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Comedy.
Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall The Wedding and The Funeral make up the two parts
of this comedy in which we are introduced to the same family, first
making preparations for a wedding and subsequently, six months later,
returning from the funeral of their Uncle Arthur, a loveable personality
who provides the link between the two plays. Comedy. Nat Perrin. 6 men, 2 women. Interior Founders Day in Appleford is a big event, particularly for Irving
Martin (leader of the local brass band) and his wife Mattie (who
was an Appleford before she married Irving and wont let him forget
it). This year Irving has scheduled a "musical extravaganza which
requires his future son-in-law, Jim Diamond, to chime in with bugle
calls and gun shots, while Grandpa Ben Martin thumps the bass drum.
They are set to begin when young Hank Martin comes in holding a human
bone, which he unearthed while digging in the back yard. When Dr.
Hutchinson announces the bone might only be a year or so old suspicions
begin to multiply, especially against Jim, who arrived in town rather
mysteriously a year earlier. But Jim isn't the only one with a secret
in his past, and confessions begin to pour out. When all this comes
to the attention of Sheriff Gilbert (still smarting over being dropped
from the band) the fat is on the fire. There are dark murmurings
about foul play, and Jim is ready to leave town when Grandpa Ben
confesses that the skeleton in the yard was his doing. Many years
earlier-he tried to sell the skeleton to a medical school, but when
it was refused he had to put it somewhere and the yard was the handiest
solution. The irony is that the bones belonged to the town's founder,
a mean old skinflint, and before whose empty monument the Founders
Day ceremonies are held each year by the respectful, and unsuspecting
citizens. Play. Ivan Menchcll Ida, Lucille and Doris are part of a club - the cemetery club. Every month they meet at Ida's New York house for tea, then trundle off to the cemetery to remember the good times and gossip with their late husbands. Sam, a butcher, meets the widows at the cemetery while he is visiting his wife's grave and changes their lives forever. This touching play about three superannuated, feuding Jewish women is funny, wise and gloriously witty. Play. Ronald Ribman. 8 men, 3 women (plus several bits). Unit Set It is 11th century England and its pacifist King Ethelred has negotiated
a treaty with Sweyn of Denmark whereby England pays tribute in silver
and Sweyn gives his daughter Thulja as hostage to guarantee the peace.
But Ethelred has hawks to contend with - the belligerent Earl of
Sussex, his own hot-headed son Edmund, and a blood-thirsty mother-in-law
- as well as a frustrated and jealous queen and a grasping Bishop.
Eventually the proud Edmund kills four Danish immigrant farmers,
picks a fight with the Danish ambassador and is himself accidentally
killed. His grandmother, the old Queen Alfreda, kills Thulja in vengeance
and the Danes prepare to invade England. At the end of the play Ethelred,
who has sorrowfully taken refuge in a monastery, is being urged by
even his most dovish advisers to march against the Danes and defend
his throne. He refuses. And so the judgment of history goes against
him - this benevolent, moral man who wanted only to bring a better
life to his people, and to free them from the tyranny of constant,
senseless wars. Thriller. Conrad Sutton Smith. 4 men, 2 women. Unit set Keith Fox, a struggling young American playwright in Paris, has
just completed his new play, but is very secretive about it, even
with his two closest ftiends - Bonnie Lenox, a charming and resourceful
girl who loves Keith deeply despite his all-consuming ambition -
and Basil Worthing, a young Englishman, an ex-actor now semi-beatnik.
Into this picture comes a successful Broadway playwright, Robin Meredith,
who needs someone to type his new play and accepts Bonnies suggestion
of Keith. But when he starts to type Robin's play, Keith is horrified
to realize that it deals with the same historical subject as his
own. It drives him to a desperate decision - to do away with Robin
- and further, to appropriate Robin's play as his own. So he evolves
an elaborate "perfect crime" (with Basil's unwitting assistance).
But Robin's dying words throw him into a turmoil: the handwritten
script which Robin had given, him for typing is not the only copy,
and now Keith will never know when or where the other carbon copy
may appear to condemn him. The chain of circumstances tightens even
more around him when the crafty Basil begins to piece together many
curious little discrepancies, with a view to a fat blackmail income.
From this point on, the action takes swift and startling turns. The
dramatic irony of the last five minutes cant be revealed here, but
it's designed to hold an audience breathless until literally the
last line. Play. Enid Bagnold The chalk garden which totally defeats Mrs St Maugham's attempts
to cultivate it is symbolic of her failure with her daughter and
her granddaughter. Then Miss Madrigal, a hired companion, takes charge.
'We eavesdrop on a group of thoroughbred minds, expressing themselves
in speech of an exquisite candour, building ornamental bridges of
metaphor, tiptoeing across frail causeways of simile, and vaulting
over gorges impassable to the rational soul.' Kenneth Tynan, Observer Comedy/Drama. Bruce Graham 3 men, 2 women. Interior. It's a very special day at the racetrack, where "Champagne" Charlie,
a race-track regular, has had a race named in his honour. A dreamer
and teller of tall tales, Charlie is accompanied by his wife of 53
years, Mary Lee, an incurable romantic, who still finds Charlie very
attractive. They are accompanied by Jackie, a family friend and race
track bookie, and their daughter, Mary, a divorced high school drama
teacher, and the realist in the family who has nervously invited
along her long-time boyfriend, Paul, to finally meet her parents.
Since this is such a special day, Charlie conspires with Jackie to
place the bet of his life-his entire meagre savings ("the whole shebang")-on
a long shot hunch. Mary strenuously objects until Mary Lee tells
her that Charlie is ill and this will be his last season at the track,
and she wants this day to be the most wonderful day of his life.
Mary relents, the race is run and Charlie loses everything. Jackie,
guilt ridden, tries to return the money, but Mary Lee will not hear
of it. If Charlie wants to tell the tale of the "whole shebang" he
can't keep the money, so Mary disposes of it in her own way. Charlie,
disappointed, apologises to Mary Lee; just once in his life he wanted
to give her things and do something grand for her. She assures Charlie
that, for 53 years, he's done just fine. Play. Aleksei Arbuzov, translated by Ariadne
Nicolaeff This subtle, complex play was premiered in this country in 1984.
After twenty-two years of marriage, Turkovsky announces that he has
fallen in love with someone else. His wife, Lubya, a remarkable woman,
insists on meeting the other woman who turns out to be nothing like
one would expect. At the end Lubya, despite her pain, still wishes
Turkovsky happiness - unafraid to face the future. Play. Larry Ketron. 1 man, 2 women. Interior. Many years before the action of the play begins, Kit and Linda had
shared, a life together as they struggled for recognition as writers.
Now, seven years later, Linda, who has become a successful novelist,
is on a book promotion tour, and visits Kit in the small Tennessee
town to which he has retreated. Their meeting is awkward at first
- she radiates the savvy and energy of success in a high-powered
world; while he has adjusted to the unchallenging routine of small-town
life. But, as they begin to confide in each other, it becomes apparent
that Linda, for all her acclaim and financial success, has not found
the fulfillment she seeks; while Kit, who is still writing and carrying
on a satisfying affair with his landlady's daughter, has come to
terms with his hopes and dreams. In the end the two part again, sobered
by the memories their brief reunion has revived, but enriched by
the deeper self-knowledge it has also brought them. |