Play. Federico Garcia Lorca. Translated by Peter Luke Peter Luke's translation of this powerful and passionate play was performed at the National Theatre in 1987 with Juliet Stevenson and Roger Lloyd-Pack. It tells the tragic tale of Yerma, an Andalusian woman trapped by circumstance and social obligations in a joyless and barren marriage. The play revolves around two central obsessions -Yerma's desperate need for a child and the indifference and impotence of her husband. In a passionate frenzy Yerma murders her husband in response to her frustrated desires. Drama. Carole Braverman. Set in Brooklyn in the 1980s this is a tightly constructed, interwoven
story of four Jewish women, Devorah, an ex-Yiddish torch singer and
a refugee from the Polish pogroms, and her three granddaughters:
Brenda, a stand-up comic; Abby, a passionately committed union organizer;
and Tess, a teacher of Greek mythology, and, ultimately, bearer of
the legacy of her grandmother's stories. The play. opens as the three
women meet at their grandmother's home to celebrate her fourth marriage.
As the play progresses, the grandmother becomes increasingly haunted
by distant memories - of passion, betrayal, and the tragic fate of
her prophetic sister-in-law, Rivka. Abby becomes embroiled in a struggle
to bring to light the atrocities against political activists in Guatemala.
Brenda, driven by a tough ambition which is rarely informed by ethics,
finally gets her big break. Between these two cousins, both of whom
she loves, Tess walks an uneasy path, hovering between desire to
do the right thing and the pull of pleasures closer at hand. Her
need to choose between them is complicated by a passionate affair
she begins with Luke, a sexy, working-class man she picks up on a
rainy night. Married, uneducated, unconscious of his roots, Luke
has hidden depths of feeling, and, ultimately, an expectedly powerful
love of truth. Invoking Euripides' Trojan Woman as a mirror
for lives disrupted by desire and catastrophe, the play begins in
a comic vein, and gathers tragic force, as Devorah's history seeps
into the lives of her granddaughters. Moss Hart and George S Kaufman : Comedy At first the Sycamore family seem quite mad, but it is not long
before we realise that if they are mad, the rest of the world is
even madder. In contrast to the Sycamores are the stuffy and snobbish
Kirbys. The play tells how Tony, the attractive young son of the
hugely wealthy Kirbys, falls in love with Alice Sycamore. The Kirbys
have been invited to dinner to meet Alice's family, and much to her
dismay they duly arrive ... on the wrong night. Though quite unprepared
for their visitors, the Sycamores endeavour to entertain their guests
in their own eccentric fashion, and offer them what little food they
have available. The Kirby's disdain is enough to show Alice that
marrying Tony would be quite out of the question and, heartbroken,
she decides to call off their engagement. Tony, who is ashamed of
his parents behaviour, is determined not to lose Alice, and sets
about winning his parents over to the Sycamore's more endearing qualities,
which include amongst other things, manufacturing homemade fireworks
in the basement, writing plays, ballet dancing in the kitchen - and
of course not paying income tax. A truly warm and delightful comedy. You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running Comedy: Robert Anderson. The topic is sex, in all its mysterious and fascinating manifestations, and the treatment. of this is só skillful, tasteful and explosively funny that the plays are not only captivating and touching, but universal in appeal. The Shock of Recognition (3M, 1F, Interior) breaks in on a difference of opinion between ... an earnest young dramatist, and ...his matter-of-fact producer who doesn't like the opening moment of the play. A wife is having breakfast in bed and she says something to her husband, who is in the bathroom. So he comes out, jaybird naked, and yells to her. 'You know I can't hear you when the water's running.' The producer does'nt think this confrontation is quite nice or necessary. The author insists that the scene is quite important and, after all, it lasts only an instant. So a quarrel over taste develops, and a job-hunting actor ...becomes involved. He eagerly begins to strip, demonstrating how he would handle the role. Also involved is ...the producer's secretary... The Footsteps of Doves (2M, 2F, Interior) shows us a couple who, wed 25 years, come to a store to pick out a new bed or beds. Should they buy twin beds or a double? They don't get much sales effort from the salesman, ...for the salesman is gay. Into the discussion, uninvited, comes a blonde young thing ...who wants a big bed because she is all alone. I'll Be Home For Christmas (1M, 2F, Interior) maintains the light humor of the first two, but at base it is serious and touching as it shows [parents] discussing sex education of their almost-adult children, a girl and boy. [The father] is quite moving when he learns in a letter that his son is cutting adrift from the parental harbor. I'm Herbert (1M 1F, Interior) about two old, old
people sitting on a porch in a pair of rocking chairs and talking.
Just talking and of course they don't know how funny they are. Each
has had one or more previous marriages and perhaps a few flings,
but they are hazy as to details. In fact, they don't always know
which one the other one is. Comedy. Bernard Slade Giles, quintessentially English, doesn't take kindly to the intrusion
of Americans Libby and Daisy. Libby needs to contact T. J. Walbourne,
the famous mystery writer, to put together a film deal. Walbourne
is, of course, Giles, and he musters all his reserve to thwart Libby.
Finally, she admits defeat. But Libby has aroused passions in Giles
and within days he is knocking at her door with a neat romantic compromise! Play. Peter Tinniswood Divorce Graham asks friends Ernest and Pamela to help out with the
holiday visit of his children. The children are brought by his ex-wife
and her mother, who disapproves of Graham's lifestyle. Pamela, although
childless, has strong views on children and organises a party for
them. By having the adults play both the party guests and themselves
as children we are given fascinating and funny glimpses of their
pasts, making their scenes as grown-ups all the more pertinent. |