A musical play, of a fashion

It is what every little girl dreams of becoming. But for her the dream came true and turned into a nightmare. Then she grew up.

2 hours, 24 musical number. Further information to follow.

The characters depicted in this musical drama are real and the broad situations enacted are historically correct. The details are subject to artistic licence, a touch of whimsy and the addition of music.

Inspired by an original idea by Chesca Circus and completed with the musical assistance of Matt Jones. 

WHEN THE PIE WAS OPENED Full-length drame noir for 8 10 actors; 7-8 (m), 2-3( f)

Montana 1917.  An horrific copper-mine disaster on the 'richest hill on earth' leads to a strike for safer working conditions.  When a shady British government agent, a ruthless detective and a charismatic union organiser all appear in town, you can guess that there's going to be big trouble.
 
Back in 'Frisco, the detective's business partner, Samuel Hammett, has no idea that this trouble is going to fly home to him, no clue as to just how much bad luck one black bird can bring.
 
This play is inspired by the historical characters and events that were witnessed by or involved Mr Hammett, inspiring several novels and classic films by John Huston, Akira Kurosawa and Sergio Leone. Well, it worked for them!

 Contact Ed Udovick at IMPULSE PLAYWRIGHTS AGENCY for North America or Jim Grover (UK, rest of the world)

THE OPPOSITE OF SHOW BUSINESSFULL-LENGTH FANTASY/HISTORICAL DRAMA FOR 5 -8 ACTORS; (3-5 (m), 2-3 (f)

Nobody learns to be a writer. They are born, often at an advanced age, fully formed and house-trained. Of course there's a price, there's always a price. I know, because it was happening to me now and now I was being asked to pay. The tooth fairy suddenly stepped out into the clear light of reality, bringing with her a signed affidavit attesting to the existence of Santa Claus. 

First performances Izard County, Arkansas (April - May 2005), director Tommy Hancock.  Postponed/abandoned. 

Reading by professional actors at ScriptTank, May 2006 

London performances at The White Bear, July 2006, director Valerie Lucas.  

Script-in-hand reading at The Hideaway, June 2009, director Simon Nuckley.

This is the most true and passionate homage to writing I have ever read! Most stunning and very fascinating! Passion against obsession. I hardly ever saw the price for being a writer exposed in such a painful and sensitive way! This is theatre! To be captured already by just reading a play!    Scene4 Magazine.  

"Clever, witty dialogue". "Great Chandleresque atmosphere". "The scene change was a wonderful surprise". "Totally confusing - The structure is all over the place". NPA Script Tank

"As if Tom Stoppard had written for the The Two Ronnies."  

                                                             On-Line Programme           SCRIPT

GOLF WAR 2 The Desert Rose.© 2002/.3 ON-LINE SCRIPT FULL-LENGTH (90 minutes). 5 (m), 4 (f)  
"Hello, police? There's an Arab terrorist on Edge Hill Golf Club. No, of course he's not a member. He's not wearing the club tie". 
First written in 2002, but that unruly bastard that we call history has had the audacity to become sillier than my fiction. I have had to keep up. This play remains in a state of change to cause maximum offence.   
Scene 1 On-line Film script and full stage script by application.

Golf scene is also available as a stand-alone sketch (10 minutes)

Picture: WAR GAMES by Richard Hamilton

BEATING TIME © 2001   A  write-on-line music project (estimate 90 mins).   
Otto Klemperer, successful conductor, failed composer, manic-depressive, theatre revolutionary, survivor of the 3^rd Reich, multiple near-death experiences and 87 years of adulation and mockery. Then...but what do you expect in an opera, a happy ending?
                                   ON-LINE SCRIPT               Re-write 2003.

Picture - set for Die Fliegende Hollander, Kroll Opera.

PROVENANCE HELPLINE FULL-LENGTH (75 minutes), 5 actors; 2(f), 3(m) © 2000 ON-LINE SCRIPT 
First performed in London, 2000. Director Valerie Lucas (REVIEW).

What right does one person have to possess a masterpiece? Rembrandt and Hendrickje are subjects in a painting of disputed provenance, a work commissioned but not delivered. Who owns it then and now? Is the power of art weakened by being hidden away, used as an alternative currency? Accompany the painting from the time of Rembrandt's financial embarrassments to a current court-room squabble over the paperwork.

2001. Performed in REMBRANDT'S WOMEN exhibition, ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS, London
2000.Subject of From the Page to the Stage lecture, University of Surrey, Roehampton
ON-LINE SCRIPT...On-Line Programme     Picture from Etcetera Theatre rehearsals by Valerie Lucas.

    FULL-LENGTH PLAY (90 minutes) for 5 - 6 actors (2f, 3/4m)     © 1999 ON-LINE SCRIPT  
The first full-length play written live on the internet. Completed for the online audience of the first 
Edinburgh International International Internet Festival, August 1999.                    
"That was it, I disappeared. Nobody is certain where I went". 
WHY DID SOCIALIST ICON Victor Grayson  DISAPPEAR? He expects us to know but he can't remember himself.

2003 Substantial interview with playwright, The Monacled Dandy (London's Scariest Mysteries), ITV1.
         MOST RECENT PERFORMANCE, London directed by Doug Holton. 
2002  STAGE PREMIERE: directed by Jim Grover for the Edinburgh Festivals 
2001  Rehearsed reading of re-written script, directed by Gareth Pilkington,
         PUBLIC READING: LONDON LIVE, directed by Phil David.
1999, Script-in-hand public theatre reading, London, directed by Gareth Pilkington. 

ON-LINE SCRIPT      PREVIEW    On-line programme  1920      FLEMWELL

Angel Hair © 1999   A SHORT PLAY 
First performed London (1999), director David Cottis

This piece deals with theatricality, reality and the memory of the Holocaust. A murder has just been committed in the very theatre in which you, the audience, are now sitting. Who is the victim, and is it possible that he can have outlived his killer?

Most recent performance: Student production, North Wales, directed by Emily Field. .

Pictures in Babcia's Head. © 1998   A ONE ACT PLAY (45 minutes) for 2 actors (2f).
First performed in London (1998) and directed by Robert Tomlinson.
My memories are so real, Babcia. But whose are they, and why can't I believe they are true?

Where do we get our deepest childhood memories and who controls what we remember? Explore war, hardship and displacement and the search for new belonging and identity across three generations.

STUDENT PRODUCTION: 2001 Newcastle School of Performing Arts Drama Dance and Music.

Picture: Rehearsal, Etcetera Theatre. 

Contact Ed Udovick at IMPULSE PLAYWRIGHTS AGENCY for performances in North America.

Changes © 1998  A SHORT PLAY (30 minutes) for 3 actors (2m, 1f)
First performance London (1998), directed Maarten Laurens

"Killing him was the easy part".
A desperately ill scientist persuades his brilliant young research assistant to break all the rules in order to get a result. Just how far will she go? The topical issue of GMO's is interbred with second chances, smart rats and tropical Lepidoptera.

Included in a project by Andres Herrera to translate English language plays into Spanish for a Contemporary Theatre Anthology, (subject to approval by CONACULTA - Méxican Ministry of Culture . 

Paradise plc  © 1997   A ONE ACT PLAY (60 minutes) for 7 actors (2f, 3m, 2m/f).
Public theatre rehearsed script-in-hand reading, London (1997), directed by Stephen Wilson.

Fi' s lover, Mark, is suicidally perched on a window ledge. Muttering some desperate call for divine help under her breath, she is astonished to find her prayer is answered. Eschatology, late 20th century angst and the over-hyped Y2K bug panic, intermingle in a disrespectful comedy set in this world and the next.

Oil Paint Doesn't Wash Out. © 1997  SHORT PLAY (20 mins) for 6 actors (2f, 3m, 1m/f) 
First performed in London (1997), directed by Valerie Lucas.

The inspiration was Rembrandt's A Woman Bathing (National Gallery, London). Themes of art, love, fame and immortality are explored through Hendrickje's memories and their effect on the other characters. The action takes place in the gallery restaurant after closing.  

Picture, Rembrandt's A Woman Bathing.

PROJECTS IN PROGRESS

THE CHANGELING The loss of a child through abduction is an unimaginable horror, so bad that even the abductors outrageous alibi eventually begins to sound reasonable.

Script now nearing completion.

Picture Terra Lumnus, by PoL Steele

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