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JOHN RANDOM (1958 - ) |
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Nationality: British Email: Click here to contact Website: n/a |
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Literary Agent: n/a |
Began writing over twenty years ago for the live topical satire show Newsrevue at the Canal Cafe in London's Little Venice and soon became one of its stalwarts, having material performed week in week out for many years. This led to other comedy assignments including several revues and a move into radio. I became a commissioned writer for Week Ending and also wrote for the News Huddlines and Peter Dickson's Nightcap, produced by the sadly-deceased Harry Thompson. In 1991 I won the Radio Times Drama Award for television with a play called The Fallout Guy based on the true story of the Walter Mittyish Harry Gold, who had a small and almost accidental part in the Soviet infiltration of the Manhattan Project at the end of World War Two. Other radio work followed, including five years as a broadcaster on Radio Four's Fourth Column, as well on Anderson Country and its successor the Afternoon Shift. Two unpublished novels languish in the proverbial drawer. Lives with his partner and son in South East London.
Plays by John Random
Orange Penguin, The | ||
| 1st Produced: | Hoxton Hall, London | 1992 | ||||
Company: | Risk 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 | #57912 | |||
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: | Satirical Comedy Satire | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | The play was written for a specific group of actors, at that time all around the thirty mark. | |||||
Synopsis: | The Orange Penguin is an Innocent Abroad in the Big City kind of story; in this case the Big City being London. As such it shamelessly pilfers elements from My Fair Lady and Oliver Twist. Ian comes to London from Scotland after animal rights activists free all the stock on what he mistakenly believes is the mink sanctuary at which he worked. Like Oliver Twist, he soon falls in with an Artful Dodger and a Fagin, only to be whisked from a poor milieu to a rich one, in this case a flat in the pyramid at the top of the Canary Wharf Tower. Unlike Oliver Twist, Ian develops from a charming ingenue into a ghastly snob, in the mould of his bourgeois mentors, although fortunately he does eventually achieve a measure of independence and maturity. As may be gathered, this is all very silly and there is scant effort at realism. At one point, Dave and get jobs as Egyptian slaves in a production of Aida, and the climax is resolved with a swordfight. Nonetheless, there's a backbone of satirical purpose and plenty of targets are hit, though of course with the passage of years, their relevance has faded and even grown obscure. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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