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Gordon Gribbin
Nationality: British (1942 - )
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Notes:

Agent: Jeff Cox, 58 James Street, Hastings, Victoria 3915, Australia.

Gordon Gribbin was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, in 1942. England was at war with Germany at the time, but Gordon didn't care, even when the one bomb that fell on Bradford hit the fish market. He became a cathedral choirboy at 7 and charmed the ladies in the front pews with his ginger hair, freckles and blatantly fake piety. He developed his musical abilities until he became assistant organist at 16. Meanwhile he soaked up the magnificent language of the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer, as well as learning sign language so that he and the other choirboys could converse and tell dirty jokes during the sermons. He graduated from Birmingham University with an honours degree in Music and English, and did post-graduate work at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama. After a short spell as a schoolteacher (too many children) he joined the BBC in Manchester, where he developed and extended his taste for beer. His favourite bar was at Granada's Stables Theatre Club, where he mixed with actresses and met his first wife, sociologist Dr Cecily Neal. They married and came to Australia and had one son, Christopher. They divorced. Gordon worked for the Australian Broadcasting Company in TV Entertainment. Gordon met his current wife, Cynthia, when she auditioned for Southern Cross Musical Theatre, where Gordon was Musical Director. Gordon grew increasingly tired of playing piano for and conducting American musicals where fake American accents sliced through irrelevant and improbable plots. He joined up with another more experimental and original company, Downtown Theatre, as Musical Director and wrote his first play, Stations, and his first musical, The Mace. Later he founded his own company, ACE Theatre in Edithvale, and wrote and directed his own shows for nine years. He moved to Hastings in 2002 and joined with Edwin Creely to found Pelican Theatre Company where he has written, co-written and directed original shows until the present day. Currently he is directing a new version of his musical Gold Rush, to be performed in November, 2005.


Plays by Gordon Gribbin

Click on a Play title below for more information
Charleston Fever 
Gold Rush 
Jekyll & Hyde  A Modern Tale 
Mace, The 
Maltravers Does His Bit 
Man From Snowy River, The - The Musical 
Mr & Mrs God 
Mrs Wilde 
Murphys Creek 
Poms 
Poms II (Poms in Transit) 
Poms III 
Poms IV (Turning Australian) 
Spy 
Stations 
Wombat East 

Gordon Gribbin     Charleston Fever
Company
Synopsis:

Set in 1929, the workers in a shoe factory are upset by a reduction in piece work rates. Meanwhile, their boss pampers his 2 daughters by providing for them to have dancing lessons. His son, a drunk and layabout, meets one of the shoe makers, a girl who is a natural brilliant Charleston dancer. She is desperate to win the Charleston dance-off. There is romance with the younger girls and the old cleaning lady and a local gigolo or two. Happy endings ensue.
First Produced 1999 ACE Theatre Company. Edithvale, Victoria, Australia
First Published
Genre Musical comedy
Parts Male
8
Female 18
Other
Notes

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Gordon Gribbin     Gold Rush
Company
Synopsis:

Set in 1861 in the Victorian goldfield town of Balgarrie. The local tradesman, Oliver Bent, has his eyes on the lease of the Balgarrie Inn. He connives to remove the landlady, Bridie Brennan, and brings dancing girls from Melbourne to distract and steal Bridies custom. The action climaxes in a musical talent contest and a series of marriages and couplings.
First Produced 1998 ACE Theatre Company. Edithvale, Victoria, Australia
First Published
Genre Musical comedy
Parts Male
10
Female 27
Other
Notes

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Gordon Gribbin     Jekyll & Hyde  A Modern Tale
Company
Synopsis:

Simon Jekyll runs a successful research laboratory in Australia. Unfortunately, government regulations restrict his research by limiting the use of foetal stem cells. His alter ego, Simon Hyde, provides funds to the lab by selling human organs and performing transplants. Moral dilemmas abound, but all is enlivened by humour and innovative theatrical effects.
First Produced 2004 Pelican Theatre Company, Hastings, Victoria, Australia
First Published
Genre Drama
Parts Male
7
Female 10+
Other Rats - 1
Notes
from an idea by Ed Creely

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Gordon Gribbin     Mace, The
Company
Synopsis:

On the night that the ceremonial mace is stolen from Victorias Parliament House, Singers, actors, MPs and prostitutes consort and interact under the stern eye of Madame Elsie Turner and her life-long lover, MP Sir Henry Aspen.
First Produced 1989 Downtown Theatre Co., Caulfield, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
First Published
Genre Music drama
Parts Male
12
Female 23
Other
Notes

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Gordon Gribbin     Maltravers Does His Bit
Company
Synopsis:

Richard (Dick) loves Fanny (sic). Richard is called away to the Boer War, leaving his girlfriend and his mistress at the mercy of the local villain and moneybags.
First Produced 1994 ACE Theatre Company. Edithvale, Victoria, Australia
First Published
Genre One-Act melodrama
Parts Male
6
Female 10
Other
Notes

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Gordon Gribbin     Man From Snowy River, The - The Musical
Company
Synopsis:

A parody on the Banjo Patterson poem `The Man From Snowy River. In this version, it is the women of the homestead who find the runaway colt and save Harrison from financial ruin.
First Produced 2003 Pelican Theatre Company, Hastings, Victoria, Australia
First Published
Genre Musical comedy
Parts Male
8
Female 20
Other
Notes
written by Gordon Gribbin and Edwin Creely

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Gordon Gribbin     Mr & Mrs God
Company
Synopsis:

A very ordinary suburban couple are visited by the Archangel Gabriel who tells them that they have been chosen to be God for a week. They discover that Gods powers are severely restricted by the Laws of Nature (which God himself ordained) so that He is occupied mainly in blessing people, which he does in batches on a laptop computer.
First Produced 1998 ACE Theatre Company, Edithvale, Victoria, Australia
First Published
Genre One-Act play
Parts Male
2
Female 2
Other
Notes

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Gordon Gribbin     Mrs Wilde
Company
Synopsis:

Oscar Wildes wife, Constance, sits in an anteroom of their Chelsea house whilst Oscars goods are being auctioned to pay legal bills. As various objects are taken out to be sold, she is reminded of various events in her life with Oscar. She is visited by Oscars mother, Lady Wilde, Constances brother, Otto, and Robbie Ross.
First Produced 1995 ACE Theatre Company. Edithvale, Victoria, Australia
First Published
Genre One-act Play
Parts Male
4 or 6
Female 2
Other
Notes

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Gordon Gribbin     Murphys Creek
Company
Synopsis:

A drunken and washed-out female novelist arrives in sleep timbertown Murphys Creek, and earns whisky money by giving writing classes. One of her pupils has some childrens stories published and is very successful in the genre. Her husband is made redundant from the sawmill and is jealous of his wifes success. The problems are eventually worked through in a context involving romance, Buddhism, committee meetings and assorted public servants.
First Produced 2005 Pelican Theatre Company, Hastings, Victoria, Australia
First Published
Genre Comedy-Drama
Parts Male
9
Female 13
Other
Notes
written by Gordon Gribbin and Edwin Creely

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Gordon Gribbin     Poms
Company
Synopsis:

After receiving a letter from her son in Australia, Bradford (England) housewife Janice persuades her husband, Brian, to visit Australia for a holiday. The action is paralleled with Brians refusal to accompany his girlfried, Pat, to Australia in 1965.
First Produced 1992 Halibut Theatre Company, Cranbourne, Victoria, Australia
First Published
Genre One-act play
Parts Male
3
Female 2
Other
Notes

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Gordon Gribbin     Poms II (Poms in Transit)
Company
Synopsis:

Brian and Janice are aboard a plane bound for Melbourne, Australia in 1994. There are flashbacks to the SS Fairstar in 1965 when Brians ex-girlfriend, Pat, was emigrating to Australia alone.
First Produced 1995 ACE Theatre Company, Edithvale, Victoria, Australia
First Published
Genre One-act play
Parts Male
2
Female 4
Other
Notes

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Gordon Gribbin     Poms III
Company
Synopsis:

Brian and Janice return to Yorkshire from their holiday in Australia. Everything seems drab. Even the beer tastes wrong. They discover that their daughter is divorcing her husband in favour of the son of Brians ex-girlfriend, Pat.
First Produced 1997 ACE Theatre Company. Edithvale, Victoria, Australia
First Published
Genre One-Act Play
Parts Male
4
Female 3
Other
Notes

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Gordon Gribbin     Poms IV (Turning Australian)
Company
Synopsis:

Brian and Janice now live in Australia and become Australian Citizens. Afterwards they go to the local Senior Citizens Centre for a committee meeting. The main item on the agenda is the opening of a brothel next door. Brian makes advances to two of the ladies and is rejected by both. A complication is provided by an old lady who turns up at the centre totally naked. Off-stage, of course.
First Produced 2000 ACE Theatre Company. Edithvale, Victoria, Australia
First Published
Genre One-act play
Parts Male
4
Female 6
Other
Notes

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Gordon Gribbin     Spy
Company
Synopsis:

A parody of the James Bond movies. Bond comes out of retirement to solve a problem involving a missing submarine in Hastings, Victoria. The evil province of Geelong is suspected of involvement. Child spies solve problems and make a lot of noise at rehearsals.
First Produced 2004 Pelican Theatre Company, Hastings, Victoria, Australia
First Published
Genre Musical comedy
Parts Male
8
Female 16
Other Kids  too many
Notes
written by Gordon Gribbin and Edwin Creely

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Gordon Gribbin     Stations
Company
Synopsis:

A train journey into the city exposes the thoughts and conversations of a widely varied group of commuters.
First Produced 1987 Downtown Theatre Co., Caulfield, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
First Published
Genre One-act play
Parts Male
5
Female 12
Other
Notes

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Gordon Gribbin     Wombat East
Company
Synopsis:

In a rural Victorian town, in 1953. the telephonist and manager of the local post office is about to retire. Her position is hotly sought after. To the town comes a mysterious city woman, closely followed by 2 escaped convicts. Love, drunkenness, intrigue and, of course, happy marriages ensue.
First Produced 1996 ACE Theatre Company. Edithvale, Victoria, Australia
First Published
Genre Musical comedy
Parts Male
8
Female 16
Other
Notes

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