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Drama. Edward Albee. 4 men, 4 women. Unit Set Several people sit together reading proverbs aloud to each other.
From these proverbs are prompted stories of each one's past, or musings
surrounding life-long mysteries. Each tries to tell about some incident
which they-hope will illuminate their own being; hoping the others
will understand who they are. Each story flows to the next, with
a musical quality to the randomness. Albee explains it,this way: "Fragments lacks
plot in any established sense; there is no clear dilemma and resolution
- no "story," no apparent - sequentiality. The piece proceeds as
a piece of music does - accumulating, accumulating, following its
own logic. Its effectiveness, its coherence reside in what we have
experienced from the totality of it. Fragments is also a very
simple, straightforward piece - on its own terms, of course." Play. Julian Mitchell : M 18 F2. Extras. Various simple settings. Saint Francis was born in Assisi in 1181 and in his early life was the playboy son of a rich merchant. Today the whole city is a memorial to him, but even during his lifetime there was conflict in his Order as to how far simplicity and poverty were to be taken. The play pictures him as 'a man whose inspiration could never come to terms with the real world'. Period 1205-1226 Tim Kelly, adapted from Mary Shelley's novel : M4 F4. 1 set. Perhaps the truest adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel, this play
opens on Victor's, a young scientist, and Elizabeth's wedding night.
Previously Victor has created a 'Creature' out of bits and pieces
of the dead. The creature tracks Victor to his sanctuary to demand
a bride to share its loneliness. Against his better judgement Victor
agrees and soon the household is invaded by murder, despair and terror!
However there is enough macabre humour to relieve the mounting tension. Play Victor Gialanella from the novel by Mary Shelley. 8 men, 3 women, 1 boy. 3 Interiors, 4 Exteriors (All can be Simplified). Set in 19th century Switzerland, this classic tale of horror and
suspense details the ill-fated experiments of young Dr. Frankenstein
as he attempts to fathom the secrets of life and death. Purchasing
cadavers from two unsavoury grave robbers, he give life to a creature
both hideous and touching - and so physically powerful and mentally
twisted that he soon brings death and destruction to all who stand
in his way. Adhering more closely to the original novel than did
the famous motion picture versions, the play blends moments of brooding
terror and sudden shock with questions of morality and the dangers
of unrestrained scientific inquiry. Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune Terrence McNally : Comedy 1M 1F Interior set This bittersweet comedy is set in a West Side Manhattan apartment
where the curtain is,, on Frankie and Johnny (a waitress and short
order cook in the same restaurant) discovered in bed. It is their
first encounter outside work, and now Frankie is hoping Johnny will
depart so that she can return to her normal routine. Johnny is convinced,
however, that he is in love with her, which she finds absurd. She
has had more disappointments in life than most, he is divorced, and
neither one is in the bloom of youth. Yet out of the often hilarious
interplay the promise of a relationship beyond a ore- ight-stand
begins to emerge in this most unlikely of romances. Janet Suzman This powerful adaptation of Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard is set in South Africa after the restoration of democracy in 1994. Located in an African landscape of harsh beauty, Chekhov's drama of class conflict takes on a stark political reality. The Free State tours Britain in spring 2000. Play. Brian Friel Set in Derry in 1970, in the aftermath of of a Civil Rights meeting, this play conjures the events of Bloody Sunday. Three unarmed marchers find themselves in the mayor's parlour in the Guildhall. Reports and rumours exaggerate their 'occupation' to forty armed rebels and they are shot by British soldiers as they surrender. The play documents the victims' final hours and a subsequent tribunal of inquiry into their deaths. Amy Freed. 3 men, 4 women. Unit Set Ages ago, Noah and his wife took their children to the amusement
park, "Freedomland." After that trip, Noah's wife ran off and left
him to raise the family. Now a retired professor of religion, Noah
has married Claude, a sex therapist, and lives a secluded life in
the family farmhouse. Breaking this seclusion are Noah'ss two daughters
and son who return home for an impromptu reunion. Polly, an eternally
lost Greek-studies major, is the first to arrive. In pursuit is her
ferocious sister Sigrid, a painter of clowns, with a befuddled magazine
interviewer in tow. Soon after, their brother Seth, a survivalist,
arrives with a backwoods pregnant girlfriend. An overdue showdown
between Seth and his father sets off fireworks that illuminate the
neurosis, rage and anxiety of one family - and of America at the
turn of the millennium. Play. Phillip Hayes Dean. 3 men,: 2 women. Divided Interior. Freeman Aquila is a young black man, son of an industrious foundry
worker and a practical nurse, who is trapped not so much by the color
of his skin as by the complexities of his nature. Spurning the conventional
routes to possible "success" in a white-dominated world, Freeman
pursues an independent, free-wheeling course through attempts at
politics and real estate schemes - only to be frustrated at every
turn. The irony is that Freeman's disturbing ambitions are curbed
not only by the local establishment, but also by his own family and
friends; his weary, middle-class parents, who are fearful of jeopardizing
all that their years of resigned acceptance have brought them; his
boyhood friend, Rex, now a successful doctor, who has gained power
and wealth through "practical" compromise; and his pregnant wife,
Osa Lee, who yearns only for security and a home of her own. Inevitably
Freeman's dogged persistence brings on a crisis which gives tragic
dimension to his plight. He is dearly in the right, yet he must also
lose - as, by powerful implication, does society as a whole. Comedy. Terence Rattigan At the Villa Miramar, in the south of France, a group of young men
are being coached in French by M. Maingot and his daughter, Jacqueline.
They do not find French easy, but their progress is bedevilled by
Diana Lake who has a gift for making men fall in love with her. Diana
resists them, awaiting the arrival of Lord Heybrook, who turns out
to be a fifteen-year-old schoolboy. She decamps to pursue a former
victim, leaving another to be consoled by Jacqueline Play Larry Ketron. 3 men, 4 women. Interior & Exterior The setting is an abandoned railroad maintenance station in the
rural South which Larkin, a temporary college drop-out, has moved
into both in order to think over his future and to spend more time
with his nubile young girlfriend, Jewel. Larkin believes Jewel to
be 19 and a virgin but, as subsequent events reveal, she is actually
16, and married, and on the run from her lecherous stepfather. As
Larkin dreams up toys and board games (which he sends off to Parker
Brothers in the hope of making his fortune) he is visited by his
college pals Tipton and Sproles, who try to lure him away from Jewel
with promises of wild parties and compliant coeds. Tipton is a fount
of miscellaneous (and often hilarious) information; while Sproles,
a "fifth year senior," is a sardonic schemer and incipient troublemaker.
In the second act a party does take place with the arrival of three
high spirited college girls who, after deftly putting down every
boy of their acquaintance, draw their hosts into a wildly comic marshmallow
fight - during which Jewel unexpectedly returns, confronting the
now uncertain Larkin with an ultimatum which both dampens the festive
mood of the others and impels the play toward its affecting, bittersweet
conclusion. Play. Andrew Johns. 4 men, 2 women. Interior. The Friday night poker game in George Herrick's basement has been
a tradition for the past 30 years. George is the quintessential family
man while his best friend, Holly, is a crusty old bachelor with a
mouth that could alienate the most patient of saints. During a particularly
trying Friday evening, when only one other player has shown up, George
collapses. Upon his return from the hospital, George tells Holly
the doctor's have discovered a brain tumor and he must go back in
for a dangerous operation. In a funny and moving scene the friends
plan for the worst should it happen, even to making funeral arrangements,
and we see the love the men have for each other. George does die,
and there is renewal mixed with loss when George's son continues
the rite of the game, and life-long misogynist Holly is forced to
make a final sacrifice and allow a woman to join the table. The healing
begins and we realise the humour, courage and sensitivity we've associated
with George are basic elements of our humanity. |