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Widows.
Play. Ariel Dorfman, with Tony Kushner In a war-torn village the men have disappeared. The women-their mothers, wives, daughters wait by the river, hope and mourn. Their anguish is unspoken until bruised and broken bodies begin being washed up on the banks and the women defy the military in the only form of protest left to them. Ariel Dorfman's smouldering political allegory, written in collaboration with Tony Kushner, was given its European premiere by the Traverse Theatre in Cambridge, Oxford, Newcastle and Edinburgh. Wife Begins at Forty. Comedy. Arne Sultan, Earl Barret and Ray Cooney M4 (16, 40s, 75) F2 (30, 40). 1 dog. A living-room. This delightful comedy was premiered by
Ray Cooney's Theatre of Comedy. Forty is a traumatic age for
some people, especially Linda Harper who starts worrying
about it three years before the date! Dissatisfied
spiritually and physically with marriage to the staid
George, Linda decides to leave. George moves out, giving
Linda a chance to 'find herself', but returning to discuss
maintenance they discover the flames of passion are not
quite dead! The
Wild Duck. Play.
Henrik Ibsen, translated by Christopher Hampton Here is the greatest account ever written
of the destructiveness of missionary zeal. Gregers Werle
enters the house of photographer Ekdal preaching 'the
demands of idealism' (a nicely ambiguous phrase in Hampton's
translation) and systematically destroys a family's
happiness. 'If Ibsen's play is not a masterpiece, then the
word is devoid of meaning.' Guardian Wild
Goose Chase. Farce.
Derek Benfield Chester Dreadnought bluffs his way into
the crumbling stately home of an impecunious aristocratic
family, and even a trigger-happy belted Earl suffering from
hallucinations cannot keep at bay the enterprising pair of
jewel thieves who are pursuing their loot - not to mention
Chester-round the castle. Suits of armour and secret doors,
mistaken identities and dotty servants all help to provide
the variety of fare that goes to the making of this wild
goose chase. Wild
Honey. Play. Anton
Chekhov, translated and adapted by Michael Frayn A dazzling version of this dark comedy (sometimes called Platonov) premiered at the National Theatre in 1984 starring Ian McKellen as the complex, but hapless schoolmaster Platonov who lurches from one amorous chaos to the next, until, tormented, self-recriminating and suffering from delirium tremens he dies in the path of an oncoming train. Frayn has subtly cut and remodelled the original six-hour running time whilst staying close to Chekhov's original. Wildest
Dreams. Play. Alan
Ayckbourn Four typical Ayckbourn misfits are
playing a Dungeons-and-Dragons type game in a suburban
living room. The repressed Hazel and Stanley, her meek,
sex-starved husband, are joined by emotionally retarded,
computer-freak schoolboy, Warren, and Rick, a taciturn
lesbian. The game offers the chance for them to be
beautiful, wise and heroic-qualities they will never possess
in reality. The advent of Marcie, escaping from her violent
husband, blows apart their foursome. Will
You Still Love Me in the
Morning? Farce. Brian
Clemens and Dennis Spooner Jeremy and Celia return early from their
honeymoon to find that both Jeremy's working partners have
accepted his offer to stay in his house while he is away;
unfortunately they have each brought the other's wife with
them. Jeremy discovers one illicit couple, Celia the other,
and both issue invitations to dinner. Desperate to make a
good impression, they then must stage two dinner parties -
simultaneously! The
Wind in the Willows.
Family entertainment. John Morley, adapted from the novel by
Kenneth Grahame John Morley has taken the well-loved
characters of Toad, Mole, Ratty and Badger from Kenneth
Grahame's classic tale and woven their exploits into an
exciting adventure story for all the family. Designed to be
staged simply or elaborately, the casting is also very
flexible with choice of music left up to individual
producers. This delightful play will provide an evening of
magic and joy for all. The
Wind in the Willows.
Kenneth Grahame. Adapted for the stage by Alan Bennett.
Music by Jeremy Sams The characters of Ratty, Mole, Toad and
Badger have delighted generations of readers. Alan Bennett's
version is true to the original and yet carries the
distinctive Bennett hallmark. It was first performed at the
Royal National Theatre in 1990 and subsequently at the Old
Vic Theatre, London, in a shortened version adapted for
proscenium staging. This is the version given here. The
music by Jeremy Sams is available in a separate
songbook. The
Wind of Heaven. Play.
Emlyn Williams Dilys Parry, an inconsolable Crimean War
widow, lives in Blestin, a village which has no children,
sings no songs, and worships no god since a disaster
snatched away all its youth. She is gradually reawakened to
life once a Miracle boy's influence begins to permeate her
home and the village. A flashy showman turns up intending to
exploit the boy but becomes his world-forsaking disciple.
The boy restores a dead man to life but dies himself in
agony. Period 1856 Wings.
Play. Arthur Kopit Emily Stilson, once an aerial acrobat, has suffered a stroke and is in hospital. The play takes us into her strange, shattered world and concerns her gradual, painful, struggle to bring together the pieces of an existence in which time, place, language and thought have become terrifyingly dislocated. A human story of the utmost compassion, and even of hope. The
Winslow Boy. Play.
Terence Rattigan Cadet Ronnie Winslow is expelled from the
Royal Naval College accused of stealing. His father,
refusing to believe his guilt and dissatisfied with the
manner in which the investigation was conducted, demands a
new inquiry. This is refused and Arthur Winslow settles down
to fight for his son's honour. Following an independent
inquiry the matter is taken to the House of Commons but
Arthur ruins himself financially and in health in the
process. But his stubbornness wins, a civil trial is allowed
and Ronnie is acquitted. Period Edwardian. Winter
Glory. Comedy. We meet once again the redoubtable
quartet of Dame Beatrice and her lodgers - Nan, Hattie and
the Brigadier - who featured in Peter Coke's earlier
comedies Breath
of Spring,
Midsummer
Mink and
Autumn
Manoeuvres. This,
however, will be positively their last appearance, as due to
an unfortunate slip-up in their schemes to put a pathetic
pet out of its misery and to help an ageing actress fade
away at a peak of happiness, they dispatch themselves
heavenwards as well! The
Winter Guest. Play.
Sharman Macdonald The play is set on a seaside promenade and intermingles the lives of several sets of people found there. A grandmother is still clings on to her daughter, a young photographer, who is trying to come to terms with the death of her husband, while the photographer's son pursues love. Two young truant boys are concerned with the onset of puberty. And an elderly pair of ladies discuss their favourite pastime, funeral attendance. NB. Contains explicit language. The
Winter Wife. Play.
Claire Tomalin In the winter of 1920-21, the consumptive Katherine Mansfield went to Menton in the South of France in the vain hope of recuperating, accompanied by her lifelong friend and devoted companion Ida Baker, whom Katherine frequently treated abominably and called her 'wife'. Claire Tomalin's play concentrates on this episode, tracing the relationship between the two women as well as Katherine's role as wife to John Middleton Murry. Witness
for the Prosecution.
Play. Agatha Christie Although circumstantial evidence is
damning, Leonard Vole convinces even the perceptive Sir
Wilfred that he is innocent of murder. In the mounting
tension of the trial there are three amazing developments.
Vole's wife takes the stand and coldly swears away her
husband's alibi. A brassy young woman then sells Sir Wilfred
letters proving Mrs Vole has committed perjury. Vole is
acquitted but only then does Sir Wilfred discover how this
acquittal has been engineered by Mrs Vole. But there is
still the dramatic finale ...
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