Composers and their stage works 



 

Rope

Drama. Patrick Hamilton
M6 (young, 20s, old) F2 (young, 50). A study.

Brandon wants excitement at any price. He persuades his weak-minded friend, Granillo, to assist him in the murder of a fellow undergraduate, Ronald Raglan. They place the body in a wooden chest and invite some acquaintances, including the dead man's father, to a party, the chest and its gruesome contents serving as a supper table. The horror and tension are worked up gradually and we see the reactions of the two murderers, closely watched by the suspecting Rupert Cadell, until finally they break.

Rose

Play. Andrew Davies
M3 (young, middle-age) F5 (young, 30s, middle-age). Various simple settings on an open stage.

Rose, a disenchanted teacher, feels frustrated in all walks of life: at her tough Midlands school, in her relations with her mother, the school staff, her dullish husband. Her professional efforts to introduce new ideas are blocked; her husband threatens suicide and a possible affair dwindles to a few brief moments in a car. Finally she faces her class as so often before- 'What are we going to do today?' The original production starred Glenda Jackson.
ISBN 0 573 11392 0

Rosebloom

Play. Harvey Perr.
2 men, 2 women. Interior.

A neurotic, middle-aged woman; her crippled son; and his sexually seething young wife, await the return of Rosebloom, the father of the family, who has been in prison for 26 years. As they wait their hidden thoughts come alive in striking, trenchant interior monologues which project the frustrations and enmities brooding within them. The arrival of Rosebloom triggers the powerful, ritualistic culmination of the play, as past, present and future merge, and fantasy and reality are juxtaposed to illuminate the disquieting truths which are the bitter core of the play.
ISBN: 0-8222-0969-1

The Rose Tattoo

Play. Tennessee Williams
M7 (25, middle-age) F13 (young-old). I small girl, 2 small boys. Exterior of a cottage, living room interior.

The Rose Tattoo, says the author, is 'the Dionysian element in human life, its mystery, its beauty, its significance'. Serafina boasts of her husband's prowess as a lover and nephew of a Baron. On hearing he had not been at all what she supposed she takes up life again with a flourish. In addition she now gives consent to her daughter's marriage to a young sailor.

A Rosen By Any Other Name

Play. Israel Horovitz. Inspired by characters from Morley Torgov's book, A Good Place to Come From.
4 men, 2 women. Unit Set

Preparing for his bar mitzvah, Stanley Rosen is disconcerted by his proud mother's promise to commission a chopped liver sculpture in his likeness, but even more concerned about his father's decision to change the family name from Rosen to Royal. World War II has begun and the older Rosen, disturbed by a growing evidence of anti-Semitism, even in their provincial town of Sault Ste. Marie, Canada, wants to disguise the family's Jewish background. Although Stanley is very much a part of the local community, and even has a gentile girl friend, Fern, he is uneasy with his father's action which, he feels, is a betrayal of a proud heritage. With Fern's help, and that of a sympathetic cousin, Manny, a shellshocked veteran, he arranges a secret bar mitzvah in the proper family name. His father, angered and resentful at first, soon realizes that his son has shown a courage he has lacked - and as the play ends the family is once again united, and determined to face what may come with dignity and resolve.
ISBN: 0-8222-0970-5

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Comedy. Tom Stoppard
M 14 F2, flexible casting. Unit setting.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern sit in the Court of Elsinore endlessly spinning a coin, waiting for their stage entry - which may never come. Unsure who they are and why they are there they even have difficulty remembering which goes by which name. Against the action of Hamlet they seek their identities and their purpose and reflect the feelings of all those who question existence. While this play deals with themes already familiar from Beckett, its style is that of brilliant, literate comedy.
ISBN 0 573 01338 1

The Roses of Eyam

Play. Don Taylor
Large flexible cast including children (young-80). A village: open stage.

A remarkable and true story of a village stricken with plague through the arrival from London of a box of clothing; of the villagers determination, under the persuasions of the present and former Rectors, to prevent its spread by remaining within the village and containing the disease at the certain risk of their own lives; of the human tragedies and even comedies that ensued; of the idealism and the courage required to live with that idealism. Period 1666
ISBN 0 573 11386 6

Rosmersholm

Drama. Henrik Ibsen, translated by Michael Meyer.
4 men, 2 women. Unit Set

Former clergyman John Rosmer comes from along and distinguished line of ancestors and lives in the family mansion Rosmerholm together with his dead wife's companion Rebecca West. With her support and encouragement he intends to join the progressive radical movement and begin his life's work 'ennobling souls', but his brother-in-law, Kroll, tries unsuccessfully at first to enlist him for the establishment cause. When imputations suggest Rosmer's barren wife Beata was not so much insane as driven to suicide by John and Rebecca, his guilt stultifies further radical activity. Rebecca, to free him, confesses her stratagems; not only has she pushed John into the radical posture, but she also, albeit subconsciously, encouraged Beata's suicide. Her goals have been fulfilled, but she cannot enjoy them. Rosmer has at least ennobled 'her' soul, but her happiness is destroyed. Furthermore, Kroll has revealed to her intimations of her illegitimacy. When she asks the disillusioned Rosmer what she must do for him to believe in her again, he says follow his wife. They declare their mutual love and go to the bridge over the mill-race and drown together.
ISBN: 0-413-46350-8

Ross

Play. Terence Rattigan
M22 (20s, 30s, middle-age, 6 Turks) Extras. An RAF depot, various locations in the Middle East.

The story starts at the end, with Lawrence as Aircraftsman Ross seeking anonymity. A prey to fever contracted in the East, he relives his past in a night of delirium, his early enthusiasm and triumphs; living with the Arabs; the capture of Akaba; meeting with Allenby; arousing of Turkish hatred and final betrayal into Turkish hands. The refinements of destruction which he underwent as prisoner of the Turkish Governor are made to account for the complete change in character. Period First World War
ISBN 0 573 04006 0