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Robin Hawdon | Drama 2M 2F Flexible staging Robin Hawdon's unique
and innovative play examines the extraordinary life and career of
the author of the international best-seller A Brief History of
Time. In a brilliant theatrical tour de force, God appears
as not only himself but in the various guises of Sir Isaac Newton,
Albert Einstein, professors, mathematicians, the Pope and even
the Queen to debate with Hawking the essential clash between religious
teaching and scientific progress through the ages. From his early
days as a precocious undergraduate at Cambridge and the diagnosis
of Motor Neurone Disease, through his awkward courtship and ultimately
failed marriage to his first wife Jane, the drama is played out
against the backdrop of Hawking's life and theories, a theatrical
battle of wits between Hawking and God himself. God Says There Is No Peter OTT Play Bill Hare. 2 men, 3 women. Interior. Having squandered her inheritance, Avis now operates a guest house
on Cape Cod, thanks to the financial backing of her wealthy, but
disapproving, brother. Her niece, unmarried and thoroughly unpleasant,
joins her to await the birth of her child - only to be startled by
the arrival of the baby's father, Peter Ott, who has at last summoned
the courage to offer marriage. A failed priest, and drifter, and
the disenchanted heir to a sizable fortune, Peter soon realizes that
while his obligation is to the niece, and her stuffy parents, it
is with the tart-tongued, world-weary Avis that his deeper sympathies
lie. And it is in the resolution of this dilemma, with its bittersweet
truths about the human heart, that the play and its people take on
an emotional validity of rare forcefulness and shattering honesty. Comedy. Neil Simon M5 F2. Interior. Neil Simon's actually made a funny play from the Book of Job-transferring
the scene to a Long Island mansion where resides a tycoon his wife,
a prodigal son and a pair of zany twins. Then a messenger from God
enters (wearing a big 'G' on his sweatshirt) and everything becomes
a test of the tycoon's faith, including his family. 'Awesomely funny
... The work of a man of vision. It'll make you laugh out loud.' New
York Daily News Stephen Jeffreys | 7m 1f. Drama. Single interior set. The technological revolution has not yet reached Chapel & Sons,
an ailing family business making billiard tables. In the dilapidated
workshop, three generations conspire against each other for control
of the firm. The play is at once a lament for the passing of an industrial
age, a retelling of the classic mythical struggle between fathers
and sons, and a thoroughly entertaining story. 'Blisteringly tough
and funny' Sunday Times Play. Karen Hensel and Elana Kent; based on an idea by Patti Johns; characters created by Patti Johns, Sylvia Meredith, Elizabeth Shaw and Laura Toffenetti. 1 man, 4 women. Exterior. The action takes place before a sod but in the Kansas wilderness
of the 1870s, where four frontier women wrest a living from the stubborn
soil. The matriarch of the group is Ma, a feisty, resourceful survivor
whose wanderlust is still strong and who inspires the others with
her' homespun wisdom and strength. With her are her daughter-in-law
Sara, a hard working young wife and mother who is content with life
as she knows it; Etta, a young girl suffering the trauma of having
been abducted by Cheyenne yet still optimistic that marriage and
happiness may yet await; and Mrs. Nichols, a fastidious and refined
Eastern lady forced to seek shelter with the others while her husband
recovers from a critical illness. As they cope with wolf attacks,
the constant fear of Indians, and the dismal isolation of the prairie,
they talk of "going to see the elephant" -crossing the next hill
to see what lies on the other side - and it is this sense of striving
to achieve all that life can offer that gives the play its power
and beauty - and makes it clear that the wilderness was not tamed
by men alone. Play. A.R. Gurney. Suggested by "The Aspern Papers" by Henry James 1 man, 2 women. Interior. The play takes place in a once elegant townhouse in Manhattan, the
home of Isabel Hastings Hoyt, an ageing but still charming recluse
who had been a glittering figure in the literary salons of the 1920s.
Now short of money, Mrs. Hoyt is concerned about the future of her
granddaughter, Virginia, a twice-divorced near-alcoholic whom she
hopes to see securely married before she herself, as she puts it, "kicks
the bucket." In earlier years, Mrs. Hoyt was friend and confidante
of many world figures, especially F: Scott Fitzgerald who, it is
rumored, used her as the model of Daisy in The Great Gatsby. This
fact leads Tom, an ambitious young academic, to seek her out. Tom
believes that Mrs. Hoyt possesses an unpublished chapter from Gatsby
which depicts passionate lovemaking between Gatsby and Daisy, a literary
treasure which he is determined to procure no matter how devious
the means. It is this obsession which sets up the increasingly complex
and perilous relationship which develops between the three protagonists
- a relationship which, inexorably, leads to the startling and ironic
denouement of the play. Drama. David Henry Hwang. 2 men, 4 women, 3 men or women (flexible casting). Unit Set In the winter of 1918, progressive Chinese landowner Eng Tieng Bin's
interest in Westernisation and Christianity sets off a power struggle
among his three wives, which will determine the future of his daughter,
Ahn, Tieng-Bit's favourite, his "golden child." Comedy. Samuel Spewack. 8 men, 3 women. Interior. A number of people have trekked to Los Angeles in the hope that
they can do in California what they could not achieve in their home
states. They now live in the house of Rosita Morenas, who calls her
single rooms apartments, and who dreams of someday living in the
manner of her "noble"
ancestors. Her daughter, Carmen, is married to a young bank clerk,
and Mrs. Morenas vainly seeks for affection in that quarter. When
gold is discovered in her yard, Mrs. Morenas is sure that her son-in-law
will accept her. Mrs. Morenas' boarders are a Philadelphia businessman
who went to Los Angeles to write songs, a young veteran who is now
selling mineral water while his wife works nights and a promoter,
who, like Mrs. Morenas, is native-born and is sold on the California
dream to the point of embezzling for it. Gold is actually found,
but it is only some ore specimens that Tim, an old prospector and
friend of Mrs. Morenas, has brought from his latest mine. Though
there is no gold, the dreamers make their dreams come true through
a realisation of themselves, rather than what they hoped to be. Play. John Harding and
John Burrows The structure of this play is a loosely connected sequence of sketches,
some deliberately written for great comic effect and others pitched
in a much lower key. It is about a boy growing up in the period from
the end of the Second World War to the late 1960s. The Golden
Pathway Annual has things to say, says them well, looks you
in the eye.' Plays and Players Play. Simon Bent | M5 F3. A back room. Paul, a retired coach-driver, will soon be dead (or so he thinks) and the battle is on for his money. Paul's two illegitimate sons (of different mothers) are summoned to the scene. The dodgy, dealing Ralph is working for his financial stake, whilst John, a philandering coach driver, is equally keen to benefit from the will. Mary the cleaner has her own problems when her daughter Julia arrives having run away from her husband. This biting, funny look at contemporary living is easily staged. William Douglas Home : Comedy 2M 2F Interior set Robert, a failing playwright, is inspired to write his next play
on the theme of adultery. Having read the first draft, his wife Susan
claims his seduction scene lacks realism and Robert admits that he
has had no experience whatsoever with extra-marital affairs. Susan
decides to provide him with the experience he needs for his research,
and arranges a romantic liaison for him with an old flame, Sheila.
Susan makes herself scarce while Robert sets to wooing Sheila, who
unfortunately realises all too soon that she is being framed and
proceeds to foil his plans. Deflated, Robert phones Susan at her
mothers to let her know that their plan has backfired - however Susan
is elsewhere, and we are left wondering whether she is carrying out
a seduction scenario of her own! Thriller. Georgina Reid | M3 (35, 45, middle-age) F3 (17, 35). A drawing-room. Set on Guy Fawkes' night, this thriller has all the ingredients
for a spectacular evening, full of surprises for everyone. Rod, a
master at an exclusive girls' boarding school, and his wife Marian
prepare the firework display. They are visited by a man who attempts
to kill Rod but gets shot himself. In the ensuing panic Marian substitutes
the body for the guy and it is now the twists and turns begin. '
... good evening's entertainment.' The Stage |