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Comedy. Arthur W. Pinero Actress Rose Trelawny falls in love with the grandson of a snobbish
knight. Unfortunately her visit to her lover's home is a humiliating
failure and she finds she can no longer act. But the elderly tyrant
relents, unexpectedly developing an interest in the theatre; he even
finances a play and finally gives his blessing to Rose and his grandson.
Period 1860 Ghost Story. Emlyn Williams When Christine's husband Philip dies she engages a medium to make contact with Philip, a dance band leader. What follows is a night of fear and terror with Philip's music pervading the taut atmosphere, wherein everyone has one foot over the line and must not, under any circumstance, crossover. Secrets are told, spine-chilling events take place and the dawn brings sunshine, peace - and death. Comedy. Kenneth Horne On their honeymoon Andrea's second husband, Claud, finds out that
she was tried and acquitted for pushing her first husband, Dudley,
off an ocean liner! Just as Claud has been reassured who should turn
up to embarrass the newlyweds but Dudley, who demands an exorbitant
sum of money in order to divorce Andrea, so she may remarry Claud.
The two men come to blows and Dudley is stunned with a cricket bat.
Further complications ensure before all is sorted out. The Trials and Tribulations of Staggerlee Booker T. Brown Comedy. Don Evans. The play begins in the Nite Life bar, where one of the denizens
recounts the tale of the Reverend Booker T Brown, a good-hearted
preacher of middle years who finds himself smitten by the charms
of a nubile young parishioner. His temptation is put to the test
when Big Red (better known as the devil) offers him a proposition:
all the money he can spend plus the favours of his desired, in exchange
for which the Reverend must sign away his soul. He agrees - but then
recants - which leads to the central action of the piece, an hilarious
play-within-a-play in which all the actors appear in double roles
as good and evil clash with the Reverend's immortal soul hanging
in the balance. It is touch and go for awhile, yet all works out
happily in the end - but not before a joyous good time is had by
audiences and actors alike. Comedy. Molière.Translation by Tunc Yalman. While Argante and Geronte, two domineering, miserly fathers, are
away on affairs of business, their respective sons, Octave and Leandre,
become embroiled in romantic escapades, despite the vigilance of
their servants, who are supposed to keep their charges out of trouble.
Octave (son of Argante) has become secretly married to the lovely
Hyacinte, while Leandre (son of Geronte) is smitten by a charming "gypsy" girl,
Zerbinette. When their fathers return and announce that they have
marital plans for their respective sons both Octave and Leandre are
devastated but, fortunately, Scapin, Leandre's clever servant, is
at hand, and not without resources. Reassuring the love-sick swains
that he will find a way to deal with their pompous fathers, Scapin
sets his delightfully devious plot in motion - not only persuading
Argante and Geronte that they really want what they don't want and
don't want what they do want, but also extracting money from them
on the errant lovers behalf. In the end, as fate would have it, it
turns out that Hyacinte is really Geronte's daughter (and the wife
that Argante had in mind for Octave all along); and Zerbinette is
actually Argante's long lost offspring (whom he had always intended
to be Leandre's bride), so true love does triumph after all - and
even Scapin (who has tricked them all several times over) is forgiven
his hilarious misdeeds. Play. Horton Foote. This is the poignant story of Mrs. Watts, an ageing widow living
with her son and daughter-in-law in a three-room flat in Houston,
Texas. Fearing that her presence may be an imposition on others,
and chafing under the rigid and selfish supervision of her daughter-in-law,
Mrs. Watts imagines that if she can get away and return to her old
home in the town of Bountiful, she is sure to regain her strength,
dignity and peace of mind. So she attempts to run away. When she
reaches a bus station on the last part of her short journey, she
falls into the hands of a sheriff whom her son and daughter-in-law
have put on her trail. The sheriff, a kindly fellow, allows her to
complete the final stage of her journey, so she proceeds to Bountiful
and makes a lonely pilgrimage to the scene of her old home. Only
too soon she learns that the friends of her youth have all died or
scattered and her home is no longer the spacious mansion of her memories,
but a crumbling wreck. But she has the supreme satisfaction of plunging
her hands into the strength-giving earth, and this leaves her with
a sense of that strength and dignity which will give her the courage
to survive. When her son and daughter-in-law appear on the scene
to take her back to Houston, she consents to return quietly, secure
in the knowledge that the remainder of her existence will be enriched
as a result of her last contact with Bountiful. Comedy. Translated by James Magruder from the play by Marivaux. Princes Leonide, in disguise, arrives in the garden of the philosopher,
Hermocrate. She has come to try and win some time in his retreat
for she has fallen in love, from afar, with Hermocrate's student,
Agis, who is the "legitimate"
prince of the realm over which Leonide rules. Knowing that Hermocrate
is steadfastly against women joining the retreat (except for his
sister, Leontine, who helps run the place), Leonide puts on the disguise
of a man, calling herself Phocion, and brings along her servant Corine,
under the alias Hermidas. Phocion proceeds to woo all the people
at the retreat depending on what they figure out about her/him. Hermocrate
sees through the disguise so Phocion convinces him she has fallen
in love with him and until Hermocrate gives her some time to prove
herself, she will not leave. When Phocion meets up with Leontine,
who is taken in by the disguise, Phocion persuades her he is in love
with her so she will petition Hermocrate to let Phocion stay. All
the while, the jester and gardener, who now know of the disguise,
are being bought off by Leonide and wooed by Corine. All of this
just so Leonide can find some time alone with Agis. Once she corners
Agis, she first wins him over as a friend, then later reveals she
is a woman. Since he has been taught to loathe both love itself and
women as the object of love, he at first resists, but soon, attracted
to Phocion - and he so very innocent - he is won over and falls in
love. Now all the major players in the retreat prepare to marry Phocion
(who by now calls herself by all different names). When they all
meet in the courtyard, in wedding attire, Leonide not only reveals
to Leontine that she is a woman, but reveals to all that she is the
illegitimate ruler - so often feared and reviled - she is not hateful,
loves Agis, and wants to abdicate the crown to him. The two young
lovers go off together, leaving the older philosopher and his sister
stunned and silent. Play. Frank Vickery A summer evening's barbecue is the setting for a meeting of the
Trealaw and District Operatic Society. Next season's play is being
announced but Nick, the Society's business manager, has promised
a different show and the plum roles to four different people. As
the evening progresses each character's foibles and talents are revealed
and the complex relationships between players emerge as moments of
pure slapstick and farce alternate with ones full of real drama and
pathos. Play. Euripides, translated by Neil Curry The play dwells on and enlarges one brief moment at the end of the Trojan War - when all the Trojan men are dead and the women and children are waiting to be shipped into slavery concentrating attention on the fate of individuals. This classic depiction has survived solely as a veiled reference to distant fact of history; it remains a powerful dramatic expose of the brutality of war and the pompous nobodies who are responsible for them. Drama. John J. Woolen David, the eldest of the three Stone children, returns home from
college for an Easter visit. Moments after he enters the comfortable
family room in his upper middle-class home, we know all is not as
serene as it appears. David and his father do not get along and after
a long absence, the family is eager but pensive about his arrival.
His kid sister, Laura, spends as much time away from home as possible,
risking punishment if she returns past the strict times her father
has set. Mrs. Stone is determined to keep the peace at all costs
and struggles to stay out of the Valium bottle. The younger son,
Bobby - the golden boy, star football player and Dad's obvious favorite
- was the glue that held the family together until an accident left
him mildly brain damaged, and the family torn apart. Through scenes
in the present and flashbacks to the past, the dynamics of this troubled
family become more apparent. Despite agreeing to a truce for the
weekend to appease Mrs. Stone, David and his father continue to hammer
away at each other, while Mrs. Stone fights a losing battle to save
the weekend. Laura creates more of her own cocoon and Bobby memorizes
a passage-from Hamlet to impress David, which he insists he do, much
to the embarrassment of his parents. David desperately wants to prove
himself as an actor, attends Carnegie.Mellon, and makes clear his
feelings about football, refusing to play as a child. The more Mr.
Stone chides David about his life and choices, the more David undermines
his father's authority until after one last blow-out, David and his
father finally begin to accept their failure toward one another. Play. Angela Huth Returning somewhat tipsy from a friend's wedding, Alice announces
she has met Edward and Laura whom she has invited to dinner. Edward
is Alice's old flame and Laura and Tom had a brief premarital affair-four
ex-lovers meeting after twenty years, where's the harm? But they
arrive with Mary with whom Tom had a passionate affair. Will Tom's
and Alice's seemingly secure marriage survive the seductive onslaught
of Mary who is determined to get Tom? Comedy. Bella and Samuel Spewack. Miss Swan works in a publisher's office. Her husband has been labouring 2 years on the biography of a tycoon, and his fee, it is hoped, will pay for the baby his wife expects. Unfortunately, the tycoon decides to postpone publication till after his death, but since the baby can't be postponed, the couple concoct a scheme for raising money which involves using an ex-general as a sandwich man. This precipitates further complications and a plot that is completely cockeyed. Drama. Romulus Linney. Logan Novel is a lazy man given to reading aloud from various "True
Crime" magazines which fascinate him. Fortunately for him, he is
also very attractive to women and has mistresses who support him.
Mary Sparks clings to Logan the most, but she is married to a rich
older man, Soony Sparks. Vangey, Logan's mother, comes up with a
plan to set Logan working for Soony so that Logan and Mary can continue
their affair, gain Soony's trust, and, after his imminent death,
move onto the farm. With a little help from natural herbs, Soony
dies and Mary and Logan marry. Everything is fine until Nancy, Soony's
daughter from his first marriage, seduces Logan and becomes pregnant.
To keep Nancy quiet, Mary and Vangey scheme to marry her off to the
son of a good family and send the bastard child to an orphanage.
But after the baby is born, Mary, Vangey and Ab, Logan's father,
force Logan to kill the child. Before the marriage comes off, however,
Sawdust, the seemingly slow-witted handyman, reveals himself to be
a very sly con artist and blackmails them into giving him nearly
all the cash they have in order to buy his silence about the killing.
Logan, consumed with guilt over what he has done, seems ready to
tell the world of the crimes committed until Vangey reminds him of
his complicity. Realising things will fall into place if he says
nothing, in the last moment of the play, as the neighbouring family
approaches to discuss the wedding, Logan silences his confessional
urges and waves to them in welcome. Sam Shepard : Light Drama In a suburban southern California house, Austin, an aspiring screenwriter is busy writing a romantic screenplay for his producer Saul. Austin is plant-sitting for his mother while she is on holiday in Alaska, but his peace and quiet is broken by the arrival of his older brother Lee, in every way his opposite. Lee has lived rough in the desert, surviving by stealing and petty crime, and he persuades Saul that his screenplay is even better than Austin's - an authentic, present day 'true' western. The sibling rivalry increases as the roles are quickly reversed; Austin hits the bottle, turns to theft and dreams of a free life in the desert while Lee agonises over his script, and the neat, tidy house is turned into chaos, climaxing with the return home of their mother to find them locked into a desperate battle in the demolished kitchen. Play. Bertolt Brecht. Translated by Alan Brown and Kyra Dietz,
music by Wagner-Regeny Brecht takes George Farquhar's Restoration comedy The Recruiting Officer and transfers it to the period of the American Revolutionary War. Captain Plume, the officer in question, arrives in Shrewsbury from London to enquire how recruitment to fight the rebels is progressing. He receives a discouraging report of military and romantic complications. Comedy. Steven Dietz. This is a contemporary dramatic comedy set against a backdrop of
the rock music scene. In a world ruled by love, lust and lying, a
spiral unwinds; Cody is a rising star musician. Becca is his fiancée.
Gretchen is a dressmaker, fitting Becca for her wedding dress. Leah
is a rock star past her prime who Cody meets while on the road. Roy
is a public radio announcer smitten with the young bohemian, Holly.
As the lives and loves of these people continue to intersect, attraction
gives way to seduction, and secrecy holds sway over truth. Becca
and Codys marriage-to-be grows as rocky as Roy increases his hilariously
futile attempts to charm Holly. Gretchen and Leaks past is unearthed,
brought on by Gretchen's attraction to Becca. As the final concert
of Cody's tour concludes, new bonds have been formed, old wounds
remain; friends looking for answers, lovers looking for that elusive
word: trust. |