Bücher der Reihe Acting Edition S.

Louise's house is turning into rubble as her architect husband takes a sledge-hammer to it as he has to their marriage - Louise escapes her unhappiness through fantasies of a former lover, who appears in guises culled from movies and fiction, and through her close, but stormy, friendship with Bibi.

Robson has created a play about East and West in which a lonely man and a resouceful woman try and mend their broken lives. Martin and his spinster sister Ivy live on a farm - the arrival of his Filipino bride causes Ivy to dig up information about her past, with shocking consequences for them all.

A series of sketches and vignettes. They are brief, witty and pointed. They are love encounters - the games people play. Here is the idiot way quarrels start up, or the way people meet and fence with one another. After Liverpool is not a play, but a suite of pieces. Published with Games.|Flexible casting

Life does not hold out much pleasure for either Elizabeth or Elinor: Elizabeth in love with a man of whom her overbearing mother does not approve, Elinor in love with the man Mrs Hartley is determined Elizabeth shall marry. Coincidentally with a social visit by the awesome Lady Charlotte, however, the prospects of both girls are made much brighter - through the machinations of the quiet Miss Jane, who is dismissed as "a person of no consequence" by Lady Charlotte when she is told her surname - Miss Austen.|8 women

A sensitive treatment of the devastating effects of unemployment, both on individuals and their families. David, Derek and Ian attempt to preserve their everyday lives, warding off depression and the feelings of rejection, anger and aggression, their efforts ranging from the touching to moments of manic humour.|3 men

This fun-filled play revolves around the antics of three waiters sacked by Mr Macaroni, the money-minded owner of the Pizza Pie Palace. They devise various schemes to get their jobs back, and are streered through their adventures with the help of the audience. After bangs, flashes, songs, dances, talking snakes and even exploding pizza pies, all ends happily with a double wedding.|Large flexible cast

The story of God''s request to Tangaroa to find six species that deserve to survive the destruction of all other life is presented in the form of a Balinese folk-tale. The action takes place in a jungle clearing, which can be as elaborate or as simple as conditions dictate. There is also plenty of scope for the cast to make their own accompanying oriental music with the aid of finger xylophones, gongs and bells.|Large flexible cast

Tony''s father has died and his mother, Debs, has taken up with a "plonker" called Gordon. Gordon gives Tony Death-Dealer, a game that takes the player to strange and exciting places; then Gordon also takes Tony and Debs to France, where they meet Josie, a no-nonsense girl who is is dying of cancer, and the final Death-Dealer game may be the hardest of all...This play, part fantasy, part rite-of-passage tale, is funny, heart-rending and very, very theatrical.|2 women, 2 men

Norman Robbins'' fun-packed pantomimes tell the traditional stories in a clear fast-moving style and can be staged simply or elaborately, as required. The choice of music is left to the director.|Large flexible cast

A one-act pantomime, a ''potted panto-parody in rhyme'', on a well-known theme - with a difference.|1 woman, 1 man, 7 women or men

The perils of ambition lie at the heart of this double-bill of supernatural tales. In The Monkey''s Paw a family is granted three wishes, all of which come true but in a macabre and unexpected way. In The Dark a successful and ambitious novelist meets his Mephistopheles and is dispatched to a sinister fate.|1 woman, 4 men

California, 1973. Rick, a musician and dancer, is shot dead. Was it Gideon, his drug-happy co-performer? Maggie, his older lover, an actress? Roberta, Rick''s transsexual bodyguard? Or one of the other oddball guests? As Rick''s friends investigate one murder follows another ... no one is safe!|4 women, 5 men

Trendy magazine Femina offers two contrasting wives - country-bumpkin Anne and sophisticate Cat - £1000 to swap places for a week to compare lifestyles. Anne goes to London to run the chic apartment of Cat''s advertising executive husband, while Cat journeys to deepest Devon to cook, clean and care for gentle, sexually-repressed, shopkeeper Derek. Violent snowstorms mean that Cat and Derek are cut off, and when the snow ploughs eventually arrive the life-swap has become a wife-swap.|3 women, 2 men

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

Many people dislike Larry Campbell but none feel more embittered than David Ryder. Ryder pursues his vendetta by nefariously obtaining a key to Campbell''s flat to kill him. Deceit, suspicion, blackmail and incrimination are woven into the web of crime which is completed by a second killing and a tantalizing twist at the climax.|3 women, 6 men

To Albert, retired miner, his allotment is his piece of England, his escape from the world. The Council places a repossession order on the land; Albert is determined to keep his tenancy. Several people urge him to give up and familiar facets of human behaviour are revealed. Eventually nature takes its course in this gently amusing ''slice of life''.|4 women, 4 men

This light and lively play, set on an English campsite, contrasts the life of well-to-do Monty, his wife Ruth and son Tarquin (who camp here every year), with that of Debbie and Shirleen, young girls from a depressed background, trying camping for the first time.|3 women, 2 men

A very funny completion to Nick Warburton''s trilogy of the Drama Club''s production of Hamlet (seen on stage in Don''t Blame it on the Boots and backstage in Easy Stages) which progresses to the after-show party! Meticulous stage-manager Gerry, in charge of the refreshments and music, marshals poor Patsy into artistically arranging bridge rolls, to the accompaniment of Peer Gynt!|4 women, 2 men

Intending to kill himself, Wallace books into an hotel run by Arthur and Stella. Wallace''s plans, however, are repeatedly thwarted and his determination wavers. After he and Arthur discuss their hatred for their respective wives, Wallace is fired with new determination to end it all, leaving poor Arthur contemplating a similar approach to escape from the unpleasant Stella.|1 woman, 2 men

When Robert misdials, Annie is ready to hang up on what she thinks is a nuisance caller. However, this telephone call is the start of a distant yet significant relationship. Both plagued by love troubles, they enjoy the opportunity to let off steam and take a few tips and so perhaps begin again.

Two amateur drama groups become joint winners of a play festival. A tie-break involves the groups performing an extract from their own entry and then an excerpt from the opposing team''s play, but the pieces are very different. They compete again with hilarious results but the outcome is still a tie. This time a rugby scrum will decide the winner!|4 women, 4 men, 2 women or men

When Peter and Robyn wake up the morning after a dinner party at the home of their friends and employers David and Jane Valentine, they are still shocked at having been sacked by David the night before. More shocks are to come for David appears to be dead, and Jane calmly announces she killed him. At first Peter and Robyn refuse to believe her, but as she explains the "how, when and why" of the murder, they are forced to accept she has committed the "perfect" crime and to avoid implicating themselves, they will have to help her to dispose of the body. Stunned and bitter, they leave, but then it transpires that the "murder" is really an elaborate practical joke. Or is it?|2 women, 2 men

A Respectable Funeral is one of the first one act plays from the sensitive and humorous pen of Jimmie Chinn. It was presented and performed as a double bill - with one of Mr Chinn''s other plays, From Here To The Library - under the title of Back To Back in Oldham. Both plays can be performed separately or as an entertaining double bill.|3 women, 1 man

Kevin, an upwardly mobile family man, is manipulated into an affair by the glamorous Kitty who then manoeuvres the pliable Kevin into confessing the affair to his wife. After an acrimonious scene, she takes the children and leaves. Each of the characters shows their true persona in revealing monologues, with the dark undertones of Kitty''s real nature only surfacing at the play''s climax.|2 women, 1 man

Muriel's husband Ralph has just died, leaving her well off, until her son Giles invests the money unwisely. Eventually, neglected by Giles and her disturbed daughter Margaret, Muriel ends the play alone and poor, determined to cheerfully "soldier on". From the stage version of "Talking Heads".

Verne Morgan''s pantomimes are clear and straightforward, following the traditional stories closely. Choice of music for songs and dances is left to the director.|Large flexible cast

Book by Warner Brown and David Heneker. Music by David Heneker. Characters: 4 male, 4 female This British salute to Hollywood''s glorious era of silent pictures is ideal for stock and community theatres. Characters include D. W. Griffith, Mack Sennett, Mary Pickford, and Lillian Gish. "This delightfully unassuming show contains the same naive charm as those early flicks.... [It''s a] minor miracle."-- The Daily Mail "A joyous celebration."-- International Herald Tribune

An odd assortment of guests are warned against going into the woods for it is Midsummer Eve (there is no woods in the neighborhood, but legend says that it sometimes appears). A philanderer, his young wife and the current object of his affections; an artist who has lost faith in himself and his wife who despises him; indolent lady and a delightful old couple venture into the forest that appears outside the windows and find dreams and desires answered.|6 women, 4 men

The day before Edwina Black''s funeral, Inspector Martin calls to interview her husband Gregory, her companion Elizabeth and her housekeeper, Ellen. Gregory has long endured the domination of his wealthy wife, but is in love with Elizabeth. It is revealed Edwina died from arsenic. Gregory and Elizabeth quarrel bitterly. However Ellen confesses that Edwina poisoned he''self: with vindictive spite she devised a suicide which would serve to incriminate Gregory and Elizabeth and so destroy them.|2 women, 2 men

Sir Hector Benbow invites Cherry, a pretty shop assistant, to dine. Arriving home, he finds not only Cherry but Mrs Frush, to whom he has rented Thark, his neice''s Norfolk house. Mrs Frush complains Thark is haunted. To distract Lady Benbow''s attention from Cherry, he suggests everyone go to Thark, which lives up to its spinechilling reputation. A wild night, sinister butler and plethora of romantic mix-ups add to the lively proceedings.|5 women, 6 men