 |
|
Play. Mark Ravenhill In prison since 1984, Nick finds himself released into a world he doesn't recognise: 'Eat The Rich' has given way to 'Things Can Only Get Better'. The 'gay plague' has a happy ending thanks to new drugs, Russian go-go dancers can be downloaded from the internet, and optimistic psychobabble has replaced the language of anger and hurt. But as the characters are drawn in to the settling of an old score, they realise how much they miss the old certainties of the past. 'Bright, sharp and funny' - Michael Billington Play. Martin Sherman Cairo, 1942. As war rages in the desert, cultures collide in the city and six individuals struggle to come to terms with love, lust and fate in an alien country. In a melange of Mozart, Carmen Miranda, Vera Lynn, Dixieland and cries from the minarets as the muezzins call the men to prayer, this witty and audacious play inhabits a world where everyone has something to hide and anyone may be a spy. Melodrama. Emlyn Williams. The play deals with a stuffy English motor magnate with an evil
look to him and who is married to Miss Landis. They have adopted
and brought up Hardy. Hardy is a problem boy. He has failed his law
exams and he hates his adopted father. He also is upset because his
best friend has just been hanged for murdering a servant girl in
this very apartment, and he thinks his friend was innocent. So in
comes Carroll, with gentle good manners and a baffled look, as the
new tutor hired to get the boy through the law exams next time. He
is, one soon learns, the father of the boy who was unjustly hanged
for murder. He has come here to administer justice all by himself
to whoever it was in this house who really did the killing. Before
the evening is over you will find you have been misled several times
- but never dishonestly, for playwright Williams has a tidy mind
and is an honourable trickster. Something Cloudy, Something Clear Play. Tennessee Williams. The scene is a beach shack on Cape Cod, during the summer of 1940,
where August, a fledgling playwright, is re-writing the play intended
for his Broadway debut. He is distracted by his infatuation for Kip,
a handsome Canadian dancer and draft dodger, who is visiting with
a wealthy and protective young girl named Clare, reputedly his sister.
When Clare, who is not all she claims to be, goes off with a gangster
friend, August takes advantage of her absence to lay suit to the
sexually ambivalent Kip. But while he wins his case, there is as
much pain as pleasure in their liaison, as Kip proves to be both
terminally ill and unable to reciprocate August's obsessive passion.
And, as a counter theme, August must also negotiate with the fawning,
penny-pinching producers, whose crass commercialism he turns aside
with a fierce defence of his artistic integrity. In the end we know
that his play, like his sexual compulsion, will come to grief - but
we are also aware that the artist, and the vision he must pursue,
will remain undaunted and undiminished despite all the obstacles
and frustrations which surely lie ahead. Leslie Sands : Thriller The setting is a charming house in the English countryside where
Howard Holt, a writer, is visited each weekend by his wife, who is
also his publisher. During the week he is joined by his mistress
- a fact (although Howard doesn't realise it) of which his wife is
well aware. As the action begins the departing mistress is (apparently)
run over and killed by the wife as she enters the driveway and Howard
gallantly offers to dispose of the body. Thereafter begins a sequence
of events in which one unexpected turn follows another, as a seemingly
gullible police inspector accepts the story cooked up by Howard and
his wife to cover their tracks. But their relief is short-lived as
blackmail, another murder, and questions as to the real fate of the
mistress enter the picture - and all are deftly used by the inspector
(who is more clever than they thought) to set the trap which untangles
the twisted web of lies and brings the real murderer to justice. Some Things You Need to Know Before the World Ends (A Final Evening With the Illuminati) Play: Levi Lee and Larry Larson. An irreverent, highly theatrical and hilarious send-up of organized religion. "Illuminati is a post-holocaust farce about a loony preacher who has visions of playing basketball against the Devil and conducting job interviews with sainthood applicants. The setting is the bombed-out, post-holocaust sanctuary of a church,
where the Reverend Eddie (clad in long underwear) prepares to deliver
his final sermon: "Life Is Like a Basketball Game." Abetted by his
faithful helper, the hunch-backed Brother Lawrence, Reverend Eddie
first embarks on a series of wildly funny skits in which Saint Paul
and Saint Timothy discuss the shaky position of women in religion;
an applicant for sainthood agonizes over what form of martyrdom to
pursue; and the Reverend challenges the Devil to a final showdown
on the basketball court. And, throughout, there is the unseen but
undeniable presence of "The Illuminati," a mysterious but all-powerful
force which guides the destiny of what's left of the world, and whose
baleful influence is dearly felt by Brother Lawrence as he ascends
the pulpit to read the newly deceased Reverend Eddie's final words
to whomever is left to hear them. Play. Frank McGuinness An Englishman, an Irishman and an American are locked up together in a cell in the Middle East. As victims of political action, powerless to initiate change, what can they do? How do they live and survive'? Frank McGuinness explores the daily crises endured by hostages whose strength comes from communication, both subtle and mundane, from humour, wit and faith. Play. Jimmie Chinn Enter the strange and lonely world of Armstrong Armstrong. Struggling
to become a writer, convinced he is ugly and scarred, he can find
escape only at the cinema and in his absent father's collection of
records. Meeting Venetia, the very image of his favourite female
singer, Armstrong begins to believe that happiness is possible for
him, but disillusionment soon sets in and he has to find a more intense
form of escapism - becoming his icon herself. Romantic Comedy. Craig Pospisil. Told in ten scenes, the play begins in the dark, as Jasper confesses
his feelings of isolation to the audience. But he soon becomes unnerved
in the dark, and calls for lights. In the first scene, Jasper is
stuck Between Floors on an elevator with a claustrophobic
man, who quickly and hilariously goes over the edge. In Between
the Sheets, a sleazy co-worker offers him farcical advice on
how to pick up women. That night Jasper winds up at a bookstore in Between
the Lines, and tries to pick up a pretty clerk, Holly. He strikes
out badly, but gets picked up by another woman, who takes him home
...where she lives with her boyfriend. A ride on The Subway turns
into a comic free-for-all as he and other riders enthusiastically
give advice to a lost tourist. In The Party, Jasper again
crosses paths with Holly and gamely carries on a conversation with
her, hoping she wont recognize him, but she does and teases him flirtatiously.
The two hit it off and leave the party to have dinner. On The
First Date, Jasper and Holly go to a cozy restaurant for quiet
conversation, but the couple seated on one side of them erupts in
a battle of the sexes, while the couple on the other side engages
in passionate verbal foreplay. Later, Jasper walks Holly back to
her apartment in The Walk Home where their conversation seems
mundane, but their fantasies about each other are anything but. A
chance encounter with a homeless man in Between the Cracks forces
Jasper to gain some perspective on his, life. Back at work, in Between
JOBS, Jasper snaps when a friend tells him Holly is dating someone
else. Losing his cool, he kicks a chair, breaks his foot, and gets
himself fired. Suddenly liberated, he hobbles to Holly's bookstore
in Somewhere in Somewhere in Between and asks her if she is
seeing someone else. She isn't. They kiss - and leave immediately
for the hospital. In the end, Jasper briefly talks to the audience
again, understanding he must accept life's uncertainties, which aren't
all bad, and make the best of what comes his way. (in South African Plays) - Anthony Akerman A fierce anti-war play following a unit of whites-only South African
artillery trainees in basic camp before and during their assault
on the Angolan border in the 1978 invasion. First staged 1983 Play. Dennis Potter Here Jesus is portrayed as a man agonised by the feeling of divinity
within him, and with all a man's capacity for suffering and pain.
The play also examines the historical and political situation in
which the events occurred. Very simple to stage and suitable for
production on stage or in church. Period New Testament Play. Jonathan Marc Sherman, Philosophy professor Whitey McCoy is accused of seducing one of
his seniors, Jack Kahn. Whitey's most dedicated students find this
nearly impossible to believe because everyone knows that the alleged
victim is not only a substance abuser but also a potential pathological
liar. In flashbacks of both Whitey's and Jack's versions of the night
in question, neither story can be completely refuted or verified.
Whitey did indeed invite a drunken Jack to spend the night at his
house during the school's Thanksgiving break, but did he actually
seduce the youth against his will, as Jack claims, or was he merely
protecting the despondent Jack from harming himself? It boils down
to one person's word against the other's, and Whitey McCoy is fired,
suffering the destruction of a career of eighteen years all in the
name of saving the college's peerless reputation, personified by
Quintana Matheson, the college's conservative female president and
Whitey's chief persecutor. McCoy, unable to suffer the abyss of joblessness,
sues the university for damages, confusing all the issues even more
than they had been. Also deeply affected by the events is a close
group of friends whose own perilous romantic entanglements and divided
allegiances to either Whitey or Jack send them on increasingly divergent
paths which only highlight the fact that their years as college students
are at an end and soon all of them will be facing the very same real
world that Whitey has faced, but this time they'll be doing it alone. Play Romulus Linney. Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, aged 73, rises in his tent
on the morning of a battle. He is bent, snarling, formidable and
sardonically funny. He addresses his army and rouses it to savage
fury, then, receiving a message, commands its retreat. He will leave
the battlefield to go home and bury his dog. To his General's astonishment,
he does, and riding home, we go back with him through his life. We
see Frederick the artistic young prince, locked in unequal combat
with a brutal, adored father. We see him a young king, forsaking
music and poetry and philosophy for naked aggression. We see him
a mature monarch, exchanging friendship and fury with Voltaire, and
demolishing the Holy Roman Empire with dazzling military genius.
Finally, his journey ends. Over the body of a pet greyhound, he reveals
how completely he has been the victim of his life, and the inescapable
legacies of fathers. Play. Jon Klein. Southern Cross is an epic play that navigates the "river
of history" in the Southern United States, uncovering cycles of retribution
and deliverance. The paths of many historical figures cross, from
the Civil War to the era of Civil Rights. The more familiar stories
include General William T Sherman's March to the Sea, Huey Long's
rise and fall, Martin Luther King's struggles in Selma, and the exploitation
of Elvis Presley. Lesser known figures also share the stage: defiant
landowners, runaway slaves and brave martyrs to the cause of freedom.
A steam-boat captain is on hand to contribute a little typical folklore.
Historical moments are juxtaposed to show the echoes and resonances
of history. For example, the humorous, joyful adventure of a slave
who ferried hundreds of people to freedom across the Ohio River,
is followed by tear gas and clubs as a freedom marcher attempts to
cross the Edmund Pettis Bridge. Finally, all the different stories
of the play come together in a chilling finale. Comedy. Owen Crump. It is azalea season in Natchez, Mississippi and the annual pilgrimage of tourists are swarming through the historic mansions. In Mayweather Hall, Penelope Mayweather, a once beautifirl Southern belle, is horrified by the tourists who are led through her home by an energetic guide at fifty cents a head. But the money isn't enough to keep Penelope from the clutches of those "Dawn yankees" down at the bank Thus when a young author, John Salguod, turns up, she is persuaded to take him as a roomer. However, it develops that John is visiting under an assumed name because he has written a book banned in Natchez. The locals consider it a gross libel on their way of life, but it is a best-seller everywhere else. Penelopes frantic efforts to keep him hidden from her neighbours are frustrated when Carol, her soon-to-be married, pretty young cousin, comes to spend the night. When her parents discover she stayed a second night, scandal looms. The irate parents, blaming Penelope, threaten to take over Mayweather Hall, which they can do by forcing foreclosure through the bank. But meantime John finds Penelope's diary which she wrote over a period of forty years, giving embarrassing details about most of the towns citizens. John's publisher arrives on the first morning of the Pilgrimage and offers Penelope a fabulous sum for her memoirs. Carol is in love with John, and at the end the two are married, and Mayweather Hall is out of hock! Comedy/Drama. John Cecil Holm (based on the novel by Mildred Walker). Marcia Elder, a retired village school teacher, lives alone in her
family home in Vermont. She is very happy in her lovely country house,
but she begins to think about the possibility of finding a companion
who will care for her as she grows older. In reply to an advertisement
she has put in a newspaper, Bea Cannon turns up. Bea is a widow,
energetic, talkative and the kind of person who takes over wherever
she finds herself. Marcia agrees to take Bea as her companion, signing
a will in which she leaves her house and all its antique furnishings
to Bea in return for Bea's care as long as Marcia lives. No sooner
is Bea settled into Marcia's home than her true nature appears. She's
not actively unkind or selfish - but being insensitive she can be
almost more cruel. Bea can understand only her own kind of life -
one which centred around confession magazines, television and gossiping
with the neighbours. Since none of these things are available in
Marcia's home, Bea starts a campaign to get Marcia to sell her farm
and move to the city. Marcia, who is too gentle to withstand Bea's
forceful determination, grows more and more unhappy and finally gives
in to the point where she agrees to auction off the house and its
furnishings. We know that Marcia's life, away from the place and
things she loves, will be very short but it seems there is nothing
to be done. Until, at the last moment, during the auction itself,
something happens which saves Marcia's home and provides her with
delightful companions - a young couple who are planning to marry,
and who will live in Marcia's home with her. |