (young, 30s) F2 (17, young). A flat.
George, respected member of the Establishment, once married, now
alone, lives in Hampstead. The apartment above his is inhabited by
hippies and one night the very pregnant Louise arrives on his doorstep
having rowed with Davey in their pad upstairs. The clash between
the hippies and the square type is at full strength when Louise starts
labour pains! George takes charge and both the baby and Louise remain
in the flat for the time being. Period 1970
ISBN 0 573 01580 5
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