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VANESSA OAKES |
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Nationality: British Email: Click here to contact Website: n/a |
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Literary Agent: n/a |
Vanessa Oakes trained as a theatre designer before working extensively in scenography, community arts and arts administration. She has been working full time as a playwright since May 2007. Her recent plays include; The Oracle of the Taprooms (George Eliot Collection Writer in Residence commission), The Game Anew (Pentabus at Latitude), The Watched Sea (CAPITAL), The Permitted Number (Paines Plough/Belgrade Theatre), I Am Active (Red Teapot), The Kindness of Strangers (Warwick Words), Lost in Paradise CV6 (Belgrade Theatre), A Body Moving Through (the estate), Live Like Us (Belgrade Theatre). Current projects include; His Naked Eye a new play for Theatre in Action (Glasgow) and Writer in Residence at The George Eliot Collection - project blog: www.desperatelyseekinggeorge.wordpress.com
Plays by Vanessa Oakes
77 Sunset Strip | ||
| 1st Produced: | Bracebridge Court Care Home (Warwickshire) | 1999 | ||||
Company: | STORM Theatre Company/Ansley Commoners | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #53151 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | gentle comedy Comedy | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 2 | Female | 7 | ||
Parts other: | 2 wrestling stooges | |||||
Notes: | Commissioned by Face to Face, Warwickshire County Council, West Midlands Arts New Audiences. Written for a group of older women. | |||||
Synopsis: | A group of older people gather for a weekly Bingo session in a converted cinema. Each of the Bingo players shares their thoughts and memories, as the movies begin to haunt the building. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Agamemnon: The Curse of Thyestes | ||
| 1st Produced: | Theatre Studio, Coventry University Performing Arts Department | 1998 | ||||
Company: | Coventry University Performing Arts Department | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #53152 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | Play/Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 4 | Female | 2 | ||
Parts other: | Chorus | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | An adaptation from the Greek Tragedy by Aeschylus | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Anaglypta Daydreaming | ||
| 1st Produced: | 1996 | |||||
Company: | STORM Theatre Company | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #25994 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | black comedy Comedy | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 3 | Female | 3 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | A woman searches through the classified ads for love and marriage. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Body Moving Through, A | ||
| 1st Produced: | Ellen Terry Studio Theatre, Coventry University, Coventry | 2008 | ||||
Company: | The Estate | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #88979 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | Play/Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 1 | Female | 1 | ||
Parts other: | 2 musicians (live improvised music by Dzierzanowski & Stevens) | |||||
Notes: | Funded by ACE and Coventry City Council. Supported by the Centre for Media, Arts and Performance at Coventry University School of Art & Design | |||||
Synopsis: | A Body Moving Through is a fascinating and engaging exploration of the relationship that develops between Charmer (a gypsy woman) and Andy (a young teenage lad). Charmer is mourning a dead child, and Andy is terrified that he might have killed his step-father. Despite their initial suspicions the two begin to trust each other and to recognise what they can offer to a fellow human being. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Chimney Sweep's Apprentice, The | ||
| 1st Produced: | Nuneaton Arts Centre | 1997 | ||||
Company: | STORM Theatre Company | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #53150 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | Play/Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 2 | Female | - | ||
Parts other: | Strolling violinist, preferably female | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | Geoff and Jeremy are brothers-in-law. They wait downstairs as their wives sort out their dead father's belongings. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Dog in a Suitcase | ||
| 1st Produced: | 1995 | |||||
Company: | STORM Theatre Company | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #53148 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | Black comedy Comedy | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 2 | Female | 2 | ||
Parts other: | Walk-on stage manager | |||||
Notes: | Dog in a Suitcase should be played at the pace of a farce | |||||
Synopsis: | The story of four people whose coping mechanisms become increasingly eccentric and out of control. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Game Anew, The | ||
| 1st Produced: | Latitude Festival 2011 | 15 Jul 2011 | ||||
Company: | Pentabus Theatre | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #130011 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | n/a | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 3 | Female | 2 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | Originally written for five actors who swap over the text/roles at each revolution of the ritual cycle in this perpetual play. As each cycle plays the pace gets faster, the vodka text section shortens and the presence of blood, vomit and love increases. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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I Am Active | ||
| 1st Produced: | The Herbert, Coventry | 22 Oct 2009 | ||||
Company: | Red Teapot Day 2009 | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #105298 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | Piece | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
Parts other: | 100 | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | Red Teapot Day 2009 Commission. There is a long tradition of individuals using words on t shirts to bring about change. I AM ACTIVE is in part a response to that tradition. In this play to wear the t (ext) shirt is a creative act, to respond or choose not to respond to the t (ext) shirt is a creative act. I AM ACTIVE has been written for 100 individual active artists who will wear/perform their individual t (ext) shirts. How, where and for how long the t (ext) shirt is worn will inevitably determine its intended meaning (if any) e.g. expression on active artist's face. The active artists will be asked to record any action taken including their own. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Kindness of Strangers, The | ||
| 1st Produced: | The Friends Meeting House, Warwick | 01 Oct 2009 | ||||
Company: | Warwick Words 2009 | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #104497 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | Play/Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 1 | Female | - | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | Warwick Words 2009 Festival Commission | |||||
Synopsis: | When David's wife dies unexpectedly he is left clinging to the little routines that help him to make sense of his loss. A chance encounter with a stranger leads to a new friendship. But, how far can David trust his new friend and what will he do to avoid facing his own loneliness? | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Last Things, The | ||
| 1st Produced: | 2004 | |||||
Company: | Talking Birds | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #53154 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | Play/Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 2 | Female | 2 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | In 2006, ACE(WM) funded five days of script development and a performed reading at the Custard Factory Gallery in Birmingham. | |||||
Synopsis: | The Last Things: This play is about a war artist who having both seen and done things that she shouldn't have, now finds herself under house arrest. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Live Like Us | ||
| 1st Produced: | AEUW, Coventry | 2007 | ||||
Company: | Belgrade Theatre | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #69856 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | black comedy Comedy | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 9 | Female | 3 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | Commissioned by the Community and Education department for the Acting Up group. | |||||
Synopsis: | Set in Spon End, Coventry in 2007, Live Like Us examines the limited range of possibilities for escape open to three young people. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Lost in Paradise CV6 | ||
| 1st Produced: | 2009 | |||||
Company: | The Belgrade Theatre's Community & Education Company | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #96655 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | Drama/comedy | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 6 | Female | 11 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | Commissioned by the Community & Education Company for the Acting Out group. | |||||
Synopsis: | The play takes place in an urban wilderness in modern day Coventry (Paradise CV6). It is influenced by three interconnected stories; The Temptation of Christ, Adam & Eve and Milton's Paradise Regained. Jasmine has been missing from home for 40 days and nights. Her mother Mary is beside herself with worry. While Jasmine is lost in the wilderness she faces hard life choices and confronts the many temptations that often face the youth of today. Will she fall as Adam & Eve once did, or will she choose to be strong and resist? This modern retelling of a medieval mystery play explores the challenges that young people face when they refuse to conform and examines their strong sense of wanting to belong and 'fit in'. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Oracle of the Tap Rooms, The | ||
| 1st Produced: | Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery | 20 Jan 2012 | ||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #135842 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | 15 min piece | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 1 | Female | - | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | Playwright Vanessa Oakes is writer-in-residence (Jan 2012) at the George Eliot Collection at Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery. In 2010 she was working with teenagers who were photographing the George Eliot statue. A homeless man who was bedding down for the night in a doorway called over, "Don't you go taking the p*** out of my George Eliot or she'll come back and haunt you!" The warning inspired her to write The Oracle of the Tap Rooms. The public are invited to meet the well-educated layabout Joseph Henry Liggins who tells his story. After being asked to leave Cambridge, Liggins (1801-1872) struggled for years to make a living before being wrongly identified as the author of Scenes of Clerical Life and Adam Bede. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Permitted Number, The | ||
| 1st Produced: | B2 The Belgrade | 14 Jul 2010 | ||||
Company: | Paines Plough/The Belgrade | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #117599 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | n/a | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | 1 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | Part of Paines Plough's COME TO WHERE I'M FROM Season. Sixty one playwrights from across the UK return to their home towns to write plays about the places that shaped them. At 14 theatres from Bristol to Belfast, Cardiff to Coventry and Nottingham to Newcastle, these plays will be performed by the playwrights themselves, coming home to tell their tale. Come To Where I'm From is a theatrical tapestry of the UK, woven by writers asking if home is really where the heart is. | |||||
Synopsis: | The Permitted Number: I grew up on a 1950?s council estate just over four miles North of Coventry. This play is about 'our' house and the events (my mother's Alzheimer's) surrounding returning the key to the Council after 56 years of memories. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Red Gallery Trilogy, The (Before the Deluge, A Letter Home, The Sitting) | ||
| 1st Produced: | Nuneaton Art Gallery and Museum | 2007 | ||||
Company: | Nuneaton Art Gallery and Museum | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #69857 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | audio drama Play/Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 8 | Female | 4 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | Three audio interpretations of paintings in the permanent collection. Commissioned to celebrate the gift by Edward Melly of 90 years of art and history to the town of Nuneaton. | |||||
Synopsis: | Before the Deluge' painted by Roelandt Savery. An old man and his grand-daughter take shelter in the gallery on a wet Sunday afternoon. A Letter Home The Battle of Vitoria' painted by James Prinsep Barnes Beadle. James sits in a cafe whilst on holiday touring the battle fields. The Sitting' painted by E. S. Harper. Edward Melly sits impatiently for a portrait. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Touching Jane | ||
| 1st Produced: | Ellen Terry Studio Theatre | 2009 | ||||
Company: | The Estate | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #96654 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | Play/Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 1 | Female | 2 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | Funded by ACE (WM) and supported by the Centre for Media, Arts and Performance at Coventry University School of Art & Design. | |||||
Synopsis: | This play explores what happens when accepted roles and responsibilities are abandoned - when a child (Jane) is raised in a single parent family where any genuine concern and affection are absent. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Watched Sea, The | ||
| 1st Produced: | The Old Joint Stock Theatre, Birmingham | 26 Nov 2010 | ||||
Company: | Capital : Festival of New Writing 22-27 November 2010 | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #121162 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | Play/Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | 1 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | Capital is a brand new festival which brings together writers, actors and theatre-makers to celebrate and promote the work currently being developed in Birmingham and beyond. Held at The Old Joint Stock Theatre, the festival will include a series of rehearsed readings, a showcase of short plays and an opportunity for the public to contribute their reactions to Cameron's vision of the "Big Society" | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Woman Called Magdalena, A | ||
| 1st Produced: | 'Face-to-Face' Launch, Atherstone, Warwickshire | 1997 | ||||
Company: | STORM Theatre Company | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #53149 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | Short monologue One Act | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | 1 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | A woman by the name of Magdalena Ventura grew a beard and moustache at the age of 37. She was painted in 1631 for King Philip III of Spain. | |||||
Synopsis: | Magdalena tells us how it was that she came to have her portrait painted for the king. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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You Are Here | ||
| 1st Produced: | Bull's Head (Inkberrow) | 2003 | ||||
Company: | Mouthpiece Theatre/Packhorse Productions | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #53153 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | Play/Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 2 | Female | 3 | ||
Parts other: | 1g | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | A play about the loss of a sense of belonging for two friends (economic migrants), Peter and Joh | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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