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Books > Language & Literature > Literature: texts > Drama texts, plays
The Frank Daniels Trio were a singing, dancing, comedy sensation. A
Wow Top of the Bill Socko Frank, the manager, was always on the
left. Tony, the comedy man, was always on the right. Both men
adored the girl in the middle - the beautiful Sarah. The perfect
recipe for an entangled triangle. Sarah yearned for the more
exciting Tony to declare his love, but it was the stable Frank who
made the first move. She accepted. And so they married and lived
happily - well, almost - ever after. That was in the 60's. Music
changed. Styles changed. The trio disbanded. Sarah often thought
about Tony. Tony wondered about Sarah. And when, years later, the
three friends re-unite, memories and yearnings return - this time
offering a second chance for true happiness. Will they dare to take
it? With stand-up comedy and 'grumpy old men', this emotional
roller coaster of a play will confirm the old adage that 'truth
will out'.
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Cranford
(Paperback)
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell; Adapted by Laura Turner
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R310
Discovery Miles 3 100
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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In her early twenties, university-educated Bex took over her
mother's hairdressing salon rather than begin a teaching career.
Now Bex is approaching 40 and her salon is under fierce competition
from a newcomer across the road, precipitating a crisis with Heidi,
her friend who works for her. Her husband Max has planned a
surprise 40th birthday party for her, though it's not much of a
surprise and in fact rather unwelcome. As the two women attend to
their clients, I Want That Hair looks without flinching at what
turning 40 can mean to someone who has never really been anywhere
in their life, and is just beginning to realise that they probably
never will.
The play examines the idea that Winston Churchill had advance
warning of the attack on Coventry. Was Coventry sacrificed for the
greater good? Or to provoke and hasten America's entry into the
war?
It's good to meet up with old friends ... or perhaps not When Nigel
arranges a reunion in the back room of a pub, he is optimistic of a
good turnout. Whilst the numbers disappoint him, he soon has his
hands full when a motley middle-aged threesome turn up, bringing
with them assorted wives, girlfriends, prejudices, and resentments
that have simmered for the last twenty-five years. As the evening
unfolds, the men are forced to reassess their old alliances and
reflect on their lives, as the women are increasingly struck by the
futility of the whole exercise Comedy and confusion combine in this
hilarious but poignant story of 'small people' in a 'big world'.
Australia 1789. A young married lieutenant is directing rehearsals
of the first play ever to be staged in that country. With only two
copies of the text, a cast of convicts, and one leading lady who
may be about to be hanged, conditions are hardly ideal... Winner of
the Laurence Olivier Play of the Year Award in 1988, and many other
major awards, Our Country's Good premiered at the Royal Court
Theatre, London, in 1988 and opened on Broadway in 1991. 'Rarely
has the redemptive, transcendental power of theatre been argued
with such eloquence and passion.' Georgina Brown, Independent It is
published here in a new Student Edition, alongside commentary and
notes by Sophie Bush. The commentary includes a chronology of the
play and the playwright's life and work as well as discussion of
the social, political, cultural and economic context in which the
play was originally conceived and created.
These seven short plays by various authors, originally commissioned
and produced by the Tricycle Theatre London, explore the nature of
the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan.
This provocative new comedy is about a group of desperate souls who
come together in pursuit of a shared dream. It's set in the
'wannabe culture', where everything is possible as long as you want
it hard enough, and are willing to pay the price. Natasha is an
actress but her latest role is going way too far for her boyfriend
Ben. Guru theatre director Gavin is pushing the limits - but
despite his reputation as an enfant terrible, he isn't at all what
he seems. Fellow actor Danny has a sexual appetite liable to land
him in big trouble, while the producer Danielle is worried about
the outrage Gavin's production is sure to cause. And Writer Hannah
has a story to tell, but does it still ring true? Bad Jazz is a
gratuitous farce that exploits and satirises modern theatre, asking
the question, 'how far are you prepared to go?'
Heard the one about the Englishman, the Scotsman and the Irishman?
This biting topical comedy pokes a finger at ideas of national
identity, class and Britain's role in the modern world. Set in a
once-grand country manor house now converted into a language school
teaching English to foreign students, Queens English looks at the
peculiarities and the stereotypes of the English, Welsh, Irish,
Scottish and American cultures. The American, a brash New Yorker
named Ruby, has recently won the school in a poker game, and now
has big plans - including a surprise visit from a Royal guest. But
first she has to try and gain control over the four teachers and
their different backgrounds as tempers flare while personal and
national grudges are brought out into the open, threatening to
upstage HRH's imminent visit.
It was a brave man who would cross the Devon moorlands in darkness.
For the ancient legend of the hound of the Baskervilles had
persisted in family history for generations. It was Sir Charles's
mysterious death in the grounds of Baskerville Hall that brought
Sherlock Holmes to the scene.
Marlene hosts a dinner party in a London restaurant to celebrate
her promotion to managing director of 'Top Girls' employment
agency. Her guests are five women from the past: Isabella Bird
(1831- 1904) - the adventurous traveller; Lady Nijo (b1258) - the
mediaeval courtesan who became a Buddhist nun and travelled on foot
through Japan; Dull Gret, who as Dulle Griet in a Bruegel painting,
led a crowd of women on a charge through hell; Pope Joan - the
transvestite early female pope and last but not least Patient
Griselda, an obedient wife out of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. As
the evening continues we are involved with the stories of all five
women and the impending crisis in Marlene's own life. A classic of
contemporary theatre, Churchill's play is seen as a landmark for a
new generation of playwrights. It was premiered by the Royal Court
in 1982. "Top Girls has a combination of directness and complexity
which keeps you both emotionally and intellectually alert. You can
smell life, and at the same time feel locked in an argument with an
agile and passionate mind." (John Peter, Sunday Times)
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