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Showing 1 - 25 of 89 matches in All Departments
There are no less than eight intimate exchanges in this ingenious tour de farce and each has two different endings; you can see Intimate Exchanges sixteen times and not see the same play twice! And one actor and one actress play all 10 characters. This is Ayckbourn's most unusual look yet at the foibles of middle class living.1 woman, 1 man
A comedy in four parts about an unremarkable man and the remarkable women who loved him. From his first encounters as a young man in 1925 to an unexpected reunion late in life, Anthony Spates' romantic progress is charted against the backdrop of an equally remarkable old manor house in this hilarious and gently touching comedy.
Melanie believes she has foreseen the future. But has she really? Or is it all in her mind? True or false, she has seen events which threaten the life of one she secretly loves, and she feels they are in terrible danger. What can she possibly do or say to prevent things happening, and who will even believe her?
Irascible author Algy Waterbridge is hard at work on his thirty-third crime novel. While Algy's wife is getting more forgetful, and his PA frequently oversteps the mark, the constant interruptions come to a head with an unfortunate newspaper interview. As Algy's fictional characters take over, the lines between fiction and reality become blurred. A comedy of confusion about a grumpy old man who might not be so grumpy after all.
Living Together, Round and Round the Garden and Table Manners make up this trilogy of plays. All occur during a single weekend in different parts of the same house and concern a group of related people. Each is complete in itself and can be played alone, or as a group they can be performed in any order. However, each benefits when produced with the others. A common factor is Norman's inadequate attempts to involve himself in turn with his sister in law, his brother in law's wife and his own wife.
Elspeth and Arthur are celebrating forty years of quiet, safe, unspectacular, ordinary marriage. Or so most of the guests attending their anniversary party are led to believe. But knowing her and knowing him as they do, their son and daughter know differently.
Adrian is about to introduce his fiancee Grace to his parents at a birthday party, but they are worried that Grace doesn't know about Adrian's alleged reputation. As more birthdays unfold, the truth about the suburban closet Lothario is revealed...
Thriller Characters: 1 male, 2 females Scenery: 2 interiors, 1 exterior When Miss Pickhart visits the illusionist Ratchet on official Town Hall business, she discovers a sinister secret. Alone in the cellar after Ratchet is called away, she confronts the ghost of Rosalinda who met an untimely death during the saw the woman in half trick. The ghost believes it was not an accident and calls upon Miss Pickhart to release her. To do this Miss Pickhart must relive that fateful night and climb into the cabinet. It seems as though she too is to meet a grim death until the play takes an unexpected twist.
Musical Characters: 1 male, 3 female Interior Set Book and Lyrics by Alan Ayckbourn. Music by Paul Todd. Mrs. Mary Yately is no run of the mill housewife-- she has been chosen by the Evening Echo as Mum of the Year. And, Mrs. Yately is no ordinary character in this brilliantly inventive new musical by Britain's comic master-- she is three separate personalities, played by three actresses. One actor plays all the men in Mary's life, all of whom are, shall we say, not on this world to make her life easier. "We know that Alan Ayckbourn writes more ingenious comedies than anyone else. Now, he is starting to write more ingenious musicals as well. Me, Myself and I offers more civilized pleasure than any other British musical I've seen this year."-- London Guardian. "Splendid, galloping music and rapid fire lyrics."-- London Standard.
Trevor and Susannah, whose marraige is on the rocks, inflict their miseries on their nearest and dearest: three couples whose own relationships are tenuous at best. Taking place sequentially in the three beleaguered couples' bedrooms during one endless Saturday night of co-dependence and dysfunction, beds, tempers, and domestic order are ruffled, leading all the players to a hilariously touching epiphany.
George Riley is given six weeks to live and Life of Riley charts the reactions of his closest friends as they struggle to come to terms with the news. "As perceptive as ever ... Ayckbourn has once again achieved a satisfyingly rich, tragi-comic complexity" Daily Telegraph
Chloe With Love - Teddy's marriage to Lottie is going through a difficult period. Does he still love Lottie? Does Lottie still love him? Cue next door neighbours Penny and Reggie to the rescue. Penny weighing in to help Lottie and Reggie resolving to help his best friend to resist temptation. But with the arrival of the voluptuous Chloe all their best laid schemes are put to the test. The Kidderminster Affair - Sexual intrigue at Teddy's garden barbecue. Is his secret liaison with his neighbour, Penny, about to leak out? Will his wife Lottie discover the awful truth about Kidderminster? Will Penny's husband and best friend Reggie ever get hold of the right end of the stick? Will he burn the barbecue? Or indeed resolve the mystery of the slow puncture?
This is a bright comedy by the famous English comic playwright about the extraordinary powers of Ernie Fraser, a dreamer with a difference. Ernie has a vivid imagination; and his thoughts have the disconcerting habit of turning into reality....
A terrorist code-named Cerastes is on the loose, and an undercover anti-terrorist squad have planned a sting to capture him as he steps off a train at a London station. The operation, led by the buffoonish Acting Major Quentin Sexton, has drawn in two outsiders - Ez and Barry. Perfect strangers as the play begins, their time waiting for the trap to be sprung gives them the chance to get to know each other, and try to make sense of the chaos unfolding around them.
This plays needs M3 and F2 as well as composite set: part of a bedroom, sitting-room, eating-area in kitchen. The Rodales seem like an ordinary family, but beneath the surface things are beginning to crack. Jill and Mal have lost the spark in their marriage, their son Sam resents his father and their daughter Chrissie has recently become a mum and is dealing with marriage issues of her own. And while they all share advice on how others should live their lives, nobody is really taking it on board - until Mal and Jill see things from a dramatically different perspective, that is. Waking up one morning and finding they have switched personas, Mal in Jill's body and Jill in Mal's, they must continue life "as normal" as their other half. Jill faces the challenges of working with their son-in-law, Dean, as the Store Manager of a homewares shop, while Mal has suddenly becomes a housewife, learning more about his children - and finding out the secrets they already know about him! Will seeing things from the other side make matters even worse, or is this just what they need in order to save their family?
The suburban house of the Bakers' adjoins a recreation field, which is useful since football and cricket play a large part in the story. Peter, who works for Graham, brings his fiancee to the house and Graham, as usual, makes a bee-line for her. However, it is Mrs. Baker's brother, Leonard, to whom Joan strays. Leonard, poetic, a fumbler, who moons around holding conversations with the garden gnome, has always roused the bullying Graham's malice and scorn, who is horrified when he catches the younger man very much with Joan.2 women, 3 men
Alan Ayckbourn's version of the first of the famous Aldwych farces was produced by the National Theatre. It is the story of an unsuccessful inventor who inherits the life interest in a fortune which is to revert on his death to his cousin George Maitland. As Cousin George is thought to have died abroad, the inventor has the brilliant idea of "dying" so that he can resurrect himself as his cousin and avoid paying his enormous debts. Complications arise in the form of George's wife, another Maitland imposter (the butler's brother) and finally the real George Maitland himself!4 women, 6 men
2 Comedies / 7m, 7f, extras / Int./Ext.An unprecedented theatre event: two plays take place simultaneously in the same theatre but in different auditoriums. Characters walk off one set and onto the other throughout and yet each portion is a complete theatre experience. In HOUSE, two upper-crust marriages are in hilarious upheaval, the awkward confusion of young love abounds, a devious politician has bizarre ulterior motives land a French film star imbibes one too many drinks. And what is going on in the GARDEN? More hilarity. Note: These two plays MUST be performed simultaneously in by the same cast in adjacent auditoriums. "Perhaps his [Ayckbourn's] greatest work. An engaging, high precision production."-Daily Telegraph "It's audacious, crazy and altogether brilliant."-Times
England's comic master is in a black comic mode in this West End hit about our fascination with technology. It is sometime quite soon in a steel shuttered, slovenly flat in a no go area of North London where punks rule deserted streets. Here, a lonely composer sits surrounded by high tech equipment. His only company is a robot nanny, and she's on the blink. He desperately wants to reclaim his teenage daughter and enlists an out of work actress to implement a cunning plan he's evolved to impress his estranged wife and a wired for sound child welfare officer. When things don't work out, Jerome has to improvise... It's amazing what can be done with a few micro chips and a screwdriver!
Mr Whatnot is Mint, a piano tuner, summoned to the stately home of Lord and Lady Slingsby-Craddock. Once there he falls in love with their daughter, Amanda, elopes with her, fails to save her from marriage to Cecil but wins through in the end. With plenty of mime and sound effects Mr Whatnot offers great opportunities to an imaginative director for a highly entertaining and unusual production.4 women, 7 men
The trilogy comprises FlatSpin, GamePlan and RolePlay and was first seen at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough and later at the Duchess Theatre, London. Each is self contained, the common theme linking them is that the setting is the same London Docklands apartment and all three concern young women in various states of distress. A night of romance in her luxurious riverside apartment with the good-looking stranger from next door. How can Joanna possibly go wrong? Except the flat isn't hers, her name isn't Joanna and heaven knows what the good-looking stranger is really after. Instead of romance comes considerable danger...
Henry Bell has come to the Albert Bridge to throw himself off because he has lost his wife and his job. Instead, he saves Karen Knightly who has thrown herself off the bridge already and is dangling by her caught coat. They spend a long night driving. Henry learns that Karen has been jilted by a lover who has gone back to his wife. She suggests revenge as a way to heal their emotional wounds: she will fix Henry's dreadful former boss and Henry must ruin her ex lover's wife.12 women, 11 men
Looking at Edward Gray's three daughters and their unsuitable husbands, it is difficult to disagree with his pronouncement that we all marry the wrong person. It is also impossible not to laugh at the results hilariously portrayed in this early play by the master of English comedy that is being published for the first time.4 women, 4 men
An entertainment on marriage by George Melly, Alan Ayckbourn, James Saunders, Harold Pinter, Alun Owen, Fay Weldon, David Campton, Lyndon Brook and John Bowen.1 woman, 1 man or flexible casting |
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