Comedy. Mark Medof.
3 men, 1 woman. Interior
Leeds, a brainy, tart-tongued graduate student, has bet his "super-jock" roommate,
Ward (a Phys Ed major), that Ward can seduce Honor, the wife of a
young professor (Ron). But Leeds has also wagered that if Ward is
success-fad, Ron will make an attempt on his life within 48 hours.
Thereafter, as can be expected, the situation grows progressively
more complex, with fun and fear brilliantly juxtaposed. In the resultant
comic mix the acerbic Leeds does his best to manipulate circumstances
to his own advantage, while narcissistic Ward, bored Honor, and bumbling
Ron all fall victim to his stratagems. In the end, the result is
not tragedy but pure, bubbling comedy, laced with wit and filled
with revealing insights into the natures of our four singular and
attrac-rive principals.
ISBN: 0-8222-1214-5
Play. Frederick Knott
M6 (20s, 30s) F2 (12, 30). A basement flat.
A drug-filled doll has disappeared from a London flat and three
petty crooks try to find it. They plot to compel the owners to give
away its whereabouts. The owner's wife is blind; the crooks tell
her a frightening story involving her husband's supposed infidelity.
She, however, becomes suspicious. In a terrifying climax she makes
uses of the fact that in the dark the blind have an actual advantage
over those who can normally see.
ISBN 0 573 01050 1
Mystery/Drama. Frederick Knott.
6 men, 1 woman, 1 girl. Interior.
A sinister con-man, Roar, and two exconvicts, Mike and Carlino,
are about to meet their match. They have traced the location of a
mysterious doll, which they are much interested in, to the Greenwich
Village apartment of Sam Hendrix and his blind wife, Susy. Sam had
apparently been persuaded by a strange woman to transport the doll
across the Canadian border, not knowing that sewn inside were several
grams of heroin. When the woman is murdered the situation becomes
more urgent. The con-man and his ex-convicts, through a cleverly
constructed deception, convince Susy that the police have implicated
Sam in the woman's murder and the doll, which she believes is the
key to his innocence, is evidence. She refuses to reveal its location,
and with the help of a young neighbour, figures out she is the victim
of a bizarre charade. But when Roar kills his associates a deadly
game of cat and mouse ensues between the two. Susy knows the only
way to play fair is by her rules, so when darkness falls she turns
off all the lights leaving both of them to manoeuver in the dark
until the game ends.
ISBN: 0-8222-1216-1
Tragic comedy. Samuel Beckett
M4 1 boy. A country road.
Two tramps, Vladimir and Estragon, are waiting for someone. To pass
the time they indulge in cross talk, they argue, they play bizarre
games. Lucky, more animal than human, enters, driven by Pozzo, a
wealthy, blubbering creature. Another visitor is a small boy who
says he works for Mr Godot and tells the tramps his master will come
tomorrow. The following day Pozzo and Lucky visit again, as does
the small boy with another message: Mr Godot will certainly be coming
tomorrow: The tramps wait on.
ISBN 0 573 04008 7
Tragi-Comedy Samuel Beckett.
4 men, 1 boy. Siimple stylised Exterior
Two dilapidated tramps fill their days as painlessly as they can.
They wait for Godot, a personage who will explain their interminable
insignificance, or put an end to it. They are resourceful, with quarrels
and their dependence on each other, as children are. They pass the
time 'which would have passed anyway. A brutal man of means comes
by, leading a weakling slave who does his bidding like a mechanical
doll. Later on he comes back, blind, and his slave is mute, but the
relationship is unchanged. Every day a child comes from the unknown
Godot, and evasively puts the big arrival off until tomorrow ...
It is a tragic view. Yet, in performance, most of it is brilliant,
bitter comedy ... It is a portrait of the dogged resilience of a
man's spirit in the face of little hope.
ISBN: 0-8021-3034-8
Play. Duncan Greenwood
M2 (30s, elderly) F6 (30s, elderly). A lounge.
This is a sensitive and perceptive look at the elderly residents
of a small private hotel which is set to close. Although most of
them have lived there for a number of years, they are all just biding
their time. All their dreams and hopes for the future are based in
the past. They will soon be homeless; this fact, and an attempted
suicide, force all the residents to admit that they have been living
an illusion. They toast the future, no longer waiting for yesterday.
ISBN 0 573 01602 X
Play. Noel Coward
M4 (30s, 40s, 70s) F14 (20s-80s). A lounge.
'The Wings' is a charity home for retired actresses. Here these
aged ladies grow older ungracefully amidst squabbles, jealousies
and grandiose memories. The once-great actress Lotta Bainbridge arrives;
years ago she married the ex-husband of one of the inmates, May Davenport,
and her arrival sparks off a feud. It is only resolved when one deranged
old lady sets fire to her room. After this tragedy, Lotta and May
spend what little time is left to them in peace and harmony.
ISBN 0 573 01470 1
Comedy/Drama. Lisa Loomer.
7 men, 4 women (flexible casting). Unit Set
The Waiting Room is a dark comedy about the timeless quest
for beauty -and its cost. Three women from different centuries meet
in a modern doctor's waiting room. Forgiveness From Heaven, is an
eighteenth century Chinese woman whose bound feet are causing her
to lose her toes. Victoria is a nineteenth century, tightly corsetted
Englishwoman suffering what is commonly known as "hysteria."
Then there is Wanda, a modern girl from New Jersey who is having
problems with her silicone breasts. Husbands, doctors, Freud, the
drug industry, and the FDA all come under examination. The play is
a wild ride through medical and sexual politics, including the politics
of the ever-present battle with breast cancer.
ISBN: 0-8222-1594-2
Klaus Pohl. Trans D.Tushingham
5-30m/f. Interlinked monologues. Minimal set.
Klaus Pohl was commissioned in 1994 by Der Spiegel to test
the mood of Germany after reunification. He fashioned the resultant
mass of material into a piece of raw and honest verbatim theatre
where a vast range of people tell their stories of gain and loss
direct to the audience. Ordinary men and women from East and West
come forward to give voice to their personal experiences and feelings
since the wall came down. First performed at the Royal Court in 1995.
'A fascinating eye and ear-opener' Independent
ISBN 1 85459 274 2
Comedy. Alex Gottlieb.
5 men, 6 women. Interior.
This comedy concerns Polly Emerson, a pretty young thing who wants
to be an actress. Polly's husband, Don, is a successful advertising
man, who yearns to be a playwright, and has a shelf of unproduced
plays to his credit. Don, understandably, isn't too happy when Polly
comes home with Deerfield Prescot, a very young man who has written
Broadway's next musical hit - or so he tells Polly and Don. He's
decided that Polly is just the person to star in his show, so Pollys
life, and consequently Don's, is taken over by Deerfield, who moves
into their apartment to put the finishing touches to his masterpiece.
Gloria, a chum of Polly's and a beautiful divorcée, arrives
at the same time, and there's an interfering maid (called Juliet)
ever present, not to mention Don's secretary, Martha, who's disillusioned
with life and men. This assorted cast of characters raises havoc
with Polly's and Don's life, much to the delight of the audience.
It isn't until a Vassar girl named Penelope arrives on the scene
that Deerfield is properly straightened out. He and Penelope leave
in pursuit of happiness: Gloria leaves in pursuit of her next husband,
and Polly and Don, alone at last, decide to concentrate on their
coming baby rather than a play. All is quiet, peace reigns, when
still another visitor appears to take over the household - Don's
mother-in-law!
ISBN: 0-8222-1219-6
Lin Coghlan
3m 1f. Drama. Multipurpose set.
Michael returns home to Ireland with his young son, but the old
wounds still exist between him and his father, Sean. He finds it
is only the strange young woman next door with whom he can communicate.
First staged at the Soho Theatre. 'Coghlan's stength lies in the
creation of mood and character' (Guardian), she 'evokes the
allusive fragmentary nature of family talk, where much remains unsaid
for fear of provoking a row, yet where rows keep erupting because
of this fear of beginning them' Time Out.
ISBN 1 85459 392 7
Play Beth Henley.
3 men, 4 women. Interior/Exterior
The scene is a small town in Mississippi, where the family of Jamey
Foster, a failed poet and would-be historian, who was kicked in the
head by a cow while consorting with his mistress in a pasture, have
gathered for his wake. The mourners, who include Jamey's estranged
wife; her sister and brother and the brother's fey girlfriend; Jamey's
upwardly mobile brother and his oppressively doting wife; and an
eccentric family friend who raises pigs - all seem to agree on one
point - none of them really liked the deceased very much. But on
most other matters they are far apart, and as old enmities flare
up the play explodes with bizarre humour and zany revelations. In
the end a tenuous truce is reached as those assembled prepare to
depart for the final rites - but it is abundantly dear that the lives
on which Jamey had a baleful effect in his lifetime may well be changed
for the better by his untimely demise.
ISBN: 0-8222-1217-X
Play. Keith Curran.
4 men, 3 women. Unit Set
Maya Deboats, a performance artist, calls together the family and
friends of her recently murdered lover, Veronica, for a performance
art memorial service that travels seamlessly through the past and
present in an effort to reconstruct Veronica's life. Together they
create an actual, lasting structure - a work of art - which ultimately
helps them to understand and move on. We learn that Veronica, who
at first believes she is a lesbian, is actually a man
"trapped" in a woman's body. After much deliberation, Veronica chooses
surgery and becomes "Homer." Homer, however, is once again "trapped" when
his mother calls with an invitation to her upcoming wedding. Homer
attends the ceremony dressed as Veronica, where he realises the full
impact of denial-of-self that resulted in his "dressing up?"
Walking home, Homer is attacked by two men who assume he is a woman.
As the attack progresses, the attackers discover Homer is a man,
and brutally kill him. The participants of the memorial service begin
to comprehend their general complicity as well as their specific
innocence in the machinations that led to Homer's death. The play
becomes a larger comment on our attitudes toward change, selfhood
and the boundaries of love.
ISBN: 0-8222-1218-8
Lee Blessing : Drama
2M Exterior set
A long running West End and Broadway success which examines a subject
of crucial importance to the modern world - the superpower negotiations
of nuclear disarmament. In the woods on the outskirts of Geneva,
an American and a Russian arms negotiator meet informally after long
talks at the bargaining table. The Russian, Botvinnik, is urbane
and humorous though cynical as to what results the talks can bring
about. Honeyman, his American counterpart, is a newcomer to the negotiation
table and an idealist, convinced of the value of hard, honest bargaining.
As the seasons change and the arms talks drag on, the two men continue
their meetings in the woods and through their absorbing conversations
we sense the growing understanding and mutual admiration developing
between the two, and also the increasing frustration which confines
them both. One of the most provocative and important plays of our
time.
ISBN: 0 8222 1220 X
Play. Willis Hall
M6 (young, 40s, elderly) F2 (18, 30s). An office.
The action passes in a single afternoon, during the course of a football match. It is a match of vital importance for the somewhat uninspired record of a Third Division club and it also affects the lives of several of the people connected with it, in particular Gillian Dugdale, who runs the office, and her association with Bernie Gant, club manager. By the end of the match more than the future of the club itself has been decided. ISBN 0 573 01594 5
Comedy: Mary Orr and Reginald Denham.
8 men, 7 women. Interior
Jessamine Linnett and her husband, Andrew, are typical Americans. Each has a daughter from a former marriage. The story begins with the two girls' return from college. Jackie, Andrew's daughter, and joy, Jessamine's, are fond of each other. But joys attractiveness runs to beauty so apparent that Jackie's charm is overshadowed. Jackie is taken aback with the realisation that her one suitor, Warren, is dazzled by joy. When Jackie gets no bid to the dance there follow riotous attempts to secure an escort for her, resulting in nothing more than funny arguments between Jessamine and Andrew over their respective daughters, and their communication with each other only through the medium of both girls. Jackie decided to take matters into her own hands when Warren, who has proposed to joy and been turned down, turns to her for solace. Jackie's way of getting her man is drastic, but entirely successful.
Play. Jean Anouilh. Adapted from the French by Lucienne Hill
M4 (young, middle-age) F7 (young, 18, 30s). A landing/study.
Now retired, General St Pé tries to keep old age at bay by
dallying with every available pretty woman. His wife Emily, a determined
invalid, perpetually complains of her husband's peccadilloes. Seventeen
years ago, as they danced to the Waltz of the Toreadors, the General
and Ghislaine de Ste Euvert fell in love. Ghislaine has waited, chaste
and faithful, for the day when the General will be free of Emily.
Now she comes to claim her man, armed with letters that prove Emily
has been unfaithful.
ISBN 0 573 01471 X