Play: Amlin Gray. : 2 men. Open Stage. The scene is
"Ambo Land" (Vietnam) where a naïve young Reporter from Dubuque
encounters the Historical Event a second actor who portrays some
21 characters, including several anxious to cover the war in all
its aspects, the Reporter plunges into the surreal madhouse that
it has become, interviewing foul-mouthed G.I.s; a teenage prostitute;
the sinister lady ruler of the country; a Buddhist monk about to
immolate himself, and many others (all played by the Historical Event)
in a brilliant kaleidoscope of interlocking scenes. He joins a combat
patrol; goes off on a bombing mission; is injured by shrapnel and,
in the end, becomes so radicalized that he spurns his job and "goes
native." Deeply ironic, the play coalesces its graphic horrors and
unsettling revelations into an ingenious mosaic which, for all its
wild humor, constitutes a crushing indictment of the mass insanity
which is war. Comedy/Drama. Paula Vogel. 2 men, 3 women (flexible casting). Unit Set. A wildly funny, surprising and devastating tale of survival as seen
through the lens of a troubling relationship between a young girl
and an older man. How I Learned to Drive is the story of a
woman who learns the rules of the road and life from behind the wheel. Play. Peter Keveson. 5 men, 3 women. Interior. Set in a shabby apartment on New York's West Side, the play centres
on an attractive teenage boy who is rescued from a possible mugging
by the very nice young daughter of shiftless parents and brought
home by her for dinner. As it develops, the young man has both a
knapsack full of money and some rather unique ideas about how to
make more - stimulated by his knowledge of the Mafia, for which his
father is a well paid lawyer. Drawing the girl and her unlikely family
into his scheme, which involves producing aspirin tablets and pornography
(two low overhead, high profit items), the boy soon has them all
on the way to fortune. But his real intention, to impress his father
and to make him stand up to the Mafia chieftain in whose control
he has long been, fails to be realised. When the pressure mounts
the father falters, leaving his son shaken and perturbed, but surely
wiser in the very cynical ways and questionable goals of this world. Comedy. Alan Ayckbourn In this suburban trio of married couples, one couple is at the top
of the social ladder. One of the other couples is attractive and
upcoming, despite the fact that she is an utter slob and he is a
boor; and the third pair is socially hopeless but earnest. The action
takes place at two dinner parties given on consecutive nights. The
single set, representing two living-rooms, is almost a character
in itself. Play. Mary Gallagher. 1 man, 3 women, 1 boy. Unit set The action of the play is set in Cleveland on the day before young
Conor Staiger is to undergo an operation which he will not, for long,
survive. Then, in flashbacks, we meet Conor's parents, Marty and
Casey, whose marriage has not proved strong enough to stand the strain
of their son's tragic illness. At first it was Marty, the happy-go-lucky "flower
child" who seemed the irresponsible and immature partner, while Casey
was the well-adjusted and purposeful one. But, as Conor's condition
worsened, it was Casey, feeling helpless and defeated, who escaped
to California and a new life, leaving Marty to find the residual
strength to deal with their shared crisis. Coming back from Conor's
operation, Casey also has a reunion with her best friend, Phyllis,
who, still unmarried and living at home, senses that it is loneliness,
rather than despair, which is the greatest evil. And, in the end,
when Casey refuses to give up her new life, it is Phyllis who moves
into the disrupted marriage and takes her friend's place - joining
the very much changed Marty in sharing the sad but necessary task
of helping Conor through the agony of his final months. Comedy. Roger Milner. 3 men, 3 women. Unit set The first act is set in a demobilization center, where a young lieutenant
has just arrived minus troops and trousers, having lost both on the
train en route. No one seems to notice, least of all the blimp-like
colonel, who is more concerned with ogling a sexy female corporal;
seeing to it that the bar in the officers club is adequately stocked
with peanuts; and, in dragooning the military band into playing at
his frumpy wife's tea party. He cheerfully gives the lieutenant his
own pants, standing smartly at attention in his shorts as the troops
march by in review - and off to limbo in the wings. In Act Two, it
is ten years later, and the scene is a coming-out party for a sixteen-year-old,
and a noticeably pregnant (except to her parents) upper-class girl.
The culprit is her history teacher (formerly the young lieutenant)
who has spurned suggestions of remaining in the army and dreams of
becoming a headmaster one day. He wants to make an honest woman of
the girl, but has difficulty in getting through to her rich but obtuse
father and mother - he being concerned only with obtaining a tuition
refund once the bad news is out, and she having worn her evening
dress backward so that people might see it better when she is dancing.
Act Three, again ten years later, brings us to a far-out "suicide
sanctuary," where the now not-quite-so-young man, having failed as
soldier, teacher, husband and washing machine salesman, has taken
refuge. He has tried to drown himself (although he swims very well),
and has put his problems in the do-gooding hands of the platitudinous
sanctuary operator and his ebullient wife - who has an invisible
dog named Maureen. Their "help" may not make good sense, but it results
in lively action and somehow points a telling moral amid the merry
and continually amusing high jinks which are the delightful heart
of the play. Play: Eugene O'Neill. : 2 men. Interior Hughie is set in the lobby of a seedy Times Square Hotel
early one morning in the late 20's. Its characters are the hotel's
gray, withdrawn night clerk, and "Erie" Smith, a penny-ante gambler
who has spent most of his last 15 years at the hotel between periods
of drunkenness. His most recent bender was prompted by the death
of the title character who was the night clerk's predecessor. Erie
babbles through tales of his life's imag inary successes, as well
as his panicky optimism towards the futile future. The night clerk
can only listen to this study in fraudulent glibness which is touching,
revealing, and a telling measure of what is behind this man's delusions. Comedy. Kenneth Cameron. 8 men, 5 women. Unit Set. Disgruntled by the fact that his shabby, bickering family falls just short of inclusion as one of the "Hundred Neediest Cases," Francis Stockstill decides to turn to shoplifting, in the hope that he can escape to a nice, comfortable jail. But the judge, impressed that the Stockstill's destitution rates thirty Peer Group Points, eagerly sets him free. Stockstill, taking advantage of his immunity from arrest, embarks on an epic stealing spree. However, he commits the unpardonable error of pilfering from a blind news dealer who just happens to be Neediest Case number one hundred! In seeking to escape the judge's indignation Stockstill is felled by a policeman's bullet. But his end is not in vain, for his violent demise jumps his family up the Destitution Curve for a total of fifty-seven Peer Group Points, and a secure place high on the Suffering Analysis chart. (in South Africa Plays) Maishe Maponya One of the essential texts of black South African theatre. Several
sketches about the lives of victims and underdogs culminate in a
hugely moving final chorus of dispossession and outrage. Molière. Trans M. Sorrell The 'imaginary invalid', Argan, is so obsessed with his health that
he fails to notice what is happening around him in his own family.
His scheming wife and loving daughter are finally revealed to him
in their true light by Argan's brother, who poses as a quack doctor
and suggests he feigns death to test their loyalty. Original first
performed in 1673 Play.
Terry Johnson First produced at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 1993, Hysteria was staged in this revised version at the Duke of York's Theatre, London, in 1995. 'One of the most brilliantly entertaining new plays I have seen in years: wild, weird and funny, serious, compassionate and shocking, blasphemous and reverential, intellectual and frivolous, a factual fantasy, a demented farce, a black nightmare.' Sunday Tunes 'A brilliant play ... sheer theatrical audacity incorporates authentic pain into a farcical framework.' Guardian Period 1938 Laura Cahill : 3 men, 3 women. Unit set Debby is a typical Jersey girl in most ways but things are changing
for her. She's becoming aware of her life and ultimately she's too
sensitive for her own good. Debby and her best friend Beth regularly
go out after work looking for men, but the search has lost its fun.
Debby has had an attack of stress-induced blindnéss, suffered
one day at work. As she tries to cope, we see the sources of this
stress played our around her and we go on a journey through the life
of a young woman growing up in an environment not suited to the weak
This journey through Debby's life is played out in scenes that explore
her relationships with her mother, her friends and the men in her
life. Over time, Debby attempts to settle into her life and live
it, rather than letting it live her. |