BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE- Olivia Turnbull |
THE CRISIS IN BRITAIN’S REGIONAL THEATRESA crisis between 1979 and 1997 saw over a quarter of Britain’s regional theatres closed down. Those that survived found themselves constantly on the brink, forced to radically reduce their programmes and go dark for extended periods of time. Bringing Down the House delves into how and why the crisis occurred, and examines its long-lasting effects on the English theatre industry revealing problems extending beyond the government’s scant regard for the arts, right back to World War II. By probing into the history of regional theatres from the introduction of state funding after the war, Turnbull unearths a catalogue of re-occurring problems that ensured the fabric of British theatre was historically fragile. Between the foundation of the Arts Council in 1945 and the Conservatives’ election in 1979, unresolved issues about the nature of regional theatre and the basis for allocating funds made it difficult for theatres to successfully adapt to changing times. Turnbull seeks to address why theatres were so ill equipped to deal with Thatcherism and asks what, if anything, was done under Blair to address the situation. An important and timely read for theatre and cultural history scholars alike, Bringing Down the House interrogates the history and politics of regional theatre. Olivia Turnbull is a Senior Lecturer in Drama Studies at Bath Spa University. Her research interests include contemporary British and American theatre, verbatim, site specific and experimental performance practices. critical comment ISBN:9781841502083 Intellect Bookspublished:
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Pattern Cutting for Men's Costume - Elizabeth Friendship |
This is a practical guide to men's pattern cutting featuring every type of costume from 16th century onward: fashionable costume and ordinary clothes.Garments are illustrated with drawings and paintings from the period, with introductions to each section explaining the historical developments affecting each costume. Numerous line diagrams show each step of drafting the pattern. alongside useful shortcuts and tips. Includes detailed chapters on 16th century peasant costume, fashionable costume 1530-1660, fashionable costume 1660-1800 and 17th-19th century non-fashionable costume. historical surveys ISBN:9781408100066 A&C Blackpublished:
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Corsets- Jill Salen |
Progressing through almost two centuries of corset-making, this fascinating collection showcases an astonishing range of period pieces, from the 1750 whale-boned corsets, through the invention of the sewing machine and mass-produced corsets of the 1850sJill Salen is a freelance costume maker, and is widely employed in the theatrical costume industry. She has made costumes for many clients including the Globe theatre. She is a lecturer in costume on the BA (Hons) theatre design course at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. Jill lives in Cardiff. historical surveys ISBN:9-781-9063-8801-0 Anova Bookspublished:
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Lovefuries- David Rabey |
Lovefuries offers a double bill of performance pieces that explode national and personal pressures to keep silent, and explore the surprising and shocking resurgences of life that break through grief.In The Contracting Sea, the fiancée of a just-shipwrecked sailor is challenged by a feminine elemental force of catastrophe to throw off the shackles of her common humanity. The second play, The Hanging Judge, explores from the inside an occurrence of sexual abuse in a contemporary Welsh context, and how one survivor finds the courage to discover defiance. This second volume of dramatist-director Rabey’s plays for his own Lurking Truth/Gwir sy’n Llechu theatre company also includes the short two-hander Bite or Suck, completing a collection of innovative drama that restlessly explores what is possible at the extreme boundaries of human language and physicality. David Ian Rabey is Professor of Drama and Theatre Studies at Aberystwyth University, and Artistic Director of Lurking Truth/Gwir sy’n Llechu theatre company, which he co-founded in 1985. collected plays ISBN:9781841501840 Intellect Bookspublished:
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Contemporary Theatre in Education- Roger Wooster |
Paperback 230x174mmTheatre in Education emerged in the mid-sixties as a unique hybrid of performance and child-centred learning. Contemporary Theatre in Education charts the creation and adaptation of this ‘hybrid’ through the changing political, economic and educational environment. It also takes a ‘snapshot’ of the TIE being created today, considering all the projects being performed in Wales during a single month. The projects are analysed and every TIE director interviewed about the work and the policies of their companies. It becomes very clear that that the distinction between TIE and Children’s Theatre is being blurred. Is it possible for the hybrid to survive? Or have the economics of schools, the post-National Curriculum educational philosophy and the lack of understanding from a new breed of teachers created an environment that has forced a mutation? Perhaps theatre in education has just evolved, but perhaps just forty years after it began it is facing extinction. This book will be of relevance to any who works with TIE or drama in schools as a practitioner or a teacher. It is also an invaluable resource for any school, college or university student studying the application of theatre in a school environment. ‘A most useful, provocative and well-researched theoretical document which I will most certainly have on my essential reading list for students studying theatre in education.’ Charmian Savill, University of Aberystwyth critical comment ISBN:9781841501703 Intellect Bookspublished:
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A Performance Cosmology- Judie Christie, Richard Gough, Daniel Watt |
A Performance Cosmology is an adventurous departure for the field of theatre and performance studies. This book explores the future challenges of performance and theatre through a diverse and fascinating series of interviews, testimonies and perspectives from leading international theatre practitioners and academics.Contributors Include: Philip Auslander, Rustom Bharucha, Tim Etchells, Jane Goodall, Guillermo Goméz-Pena, Jon Mckenzie, Claire MacDonald, Susan Melrose, Alphonso Lingus, Freddie Rokem, Richard Schechner, Edward Scheer and Rebecca Schneider. In A Performance Cosmology the 'Testimony from the Future' is structured as a travelogue through a matrix of strategic, imaginary, interdisciplinary fieldstations. This innovative framework enables readings that disrupt linearity and afford different forms of thematic engagement, opening new vistas on the old, new, and as yet unimagined worlds of performance. In 'Evidence of the Past' , CPR's exploratory past and vigorous present is charted through an illustrated chronology of thirty years' extraordinary contribution to the field of theatre and performance studies, whilst speculating on and conjuring up its futures. critical comment ISBN: Centre for Performance Researchpublished:
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Radioactive Monologues for Men - Marina Caldarone, Marilyn Le Conte (eds) |
Presents over thirty extracts from the plays for radio and stage. Designed as a resource for actors working in radio, theatre or television, this collection of extracts is helpful for audition and performance work. Each extract is accompanied by a brief introduction and features an essay on the challenges, skills and rewards of radio acting.
collected plays ISBN:9780413775795 A&C Blackpublished:
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Radioactive Monologues for Women - Marina Caldarone, Marilyn Le Conte (eds) |
Over thirty monologues for women drawn from contemporary radio and stage plays. Draws together over thirty extracts from the best contemporary plays for radio and stage. Designed as a resource for actors working in radio, theatre or television, this collection of extracts is suitable for audition and performance work. It also features an essay on the challenges, skills and rewards of radio acting.
collected plays ISBN:9780413775801 A&C Blackpublished:
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Radioactive: Duologues For Radio, Stage and Scree- Marina Caldarone, Marilyn Le Conte (eds) |
Presents over thirty extracts from the plays for radio and stage. Designed as a resource for actors working in radio, theatre or television, this collection of extracts is helpful for audition and performance work. It is divided into three sections of duologues: male/female; male/male, and female/female, and features introductions to each piece.collected plays ISBN:9780413775788 A&C Blackpublished:
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Hijinx: A Book of Three Plays - Sharon Morgan, Greg Cullen and Lewis Davies |
The book features Dreaming Amelia by Sharon Morgan, Paul Robeson Knew My Father by Greg Cullen and Spinning The Round Table by Lewis Davies.
collected plays ISBN:1-902638-77-8 Parthian Bookspublished:
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By a Thread / The Raft- Lucy Gough |
Two plays for secondary schools by WJEC playwright Two plays pitting characters in perilous situations to explore issues of responsibility, love, death and the instinct to survive. By a Thread: Four survivors struggle to flee the horrific reality of an apocalyptic war. As they retreat up the mountain, they discover conflict and change are inescapably woven into the thread of life: the young couple cannot stop arguing, the soldier refuses to part with his lost friend's head and the old lady would rather stay put and sew her quilt. The Raft: In prison, a despondent teenage mother watches herself sink deeper into the sea of her despair; but the soul seems reluctant and keeps drifting back up, and then her son Robbie starts calling to her ... A resource booklet on 'By a Thread' has been produced by the WJEC for use at Key Stage 3 by teachers of English. collected plays ISBN:041377581X Methuenpublished:
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Edward Bond and the Dramatic Child- David Davis (Editor), David Allen (Editor) |
Edward Bond and the Dramatic Child is set to become the seminal work for academics and teachers concerning Bond’s switch from mainstream theatre to relatively marginal Theatre in Education productions. Bond has argued that drama can help children ‘know themselves and their world and their relation to it’. The beauty of this textbook is that Bond himself contributes to the process of making his recent work accessible by writing a short introduction, ‘Something of Myself’, recalling his own childhood wartime experiences alongside his present day convictions regarding site, human responsibility and how his new form of theatre works. This, combined with a glossary of terms and Bond’s own explanation of his ‘drama devices’, will help many readers unfamiliar with his recent work or TIE itself come to grips with what is happening both in text and on the stage.These contributions from Bond are supplemented by 8 essays by teachers, former actors, and directors which serve to give a wide ranging historical overview of Bond’s work and relationships with various companies and the fate of TIE in Britain since the 1980’s. There are also challenging pieces by Kate Katafiasz’, Tony Coult and Bill Roper which analyse the theory, themes and contexts of Bond’s work, engaging with his continuing challenge to authority alongside other emerging art forms in the late twentieth century. Edward Bond and the Dramatic Child is a valuable resource to anybody involved or interested in drama with young people and community based theatre. David Davis is founder of The International Centre for Studies in Drama in Education, at the University of Central England. [reviewed by Nigel Rodenhurst, Jan 3 2006] critical comment ISBN:1858563127 Trentham Bookspublished:
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Raslas bach a mawr!- Wynford Ellis Owen |
For a man who has tried everything he shouldn’t have – from alcohol and drugs to sex, work and food addiction - the clear message conveyed within his autobiography is that there is a way out. You don’t have to suffer. Wynford Ellis Owen, Welsh actor, author and Minister’s son, who has published Raslas Bach a Mawr, chronicles his journey to the depths of despair and the damage he caused to his family and friends. The book also charts his road to recovery after hitting his rock bottom outside an off licence in Aberystwyth in 1992.
critical comment ISBN:1-84323-362-2 Gwasg Gomerpublished:
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Rosebud- Mark Jenkins |
Smash-hit winner of the two top awards at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2004. Transfers to New York, November 2004 for showcase performances before Broadway producers. Already booked into the Berlin Film Festival, the Prague Festival, the Adelaide Festival and venues throughout Britain and America during 2005. About the boy wonder, who revolutionised Broadway theatre, radio drama and Hollywood by the tender age of twenty four, only to find his true greatness as a sixty-year-old, grossly overweight, Falstaffian Hollywood exile, doing commercials to finance such film classics as ‘Othello’, ‘The Eternal Story’ and ‘Chimes at Midnight’.‘There wasn’t a dry eye in the house!’ Daily Mail ‘Perfection…Sophisticated…Lush…Decadent!’ Daily Telegraph ‘The sharpness in the writing matches the wit of his subject.’ The Guardian single plays ISBN:0954384261 Infestedwaters.co.ukpublished:
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Cyfrwng- MEDIA WALES JOURNAL – CYFNODOLYN CYFRYNGAU C |
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Cyfrwng: Media Wales Journal – Cyfnodolyn Cyfryngau Cymru is a new interdisciplinary refereed journal that will provide a forum for the presentation of research and scholarly discussion concerning the media in Wales, namely film, television, new media, radio, journalism, theatre and performance studies. Each issue of Cyfrwng, published annually by the University of Wales Press, will contain six thought-provoking articles (three articles published in Welsh and three in English, with translations posted on www.cyfrwng.com) together with reviews of new publications and productions. The Cyfrwng website, www.cyfrwng.com, will not only host translations of all articles published in the journal but will also provide access to: - previous editions of the journal - digitised sound and visual clips relevant to the articles - shorter articles and discussion pieces on contemporary and historical themes - a discussion forum for contemporary issues relating to the media in Wales Further information on the first Cyfrwng conference, held at Bangor between 16th-18th April 2004, is hosted at www.cyfrwng.com. CYFRWNG: Volume 1: ‘Wales and the World’: April 2004 ‘Stanley Baker's ‘Welsh Western’: Masculinity and Cultural Identity in Zulu’ Robert Shail, University of Wales Lampeter ‘Beginnings: New Media and the Welsh Language’ Grahame Davies, BBC Cymru'r Byd ‘Representing the ‘Celtic Thing’: German newspapers, tourist board literature and discourses of Celticity’ Sanna Inthorn, University of Portsmouth ‘Interpreting The American Civil War’ Jerry Hunter, University of Wales Bangor Ifor ap Glyn, Cwmni Da ‘A Home for Refugees: Writing Wales Differently’ John Jewell, Cardiff University ‘The story was sufficient': A Profile of Michael Harvey, Storyteller’ Michael Wilson, University of Glamorgan critical comment ISBN: University of Wales Presspublished:
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The Wye Plays- David Rabey |
A first volume of plays by a startlingly ambitious and inventive dramatist.THE BACK OF BEYOND takes, as its starting point, the route of a sequel to KING LEAR, in which the surviving Shakespearean characters set out on an odyssey through a perilous, blasted landscape, and encounter new agents of cruelty, desire and magic. Wildly humorous and fiercely shocking, the play charts a series of remorseless exposures, interrogating the idealisms and brutal repressions that have informed Anglo-Welsh relations whilst subverting Shakespearean motifs; tragically humorous poetic language and nightmarish visual imagery contribute to the sense of a land where the signposts have been smashed. Praise for THE BACK OF BEYOND: 'This is large-scale epic drama that sets out to subvert the grand literary tradition as a group of sort-of Shakespearean characters roam around discovering imperialism in a cruel land ... I found myself intrigued by the ambition of the project, mesmerised by the richness of the language and impressed by the energy ... Aberystwyth company Lurking Truth has taken on a mammoth task with evangelical enthusiasm' - David Adams, THE WESTERN MAIL A sequel to THE BACK OF BEYOND, THE BATTLE OF THE CROWS extends and concludes the stories of three characters - a maverick witch, a renegade knight, and an abuse victim made empress - in a harrowing and humorous exploration of border warfare, witchcraft, massacre, bitchery, hilarity and heartbreak. THE BATTLE OF THE CROWS is partly a dramatic speculation about desire as magic, partly a sad reckless laugh at internecine hostilities and the passionate and disastrous transformations which spring up in the face of Death itself. Author: David Ian Rabey is Artistic Director of Lurking Truth/Gwir sy'n Llechu Theatre Company, and Professor of Drama and Subject Leader of Theatre Studies at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. collected plays ISBN:1-84150-115-8 Intellect Bookspublished:
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Ghost City- Gary Owen |
It could be any city. It just happens to be ours. Twenty four hours. Twenty four lives. Each linked in a way that no-one can predict. single plays ISBN:0413774376 Methuenpublished:
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Communication Breakdowns- Ruth Shade |
Communication Breakdowns tells the story of theatre in Wales against a background of rapid change, deep tensions, and numerous policy reports, coinciding with the development of the Welsh Assembly and the demise of ‘Cool Cymru’. Ruth Shade gives voice to the performance practices of the south Wales Valleys and investigates the relationship between politics and performance, the conundrum of ‘community’ theatre, and the nature of indigenous theatre in the context of state subsidy. Communication Breakdowns follows the changing cultural and political position of Wales during the last decade through a social history of performance traditions in one small Welsh, English-speaking, working-class town in the Valleys.Ruth Shade argues that although theatre should make connections between performers and audiences, much contemporary theatre offers a pre-prepared product for the audience to consume. Instead, Welsh theatre should become more inward-looking, more parochial and more populist. Such a ‘radical parochialism’ is profoundly opposed to consumerist approaches to theatre performance, and challenges the dominant ways of thinking about theatre in contemporary Britain. Communication Breakdowns is a ground-breaking book that will be essential for anyone interested in the future of theatre in both Wales and the United Kingdom as a whole, from performers and administrators to academics, critics and theatre-goers. Ruth Shade is Course Leader in Drama at the University of Wolverhampton. historical surveys ISBN:0–7083–1 University of Wales Presspublished:
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More Lives than One- Mark Jenkins |
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Contents PLAYING BURTON – International prize-winning hit play about the legendary Welsh Superstar, with over eight hundred performances worldwide. ‘Virtuoso writing, lyrical and rich!’ Norman Mailer BIRTHMARKS - First-prize winner, Drama Association of Wales. The conspiracy to conceal the paternity of Karl Marx’s illegitimate son by his housekeeper. ‘Succeeds brilliantly! Memorable! Excellent!’ Western Mail MR OWEN’S MILLENNIUM – A homage to the great Welsh philanthropist, social reformer and founder of the co-operative and trades union movements. ‘A gifted outpouring, pulsing with life! England may have its Trevor Griffiths. We have our Mark Jenkins. Tis enough!’ Jon Gower, BBC, New Welsh Review. DOWNTOWN PARADISE – A modern American tragedy. A Jewish attorney falls in love with her Black Panther client on a murder charge, with awesome consequences. ‘Confident in its craftsmanship…A powerhouse of emotions! The insanity of human barbarism glides clearly into view.’ London Evening Standard. NORA’S BLOKE – A dark comedy for six women. An Irish coven finds a husband for their facially-challenged spinster friend. Straight from a successful New York run. ‘A great storyteller…gripping and amusing, highlighting the bewilderment and uncertainties of war.’ Mike Kelligan, Theatre-Wales website. collected plays ISBN:1902638417 Parthian Bookspublished:
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Wales Theatre Handbook- Keith Morris and Gill Ogden |
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The first comprehensive guide to theatre and dance companies, venues and resources in Wales. An invaluable resource for arts managers, writers, actors, UK and international presenters or anyone with an interest in the theatre scene in Wales in both languages. The handbook offers: Contact details and information about theatre and dance companies, venues, festivals and resources in Wales A guide to training and funding opportunities for companies and individuals Details of support organisations A listing of new plays by Wales-based writers produced during the last 10 years Photographs of company productions Information on company and venue policy, current and future work Directories ISBN:1 872609 90 2 Aberystwyth Arts Centrepublished:
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FRANCO'S BASTARD AND LOLA BRECHT- Dic Edwards |
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Franco's Bastard looks at nationalism/terrorism; Lola Brecht at the situation in the Balkans; The plays deal with their subjects often with a humour that tests audiences and questions what we regard as the truth. They are based on the author's belief that theatre is not simply a place of entertainment but a vital and radical forum for the debating of issues necessary to the health of democracy. collected plays ISBN:1840023066 Oberon Bookspublished:
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The Drowned World- Gary Owen |
Winner of the George Devine Award for 2002, published to tie in with the opening at the Traverse Theatre at the Edinburgh Festival And that is why we can't have these/Fatally radiant creatures/Walking round the place/Reminding us how clumsy/And mean-spirited/And graceless/And cowardly/And shapeless/And flabby and foul we all are. In a drowned world - how far will you go to save your own skin? In this vicious tale of love, revolt and beauty, Gary Owen presents a vision of a world divided between citizens and non-citizens, where friends betray one another and where surfaces matter more than love or kinship. "A blazing new talent" Guardian "A blast of brilliant theatrical writing straight from the heart of post-modern Wales" Scotsman single plays ISBN:0413772829 Methuenpublished:
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The Shadow of a Boy- gary owen |
A new play from the writer of Crazy Gary's Mobile Disco, to premiere at the National Theatre in May 2002 Luke, a sci-fi obsessed adolescent who lives with his grandmother, is about to start high school. Taunted by his friend, Katie, who warns him of the bullying he'll suffer at the big comp, Luke finds refuge in his alter-ego, Shadow. "A blast of brilliant, painful theatrical writing, straight from the heart of post-modern Wales" - Scotsman single plays ISBN:041377208X Methuenpublished:
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Franco's Bastard- Dic Edwards |
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Carlo is a philosopher. Carlo is a soldier. Carlo is a lover. Carlo is a hunter. Carlo's tears make Llyn Brianne. Carlo is the dawn on Poppit Sands...the rough seas' calmer who whistles out the boats on beating eddies...a man with not a hint of mediocrity. Carlo is a fashist... While he is dreaming of the day when a new Wales will dawn, Carlo Francisco Franco Lloyd Hughes' project goes strangely awry when he falls in love with a mixed-raced woman from Cardiff and meets a playboy called Ben, who murdered his boss with a frozen fish... Drawing on experiences of Julian Cayo Evans, self-styled leader of the Free Wales Army, Franco's Bastard, is a richly written and very funny play looking at the absurdities of nationalism through the eyes of Carlo, a romantic fascist who believes himself to be the illegitimate son of Generla Franco and 'a horse owner and citizen of Rome'. single plays ISBN:1840022507 Oberon Bookspublished:
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Acting Wales : Stars of Stage and Screen- Peter Stead |
Why has Wales produced so many great actors, especially as it does not have a national theatre or cinema? Is it looks, the voice or a sense of the dramatic? Are the Welsh just natural declaimers and entertainers? These are some of the questions considered by Peter Stead in a dazzling discussion of Welsh acting on stage and screen, ranging from the career of matinee idol Ivor Novello down to the present impact of Catherine Zeta Jones and Ioan Gruffudd and the so-called Taff Pack.In Acting Wales: Stars of Stage and Screen, Peter Stead puts forward a sociology of Welsh acting, inspired by the ways in which American and English critics have examined the role of acting within their respective cultures. He takes the view that acting can influence and enhance a culture by endowing it with new shades and depths of meaning. From that premise arise questions over and above the initial critical reaction to any particular performance. What aspects of Wales are reflected on stage and screen? In physical terms are there distinctively Welsh characteristics? How has the tension between Welshness and Englishness played out? How have individual actors related to Wales? This and so much more is examined as we look in detail at the lives and careers of more than twenty stars of stage and screen. critical comment ISBN:0-7083-1623-9 University of Wales Presspublished:
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FRANCO'S BASTARD AND LOLA BRECHT- Dic Edwards |
Franco's Bastard looks at nationalism/terrorism; Lola Brecht at the situation in the Balkans; The plays deal with their subjects often with a humour that tests audiences and questions what we regard as the truth. They are based on the author's belief that theatre is not simply a place of entertainment but a vital and radical forum for the debating of issues necessary to the health of democracy collected plays ISBN:1840023066 Oberon Bookspublished:
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Three Plays for Young People- Charles Way |
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collected plays ISBN: Aurora Metro Presspublished:
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Crazy Gary's Mobile Disco- Gary Owen |
Saturday night, small town Wales, one pub, one party and three lads stuck with their school reputations - the gimp, the geek and the bully. Their dream - to get the hell out With a dead cat stuffed through a letterbox, a soupcon of mindless violence and the perfect girl to die for, Crazy Gary's Mobile Disco bristles with the desperately ordinary, the truly extraordinary, and the just plain mad. Heroic, comic and right up your street, director Vicky Featherstone's reputation for excellence coupled with Gary Owen's dazzling gist for storytelling, creates another unmissable hit for Paines Plough in a co-production with Sgript Cymru - national new writing company of Wales. Produced by Paines Plough, with Sgript Cymru, and directed by Vicky Featherstone, Crazy Gary's Mobile Disco premiered at the Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, in February 2001. single plays ISBN:0413768503 Methuenpublished:
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Llwyfannau Lleol- Hazel Walford Davies (ed) |
historical surveys ISBN:1 85902 902 7 Gwasg Gomerpublished:
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State of Play- Hazel Walford Davies |
This is a volume of newly commissioned essays on the work of four of Wales's leading playwrights - Greg Cullen, Dic Edwards, Edward Thomas and Charles Way. It is the first book to provide a full critical perspective on the work of the main English-language playwrights now working out of Wales, whose quality has brought the forms of drama and theatre right to the forefront of what is now known as 'Welsh Writing in English'There are incisive and challenging interviews with the dramatists themselves and lively, sharp essays by theatre practitioners, reviewers and academics working in the field of theatre studies. Reviews of performances both in Britain and abroad are equally as illuminating. They are complemented by over 70 photographs of crucial performances. The volume also contains over thirty important, hitherto unpublished, letters from Edward Bond to Dic Edwards. State of Play is destined to initiate a lively debate in the field of theatre writing in Wales, and provoke sustained consideration of the best work written for the stage critical comment ISBN:1 85902 574 9 Gwasg Gomerpublished:
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On the Tongue of a Bird- West Glamorgan Youth Theatre and Dance Company |
An exciting and poetic play with music, based on the story of Branwen, the Welsh princess, married to an Irish king. This is the first play text from Pont Books - written by young people for young people.A Teacher's booklet by Derek Cobley supplied free on request. single plays ISBN:1 85902 527 7 Gwasg Gomerpublished:
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A Trilogy of Appropriation- Ian Rowlands |
Love in Plastic With the death of his parents Harold coats the interior of his house in easily disinfected plastic and regestates for nine months. As re-birth approaches he becomes obsessed with an image of an actress who appears on a TV commercial. To find her he journeys into the evils of society protected only by a space suit. Glissando on an Empty Harp Two tramp bards meet a woman who gives birth to a box. She claims that within it lies true beauty. To the bards, it could only be one thing, the ultimate in poetical perfection- the absolute for which they strive. But to what lengths will they go to achieve it ? Blue Heron in the Womb A family gathers to scatter the ashes of a dead child. A family divided in grief - blown apart by jealousy, blame, frustrated ambition and by twin sisters who share one face and one lover. collected plays ISBN:1 902638 01 8 Parthian Bookspublished:
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New Welsh Drama - Voices from the City- Jeff Teare (ed.) |
Three of the best new plays in contemporary Welsh Drama. Set in the city they are the new urban voices. Edited with an introductory essay by Jeff Teare, Artistic Director of Made In Wales Theatre Co. & former director of Stratford East. Safar Afshan Malik beautifully depicts the erosion of Urdu/Muslim traditions as seen through the eyes of a young girl torn between the country of her parents, rural Pakistan, and the faster immediate attractions of New Britain. "Safar takes you in, behind closed doors, both cultural and mental, to eavesdrop on the most private of moments." The Western Mail Gulp Roger Williams nineties youth culture, the rhythms of club music and the desires of a young, gay city. "A hit. A cultural milestone." The Guardian My Piece of Happiness Lewis Davies a play of love friendship and delivering papers. "Sex is good isn't it George ?" "Yes it's good, with the right person... Well it's pretty good with anyone really." "A fine play." The Stage These three plays showcase the strength of Wales' contemporary drama scene. The one which has garnered the most attention is Roger Williams' "Gulp" -- the first play to be produced in Wales that not only deals with gay relationships but gay issues, and is by a gay writer. Described as "a major and significant cultural event" by The Guardian, the collected plays ISBN:0 9521558 7 7 Parthian Bookspublished:
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Gas Station Angel- Ed Thomas |
Bron meets Ace six days after his house falls into the sea. Their families may share a past of fairies, angels, axe-murderers and chickens, but what do Bron and Ace need with the past when they've got imagination and a tinted glass blue Marina 1800 TC ready to drive into the heart of Saturday night? Set in a shrinking land, Gas Station Angel is the latest play from Ed Thomas whose previous plays includes House of America (also recently released as a film) and Songs From a Forgotten City. single plays ISBN:0413727408 Methuenpublished:
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The Merthyr Trilogy- Alan Osborne (edited by Gilly Adams and Dorien Tho |
Three plays by one of Wales' most original and innovative artists.The Merthyr Trilogy ... Bull, Rock and Nut Two ex-fighters and their manager gather in Luigi's cafe on the day of Johnny Owen's funeral. Life is an opportunity that hasn't arrived, they begin to talk of heroes and the town that deals hard chances. "a most remarkable piece of theatre.. ...layered with meanings, violence and power." The Guardian In Sunshine and In Shadow Vee's home is a work of art. She lives on the ugliest Council estate in Europe. Sanctuary is a bed and a family of mis-fits who crowd near to Vee's flame. This is her life. "shot through with intensity and honesty, a powerful play." The Western Mail The Redemption Song Mick is a designer of toys, a dreamer, and a dope-smoker. Bo-Bo and Bunny look after Mick, lend him money, push him drugs. Mick's new toy is worth a fortune, at least a thousand. He owes them. "a stark uncompromising tragedy." The South Wales Echo collected plays ISBN:0 9521558 6 9 Parthian Bookspublished:
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Opera House Lottery- Nicholas Crickhowell |
This is the story, told from the inside, of a dream that was shattered; of controversial decisions involving Michael Heseltine and Virginia Bottomley; of attitudes in the Welsh Office under five Conservative Secretaries of State; of in-fighting across political boundaries by MPs and local politicians; of a campaign by the Sun against élitism; of the way in which large international architectural competitions are managed and mismanaged; of the manoeuvring of celebrated architects; and of the betrayal of those most closely involved by the Cardiff Bay Development
critical comment ISBN:ISBN -7083-1442-2 University of Wales Presspublished:
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Staging Wales- Anne Marie Taylor |
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This book of lively and provocative essays, written by dramatists and professionals active in drama teaching, theatre research and/or theatrical practice in Wales, examines significant developments in theatre in Wales from the late 1970s to the present day. Anne Marie examines the development of theatre in Wales since the 1970's through a collection of essays and personal statements. Topics covered include Wales's contribution to theatre in education, theatre's position in a bilingual culture and the effects of government funding policies. There are also brief profiles of individual companies. Nic Ros's essay on the failure of Welsh language theatre is particularly interesting in a depressing way, and Mike Pearson's essay is a gem The editor, Anna-Marie Taylor, is a lecturer in the Department of Continuing Education at the University of Wales, Swansea. critical comment ISBN:0-7083-1419-8. University of Wales Presspublished:
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Stage Welsh- David Adams |
Nation, nationalism and theatre: the search for a cultural identityThe author, who feels he ought almost to apologise for his having missed being Welsh by 6 miles, has produced a fascinating essay which needs to be read by anyone involved in the nation's cultural and political debate. Far from disqualifying him, the missing miles, coupled with an in-depth knowledge of his chosen area of work, seem to have given him an insight and freedom to express views on Welsh culture. He expresses neither the emotional prejudice of some Welsh speakers nor the defensive arrogance of some of those who do not speak the language. This essay is about far more than the state of theatre in Wales. David Adams has been The Guardian's arts critic in Wales since 1980, reviews theatre for the Western Mail and has contributed to various publications and to radio and television programmes. He was on the Welsh Arts Council's Drama Committee and is an advisor to the new Arts Council of Wales as well as to several regional arts boards. critical comment ISBN:1 85902 344-4 Gwasg Gomerpublished:
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AMERICANA: Utah Blue, Over Milk Wood- Dic Edwards |
The plays of this uncompromising Welsh dramatist are about what he calls the evicted. His characters serve as a metaphor for Wales itself: lost, angry and in search of an identity. Utah Blue is a powerful reworking of the story of Gary Gilmore, the man who killed two black men and then famously insisted the state carry out the death penalty it had imposed upon him. In Over Milk Wood we follow Hugh Pugh, the character from Dylan Thomas, as he heads into the Bronx, trying to exorcise the curse of being portrayed as a murderer. Cast sizes are 4 and 9.
collected plays ISBN:1840021594 Oberon Bookspublished:
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Yn Debyg iawn i ti a fi- Meic Povey |
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single plays ISBN:0-86381- 597-9 Gwasg Carreg Gwalchpublished:
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SAUNDERS LEWIS A THEATR GARTHEWIN- Hazel Walford Davies |
a renowned little theatre established in 1937, and of Saunders Lewis's connection with the venture and a large collection of his correspondence. Black-and-white and colour photographs.
historical surveys ISBN:1859022928 Gwasg Gomerpublished:
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Deg Drama Wil Sam- Wil Sam |
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Dramau Byrion
collected plays ISBN:0-86381-353-4 Gwasg Carreg Gwalchpublished:
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Perthyn- Meic Povey |
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single plays ISBN:0-86381-307-0 Gwasg Carreg Gwalchpublished:
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Hwylaiu'n Codi- Theatr Bara Caws |
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single plays ISBN:0-86381-361-5 Gwasg Carreg Gwalchpublished:
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Bargen- Theatr Bara Caws |
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single plays ISBN:0-86381-308-9 Gwasg Carreg Gwalchpublished:
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Llifeiriau- Wil Sam |
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single plays ISBN:0-86381-426-3 Gwasg Carreg Gwalchpublished:
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WORLDS- Dic Edwards |
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single plays ISBN:1840022507 Oberon Books |
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Waiting at the Water's Edge- Lucinda Coxon |
Waiting at the Water's Edge is a gripping new play by Lucinda Coxon.It opens with a chance meeting between two young girls, Vi and Su, on a North Wales beach. Their fates become entwined when they are both employed as servants in the same house. Vi forms a strange alliance with Will Couth, son of the house. The consequences of their relationship unfold with devastating results for those whose lives they touch. From the coast of Wales to the mining heartland of Nova Scotia, Waiting at the Water's Edge charts a magical voyage across time and continents. Constantly undermining traditional notions of male/female and master/servant roles, this play is frequently as thought provoking as it is entertaining. single plays ISBN:1854111493 Seren Books |
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The Shakespeare Factory (Three Plays)- Dic Edwards |
New Plays for Young People: The Shakespeare Factory must produce five-minute video versions of Shakespeare's plays. Will factory manager Gillian Brutus get the videos to the Government Officer on time? Shop Steward Jack Cash puts up a fight, and the actors are unruly and rebellious. Jack's idea that a party in the woods at night will help inspire cast and crew soon results in strange escapades and romantic entanglements. This imaginative play is an entertaining introduction to Shakespeare. Moon River: The Deal is the story of Bryn Morgan, who runs away from his valleys home and meets Charley, another runaway, down by the river. Bryn enjoys hearing about Charley's adventures and relishes the stories that Charley reads him from Huckleberry Finn. The two become friends and are about to embark upon a journey down the river when fate intervenes. This play touchingly highlights children's right to help determine their own lives. David, takes the Biblical tale of David and Goliath and sets it in modern Wales. Gol is an abused child and a bully. David is the victim of his taunts. Leah is David's girlfriend, also liked by Gol. With the help of Leah and his wise friend Elijah, David helps Gol face his background and imagine a new future. This play artfully raises the issues surrounding bullying and offers options for change. collected plays ISBN:1854112244 Seren Books |
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Crossing the Bar (Three Plays)- Lucy Gough |
There's a point in between. The sea and the sky, Heaven and Hell, life and death. Where the debris of life carried out on the flow meets the sea and is forced to let go. If you fail to cross over that bar you go down with no soul.So says the mysterious Keeper of the purgatorial cell that is the setting for the poetic and evocative Crossing the Bar. A nun speaking medieval English and an inner-city drop-out on remand find themselves sharing this bleak place. The bald contrasts of their origins and personalities is the source of some humour; the Nun's religious intensity a foil for the Boy's nihilistic despair. This highly imaginative, award-winning play raises complicated issues with dramatic aplomb. Head is an original reworking of Keats' macabre 'Isabella, or the Pot of Basil.' On a bleak modern estate, Ella retrieves the head of her murdered lover and buries it in a herb pot, and revenges herself on the killer, her brother, with a frying pan. Out of this implausible material, Gough creates a frequently haunting and savagely funny drama. A dramatic poem controlled by rhythms, Our Lady of Shadows is a dark and thought-provoking play, inspired by Tennyson's 'Lady of Shalott', which explodes our expectations of the myth. collected plays ISBN:18511266X Seren Books |
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Mary Morgan (Three Plays by Gregg Cullen)- Gregg Cullen |
Mary Morgan is the story of a young servant girl seduced and then betrayed by her master's son. Pregnant and in despair, she is trapped into actions that have ultimately tragic consequences. Based on an incident in nineteenth-century Wales, this moving play is set against a background of civil unrest, family disharmony and social and sexual inequality. Tarzanne is a female version of the tale of the white 'apeman'. Kidnapped by chimps as a toddler, Anne is recaptured and sold to her wealthy family back in the Welsh borders. Will they be able to civilise the young heiress? Told with imaginative flashbacks including a cast of 'apes', this play is a provocative critique of Victorian values. Frida and Diego: A Love Story is based on the colourful lives of the Mexican painters Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Using images from their own works and a chorus of figures from Mexican folklore, this play follows the tempestuous couple from their first meeting, through their travels to the States - where Diego paints murals for Rockerfeller - to their involvement with Trotsky and his enemies. collected plays ISBN:1854112236 Seren Books |
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On The Road Again (Three Plays by Laurence Allen)- Laurence Allen |
The striking humour and resilience of his characters, often at odds with social and political trends, beset by unemployment and harsh circumstances, shines through. In On The Road Again two tramps (one a compulsive cheat, the other a hapless liar) receive a notice to evict them from their derelict caravan home. Redundant miners kidnap the Secretary of State for Wales in The Best Years of Our Lives. Cradle to the Grave chronicles the comic and painful misadventures of a patient named Nye Bevan, mistakenly transferred from a private to an NHS hospital, which, for all intents and purposes, has been closed. collected plays ISBN:1854112651 Seren Books |
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The Scam- Peter Lloyd |
Sharp-edged, tough and funny, The Scam is Peter Lloyd's play about two young Welshmen out to hit the business big time. Keen to escape their dead-end lives on a housing estate, AI and Oar make do picking apples until a chance meeting with the quick-talking Finn sets a wholesale scheme in motion that could net them all thousands. AI, all optimism, cajoles retailers and troubled grower Nick, while Oar, who remains suspicious, sets about the back-breaking deliveries. Are the lads on the brink of riches or will their plans and dreams unravel? The Scam is a ruthless expose of the 'feel good factor' that fuelled the boom of the eighties. It reveals the lighter and darker sides of friendship, class, macho attitudes and professional greed. single plays ISBN:1854111507 Seren Books |
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One Act Wales- Phil Clark |
This substantial collection of one act plays from Wales charts the rise of Welsh Drama from the 1950s to the present.From the Dylan Thomas classic, Return Journey, to the work of established names likes Charles Way and Frank Vickery, to the more recent plays by young writers like Edward Thomas and Ian Rowlands, this book presents a significant overview of the drama of our era. Though stylistically and thematically diverse, these plays all deliver thought-provoking characters, unusual situations and moving confrontations. Editor Phil Clark, Artistic Director of the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff, in his perceptive introduction, charts the growth of professional theatre-writing in Wales, acknowledges the powerful influence of the amateur movement, and finds areas of common influence among these various distinctive writers. As well as ensuring the continued performance of the many classics of the form written over the past four decades, this collection will be a catalyst for the future of drama in Wales. collected plays ISBN:1854111523 Seren Books |
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The View from Row G: Three Plays- Dannie Abse |
Three plays from one of Britain's leading and best loved literary figures: House of Cowards, The Dogs of Pavlov and Pythagoras (Smith).All previously performed in London, these prize-winning plays originate in Abse's preoccupation with personal and public themes. House of Cowards, which won the Foyle Award for the best play produced outside the West End, concerns the willingness of people to surrender their individuality to a charismatic leader. The Dogs of Pavlov, which the Financial Times described as' a work of exceptional merit' and' a superb creation', explores the conditioning of people to perform un-thinking evil; and Pythagoras (Smith), which was awarded a Welsh Arts Council Literature Prize, focuses on the relationship between patient and doctor and of medicine and magic. collected plays ISBN:1854110225 Seren Books |
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Edward Thomas - Three Plays- Edward Thomas |
House of America: An explosive, passionate play about the Lewis family, an absent father, an opencast mine, and the American Dream. Sid and Gwenny create a fantasy world based on Jack Kerouac's On The Road. Boyo, their brother, is a hometown boy with no home, and Mam goes mad after killing a cat called Brando. Is Wales a land for heroes?(Now an award-winning feature film)Flowers of the Dead Red Sea Mock and Joe are denizens of the slaughterhouse. Blood-spattered, half-naked, their conversations boil with hilarity and rage as random objects fall from the sky. Who is a craftsman? Who is a butcher? Who is an artist? Who stole Tom Jones' dicky bow? Is this the last place? East from the Gantry Bella met Ronnie by phoning him up at random. Trampas called himself Trampas after the sixties series The Virginian because he had no home. Bella met Trampas on a derelict hill. Ronnie shot dead a cat he thought was Martin Brat ton. In a cold and cruel world will we make love or pay a visit to the garden centre to get a new fan belt for the lawnmower? collected plays ISBN:1854110179 Seren Books |
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THREE PLAYS: Casanova Undone, Looking for the Worl- Dic Edwards |
Introduction by Edward Bond The height of the terror of the French Revolution, a prisoner-of-war camp and Greece under the Generals. These are the settings for three powerful, witty and disturbing plays by Welsh playwright, Dic Edwards. Casanova Undone was first performed by the Citizens Theatre Company, Glasgow. Cast sizes: 3, 6, 5
collected plays ISBN:1870259297 Oberon Books |
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Gwyn Thomas - Three Plays- Gwyn Thomas |
Novelist, storywriter, columnist, broadcaster and raconteur, Gwyn Thomas (1913-1981) was also a prize-winning dramatist. Presented here are The Keep, Jackie the Jumper and Loud Organs, three of his plays from the early sixties.The Keep, produced at the Royal Court, shown on television and translated into German, is Thomas's comic masterpiece, a kitchen-sink drama in which the family home has become an intellectual prison. In Jackie the Jumper, set in the Merthyr Rising of 1831, the action is an observation on rebelliousness, turning on youth opposing age, vitality versus entrenched conservatism. The more experimental 'Loud Organs' also explores repression and freedom in Cardiff dockland society. In all three plays the social change of the times, especially in Wales, is acutely perceived. collected plays ISBN:1854111140 Seren Books |
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WITTGENSTEINS DAUGHTER- Dic Edwards |
Premiered at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow. Alma Wittgenstein, bored by her neo-fascist husband, goes to Cambridge to investigate the values of her long-lost father, Ludwig.
single plays ISBN:1870259351 Oberon Books |
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Sioeau Maldwyn - Linda Gittins, Derec Williams a Penri Roberts |
Detholiad o ganeuon gorau Cwmni Theatr Maldwyn, yn cynnwys caneuon o sioe gyntaf y cwmni, Y Mab Darogan, a sioeau gwefreiddiol fel Pum Diwrnod o Ryddid, Heledd, a Mela.
single plays ISBN:0 86243 491 2 Y Lolfa |
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Codi'r Llen - Hywel Teifi Edwards |
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At the beginning of the Second World War the dramatist John Ellis Williams was in contact with some 350 local drama companies. That number shows the popularity of Welsh drama between the two World Wars. The purpose of publishing this collection of photographs is to remind the readers of the scale and vitality of the entertainment and to stimulate fresh debate on the value of community culture. historical surveys ISBN:1 85902 625 7 Gwasg Gomer |
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Three Plays- Charles Way |
Dead Man's Hat explores the myths of the Old American West, with many an acknowledgement to films like Shane and High Plains Drifter. A compelling stranger arrives at a remote homestead. Seventeen year-old Anne is ready to fall under his spell. Her mother, Kate, remains suspicious but she is desperate for help against the local rancher who is after their land. Is this stranger their saviour or their downfall? Paradise Drive is the story of a family during the 1980's, 'four strangers bound in blood'. David works for British Rail and is about to leave the Labour Party. Jennifer his wife, seems to have lost purpose to her life. Their daughter, Sally, is upwardly mobile and marries an ad man while son, John, is a struggling artist. The play moves through a series of painfully humorous family occasions towards its tragic climax. In The Bleak Midwinter is based on a medieval mystery play. Zac, the dreaming shepherd, and Miriam, his pragmatic, long-suffering wife, journey from Black Mountains border country to Bethlehem where they must register for the 'poll tax'. Along the way they are plagued by sheep-steeler Mak and his lively girlfriend, Gill, not to mention a certain Mary and Joseph. collected plays ISBN:1854111132 Seren Books |
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