JOHN CHAMBERS
| Nationality: | British |
| Literary Agent: *: | |
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Plays by John Chambers
Albert Finney Doesn't Live Here Any More |
| 1st Produced: | 1998 | |||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | Pro-Play (online), 2007 | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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: | Drama (with humour) | Play/Drama | Parts: | Male | 2 | Female | 1 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | Set in the mid ‘90s. A mother has to mediate between her disillusioned 60’s working class radical husband and X generation son. They unite and fight with an explosive outcome! | |||||
Assignment, The |
| 1st Produced: | 1989 | |||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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: | - | Play/Drama | Parts: | Male | 3 | Female | 2 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | written by John Chambers and Maggie Norris | |||||
| Synopsis: | Two sisters – one a model, the other a respected photographer – get a commission to work together. Sexy. | |||||
Away From Home |
| 1st Produced: | Manchester | 1981 | ||||
| Company: | Pan Theatre Co. | |||||
| 1st Published: | Hodder and Stoughton (in “You Don’t Know You’re Born”) | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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 | One Act | Parts: | Male | 3 | Female | 1 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | One act. Subsequently produced by BBC2 (Manchester). | |||||
| Synopsis: | Set in the early ‘80s when football fan trouble was at its height. An old life-long fan is lucky enough (!) to share a compartment on a football special (Remember them?) with three young fans. | |||||
Balling the Blues |
| 1st Produced: | One Step | - | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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: | - | Play with music | Parts: | Male | 6 | Female | 3 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | Not available for production. | |||||
| Synopsis: | The life and music of Huddie Leadbetter, “Leadbelly”. With Leadbelly’s songs. Plus loads of respect to musicologists John and Alan Lomas and Woody Guthrie – who helped Huddie shake off the chains of the racist South and make it. | |||||
BeLongings |
| 1st Produced: | - | - | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | in "insightment" >>>, 2008 | ISBN/ASIN | 9780755210848 | |||
| 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 | 3 | Female | 3 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
![]() | What begins as almost a patio and French windows farce ends up in a cataclysmic scene in a shopping mall (complete with fake “Inca” pyramid). | |||||
Berk |
| 1st Produced: | - | - | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | in "insightment" >>>, 2008 Lazybee (online), 2007 | ISBN/ASIN | 9780755210848 | |||
| 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: | - | Comedy | Parts: | Male | 2 | Female | 3 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
![]() | Surreal comedy about Matt Berk a ghastly agent / impressario whose liver is shot so he demands a transplant from his Harley Street quack. A new organ is grown from cells – but this liver develops into a clone of Matt. A young, handsome, nice, innocent version – what’s Matt going to do about it? | |||||
Bottle |
| 1st Produced: | 24/7 Festival, Manchester | 2005 | ||||
| Company: | Northern Quarter | |||||
| 1st Published: | Lazybee (online), 2007 | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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 | One Act | Parts: | Male | 3 | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | A mother is at death’s door having been battered. Three men – well, one’s only a boy, have to face up to their responsibilities. | |||||
City of Gold |
| 1st Produced: | The Arden, Manchester | 2006 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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 | 15 | Female | 15 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | Casting can be varied. Borrows from other plays by the writer. | |||||
| Synopsis: | An epic set in “the biggest shopping mall in the world”. Picks up on the lives of punters and staff in a fluid way. A larger than life piece which takes on consumerism, surveillance and even predicted the credit crunch – two years before it actually crunched. | |||||
Crazy People |
| 1st Produced: | 1989 | |||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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 | 5 | Female | 1 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | written by John Chambers and Marvin Close. Not available for production. | |||||
| Synopsis: | The story of the birth of the Goons – told in a Goon show style! | |||||
His Shoes Were Far Too Tight |
| 1st Produced: | - | - | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | Lazybee (online), 2007 | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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 | 2 | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | “Remarkably well-written” – Alan Bennett | |||||
| Synopsis: | A chamber play with music. Based loosely on the relationship between Edward Lear and his loyal, but stroppy, manservant Giorgis Kokalis. Nonsense verse, songs and two ill-matched Victorian buddies. | |||||
I'm Marrying Ryan Giggs / Robbie Fowler / A.N. Other! |
| 1st Produced: | Liverpool | - | ||||
| Company: | P.F. Productions / Liverpool Playhouse | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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: | Playhouse, Liverpool | Comedy | Parts: | Male | 3 | Female | 3 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | written by John Chambers and Dave Simpson | |||||
| Synopsis: | A family of warring football fans during a “derby” weekend. Can be adapted for any town with two rival clubs. | |||||
Interfaces |
| 1st Produced: | - | - | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | in "insightment" >>>, 2008 | ISBN/ASIN | 9780755210848 | |||
| 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 | 2 | Female | 3 |
| Parts Other: | extras | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
![]() | Supposing two people with Multiple Personalities get together… It’s a dark, adult, sexy journey – and asks how far do/can we choose what sort of people we become. | |||||
Kecks |
| 1st Produced: | 24/7 Festival, Manchester | 2004 | ||||
| Company: | Northern Quarter | |||||
| 1st Published: | Lazybees (online), 2007 | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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 | One Act | Parts: | Male | - | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | A mum and daughter shop for wedding night lingerie. The daughter has bruises… | |||||
Kipling’s Jungle Book Stories |
| 1st Produced: | Lancaster Dukes Promenade Seasons | 1996 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | New Theatre Publications (online), 2008 | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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: | Family | - | Parts: | Male | 7 | Female | 2 |
| Parts Other: | 7 m/f | |||||
| Notes: | Scope for a chorus. | |||||
| Synopsis: | Mowgli’s rites of passage. | |||||
Koff |
| 1st Produced: | Green Room, Manchester | - | ||||
| Company: | One Step | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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: | Play/Drama | One Act | Parts: | Male | 1 | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | written by John Chambers and Brian Morgan | |||||
| Synopsis: | Based on a true story of a (racist?) arrest. Laced with dark humour. | |||||
Lazy Daze |
| 1st Produced: | 24/7 Festival, Manchester | 2005 | ||||
| Company: | Northern Quarter | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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: | Play/Drama | One Act | Parts: | Male | - | Female | 1 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | A young woman, written off, as a "spaz", working in a catalogue store stockroom, shows she's got as much insight as Socrates! | |||||
Little Ms Loony |
| 1st Produced: | Joshua Brooks Pub, Manchester | 06 Oct 2009 | ||||
| Company: | Real Life Theatre Company | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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: | short play | - | Parts: | Male | 1 | Female | 2 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | part of B Shorts 2, another mini-festival of short plays by TV writers | |||||
| Synopsis: | features a woman who summered by the pool in her second home in France but now finds herself in a psychiatric clinic | |||||
Look, The |
| 1st Produced: | - | - | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | in "insightment" >>>, 2008 | ISBN/ASIN | 9780755210848 | |||
| 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: | Drama / Musical | - | Parts: | Male | 2 | Female | 1 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
![]() | A young, bright woman who, in spite of her Audrey Hepburn looks, is trapped by her past. Her disillusioned tutor in “popular culture” sees her talent – and a way for them both to make it big. It’s a three-handed musical drama, with poetry chucked in. Whilst it owes a lot to Sartre / de Beauvoir it hopefully gets the contemporary zeitgeist. | |||||
Marigolds |
| 1st Produced: | Manchester | 1999 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | Lazybee (online), 2007 | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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: | Comedy Drama | - | Parts: | Male | 1 | Female | 2 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | This started as a short, developed into a three part one-act and then a 6 act full length. | |||||
| Synopsis: | Started as a two-handed short. A repressed lower middle class man – so repressed it’s giving him trouble “down below” - and his long-suffering wife. In the extended versions, the student daughter arrives – and finds father doing something disgusting. | |||||
Meek, The |
| 1st Produced: | - | - | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | in "insightment" >>>, 2008 | ISBN/ASIN | 9780755210848 | |||
| 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 | - | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | the piece is playable by 9 or 10 | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
![]() | a philisophical sort of Death Wish | |||||
Raw Material |
| 1st Produced: | Library Theatre Company | 1995 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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: | Play/Drama | One Act | Parts: | Male | 2 | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | Based on the true story of Robert Blincoe – a lad who suffered all the horrors of child labour in the industrial revolution. | |||||
Robin Hood and the Raven’s Revenge |
| 1st Produced: | Library Theatre Company | - | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | Pro-Play (online), 2007 | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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: | Family | Play/Drama | Parts: | Male | 5 | Female | 3 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | A Robin Hood romp with a twist – analogies with the mythological “Green Man”. | |||||
Scandals – The Life and Liver of Frank Randle |
| 1st Produced: | Britons Protection, Manchester | 1987 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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: | Drama/Comedy | - | Parts: | Male | 1 | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | written by John Chambers and Keith Clifford. Became a “cult hit” (Manchester Evening News) which has sold out at arty and less arty venues all over the North of England. | |||||
| Synopsis: | Tells the story of Frank Randle – iconic, vulgar, dangerous Northern comic and sometime film star. | |||||
Shouting At The Radio |
| 1st Produced: | Library Theatre Company | - | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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: | - | Play/Drama | Parts: | Male | - | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | ||||||
Silver Lining |
| 1st Produced: | Coliseum, Oldham | 1995 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | Pro-Play (online), 2007 | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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 | 2 | Female | 2 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | Set in the 1967 Foot and Mouth epidemic in Cheshire (anticipating more recent events). How does someone cope when they have to slaughter their reason for being? It’s told in an earthy, lyrical way, though not without humour, in spite of the harshness of life. | |||||
Small World |
| 1st Produced: | JB Shorts season, Manchester | 2009 | ||||
| Company: | Real Life Theatre Co. | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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: | short 15 min drama | - | Parts: | Male | 1 | Female | 1 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | A young man is caught partying on his own – by his mum. | |||||
Stiff Stuff |
| 1st Produced: | Library Theatre Company | - | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | Pro-Play (online), 2007 | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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: | Drama/Comedy | - | Parts: | Male | 3 | Female | 3 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | Collides popular culture, a Prof in Nonsense verse, a “go for it” couple and a down-to-earth barmaid. Resulting in a mix of the poetic and the prosaic. | |||||
#VALUE!
Three Musketeers, The |
| 1st Produced: | Lancaster Dukes Promenade Seasons | - | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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: | Epic | - | Parts: | Male | - | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | ||||||
Two Wheel Tricycle |
| 1st Produced: | - | |||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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: | - | Play/Drama | Parts: | Male | 3 | Female | 2 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | Set on a municipal tip – where not only consumer waste ends up – but a bunch of people who are surplus to requirements in a consumer society. But the chap from the Council has to do something about them… | |||||
Where There’s Blame |
| 1st Produced: | 24/7 Festival (as “Becks”) | 2004 | ||||
| Company: | Northern Quarter | |||||
| 1st Published: | Lazybee (online), 2007 | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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 | One Act | Parts: | Male | 2 | Female | 1 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | One act. Originally part of 24/7 Fesitival as “Becks”. Re-worked with extra character. | |||||
| Synopsis: | A young couple trying to “live the dream” on the promises of a loan shark. Bad news for all of them. | |||||
Who Cares |
| 1st Produced: | Manchester | 1982 | ||||
| Company: | Pan Theatre Co. | |||||
| 1st Published: | New Playwrights Network | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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 | One Act | Parts: | Male | - | Female | 3 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | Two girls, from opposite ends of the social scale, end up in care. Both realise it’s the failings of the adults in their lives that account for this – but now it’s down to them… | |||||
Yoiks Oiks |
| 1st Produced: | Octagan, Bolton | - | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| 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: | - | Play/Drama | Parts: | Male | - | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | Suitable for a large cast – five or so adults plus 15 or so teenagers. | |||||
| Synopsis: | It’s cheaper to send a kid to Eton than stick them in Care. So that’s what a cash-strapped local authority and down-at-heel boarding school decide to do. | |||||
