Play. Hugh Leonard Three married couples, accompanied by the son of one and daughter
of another, assemble on a hill near Dublin to picnic. During the
afternoon the various relationships between them, on the surface
and beneath it, become apparent, while the young people regard their
elders somewhat sardonically across the generation gap. Six years
pass, and the group come together again - but the place has changed,
as they have. In their various ways all show the passage of the years. Play. Tennessee Williams Alma, a nervous, ardent spinster, falls in love with John, a dissolute medical student. Though they attempt mutually to bridge the gap in their different natures this proves impossible, even though each in a sense converts the other. John marries a different, more earthy, girl; in the final scene Alma returns to the fountain and picks up a travelling salesman. Drama. Tennessee Williams. The play is a simple love story of a somewhat puritanical Southern
girl and an unpuritanical young doctor. Each is basically attracted
to the other but because of their divergent attitudes toward life,
each over the course of years is driven away from the other. Not
until toward the end does the doctor realise that the girl's high
idealism is basically right. And while she is still in love with
him, it turns out that neither time nor circumstances will allow
the two ultimately to come together. Play William Inge. The setting is a small town in Kansas, and while the characters
are essentially the same as in the earlier play, Picnic, there
are subtleties and differences which give Summer Brave a distinctive
and unique quality of its own. Providing more acting roles and background
"colour," and approaching its theme with more humour and truth, the
play reaches similar conclusions about the impetuosity of youth;
the animal attractiveness of the unpolished young stranger who sets
small town tongues wagging; and the sudden realisation by the older
characters that life is about to pass them by. In the end the play
is a masterful blend of touching and humorous elements in which lessons
are learned about growing up, going on, and accepting what a sometimes
perverse fate imposes. Exterior. Summer of the Seventeenth Doll Play. Ray Lawler For sixteen summers Barney and Roo, two cane cutters, have spent
the lay-offs with Olive and her friend Nancy in their Melbourne home.
Each summer, Roo has brought Olive a kewpie doll, but this year,
the seventeenth doll is all that remains of their old happiness.
Nancy has left the foursome to get married and Pearl, the new recruit,
is a poor substitute. Insensibly, age has crept up on all of them. Play. Ron Cowen. As Dan Sullivan, writing in the NY Times, outlines "Mr. Cowen's
hero, just about to turn 20, is discovered dreaming in the backyard
(or is it less friendly territory?) and the action of the play is
mostly what happens in his head as he surveys his life up to this
particular afternoon. Going backward and forward in time with the
swiftness of reverie, we see the young man's relationships with his
well-meaning but obtuse father, his loving but possessive mother,
his compliant but unsentimental girlfriend. The father keeps after
him to dress better, make a lot of friends, stick to business, 'be
a man. The mother shuttles between a desire to see him out of the
nest and a yen to keep him at home. The girlfriend will be faithful
to him while he's in the Army; but, of course, she'll go to the movies
with other fellows. Another character is a- neighbor boy, in effect
the hero's little brother and sometimes in effect, the hero as a
kid. And there is a soldier who helps spell out the true location
of this friendly summertree." Which is, ultimately, Vietnam, and
a battle from which there will be no return. But the life cycle goes
on, sometimes happy, sometimes sad, but filled, always, with the
bittersweet memories which must become, in the final essence, all
that we can truly hold onto. Play. Robert David MacDonald Theatrical invention brings togeher the mistresses of Hitler and Mussolini in 1941 and, in daringly controversial repartee, they assume the roles of their dictator lovers. An intense atmosphere of political and sexual oppression parallels seemingly innocent worship of movie stars, but reveals the evils of twentieth century idolatry, charting the perverse, cold logic of the Nazi patty. Glenda Jackson and Georgina Hale starred in the London production. `... wonderful political comedy ... develops the blueprint to say serious and pertinent things about power, lust and nationalistic endeavour.' Financial Times Comedy Norman Krasna. John McClain outlines, "The author's consideration here is the plight
of a young lady from Albany who comes to visit her brother in New
York, having discovered that she has exhausted the supply of eligible
young men at home because she will not go to bed with any of them.
But when she becomes hopelessly and physically attached to one in
a crowded Fifth Ave. bus - a most engaging one at that - we realize
that her determination will be put to a strenuous test. The intricacies
that follow her to a fairly conventional line, reaching a climax
at the end of the first act with the arrival of the rich and desirable
townie from Albany, who has decided to claim her - legally. A fig
for the fact that she and her new friend are in bathrobes! She merely
introduces him as her brother. This would seem to present an unraveling
problem of impossible proportions, but Mr. Krasna meets it head on
in the second act and brings it to a safe conclusion, carefully guarding
his heroine's virtue." And, as the action moves swiftly from scene
to scene, the complications multiply uproariously. A small fib, made
to avoid a misunderstanding, grows enormous and our heroine is hard-pressed
to convey the truth which will save her engagement - and her reputation.
Fiance, brother and friend are ultimately set straight on what has
transpired, but the tangling is wildly funny. Comedy. Neil Simon An ex-vaudeville team, Al Lewis and Willie Clark, in spite of playing
together for forty-three years, have a natural antipathy to one another.
CBS-TV wants to make a 'History of Comedy' series which will of course
include their act. Will has been doing TV commercials and Al has
been happily retired, but they get back together for the series,
only for Al to start picking on Willie again. Farcical comedy. Duncan Greenwood and Derek Parkes The Tinsley family's package holiday in Spain proves to be an even
greater change from Blackpool than expected. To start with, it seems
young Ron had persuaded his father to book the same hotel as Gloria,
the girl Ron loves despite the disapproval of her mother, who also
turns up. Everyone becomes involved in general misunderstandings,
and a final surprise shatters everyone. Melodrama: Peter Viertel and Irwin Shaw. The authors are demonstrating the futility of killing. But instead of presenting it as a political argument, they have embodied it in a rousing gun drama laid in Missouri after the Civil War. Comedy. Rachel Crothers. Susan lives entirely for Susan. She is bored by her husband, Barrie, and stays away from him, complaining that he drinks too much (which he does because of her distance). She also keeps her daughter, Blossom, at arms length, sending-her to boarding school. Yet husband and daughter adore Susan and are wretched without her. When Susan discovers a new religious cult, she is as excited as she always is about her latest fad. So she goes straight to a house in the country where she knows she will find her closest friends. While Susan expounds on her new found views to these friends, Barrie arrives, just intoxicated enough to believe Susan means what she says about "salvation and regeneration," and sincerely asks her to help him. Susan isn't expecting to be called upon actually to practice what she preaches. But Barrie promises that if she will keep him and Blossom with her for the summer, he will stop drinking - and if he slips he will give Susan the divorce she wants. She is astounded, but reluctantly consents. She begins her hard job resentfully, but to her astonishment finds she likes it, as the lonely daughter develops into a happy girl, and Barrie becomes his former best self. She finds that her own happiness is connected to theirs and that she has found her God through this. Under this rippling and vivacious comedy lies a deep spiritual intent. 5 men, 6 women. 3 Interior. Drama. Edward Percy and Reginald Denham. The enigmatic Mrs. Smith, living in a remote part of England with
her housekeeper, finds herself once again subjected to suspicion
in connection with a murder case in which she was tried years before,
and from which she was discharged, the verdict being "not proven." All
would have been well if her son had not fallen in love with the daughter
of a newspaper man who in his youth had covered the trial, and now
suspects Mrs. Smith. The play becomes a battle between Mrs. Smith
and her housekeeper, on the one hand, and those, on the other, who
are determined to see in Mrs. Smith the accused murderess. But just
as Mrs. Smith faces what seems like defeat, she courageously - fighting
for her son's happiness - turns the tables on her opponents, persuades
her oppressors that the marriage should take place, and eventually
justifies herself. Play. Giles Cole Duels of words and power struggles abound in this tense and thoroughly
absorbing thriller. Ellen Stacey brings home Fisher, seemingly a
genial insurance salesman, but the shadowy figure in the bedroom
has more sinister plan for him than a sales pitch. A double-indemnity
insurance policy and the contents of a pill box play their part in
this exciting play where each new revelation adds to the overall
mystery ... Play. N. J. Crisp Bill announces to his friend and lover, Lucy, that he and his wife,
Kate, have decided to separate. The future looks rosy until Lucy's
husband arrives and begins to plant seeds of suspicion in Lucy's
mind concerning Kate's sudden disappearance. Suddenly the large chest
freezer and Kate's abandoned car gain significance until the flamboyant
entrance of Kate herself destroys the theory of Bill as a murderer.
However, as accusations fly and recriminations grow, speculation
turns quickly into reality. Drama. Elizabeth Eglof. Dora Hand lives by herself in a suburb on the Nebraska prairie.
She's gone through three husbands and now seems destined to play
the lonely,mistress to her married milkman, Kevin - until a swan
crashes into her living room window setting Dora on a harrowing journey.
She names him Bill, and to all outward appearances, Bill is a charismatic
and childlike man. At first endearing himself to Dora like a pet
she can train, Bill quickly learns the ropes of being human: speech,
dressing, checkers, beer,..and love for his mistress. All at once,
Dora finds herself dangerously entangled with the swan, whose animal
devotion to her threatens her already neglected lover and ultimately,
her sense of self. Melodrama. C. G. Bond In this version of the old melodrama Todd has some grounds for his
nefarious activities in that his wife was raped by the Judge, and
his daughter abandoned, while he himself was deported on a false
charge. He returns to avenge his family, accompanied by a sea captain,
Anthony, whose life he has saved. Todd sets up with Mrs Lovett and
provides her with fillings for her pies. He proceeds with his vengeful
plans, but the outcome is bitterly ironic. Period early nineteenth
century Melodrama. Brian J. Burton, from George Dibdin Pitt's Victorian
version of the legendary drama This version of the classic story of the demon barber of Fleet Street
is laced with both song and humour in the best of the old-fashioned
melodramatic styles. The play can be performed without the songs,
but their inclusion follows the custom of the time. Period 1840 Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street Victorian Melodrama. Austin Rosser, based upon the original by George
Dibdin Pitt Apart from a surprising change of heart and bid for sympathy at
the final moments of this version of the classic story, Todd glories
in his villainies throughout and gleefully slaughters right and left
until the cast is almost eliminated. Commendably, the story is treated
seriously and `guying' is discouraged. Play. Tennessee Williams Chance Wayne, an ambitious hustler, has taken up with a fading movie star hoping this might help his own career in films. She accompanies him to his home town to see a girl with whom he had had an affair, and still loves. Unknown to him, he had infected the girl with venereal disease. Learning of his arrival, the girl's malevolent father, Boss, plans to have the young man castrated. Play Frank Higgins. The Bradley family has had a long history in the coal mining town
of Glen Daniel, West Virginia. Grandpa Bradley was union leader there
for many years. His daughter, Babe, now uses their home as general
store where she also raises her daughter, Libby, and takes care of
her mother, Grandma Bradley. Babe vows to get Libby the education
she needs to better herself, purchasing her the."Cyclopedia Americana"
and sending her to summer school. Now 16, Libby is discovering many
things in her life, including Owen, the 20-year-old miner who wants
to marry her. When Libby tells her mother that she wants to stay
in Glen Daniel, Babe panics, and attempts, unsuccessfully, to change
Libby's mind. Then, Geneva, Babe's friend, takes Libby to the circus
where an old neighbour's boy, Newton Horton, is the high-wire act.
Hearing this, Babe invites Newton to the house for dinner and convinces
him to encourage Libby to leave Glen Daniel and get an education.
He does his job so well, in fact, he asks Libby to accompany him
in the circus for a while - all honorable - so she can see the world.
Babe consents, with the scorn of Grandma Bradley, and the spite of
Owen, who organises the miners to boycott the general store making
life difficult for the Bradleys. Libby goes with Newton, has a great
time, so it seems, and by the end of the summer she and Newton are
engaged, but when she shows up one day in Glen Daniel something is
definitely wrong. Libby confesses that seeing the world means witnessing
its terrors and sadness and all she really wants to do is return
home, live with her mother and grandmother, and create a better life
there rather that run away from it. Babe threatens everything she
can think of to get her daughter to go back to Newton. No match for
the will of her mother and daughter, however, she aligns herself
with generations of Bradley women in order to rebuild their lives
and set examples for the next generation. Play. Stephen Poliakoff A child psychologist's understanding of contemporary life is brought into question when she finds herself stalked by the mother of one of her young clients. Casting an acute eye over the changing face of urban life, Stephen Poliakoff's vibrant and compelling play pits the two women against each other in a battle for the soul of the city. Play. Francis Durbridge Ross is a successful happily married cardiac consultant- until his
wife Fay announces she has fallen in love with the notorious womanizer
Julian Kane. Later, Ross's assistant discovers two phials missing
of Zarabell Four, a drug potentially lethal to cardiac patients.
When Julian dies from a heart attack, all fingers point to Ross.
But as the play progresses many enemies of the deceased are revealed
and audiences will guess right up to the final moments of this well-wrought
thriller. Comedy. A.R. Gurney. The action of the play is set in Susan's home in a New York suburb
- Susan being a romantically-minded, divorced mother of three, and
a very successful artist and designer of greeting cards. It is summer
and Jake, the Dartmouth room-mate of her son, Ted, has taken up temporary
residence with Susan while doing house painting to earn money for
his college expenses. Susan is drawn to the handsome, lively Jake,
while he, in turn, is hopeful of finally establishing a meaningful
relationship with a member of the opposite sex - although what he
has in mind is someone of his own age. But, as the two begin to draw
closer to each other, what adds a special quality to their relationship
is that Susan is played by two actresses and Jake by two actors -
offering two distinct perspectives on both characters and allowing
the playwright to conceive a wide array of clever and inventive combinations
and situations. Susan (and Susan Too) wants Jake (and Jake Too) to
pose in the nude for a life study, and while there is initial reluctance,
Jake (both of him) finally acquiesces, leading to the bittersweet
ending of the play in which desire and convention are both touchingly
accommodated before Susan and Jake return, as they know they must,
to their separate worlds. Comedy Esther E. Olson. A high school comedy variation on Cinderella. Alexander Norris, 17, prefers dancing to studying. His father, a stern dean of men at Stafford College, however, cuts off Alex's allowance when he fails one of his classes. But when Penny Palmer, a glamorous movie star, comes to town for their spring dance, Alex decides he must go - even against his father's wishes. So he plans to attend the ball secretly, borrowing an old suit of his father's and little sister's Lone Ranger mask. The Masked Marvel is the hit of the ball, and Penny dances with no one else. But on the stroke of midnight, as he hurries from the ball room in order to get home before his father, he catches his pants on a nail and leaves a small piece behind, which Penny retrieves. Deciding this Masked Marvel must be her dancing partner in her next movie, Penny sends her manager out to locate him. Arriving at the Norris household, things take an unexpected turn, because everything indicates that Dean Norris is the Masked Marvel! He becomes the talk of the town, the object of every co-eds affection - and Stafford College is put on the map. But to Dean Norris this is extremely embarrassing, especially when Penny sidles up to him familiarly in the presence of his wife. Alex, determined to get his father out of this, calls up the president of the college to confess, but the president is fearful that he may lose the popular Dean Norris to Hollywood. Alex suddenly loses his timidity and his fear of Father. He strikes a hard bargain with the president, resulting in a happy ending for all. And even Dean Norris is so happy he breaks his reserve to join in a swing finale. A R Gurney : Comedy A modern romantic comedy about a marriage and a dog. Greg and Kate
have moved to Manhattan after twenty two years of raising their family
in the suburbs. Greg's career in finance is winding down, while Kate's
own career as an English teacher is beginning to offer her more opportunities.
One day Greg brings home a dog he found while walking in the park
- or rather that has found him - with only the name Sylvia on her
name tag. A street-smart mixture of Lab and Poodle, Sylvia becomes
a major bone of contention between the couple. To Greg she offers
an escape from the frustrations of his job and the unknown future
of middle age. To Kate, Sylvia becomes a rival for affection, and
Sylvia thinks that Kate just doesn't understand the relationship
between man and dog. Their marriage is put in serious jeopardy until,
after a series of hilarious and touching complications, Greg and
Kate learn to compromise and Sylvia becomes a valued part of their
lives. Play. Jimmie Chinn After ten years of courting, Gordon proposes to Sylvia and throws
both families into turmoil. Sylvia's parents are hardly the sort
of people Gordon's pompous father wants his family connected with
and the feeling is mutual. In addition, Sylvia's best friend is all
too ready to deflate Sylvia with her cynical, world-weary comments.
Against the odds, the two warring families co-operate in the wedding
preparations and all looks set for success - but Fate intervenes. Play Lanford Wilson. Liz Barnard is an anthropologist studying West Coast gangs for behaviour
similar to African tribes. Her son, Don, is a homosexual Episcopal
minister whose parishioners are poor, and many sick with AIDS. Liz's
daughter, Barbara, is a gifted sculptress whose current breakthrough
show launches a stellar career. Barbara lives with Ian, a brilliant
young astronomer and popular university professor who, along with
his colourful colleague Mickey, stumbles upon a spectacular discovery
at the edge of the galaxy. They want to study the find further, but
the chairman of their department, Carl Conklin White, a by-the-book
administrator, snatches up this startling find before all the facts
are in. Along with this discoverty, Ian and Barbara find that despite
all precautions, Barbara is pregnant. Having agreed to no children,
Barbara prepares for an abortion, but Ian wants to hold off as he
has new thoughts about children and carrying on the human race. The
mysteries of the universe and of human and artistic creation begin
to mix for Ian and his friends. But when Barbara has the abortion,
Ian becomes a person he never expected and, in front of friends and
family, he attacks Barbara. His actions change everyone around him,
mirroring the change in life when discovery leads the way. |