RODNEY ACKLAND (1908 - 1991)
| Nationality: | British |
| Literary Agent: *: | |
| Email: | n/a |
| Website: | n/a |
* If shown, click on the literary agent's name for full contact details and links to all the Playwrights they represent.
Plays by Rodney Ackland
Absolute Hell! |
| 1st Produced: | 1988 | |||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | Oberon Books, London | 1990 | ||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||
| Genre: | - | Play/Drama | Parts: | Male | 11 | Female | 10 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: revision of The Pink Room | ||||
Synopsis: This fascinating evocation of Bohemian life in London in 1945 was presented at the Orange Tree, Richmond, in 1988 and is a revision of the play The Pink Room originally staged at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, in 1952. A world-weary hostess runs a drinking-club where the members gather to drink and, variously, escape, dream, seek, bitch, mock and destroy. 'This is not only an archaeologist's treasure, but is among the most convincing, moving pieces to hit London yet this year.' Independent | ||||
After October |
| 1st Produced: | London | 1936 | ||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | Gollancz, London | 1936 | ||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||
| Genre: | - | Play/Drama | Parts: | Male | 5 | Female | 6 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: - | ||||
Synopsis: After October is Ackland's most autobiographical play. It shows a feckless family in the grip of poverty, with a young playwright, Clive, scenting the possibilities of escape to affluence and extravagance. But Clive's play is a failure and his beloved Frances opts for his rival Brian. A loan helps Clive until his novel will be completed and everything will be all right 'after October'. The mood lightens - only the creditors are heavy. | ||||
Ballerina |
| 1st Produced: | London | 1933 | ||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | - | - | ||
| To Buy This Play: | 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 | |||
| Genre: | - | Musical | Parts: | Male | - | Female | - |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: by Rodney Ackland; music by Henry Sullivan, lyrics by Desmond Carter, adaptation of the novel by Eleanor Smith | ||||
Synopsis: - | ||||
Before the Party |
| 1st Produced: | London | 1949 | ||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | Samuel French, London | 1950 | ||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||
| Genre: | - | Adaptation | Parts: | Male | 2 | Female | 5 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: From W S Maugham | ||||
Synopsis: | ||||
Birthday |
| 1st Produced: | London | 1934 | ||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | Samuel French, London | 1935 | ||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||
| Genre: | - | - | Parts: | Male | - | Female | - |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: - | ||||
Synopsis: - | ||||
Blossom Time |
| 1st Produced: | London | 1942 | ||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | - | - | ||
| To Buy This Play: | 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 | |||
| Genre: | - | - | Parts: | Male | - | Female | - |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: music by Schubert | ||||
Synopsis: - | ||||
Crime And Punishment |
| 1st Produced: | London | 1946 | ||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | Sampson Low and Marston | 1948 | ||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||
| Genre: | - | Adaptation | Parts: | Male | 16 | Female | 10 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: book by Fedor Dostoevsky | ||||
Synopsis: Originally published in 1866, Crime and Punishment tells the story of Rodion Romanivich Raskolnikov, an impoverished former student who murders an old woman to escape his wretched situation | ||||
Cupid and Mars |
| 1st Produced: | London | 1947 | ||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | - | - | ||
| To Buy This Play: | 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 | |||
| Genre: | - | - | Parts: | Male | - | Female | - |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: with Robert G. Newton, adaptation of a story by Newton | ||||
Synopsis: - | ||||
Dance with No Music |
| 1st Produced: | London | 1930 | ||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | Deane, London | 1933 | ||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||
| Genre: | - | - | Parts: | Male | - | Female | - |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: - | ||||
Synopsis: - | ||||
Dark River, The |
| 1st Produced: | London | 1941 | ||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | Samuel French, London | 1942 | ||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||
| Genre: | - | Play/Drama | Parts: | Male | 5 | Female | 3 |
| Parts Other: | 1 boy | |||
Notes: (as Remembrance of Things Past, produced 1938; as The Dark River, produced 1941) | ||||
Synopsis: set in the late thirties, the flamboyant characters are cocooned in a Thames backwater ignoring the turbulent events of a politically unstable Europe | ||||
Dead Secret, A |
| 1st Produced: | London | 1957 | ||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | Samuel French, London | 1958 | ||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||
| Genre: | - | Mystery | Parts: | Male | 9 | Female | 6 |
| Parts Other: | extras | |||
Notes: - | ||||
Synopsis: When the miserly old spinster dies the question remains - was it murder? | ||||
Diary Of A Scoundrel |
| 1st Produced: | London | 1942 | ||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | Sampson Low and Marston | 1948 | ||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||
| Genre: | - | Adaptation | Parts: | Male | - | Female | - |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: Original Playwright - Alexander Ostrovsky | ||||
Synopsis: | ||||
Farewell, Farewell, Eugene |
| 1st Produced: | London | 1959 | ||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | Samuel French, London | 1960 | ||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||
| Genre: | - | Adaptation | Parts: | Male | 3 | Female | 6 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: adaptation of a work by John Van | ||||
Synopsis: How do you say "farewell" to someone who never appears in the first place? Let the action speak for itself: the time is 1915; the place a shabbily genteel basement apartment on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Its denizens are Gert and Minnie Povis, the former quite correct and slightly formidable, the later not above sneaking a clandestine bottle of beer or reliving her brief but happy days as a member of a third-rate opera company. The sisters supplement a small income by turning out handpainted greeting cards, which Cousin Peonie merchandises through her acquaintances in the "outside world." One of these is Chuck Bailey, who is in love with Poenie but out of favor with Gert. He does move a lot of greeting cards, however, which means more money for the growing fund in the "Visit to Eugene Box." Brother Eugene, we might add, has been off in Africa for a rather long time doing nobody knows what. All this, of course, has its complications, which runs something like this: Gert manages to break up Peonie's romance; | ||||
Foe, The |
| 1st Produced: | - | - | ||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | Wood, E.R. (Ed.), The Sixth Windmill Book Of One-Act Plays | 1972 | ||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||
| Genre: | - | One Act | Parts: | Male | - | Female | - |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: - | ||||
Synopsis: | ||||
Improper People |
| 1st Produced: | London | 1929 | ||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | Heinemann, London | 1930 | ||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||
| Genre: | - | - | Parts: | Male | - | Female | - |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: - | ||||
Synopsis: - | ||||
Marion-Ella |
| 1st Produced: | London | 1930 | ||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | - | - | ||
| To Buy This Play: | 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 | |||
| Genre: | - | - | Parts: | Male | - | Female | - |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: - | ||||
Synopsis: - | ||||
Multitude of Sins, A, |
| 1st Produced: | London | 1951 | ||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | - | - | ||
| To Buy This Play: | 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 | |||
| Genre: | - | - | Parts: | Male | - | Female | - |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: with Robert G. Newton | ||||
Synopsis: - | ||||
Old Ladies, The |
| 1st Produced: | - | 1935 | ||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | Samuel French, NY | 1935 | ||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||
| Genre: | - | Adaptation | Parts: | Male | - | Female | 3 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: novel by Hugh Walpole (produced 1935; as Night in the House, produced NY 1935). | ||||
Synopsis: A harsh winter in the 1920s. Lucy and May have rooms in an old house and, through fond memories, simple pleasures and buried hopes, happily help each other through their impoverished days. But, in the upstairs room, the dark, brooding presence of Agatha plots to shatter their friendship. Little by little, she begins a journey of terror as she manipulates, ridicules and undermines the careful fabric of Lucy's and May's lives. Is Lucy's son really alive? Why does May depend so much on her prized possessions? And what is the terrible secret that Agatha craves to discover? | ||||
Other Place, The |
| 1st Produced: | London | 1964 | ||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | in "Plays 2" Oberon, London | 1999 | ||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||
| Genre: | - | - | Parts: | Male | - | Female | - |
| Parts Other: | 8 characters | |||
Notes: - | ||||
Synopsis: | ||||
Pink Room, The; or, The Escapists |
| 1st Produced: | London | 1952 | ||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | - | - | ||
| To Buy This Play: | 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 | |||
| Genre: | - | - | Parts: | Male | - | Female | - |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: - | ||||
Synopsis: - | ||||
Plot Twenty-One |
| 1st Produced: | London | 1936 | ||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | - | - | ||
| To Buy This Play: | 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 | |||
| Genre: | - | - | Parts: | Male | - | Female | - |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: - | ||||
Synopsis: - | ||||
Sixth Floor |
| 1st Produced: | London | 1939 | ||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | - | - | ||
| To Buy This Play: | 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 | |||
| Genre: | - | - | Parts: | Male | - | Female | - |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: adaptation of a play by Alfred Ghéri | ||||
Synopsis: - | ||||
Smithereens |
| 1st Produced: | 1985 | |||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | in "Plays 2" Oberon, London | 1999 | ||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||
| Genre: | - | - | Parts: | Male | - | Female | - |
| Parts Other: | 12 characters | |||
Notes: - | ||||
Synopsis: | ||||
Strange Orchestra |
| 1st Produced: | London | 1931 | ||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | Victor Gollancz Ltd | 1932 | ||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||
| Genre: | - | Play/Drama | Parts: | Male | 5 | Female | 6 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: - | ||||
Synopsis: takes place in a large Chelsea flat, run as a boarding house by a slatternly Bohemian with a heart of gold. Her paying guests are young, poor and uncertain of their jobs. They squabble hysterically, make love and dance to the tune of a wind up gramophone. Then into this lively household strolls Peter, a homeless artist destined to destry happiness with his ready charm and caddish behaviour | ||||
Too Clever by Half |
| 1st Produced: | - | 1988 | ||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | - | - | ||
| To Buy This Play: | 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 | |||
| Genre: | - | Adaptation | Parts: | Male | - | Female | - |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: Original Playwright - Alexander Ostrovsky | ||||
Synopsis: - | ||||
White Guard, The |
| 1st Produced: | London | 1934 | ||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | - | - | ||
| To Buy This Play: | 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 | |||
| Genre: | - | - | Parts: | Male | - | Female | - |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: Original Playwright - Michael Bulgakov | ||||
Synopsis: - | ||||
Yes, My Darling Daughter |
| 1st Produced: | London | 1937 | ||
| Company: | - | |||
| 1st Published: | - | - | ||
| To Buy This Play: | 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 | |||
| Genre: | - | - | Parts: | Male | - | Female | - |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: adaptation of work by Mark Reed | ||||
Synopsis: - | ||||