Fun Art Bus, an Inter-Action Project by Ed Berman

1972

-

in "The Fun Art Bus", compiled by Justin Wintle, Methuen, London

1973

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Play/Drama

-

-

2 characters

Notes: -

Synopsis: In 1972, it's first year, the Fun Art Bus (a converted double decker) toured the London boroughs and other parts of Britain presenting a unique combination of entertainment and theatre for children and adults. This volume contains an account of the ideas of 'environmental theatre' which are central to the work of Inter-Action and of the Fun Art Bus project. It also contains a selection of the material performed on the Bus, including short plays written for the Bus by Jim Hiley, James Saunders, Chris Bailey, Michael Stevens, Henry Livings, Frank Marcus, David Halliwell and Neil Hornick. It will be a valuable source book for anyone concerned with youth and community drama.
(from Fun Art Bus - Eyre Menthuen 1973)

Edinburgh

1971

-

Samuel French, London

1973

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Pieces

Piece

-

-

any number

Notes: broadcast 1971

Synopsis: Using a musical analogy the script gives some themes, within and between any number of variations.

Studio Theatre Limited at the Library Theatre (the Theatre-in-the-Round), Scarborough

1959

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Studio Theatre, Scarborough

1960

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One Act

1

1

-

Notes: Original Playwright - Eugene Ionesco

Synopsis: The original published script was modestly sub-titled 'a duologue in the style of Ionesco'. Certainly he learned from Ionesco - as did Beckett - but the main lesson was freedom. Aristotelian drama had three rules of unity (time, place and action). Modern drama has no rules at all and the playwright is free to do whatever he likes. Quite apart from being able to move around freely in space and time, he is released from all restrictions of logic, causality and consistency. He can change his mind as he goes along about what kind of play he's writing and his characters don't have to stay 'in character'. Fantasies can be translated into outward events and the playwright can use all the conventions and all the amenities of theatre as a giant box of tricks to play with - or experiment with.
Ronald Hayman (from the commentary, Heinemann, 1968)

London

1959

-

-

-

I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com
or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page

-

-

-

-

-

Notes: music by Geoffrey Wright

Synopsis:

Questors Theatre, London, EUR >>>

1960

-

Hutchinson, London

1961

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-

One Act

2

3

-

Notes: broadcast 1959

Synopsis: the Carboy household is frantic: chimneys are crashing to the ground, dead moles strew the lawn and Barnstable is persistently shooting thrushes

Orange Tree, Richmond, UK >>>

1979

-

in "Savoury Meringue and Other Plays", Amber Lane Press, Ambergate, Derbyshire

1980

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-

One Act

2

1

-

Notes: -

Synopsis: set inside a birdcage, with the birds as characters, the play has universal connotations

Orange Tree, Richmond, UK >>>

1977

-

Samuel French, London

1978

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Comedy Drama

Comedy

2

2

-

Notes: -

Synopsis: As the play begins, Anne and Mervyn, a seemingly well-setded middle-aged couple, are awaiting the arrival of Helen and David, a younger couple who were formerly their neighbors and close friends. Their reunion begins on a light and humorous note, but as the after-dinner talk grows more serious we become aware that the two couples had once engaged in an adulterous arrangement - and both have found it difficult to deal with the self-recriminations which this has created. Mervyn has begun to drink more than he should; Anne is coldly cynical; and Helen and David have turned to group therapy. But their problems still remain and, as the conversation becomes more revealing - and provocative - the underlying values of human existence are drawn into question. In the end the inescapability of the deep-seated guilt is powerfully evident with Mervyn, his vulnerability touchingly evident, sinking into tearful, defeated despair.

Questors Theatre, London, EUR >>>

1969

-

Deutsch, London

1970

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-

Play/Drama

15

6

doubling

Notes: -

Synopsis: Borage, a quiet suburban spot not too many miles from Hyde Park, is a town in trouble. Apart from the usual domestic problems, there's the problem of pigeons. Should the offending birds be exterminated - a solution vigorously proposed by Conservative Councillor Dr Dinsdale Badger - or should they continue to live and multiply (and to befoul the statue of Borage's greatest benefactor)? Opposing Badger is Socialist Councillor Makepeace Garnish, whose two great loves are pigeons and Mabel Badger (Dinsdale's wife), with whom he enjoys clandestine meetings in neighbouring telephone boxes. To this already explosive mixture is added the randy Peter Loathing and the Travesty television team, who have been sent out to investigate - and preferably exacerbate - the problem. What happens to Borage and its all-too-familiar citizens makes this not only one of the funniest plays to have been written for years, but also an abrasive comment on the fatuities and sheer nastiness of so much of our public and private life.
(from Andre Deutsch 1970)

Orange Tree, Richmond, UK >>>

1973

Richmond Fringe Theatre

Fringescripts, London

1973

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-

One Act

3

3

-

Notes: -

Synopsis: deals with the conflicts between freedom, control and responsibility, discussed by three pairs of strangers

Richmond, Surrey

1979

-

-

-

I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com
or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page

-

Adaptation

38

11

-

Notes: Original Playwright - Bertolt Brecht

Synopsis: an Old Chinese Legend, a cruel town governor murdered, wife escapes leaving baby. Returns to try and 'drag the baby out of the Chal Circle'

London

1949

-

-

-

I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com
or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page

-

-

-

-

-

Notes: -

Synopsis:

Questors Theatre, London, EUR >>>

1960

-

-

-

I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com
or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page

-

-

-

-

-

Notes: -

Synopsis:

London

1969

-

in "Ten of the Best, Inter-Action Imprint, London

1979

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-

-

-

-

-

Notes: broadcast 1958

Synopsis: A naturalistic play is one that is written as if the story had happened in real life. In staging it, the actors will try to seem just like people one might meet outside the theatre. The extreme case of a naturalistic play would be one that would be mistaken for real life if it were performed in a real life setting. In the theatre, even the most naturalistic play has to follow certain conventions. It has a dramatic 'shape' which real life doesn't have: for instance, a play has a beginning, a middle and an end whereas real life goes on and on; in a play, only the incident shown can be seen whereas in life things are happening simultaneously all over the world. A play therefore has to condense time and exaggerate effects; anything which is not relevant to the action is left out. The conventions are hidden but they are still there. Can you see them in Dog Accident? No playwright wants simply to present a slice of life. The writer wants the play to do something to the audience, to involve its emotions or make it think in a particular way. What do you think were the playwright's intentions in Dog Accident? It shows how four young people might react to a commonplace situation, but it gives only one possibility. If you improvise the scene and react to it in your own way, it will be interesting to see how the course of events differs. A version of Dog Accident was in fact performed some years ago in the street of a shopping area in Liverpool. The 'dog' was radio-controlled to whine and twitch. A small crowd gathered mostly at a distance, not wanting to risk getting involved in what was happening. Then some people came closer: one bystander entered into the dialogue, another covered the dog with a blanket before walking away. Someone called the police. When they arrived, the policemen were at first stern. ('What's going on here?') When told it was only a play, they became jolly. It was as if they had decided to act a different kind of policemen and, being in uniform, they knew that the audience - their audience now - was waiting to see how well they played their parts. Afterwards, the actors, the director and the author discussed whether they had cheated in pretending that the play was real. They decided that perhaps they had. Were they right? What do you think?
(from Playforms - Cambridge University Press 1997)

RADA, London

1962

-

Samuel French, London

1964

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-

One Act

6

4

-

Notes: -

Synopsis: comedy set in a bus garage canteen

London

1960

-

Return To a City in "Neighbours and Other Plays", Deutsh, London

1968

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-

-

-

-

-

Notes: includes Barnstable, Committal, Return To a City

Synopsis:

Orange Tree, Richmond, UK >>>

1981

-

Samuel French, London

1985

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-

Play/Drama

1

4

-

Notes: -

Synopsis: three very different sisters meet at their mothers house to await the death of their father, they gradually reveal the complexities of their own lives

Edinburgh

1971

-

Samuel French, London

1973

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Unstructured

-

-

-

any number

Notes: -

Synopsis: about freedom, responsibility and choice treated as aspects of an actual event which takes place during the performance

Watford, Hertfordshire

1980

-

-

-

I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com
or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page

-

Adaptation

-

-

-

Notes: from novel by Ronald Harwood

Synopsis:

London

1972

-

Samuel French, London

-

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-

Adaptation

7

1

-

Notes: Original Playwright - Heinrich von Kleist; aka Michael Kohlhaas

Synopsis: in 16C Germany fair minded family man is used in exploitation of war

Comedy Theatre, London

1969

-

Methuen Drama, London >>>

1970

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-

Sketch

1

1

-

Notes: aka A Man's Best Friend, in We Who Are About To . . ., later called Mixed Doubles

Synopsis: an entertainment on marriage

Questors Theatre, London, EUR >>>

1975

-

in "Bye Bye Blues and Other Plays", Amber Lane Press, Ambergate, Derbyshire

1980

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Male Chauvinist comedy

-

2

5

-

Notes: first professional production was by the Richmond Fringe at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond (Surrey, England), on 21 January, 1977

Synopsis: on a semi tropical island five sisters live in idyllic paradise until two brothers are washed up on the beach

Old Vic, Bristol, UK >>>

1967

-

Samuel French, London

1968

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-

Adaptation

3

4

-

Notes: written with Iris Murdoch, from novel by Murdoch

Synopsis: The action of the play takes place in and around a large house in the North Country, including Isabel's sitting-room, the kitchen, Otto's workshop and part of the garden. Focus on sexual intrigue and disturbed social conventions with an odious set of people

London

1974

-

-

-

I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com
or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page

-

Play/Drama

7

5

-

Notes: completion of play by Vanbrugh

Synopsis: the naïve Headpiece come to London and Saunders continues the story of their encounters with disreputable types

Hampstead Theatre, London, EUR >>>

1992

-

Samuel French, London

1992

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Political Drama

-

4

1

-

Notes: broadcast 1991

Synopsis: In the London of the late eighties two Czech migrants betray everything after entanglement with husband and wife journalists

Hampstead Theatre Club, London, EUR >>>

1969

-

in Mixed Doubles - An Entertainment On Marriage, Methuen, London

1970

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-

Sketch

1

1

-

Notes: Originally presented as one of eight plays under the title "We Who Are About To. . ." at the Hampstead Theatre Club on February 6th 1969, which was subsequently presented as "Mixed Doubles" at the Comedy Theatre, London on April 9th 1969

Synopsis: Mixed Doubles, 'an entertainment on marriage,' takes the form of eight short plays, each for two characters. . . Each is an independent play in its own right but the whole sequence, linked by a series of wickedly anti-authoritarian monologues written by George Melly adds up to an amusing if acid picture of the progress of married life from honeymoon to cemetry.

London

1955

-

-

-

I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com
or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page

-

-

-

-

-

Notes: -

Synopsis:

Bristol

1979

-

-

-

I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com
or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page

-

-

-

-

-

Notes: -

Synopsis:

Orange Tree, Richmond, UK >>>

1976

-

-

-

I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com
or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page

-

-

-

-

-

Notes: -

Synopsis:

Questors Theatre, London, EUR >>>

1964

-

in "Neighbours and Other Plays", Deutsh, London

1968

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise
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-

One Act

1

1

-

Notes: First professional performance in Great Britain at the Hampstead Theatre Club on May 8, 1967, in a double bill with LeRoi Jones' Dutchman. Subsequently it transferred to the Mayfair Theatre

Synopsis: Two people. A man. A woman. . . black, white, liberal, impulsive. Two people sitting in a room stripping each other of their masks. This story, this play is about who we think we are, what we think we think until somebody places a mirror in front of us. It is about those prejudices (as a white woman and as a black man) we assume we don't have and those tensions we choose to ignore. A black man. A white woman. And no "rule of thumb" to follow. These characters and their colors that cannot be pigeon holed. This man, this woman. The observer must not only watch the play, but herself. Not only should she see the prejudices and generalizations that are prevalent, but follow her own conclusions and expectations and see where they will lead her: maybe a dead end, maybe an unexplored room? Whatever happens it's about trying to jump over those conclusions we make so quickly and really stop to think, look and reflect.
Djahane Salehabadi & Eamon Shelton (from an introduction to a performance given by them at Ecole d'Humanité, Switzerland)

Questors Theatre, London, EUR >>>

1962

-

Deutsch, London

1963

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-

Play/Drama

4

1

-

Notes: from a theme from "A Hermit Disclosed" by Raleigh Trevelyan

Synopsis: examines why a man chose to live as a hermit for 36 years until his eventual death

Orange Tree, Richmond, UK >>>

1983

-

-

-

I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com
or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page

-

Play/Drama

-

-

-

Notes: broadcast 1982

Synopsis: