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Luigi Pirandello. Adapted by Nicholas Wright A nanny, whose charge died in her care, attempts suicide but fails.
She is taken in by a lustful novelist who tries to discover her real
story as men from her past turn up to claim different versions of
the truth. 'The play is like an ingenious detective story in which
emotion is every bit as important as evidence' Daily Telegraph. 'A
masterly play, frequently touched by profound wit ... in a handsome
new version by Nicholas Wright' Financial Times. This new
adaptation was premiered at the Almeida Theatre, London, in 1998
with Juliette Binoche Play. Olwen Wymark. Adapted from the novel by Emile Zola Olwen Wymark's splendid dramatisation of Zola's Nana is a story of sexual and financial greed in nineteenth-century Parisian society, depicting the rise and tragic downfall of a young courtesan. The play was commissioned by Shared Experience and had a highly acclaimed run at The Almeida Theatre, London, in 1988. 'Olwen Wymark has filleted the flesh from Zola's novel to produce a work which reeks of sex and pleasure.' Time Out Play. Eduardo de Filippo. Adapted by Peter Tinniswood Life is hard in Naples during World War II but Donna Amalia does her best to keep the family afloat by dealing on the black market. Amalia prospers while Gennaro, her law-abiding husband, goes missing and is presumed dead. He returns unexpectedly to find his wife unfaithful, his son a car thief, his daughter pregnant and his other daughter critically ill. Shocked by the effects of corruption on his family, Gennaro prepares to resume his role as head of the household. Tinniswood's adaptation for the National Theatre moves the play to Liverpool. Debbie Isitt : Comedy 3M 3F Interior set A terrifically thrilling black comedy examining the stresses and
strains of modem life in the 1990s, Nasty Neighbours bursts
into life following the emigration of Mr and Mrs Peach's neighbours
the Hodges to Australia. The grieving Peaches anxiously twitch behind
the net curtains at their semi- etached home wondering who will arrive
next door to take their place. But Mr and Mrs Chapman prove to be
far from the ideal couple the Peaches had dreamed of. The Chapmans
are rude, loud and aggressive, and with growing frustration Mr Peach
embarks on a massive feud with his new neighbours. The problems escalate
out of all proportion, even including the harassment of his old neighbours
on the other side of the world. It isn't long before all three couples
are tearing each other apart and in a terrifying climax Mr Peach
sets out to show the Chapmans just how nasty a neighbour can be ... The National Health or Nurse Norton's Affair Play. Peter Nichols The scene is a men's hospital ward. Against a beautifully detailed documentary background the author juxtaposes scenes of rich satire, in which the hospital staff become the highly romanticised characters of a television hospital series. The author's comments on the joys and pains of living and his observations on the society of today are juggled with breath-taking dexterity. Play Enid Bagnold. 7 men, 4 women. Unit Set. Velvet Brown is a little girl with a big dream. Day and night she talks of horses; the sleek beautiful animals who have the courage and stamina to win in England's famous Grand National. Someday she too will enter this most gruelling and difficult of races. Velvet's family has little patience with her dreams of glory, except for her mother, who swam the English Channel when she was younger and knows that one must stretch one's abilities to capture the wildest hopes. And Mi Taylor, whose love of horses matches Velvet's own. Mi recognises in Velvet the same spirit which had given her mother the will to succeed. There is a lottery about to be held, the prize being "The Piebald," an undisciplined and seemingly useless horse. Mi buys Velvet a ticket and she wins! After that the story is one of making a dream come true, as they train the horse and enter it in the Grand National. And they almost win, but what really matters is what they learn about life and people and the things that really matter when momentary acclaim has run its course. Peter Whelan and Bill Alexander : Nativity play This version of the Nativity story was a special commission by Birmingham
Repertory Theatre for its Millennium celebrations, and as the curtain
rises on the engagement party for Mary and Joseph. Soon after Mary
is visited by the archangel Gabriel who tells her she's carrying
the son of God. Her resolve in this belief is sorely tested by her
family and upon his return from Jerusalem Joseph's initial despair
turns to belief and joy when he, too, is visited by Gabriel. Despite
the misgivings of their parents the wedding goes ahead as planned.
Embarking to Bethlehem to pay taxes, Joseph and a heavily pregnant
Mary arrive to find no lodgings anywhere. They are finally taken
in by the kindly Boaz and his wife Sara, who despite having no room
to speak of find them space with the animals in the manger where
Mary gives birth. Word has spread from the astrologer's convention
to Herod's court of the new baby king, and following the arrival
in Bethlehem of three wise men from the East, Joseph and Mary quickly
flee with their newborn child to avoid Herod's determined attempts
to rid the world of his baby rival. Constantly guarded by the angel
Gabriel, they arrive safely in Egypt to live in exile, where Mary
is visited in her dreams by the image of Cleopatra. When word finally
reaches the trio of Herod's death, the young Jesus is able to return
home to his awaiting people in triumphant joy. Drama. William Inge. 7 men, 5 women. Interior As she awaits the impending Christmas visit of her teenage son,
Donnie, Sue Barker is torn between the love she feels as a mother
and the fear that his presence will disrupt the life which she has
built in his absence. Having been deserted by the boy's father before
his birth, Sue was forced to support herself, leaving Donnie to a
childhood of orphan homes, delinquency and ultimately a term at the
penal farm. Working her way up to a position of head lingerie buyer
for a Chicago department store, Sue has acquired a small but fashionable
apartment and a lover, Bernie Slovenk. When Donnie announces that
he will not have to go back to the farm if she will give him a home
the crisis is broached. Although Bernie makes a half-hearted attempt
to be affable with the boy, there is immediate tension between them
and a growing sense of competition. The inescapable showdown comes
on Christmas Eve, when the couple from next door join the others
for a party. The wife throws herself first at Bernie and then at
Donnie, but not before making it evident that she and Bernie have
been something more than friendly neighbours. When the husband, Vince,
goes out-on-the-town, Sue and Bernie give vent to the animosity which
has risen up between them and Bernie leaves her, storming next door
to spend the night. In the morning, and despite Donnie's pleas that
he can make up for the loss of Bernie, Sue runs after Bernie, and
her son, overwhelmed by the futility and hopelessness of his tortured
existence, turns blindly on a nameless woman whom Vince has brought
home with him, attacking her savagely in an act of desperate, lethal
and inevitable violence. Comedy thriller. Eric Chappell Vincent is a professional suicide merchant. Contracted by Walter
Bryce, he arrives at his country house and mistakenly assumes that
the potion was intended for Walter's consumption. It then becomes
clear that Walter's wife Celia is the client - or is she'? Why are
her suicide letters all typed and unsigned? After several thwarted
attempts to poison various characters (resulting in multiple poisonings
of a rubber plant), will anyone actually manage to drink the potion?
This is black comedy at its blackest and best. Comedy Robin Short. The place is rural New England, the time the latter part of the
19th century. Ned Crocker, a twelve-year-old trained from infancy
as a bare-back rider, runs away from the circus and works as a stable
boy for a young New England spinster. Miss Emily believes that home
and fireside can solve any boy's problems, but she discovers that
a "liberty horse" cannot be set to pulling a pony wagon without running
into trouble. Ned's father, "The Great Scarlatti," had met with a
serious accident in the Main Top, and as a result of running away
the boy is left without a contract for the following season, just
when he most needs it. The complications are resolved in a surprise
ending that has a Yankee lawyer stealing a Christmas Tree and a jolly
Irish housekeeper dancing the quadrille with Santa Claus. Exceptionally
well written with interesting and appealing characters - excellent
family entertainment. Play. Meredith Oakes There is no harsher judge than your neighbour, and no jury more ready to convict an innocent man than his local community. In this powerful play, first performed at the Royal National Theatre, two young men living on a London council estate suddenly become enemies, invoking destructive forces beyond their control. The community takes sides like spectators cheering from a grandstand as the conflict escalates into tragedy. NB: this play contains explicit language. Play Peter Keveson. 3 men, 1 woman. Interior. In need of a job, a man answers a help wanted ad, and is told to
report to a Second Avenue bar at two in the morning. When he arrives
only the bartender and a piano player are there - and they are disturbingly
vague as to what sort of job is in prospect. Then. Nellie Toole,
a flamboyant woman haunted by spectres of her mysterious past, arrives,
and begins to taunt and then flatter the stranger until he resolves
to leave. But the other men bring him back, and a sinister charade
commences. It is a reenactment of Nellies life, with the stranger
forced to portray a key role - and to accept the consequences of
the crushing truth which emerges as the play builds in suspense towards
its inexorable climax. Comedy. Larry Shue A Nerd - for which there is no British equivalent - is a mixture
of twit, wimp, wally and creep. Staid Willum is having a birthday
party. Rick, the Nerd, arrives in full Hallowe'en dress - four days
late - and within minutes manages to insult, sicken and bore the
guests. Willum endures this because Rick saved his life in Vietnam.
Willum discovers that Rick is not what he seems and his reappearance
stuns us all. Comedy. Larry Shue. 5 men, 2 women. Interior Now an aspiring young architect in Terre Haute, Indiana, Willum
Cubbert has often told his friends about the debt he owes to Rick
Steadman, a fellow ex-GI whom he has never met but who saved has
life after he was seriously wounded in Vietnam. He has written to
Rick to say that, as long as he is alive, "you will have somebody
on Earth who will do anything for you" - so Willum is delighted when
Rick shows up unexpectedly at his apartment on the night of his 34th
birthday party. But his delight soon fades as it becomes apparent
that Rick is a hopeless "nerd" - a bumbling oaf with no social sense,
little intelligence, and less tact. And Rick stays on and on, his
continued presence among Willurn and his friends leading to one uproarious
incident after another, until the normally placid Willum finds himself
contemplating violence - a dire development which, happily, is staved
off by the surprising "twist"
ending of the play. (in Cinzano). Ludmila Petrushevskaya. Trans S. Mulrine A haunting, monologue in which a woman reminisces about the time
when she was pregnant and moved into her mother-in-law's house to
await the baby. 'Petrushevskaya's people lack a sense of scale ...
they are incapable of fully comprehending their fate, or of perceiving
what is important amid the clamour of their short term needs and
anxieties. In that respect, they resemble us all' Stephen Mulrine. Play. John Logan Seduction. Deception. Murder. This stunning Broadway hit (also seen
at the Playhouse Theatre, London, in 1990) takes the audience back
to 1924, to Chicago, where the Leopold and Loeb murder stunned and
fascinated the nation. '...sweeps the audience into the boys' friendship
without ever losing sight of the brutal murder. They lay out the
furore and the legal manoeuvring surrounding this "Trial of the Century" particularly
well, suggesting that nothing much has changed.' New Yorker Comedy. Tim Firth Neville, Gordon, Angus and Roy, four out-of-condition, middle-aged
businessmen from Pennine Spring Water, Ltd., are sent on a "business
outbound team building weekend" in the Lake District. What should
have been a run-of-the-mill orienteering exercise turns into a slapstick
nightmare when Neville's team boat hits the rocks leaving them stranded
on an uninhabited island- the first people ever to be shipwrecked
inland. These middle-aged men are not suited for life in the wilds
and quickly begin to show it. Neville, the captain of the team, tries
to be objective and practical; Gordon quickly moves from caustic
to cruel, and stays there, taking little responsibility for anything;
Roy, recovering from a recent mental breakdown, goes deeper into
prayer; and the mild-mannered Angus does his best to remain cheerful
until Gordon's constant hounding drives him to violence. Their attempts
at teamwork create one humorous situation after another as they backfire,
and after which Gordon's belittling drives them apart. Roy seems
to suffer another breakdown, running into the woods with just the
right equipment to hang himself, causing Angus to snap and come at
Gordon with a knife. The situation pitches on the brink of catastrophe
when suddenly a chopper spots them and begins to descend. But the
events on the island have changed them so much that even imminent
rescue can't bring back who they were. Play. Steve Carter. 4 men, 3 women. Unit Set The place is a home in Queens (NY), where the family of Jared Philibert,
who has long been confined in an iron lung, gathers to celebrate
his fiftieth birthday. Present are his wife; his two sisters, who
also live in the house and care for him; the younger sister's boyfriend
(who has brought along a case of West Indian rum called "Nevis Mountain
Dew"); and a strapping young co-worker of his wife's. As the rum
flows so does the truth: the bitterness of the sisters, who have
sacrificed so much to look after their brother; the still young and
passionate wife, whose husband has so long been a helpless invalid;
and the young co-worker, whose attraction to the wife is no longer
a secret. In the end Jared, aware that he is not the only one imprisoned
by his condition, resolves to set both himself and the others free,
by pleading with them to unplug the respirator, the "metal overcoat" in
which he has spent so many years. His plea is answered, but the result
is not the loss but rather the affirmation of life - which, in Jared's
view, must be experienced fully and joyfully or not at all. Play. Timberlake Wertenbaker Timberlake Wertenbaker's second play for the Women's Theatre Group, first seen at the Edinburgh Festival, considers women trapped in the 'golden cage' of normality. It portrays the eccentric Isabelle Eberhardt, an explorer who lived from 1877 to 1904, who travels through Algeria dressed as an Arab boy before going to Paris, where she encounters other women adopting male dress as a basis for greater freedom. ' ... an ambitious drama. Ms Wertenbaker's writing shows remarkable range ...' Time Out Play. Kurtz Gordon. When Jane Shaw, a young teacher, arrives to spend the summer at
the beach house inherited from her aunt, she finds that her neighbours
(four slightly "pixilated" widows) have agreed to sell their land
to a dashing real estate operator - and her property is needed to
complete the "package." Sensing a trick, Jane, and her teenage niece,
Linda, take a closer look at the affairs of the developer, Rock Harrington,
and end up deciding to reject his offer. In the ensuing complications
Jane is aided by her good friend Gary Roberts (also in real estate);
Linda finds herself pursued by several attractive young men; and
another niece, the headstrong Mimi, arrives unannounced (and much
to the others' dismay) to confuse matters further. In the end Jane's
suspicions are borne out; Rock Harrington is foiled by his own cleverness;
the "widows"
receive a very, advantageous counter-offer; and Linda meets the kind
of boy who would delight any young girl's summer. It all goes to
proving again that the more things change the more they really remain
the same - just a new beat on an old drum. Play. Richard Nelson Harry Baker, an English music professor, lives with his English girlfriend in a farmhouse in Connecticut. When he commits suicide, his children, his brother and his daughter-in-law, all expatriates, descend on the house and find comfort in attacking their adopted country, sneering at its apparent lack of culture. But cracking jokes at the expense of the natives is merely a mask for their own insecurities, disappointments and rivalries. Play. James Saunders : Suggested by a theme from the book A Hermit
Disclosed by Raleigh Trevelyan. In 1942 a man, who had lived as a hermit for the last thirty-six
years of his life, died. Taking this fact, the author of this play
re-examines why the man chose to live alone for so long. Rudge reconstructs
and examines the facts, their implications and inferences, with the
help of four actors, Meff, Dust, Lizzie and an unnamed actor to play
the Hermit. |