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Play. Tom Dulack. 5 men. Unit Set. Arrested in Italy in 1945 by the liberating U.S. troops, the fatuous
expatriate poet, Ezra Pound, was imprisoned in a cage and treated
like an animal - which many people considered him to be. At issue
were some 84 wartime radio broadcasts which Pound had made on Italian
radio, broadcasts which, while purporting to discuss economic theory,
were in fact rabid anti-Semitic diatribes. Scornful of his captors,
Pound takes delight in taunting them with his immense erudition and
intelligence, winning small victories not only over the uneducated
young black M.P who is detailed to guard him but also confounding
the lawyer and psychiatrist who are sent to interview him. Unrepentant
and even indignant at his incarceration, Pound seems to unbend only
when speaking with a fellow prisoner, a black G.I. awaiting execution,
and he is furious when he is informed that a group of fellow writers,
including Ernest Hemingway, are encouraging a plea of insanity to
account for his actions. Seemingly unassailable in his isolated brilliance
and paranoia, Pound does appear momentarily shaken when confronted
with evidence of the Nazi death camps - but, as history confirms,
it was, in the end, hatred rather than compassion which sealed the
destiny of this gifted but tragically misguided man. Play. Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. The play begins with the appearance of "the incomparable Max" himself
- critic, wit, caricaturist and satirist of matchless brilliance.
The action then moves smoothly on to Max's encounter with Enoch Soames,
a down-and-out poet whose arrogance far outstrips his accomplishments.
But Soames, convinced of his genius, makes a pact with the devil
to discover what posterity will say of him one hundred years hence.
His ensuing adventure, which takes him to the eerily computerised
reading room of the British Museum in 1997, is funny, touching, and
concluded with the kind of masterly ironic twist for which the Beerbohm
stories are so justly celebrated. In the second portion of the play,
Max meets one A.V. Laider, a young man deeply interested in palmistry
and the glimpses of the future it reputedly can provide. Their casual
discussion of the subject turns steadily more gripping - and horrifying
- as the action of the play depicts the dreadful moment when Laider,
aware that a train is about to be wrecked, lacked the will power
to warn his friends of the impending disaster. But again an unexpected
final turn of plot saves the situation from tragedy - and ends the
play in the same jaunty, delightfully witty manner as it began. Play. John Bowen, translated
and adapted from L'Heureux Stratagème of Monsieur
de Marivaux Marivaux wrote with a pointed wit and cunningly affected style, and this translation preserves the light, satirical flavour of the original. This play tells of the involved amorous relationships between the country gentleman, the Chevalier, the Countess and the Marquise, which are reflected in and influenced by corresponding situations between their servants. After many complications and conspiracies the gentlefolk are paired off - with a six months' trial of constancy. The Increased Difficulty of Concentration Comedy.
Václav Havel. Translated by Vera Blackwell. First performed just four months before the Russians invaded Czechoslovakia
in 1968, the play was presented in London at the Old Red Lion in
1989. Here we see a doctor with his mistress and his wife and a female
social worker with a special computer that interrogates and interviews.
The gaps in our lives cause the gaps in concentration. Very deftly
the author elides one scene with another, one situation with another. Play. Tom Stoppard Flora Crewe, a liberated English poet, travels to India for health
reasons in 1930 and meets Nirad Das, an Indian artist. Their developing
friendship mirrors the shifting relationship between the Indians
and English in the latter stages of the Raj. Five and a half decades
later her sister Eleanor helps an earnest American academic,
Eldon Pike, research Flora's life. As he travels to India, Nirad's
son, Anish arrives in Shepperton ... Period 1930 and 1985 Play. Lee Blessing. 4 women. Interior The setting is the small town of Independence, Iowa, the lifelong
home of Evelyn Briggs. Her oldest daughter, Kess, is a university
professor in Minneapolis, but she has come home at the request of
her sister, Jo who is concerned for Evelyn's mental health. Kess,
a professed lesbian, wants to cut her family ties once and for all;
Jo, an incurable romantic and longtime virgin, has now become pregnant,
while Sherry, salty-tongued and amoral, wants only to finish high
school so she can leave home for good. In the end, there is no accommodation
possible but, instead, only a kind of arbitrary independence for
each of the protagonists, as they come to realize that each must
find her, own heaven - or hell- in her own way. Ines de Castro (in First Run 2 - now out of print) Photocopy of single play available £5.00 - Apply to Nick Hern Books John Clifford, : 3m 3f. Historical drama. Simple set. The story of a doomed love between a Portuguese prince and his Spanish mistress. 'A sombre, beautiful play... Based on historical events, the story has the sober majesty of a Schiller tragedy and the graceful condensed wit of Clifford at his non-whimsical best' Michael Coveney. First performed at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. (in First
Run 3) -
Richard Zajdlic Winner of the 1990 West London Playwriting Competition, this 'prize-winning
tragedy about the suspicions and jealousies that mar the relationship
of young marrieds is a compelling, potent drama with ... a hint of
marital violence and a wholly unexpected denouement' Time Out Jerome Lawrence and Robert E Lee : Based on the true events of the famous 'Scopes Monkey Trial' in
1930s America, a small town schoolteacher is arrested when it is
discovered that he is teaching his pupils the theory of evolution.
He is accused of speaking out against the Bible and being a 'free
thinker', corrupting children's minds. There follows a trial of such
passion and conviction that there has never been any courtroom drama
to better this incredibly moving piece of theatre. Two of America's
most revered lawyers pit their wits and examine their own beliefs,
while a town is exposed to international scrutiny and consequently
torn asunder in the search for truth and justice. A play of power,
humanity and universal truth. Play. Eduardo de Filippo. English version
by N. F. Simpson This English version, commissioned by the Royal National Theatre, was presented at the Lyttelton Theatre in 1983. Alberto accuses the Cimmarutas of murdering Aniello. The police arrest the whole Cimmarma family, but Alberto begins to think he dreamt the murder. The Cimmarutas are freed but, one after another, each member of the family denounces another. Solemn farce and knockabout tragedy become indistinguishable and fear makes a fool of everyone. Comedy. Keith Reddin : 3 men, 3 women; unit. Bill and his parents are on a road trip to check out prospective
colleges. Dad is a loveably failed father and dipsomaniac; Mom is
sweetly concerned for her son and has a tinge of wifely sadness about
her, too. In a series of successively disastrous interviews, Bill
reveals himself to be ill-equipped for higher education, tending
to blather on and on about how diverse his talents are, but never
wholly convincing any of the admissions officers that he's anything
more than a wishful thinker with average test scores. As the trip
wears on, Bill and his father begin chipping away at each other's
failings; Bill is especially concerned about his father's drinking.
One night, hoping to inspire Bill, Mom reads him a magazine article
about a medieval crusade of children (all of whom eventually starved
or drown on the way to the holy land). The next day, Bill meets Laura,
a runaway heiress, whom he convinces to join him on some kind of
modern day crusade of his own, the goals of which Bill hasn't quite
determined yet. Soon enough, they start to pick up other followers,
including a homeless man who only speaks in Middle English. Dad hates
the whole idea; Mom is supportive; Bill and Laura eventually fall
in love. Finally, Dad lays down the law and out-and-out calls Bill
a failure. He kicks the hangers-on out of the car, but by the next
day Bill has vanished. The ghost of the medieval crusader Mom read
about tells the parents that Bill has left them to pursue his crusade
and life. Innocent Thoughts, Harmless Intentions Play. John Heuer. 9 men, 2 women. Divided Interior The central action of the play takes place in an army barracks in
a remote Alaskan outpost during the Korean conflict. Restive from
boredom and the numbing cold, the men, egged on by a sadistic corporal,
turn on Johnson, a "misfit" whose sensitivity and original turn of
mind set him apart from the others. As the taunting of Johnson progresses
from high-spirited pranks to near cruelty, a second story unfolds
in a small playing area down stage: a young girl, hidden away as
she waits out her illegitimate pregnancy, laments the abandonment
and indifference of her family and friends. She is Johnson's mother,
whose heart-rending plight is echoed and extended in the parallel
action of the army scenes, and through the shocking fate which, sadly
but inevitably, befalls her son. |