Acting Edition S.
9 total works
In John Mortimer's most famous and highly autobiographical play, a young man looks back on an unconventional childhood and youth overshadowed by his irascible and eccentric father. Sent away to boarding school to be 'prepared for life', he finds teachers deranged by shell shock after the First World War and boys who try to coat their ordinary home lives with romance. As the Second World War begins, the mild-mannered protagonist tries to become a writer, but is compelled to become a barrister like his father - a towering character depicted with affection and exasperation. Hugely popular since it was first performed, "A Voyage Round My Father" is a sublimely comic drama of warmth, nostalgia and wisdom.
The characters in all four plays are in their twenties to forties and can either be played by the same four artists or by separate casts. The first, Mill Hill, calls for 2 men and 1 woman, the remainder, Bermondsey, Gloucester Road and Marble Arch, call for 2 men and 2 women each. These four plays are linked by their themes of sexual entanglements and by their central or suburban London settings.-Large flexible cast
Collaborators is a comedy about marriage set in a dingy, infested flat in Belsize Park in the late 1950s. Henry Winter, a struggling young barrister, is also struggling to cultivate his writing career. At the invitation of Sam Brown, an American film producer of somewhat hazy credentials, he starts work on a film strip about marriage.2 women, 2 men
A seedy lawyer has been waiting for years to make a grandstand defense. He is assigned to defend an innocuous little man accused of murdering his wife. The man cheerfully admits his guilt; he simply couldn't stand his wife's constant joking and laughing. The trial ends and the verdict is a foregone conclusion. The lawyer begs his client to let him appeal. Ironically the man is reprieved because of the ineptitude of his defense.2 men
In a hospital housed in an old palazzo, two Englishmen recovering consciousness both see the ward ceiling, covered by a huge painting of Heaven, and imagine they have 'passed on'. In conversation it transpires that Fletcher, a rather rough type, has led the sort of Byronic life that scholarly Luby has only written about.2 women, 5 men
Sir Fennimore Truscott, a retired Judge, sits under his mulberry tree and 'tries' his next-door-neighbour Tom Marjoriebanks for - allegedly - seducing Truscott's wife Margaret many years earlier.1 woman, 2 men
Francesca brings her lover, Henry, to her mother's flat to announce their intention to get married. While waiting for Mrs Stokes, Francesca answers a mysterious phone call. From what he overhears, Henry concludes that Mrs Stokes is a member of the oldest profession. It is later revealed that Mrs Stokes deals in nothing more erotic than antique furniture.2 women, 2 men
A young man and woman meet in a wayside hotel during lunch hour to express their love. In order to be discreet, he has fabricated a story of marriage, children, distant home, to satisfy the concierge.The woman is confused when confronted with this fabrication, and as she unravels the matter in her mind the enchantment of love begins to fade. In brilliant dialogue by one of England's best writers.2 women, 1 man