The Playwrights Database
LESLIE ELLISON (1956 - )
Nationality: Englishemail: Click here to contact Website: n/a
Literary Agent: n/a
Les Ellison lives in Lancashire and has written and worked for a number of community and professional theatre projects. His play 'Saving Grace' was toured nationally by York based Riding Lights Theatre Company in 2003. a number of his works have been published including 'Utter Garbage' an environmental play for children and it's sequel 'Space Junk' (Samuel French), both of which have been translated into Dutch. Other works for small and church groups are published by RaDIUS and NIMBUS. Most of his current work is for the Lancashire based 'Reduced Ego Theatre Company' and of a broadly local or contemporary interest (copyright retained by author). apart from writing he has facilitated various youth, elder and prison theatre workshops.
Buy Plays with Doollee
Each page of doollee.com has links to play/book outlets, either directly to the Publisher, through Stageplays.com and Amazon to the second hand and 1st editions of AbeBooks. These links will automatically take you to the relevant area obviating the need for further search.AbeBooks.co.uk AbeBooks.com Stageplays.com amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.ca
whether you are a Playwright who wishes to make their entry definitive, an unlisted Playwright or a User with a tale to tell - we want to hear from you.
download WORD submission template
below is a list of Leslie Ellison's plays - click on a Play Title for more information
Age Of Consent Away From The Manger Do The Kings Still Wear Curtains East And Twenty-Third Easter Carol, An Fire Works! First Easter Much Hoole About Nothing New Nativities Passion, Fruit And Ovenchips Red Star Saving Grace Space Junk Unlikely Lads Utter GarbageAge Of Consent
Synopsis:
The play centres on a landmark of British social, legal and journalistic history when the early-day Salvation army's Bramwell Booth, William Stead editor of the revolutionary Pall Mall Gazette, and former prostitute Rebecca Jarrett formed an unlikely alliance to expose the trade in underage girls for sex. Their well meaning rescue of Eliza armstrong from child prostitution was perverted by rival interests into a scandalous court case that threatened to destroy the Gazette and the 'New Journalism' The Salvation army and its agenda for social reform and the moral case for raising the age of consent. The play raises the issue of whether it can ever be justified to commit a crime in order to combat an even greater evil.
Notes:
Written to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the Abolition of the transAtlantic slave trade, And to highlight the continuing trafficking of human beings for pleasure And profit.
1st Produced:
The Marsden Theatre, Worden Arts Centre, Leyland 2007
Organisations:
The Reduced Ego Theatre Company
1st Published:
available from author, -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Full length with music Play with music
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 3 Other: Doubling of most parts
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageAway From The Manger
Synopsis:
15 Christmas sketches for grown ups who need to leave the first century stable and take their faith into the supermarket, tube-trains and business world of the twenty-first century. a challenge to modern consumerism and medieval dogma neither of which answer the need of the people nor the purpose of the first Christmas Day. Suitable for performance by youth/adult groups in school and church concerned more with posing difficult questions than giving easy answers.
Notes:
NIMBUS has now ceased trading, however copies Available from justin@jmoulder.fsnet.co.uk. 25 Barns Close, Kirby Muxloe. Leicester LE9 2Ba. Or contact Author.
1st Produced:
Warrington, Cheshire. 2002
Organisations:
author's own company
1st Published:
NIMBUS Press, 2002 -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Sketches
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: Mixed casting 1 - 4 parts per sketch
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageDo The Kings Still Wear Curtains
Synopsis:
The tradition of nativity plays, now performed almost exclusively by children, can be traced back to the adult mystery plays of the middle ages. a supporting role as a shepherd or angel has been the debut performance of many young actors. The tradition and even the tea-towel-and-curtain costumes have been passed down from generation to generation as each becomes 'too old' to play the age old part. But as nativities new succeed nativities old, what advice would those stepping down pass on to those taking their place? and what questions would the rising the stars ask of their guiding lights? What fresh insight is to be found by those taking up the challenge to tell and retell the age old story to a new generation?
Notes:
First performed As Nativities New. Available from RaDIUS, 58-60 Lincoln Road, Peterborough, PE1 2RZ. info@radius.org.uk
1st Produced:
Warrington, Cheshire. 2000
Organisations:
author's own company
1st Published:
RaDIUS, 2001 -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Linked sketches/short play One act
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: Mixed casting 1 - 4 parts per sketch. Each sketch includes at least one adult and one child.
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageEast And Twenty-Third
Synopsis:
Chicago gangster adaptation of the Book of Hosea
Notes:
Inventive visual comedy And instantly recognizable characters And scenarios make for A very entertaining play ideally suited to A well supported youth group or Anyone with the energy to pull it off.
1st Produced:
Warrington, Cheshire. 1987
Organisations:
The Way Out Theatre Company
1st Published:
available from author, -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
full length Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 7 Female: 3 Other: Doubling of minor parts
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageEaster Carol, An
Synopsis:
accessible as 'special' from RaDIUS library 58-60 Lincoln Road, Peterborough, PE1 2RZ. info@radius.org.uk or from author.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Warrington, Cheshire. 1991
Organisations:
Way Out Theatre Company
1st Published:
RaDIUS (library), 1996 -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
One act
Parts:
Male: 5 Female: 2 Other: doubling
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageFire Works!
Synopsis:
With the failure of the 1605 gunpowder plot, an oppressed English minority prepares to face the backlash of a vengeful, state. Robert Catesby, the prime activist and Sir Evr'd Digby, the chief financier, decide whether to continue against the odds, or sacrifice themselves to save their community from reprisal and retaliation. In our own time, Layla, a refugee in her own land finds a young enemy soldier, Benjamin, with enough trust to risk himself on her vision of an alternative to suspicion and separation. Little does she realise that her dream will cost her everything as her words and actions are accidentally and deliberately misinterpreted and turned against her best intentions.
Notes:
Written in the light of the London transport bombings And to commemorate the 400th Anniversary of the Gun Powder Plot. Also Available As one Act play for A cast of 4 telling the contemporary story only.
1st Produced:
astley Hall, Chorley, Lancashire 2005
Organisations:
The Reduced Ego Theatre Company
1st Published:
available from author, -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Full length with music Play with music
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 2 Other: Doubling for parallel stories
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageFirst Easter
Synopsis:
Based on 'Love Unkown' by Prof John Barton, Oriel College Oxford. a series of short plays involving the unnamed characters on the fringes of the first Easter story: the caterers, the conspirators, the soldiers, the tourists, the lawyers, etc. Winner of the 1999 NIMBUS short play competition, voted into top 100 religious plays by Religious Drama Society of Great Britain.
Notes:
NIMBUS has now ceased trading. However (revised) copies Available from RaDIUS. 58-60 Lincoln Road, Peterborough, PE1 2RZ. info@radius.org.uk. Some first & second editions (original or later binding) Available from Author.
1st Produced:
Warrington, Cheshire 1999
Organisations:
Way Out Theatre Company
1st Published:
NIMBUS Press, 2000 -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Linked short plays One act
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: Mixed casting 1 - 3 parts per play. Doubling possible
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageMuch Hoole About Nothing
Synopsis:
When the young mathematician Jeremiah Horrocks arrives in the Lancashire marshland village of Much Hoole the residents have little time for his astronomical predictions which, if true, will change the world's perception of the cosmos. Instead, they contrive to pull him down into their own small universe and risk the loss of a revelation that could transform them all. Who said a play about science and history couldn't be fun?
Notes:
Commissioned by Chorley Borough Council for Astely Hall to celebrate the Astronomical event of the 2004 'The Transit of Venus' And to commemorate the Achievements of its first observer, locally resident 17th century pioneer Astronomer Jeremiah Horrocks.
1st Produced:
astley Hall, Chorley, Lancashire 2004
Organisations:
The Reduced Ego Theatre Company
1st Published:
available from author, -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Full length with music Play with music
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageNew Nativities
Synopsis:
a traditional nativity breaks down as the actors resign their parts and enter into a discussion with their replacements
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
- -
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Short Play One act
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PagePassion, Fruit And Ovenchips
Synopsis:
When the farming communities of the Lancashire hills blame the global power of supermarkets for their hardships, they decide to take the law into their own hands, with unforeseen consequences.
Notes:
Written in the style of A Dario Fo political farce for presentation in informal spaces, clubs etc.
1st Produced:
St Mary's Social Club, Chorley, Lancashire 2003
Organisations:
The Reduced Ego Theatre Company
1st Published:
Draft copies only, -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
full length Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageRed Star
Synopsis:
The rise and demise of first man in space and first truly international superstar celebrity, Yuri Gagarin. The story of an ordinary man lifted, almost literally, to extraordinary heights. an individual actively promoted and celebrated by a regime that suppressed individuality. The story of a man's gradual loss of control of his own destiny and his desperate attempt to regain control. The tragedy of a pilot reduced to a passenger in his own life's story. a warning that even decent men and women can be destroyed by our obsession with fame and celebrity.
Notes:
Winner of RaDIUS one Act play competition 2004. Available from RaDIUS 58-60 Lincoln Road, Peterborough, PE1 2RZ. info@radius.org.uk. ISBN 9780907174233
1st Produced:
Kent 2007
Organisations:
Nickie Cox,
1st Published:
RaDIUS, 2005 -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Short Play One act
Parts:
Male: 6 Female: 4 Other: can be doubled to 4/3
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageSaving Grace
Synopsis:
In the uncertainty between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, the writer HL Gee braves World War 2 travel restrictions to make a pilgrimage to Epworth, birth place of John Wesley, revivalist and founder of Methodism. The doubts and disruptions of HL's own life and times parallel those of John Wesley as both men struggle to live a life relevant to a changing world. In John Wesley's life his pursuit of grace, the virtue becomes inseparable from his need for Grace, an attractive and intelligent young woman. For both HL and John Wesley, the fulfilment of pilgrimage depends upon their realisation of what it is they each seek to make their journey perfect and complete.
Notes:
Commissioned to mark 300th Anniversary of the birth of John Wesley. Toured nationally spring And Autumn, 2003.
1st Produced:
Frairgate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York Y01 9SL 2003
Organisations:
Riding Lights Theatre Co. York
1st Published:
available from author, -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Full length with music Play with music
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 2 Other: (all parts double in parallel stories)
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageSpace Junk
Synopsis:
Dumpster, his Uncle Binlid and friend, Hamilton now live in a country park created by recycling their old garbage. thanks to recycling. But his nightmares are still ruled by the evil Lord Vermin. With the help of admiral Rodent and his crew, in a star-ship recycled from the contents of a litter bin, they reach for the stars, colliding with a disused space station crewed by Olga, a castaway laboratory rat with dreams of the ballet. They uncover Vermin's scheme to steal the dreams and imagination of the child-people by blotting out the stars with derelict space junk. The child-people of the audience are involved in the final escape from Vermin and the saving of the starlight so that children can dream again.
Notes:
Sequel to Utter Garbage. Available from Samuel French Ltd. ISBN: 780573051210. Also in Dutch: Rotzooi in de ruimte
1st Produced:
Haslingfield, Cambridge 1997
Organisations:
Haslingfield Young Little Theatre
1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1999 -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Childrens full length Youth audience
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: Mixed cast 10-15 can be doubled
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageUnlikely Lads
Synopsis:
Miss Susannah Knight, a local school teacher kept a book of remembrance of all the Chorley lads who went to war in 1914. Using her book and local historical records the experience of these young and most unlikely soldiers is told through the lives of two of the Chorley PaLS, and of those distant from the real conflict, from their first anticipation of adventure, through the changing attitudes to the reality of war, and into the difficulty of remembrance.
Notes:
Commissioned by Chorley Borough Council to commemorate the spirit of the Chorley 'Pals' Company And the 90th Anniversary of the tragedy of the battle of the Somme.
1st Produced:
astley Hall, Chorley, Lancashire 2006
Organisations:
The Reduced Ego Theatre Company
1st Published:
available from author, -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
full length Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 3 Other: Doubling of minor characters
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageUtter Garbage
Synopsis:
Dumpster, an idealistic young garbage rat seeks a better world far away from his rubbish heap. With the help of Captain Rodent and his loyal crew of Sea Rats, Dumpster leaves his Uncle Binlid and meets Hamilton an escaped Hamster. Together they challenge the evil Lord Vermin who controls the dump. With the involvement of the Child People in the audience Vermin is defeated and the garbage heap converted into Dumpster's better world by recycling the rubbish.
Notes:
ISBN: 780573051127 Samuel French Ltd. Also Available in Dutch (Een grote vuilnisbelt)
1st Produced:
Bustan Palace Hotel Theatre 1992
Organisations:
Dramarama Theatre for Children
1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1995 -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Childrens full length Youth audience
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: Mixed cast 12 parts, can be doubled
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page