JIM BURKE
| Nationality: | British |
| Literary Agent: *: | |
| Email: | |
| 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 Jim Burke
Arise |
| 1st Produced: | Bill Naughton Studio, Bolton Octagon Theatre | 1999 | ||
| Company: | Rocket Theatre 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: | monologue | One Act | Parts: | Male | 1 | Female | - |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: A loose adaptation of this play, re-titled Arise Jones, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2005 and starred Michael Maloney | ||||
Synopsis: Morty, a key member of a New Age millennial cult, loses his faith and attempts to rebuild his life. But the cult leader has programmed his acolytes so successfully that Morty unwittingly fulfils the cult's program even as he flees further away from his former life. The play takes the fragmented form of "extracts from a damaged CD-Rom discovered in a car boot sale". | ||||
Bestiary |
| 1st Produced: | Buxton Festival Fringe | 2006 | ||
| Company: | Apex Productions | |||
| 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: | Anthropomorphic monologues | - | Parts: | Male | 2 | Female | 1 |
| Parts Other: | Can all be performed by one actor | |||
Notes: First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2003 | ||||
Synopsis: Three famous animals - and their famous last words. Moving from a mythical past to a technological future, from the depths of the sea, on to land, and up into space, these three monologues give voice to Jonah's whale, the Hartlepool Monkey (hanged as a French Spy during the Napoleonic Wars), and Laika, the first dog in space. Ostensibly about animals, they question human "progress" and ask: who are the real beasts? | ||||
Cornered |
| 1st Produced: | Didsbury Studio Theatre, Manchester | 1999 | ||
| Company: | Rocket Theatre 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: | Black comedy | - | Parts: | Male | 2 | Female | - |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: Winner of a Manchester Evening News Theatre Award (Best New Play) | ||||
Synopsis: A nasty, brutal, and short comedy set in a seedy Manchester gym. Rex and his apprentice, Vinnie, are two cornermen working a youth boxing tournament. Their boy, Little T, is the favorite to win, but the sinister (unseen) gangster Doxy has other ideas. Unaware of each others' agenda, Rex and Vinnie seek to take advantage of Doxy's activities. But nothing is what it seems, and the two incompetent cornermen's attempts at fancy footwork leave them both sprawling on the ropes. | ||||
Man Who Would Be Bing, The |
| 1st Produced: | Frog and Bucket Comedy Club, Manchester | 1999 | ||
| Company: | Flying Pig Theatre 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: | - | Comedy | Parts: | Male | 6 | Female | - |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: Nothing to do with the Ken Crossland book of the same name | ||||
Synopsis: A black comedy about a Bing Crosby tribute-act in the north of England. Ronnie Preston looks set for the big time when word reaches him that Bluey Johnson, legendary tribute-act impresario, will be attending his next gig. A chance encounter with his sinister arch-rival, combined with his manager's overreaching incompetence, scuppers Ronnie's chances, and his fragile self-image begins to unravel. A nightmarish gig at a sleazy strip club sends him further over the edge and unable to separate reality from illusion. | ||||
Moby Dick |
| 1st Produced: | Fitzcarraldo Theatre Ship, national tour | 2000 | ||
| Company: | Kaboodle Productions / Walk the Plank Theatre 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: | Literary adaptation | - | Parts: | Male | - | Female | - |
| Parts Other: | 4 upwards (male or female) | |||
Notes: Winner of two Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards (Best New Play, Best Fringe Production) | ||||
Synopsis: An adaptation of Melville's novel about Captain Ahab's epic hunt for the legendary white whale. | ||||
Shamer |
| 1st Produced: | 2003 | |||
| Company: | Rocket Theatre | |||
| 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: | noir style comedy | - | Parts: | Male | 3 | Female | 1 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||
Notes: Listed in The Scotsman's Worst of the Fringe, a decision with which Jim Burke shamefully concurs | ||||
Synopsis: Want someone to literally 'die of shame'? Call Mark Trent, professional. He'll make 'em squirm for you. But when things get too sticky, don't say you weren't warned. Shamer is a dark, adult comedy that looks where it shouldn't. | ||||