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John Goss

JOHN GOSS

  (1945 - )
Nationality:    English
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    n/a

John Goss was born in Chapeltown, Sheffield, 29 March 1945. Coming from a long line of coalminers on his father's side, and a long line of theatrical entertainers on his mother's (Dalton) side, he followed his father into engineering. after leaving school he served an apprenticeship at the Royal Ordnance Factory, Blackburn, where he joined the company Theatre group, and Blackburn Drama Club, becoming the first apprentice to compere the 'apprentice Show' while still an apprentice. after nineteen years in engineering he took a degree in International Studies. Subsequently he became a technical author writing computer user-guides for ten years. His stage-writing career began late in life with an unfinished musical 'merlin the Magic Music-maker' which he co-wrote with Mark VAnner in 1987. John Goss met Dan Rodger in 2006 while they were both working as social research interviewers. their first collaboration was 'snegurochka ?Snowgirl' which drew a standing ovation on its last night. Since then they have turned a play 'Buskers' into a musical (to be performed at the Crescent Theatre in early September, 2008) and are currently writing 'What everybody Wants', a musical about Birmingham entrepreneur Matthew Boulton, its performance to coincide with the bicentenary celebrations of Boulton's death. John Goss is an authority on eighteenth century English novelist, Robert Bage.

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below is a list of John Goss's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Buskers         Frozen Fish         Ice Cold In Alaska         Mozart And Salieri         Room To Let, A         Snegurochka - Snowgirl         Something Fishy         Splitting the Atom
Buskers

Synopsis:
the musical opens as Garbie, a mute tramp, finds a mouth-organ in a bin. He takes this to his down-and-out friends. Lord Ronald, who presumes himself leader of this motley group, sees an opportunity to earn money by encouraging Garbie to busk on the streets. It's a play about survival in an unforgiving world where for down-and-outs everything goes wrong. It questions the futility of war and observes that even at the bottom of the pile there is a pecking-order.

Notes:
Original play was written in 1995-1997. "although we booked the Crescent theatre to produce Buskers, it coincided with Birmingham Artsfest And we selflessly sacrificed what would have given us A ready-made Audience to the greater demands of theatre. In fact we never produced Buskers in 1998 nor subsequently. It's A great loss"
- John Goss

1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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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

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Genre:
120 min musical comedy Musical

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  5            Other:  chorus

Further Reference:
-

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Frozen Fish

Synopsis:
See synopses for 'something Fishy' and 'Ice Cold in alaska'.

Notes:
Something Fishy' And Ice Cold in Alaska' separated by An interval. 1 set for the two halves.

1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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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

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Genre:
120 min Comedy

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Ice Cold In Alaska

Synopsis:
Due to failing eyesight Tom misreads a newspaper article. He's disappointed that nobody will buy his script Ice Cold in alaska. Helen suggests he produces it himself. there's the problem of actors. Tom wants Helen to play all three women, Vivien, Cassie and Raquel while he plays George. there's a knock at the door. It's Uncle Tom passing through from the Isle of Man. Tom sees in Uncle Tom the makings of eskimo Nell. Uncle Tom is not keen on this idea but agrees to take the script with him to read the part. When he returns it seems he's re-written the script to the displeasure of Tom. Helen thinks the new script is good. they learn their parts and perform the dress-rehearsal right there in the living room which they turn into an alaskan cabin. Tom plays George, Helen plays Vivien (George's wife) and Uncle Tom plays Nanook. Vivien is a saucy wench who, to the displeasure of George, spends all day whoring with the menfolk of Caribou. they pay for her services in gold soldiers. She collects a great many of these and is able from the proceeds to buy a saloon in Connecticut.

Notes:
Can be played together with its prequel 'something Fishy' the two together being called 'Frozen Fish'.

1st Produced:
Australian Bar, Hurst Street, Birmingham     1998

Organisations:
Puffin' Penguin Theatre Company

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:
60 min Comedy

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Mozart And Salieri

Synopsis:
Mozart brings a blind fiddler he has found in a tavern performing Mozart for Salieri to listen to. Salieri dismisses the fiddler and devises plans to poison his rival composer.

Notes:
This short tragedy was written by Alexander Pushkin in 1830. It has gone A long way in perpetuating the myth that Mozart was poisoned by Salieri out of envy. there is no evidence of this. Salieri's soliloquies - At the beginning And end of scene one - And Mozart's short Addresses Are written in pentameter, mostly iambic, And the translation mimics the original. Rhyme, where it exists, does not dictate the flow of speech And for Pushkin Assonance And Alliteration make occasional Appearances in the tragedy. Where they do exist, for example line 22, "Oozhe derznool, v nayooke iskooshennii" And "prazdnikh/ Prenedbregaushikh prezrennoi polzoi,/ Yednovo prekrasnovo zhretzov" in Mozart's dying words they demonstrate the masterly technique which has created A comparison of Pushkin to Shakespeare As being Russia's greatest literary figure. For Any would-be translator this is A hard Act to follow.

1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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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:
Drama with music/translation, 15 min Play with Music

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Room To Let, A

Synopsis:
It's morning. andre (28 years old) is getting ready to go to work. Serafima (60s) is agitated that he's still there. He wants to know why he keeps finding women's things in his room. Much to the relief of Serafima he eventually sets off for work. It turns out that Serafima has let the room to both andre, who works days, and a young woman Vera (23 years old), who works nights. Vera comes home from work and wonders why she keeps finding men's things in her room. She's annoyed too that the table is not in the same position in which she left it. at Vera's request Serafima moves the table back and goes out. Vera settles down to sleep and andre returns home having changed his shift.

Notes:
a room to let' was performed At Midlands Arts Centre & the Rep Door in Sept 1997 for Birmingham's Artsfest 97. (Someone called Krivoshayne wrote the original short comedy (20 mins) And I have no biographical information on him/her. the name is common in the Urals).

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Puffin' Penguin Theatre Company

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:
Comedy/Translation, 20 min Comedy

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Snegurochka - Snowgirl

Synopsis:
Snegurochka - Snowgirl' tells the tale of a street flower-seller in love with her brother' Buckle Boy, a seller of buckles. they live on the streets of 4th century Myra (now in Turkey) and together with other street children have been fathered by Soak (Soni akram), an alcoholic, who also lives on the streets. the Bishop of Myra, Claus, blames Constantine's Father and the emperor Diocletian for poverty and homelessness in the town. Claus brings the street-children gifts for Christmas. He is helped by the ethereal, Snegurochka, who Flower Girl believes has eyes for Buckle Boy. Baba Yagga, a wicked witch, has entered into a pact with Old Nick to eat at least one child a year, every year. Flower Girl is abducted by Baba Yagga, and imprisoned in a tree-house. On discovery of Flower Girl's abduction Buckle Boy organises a search party.

Notes:
Music by Dan Rodger, Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi And Carolan. Lyrics And script by John Goss

1st Produced:
Birmingham Central Library Theatre     2006

Organisations:
Pro bono publico Theatre company

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:
Seasonal musical in the pantomime tradition Pantomime

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  3            Other:  3 children

Further Reference:
-

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Something Fishy

Synopsis:
there's a fishy smell near the hall/lounge doorway. It keeps coming and going. Tom thinks it's a ghost. Helen thinks there's a rational explanation. Tom gives Helen a taste of his writing talent, a very short extract from his sitcom about four people in arctic America. Helen is not very impressed. She points out possible weaknesses with this and other areas of his writing and agrees to help him improve his output by offering him a sexual inducement. the smell still lingers apparently appearing when the word fish is mentioned. Helen reads Tom's script and makes some recommendations. It's not good enough to earn him a night of "torrid" sex. One morning a few days later she tells Tom his script's all right apart from two references to polar bears. If his facts check out "Tonight's the night." It seems the fish-ghost does not appear during the day. Helen goes to work. Uncle Tom turns up and exorcises the ghost. Tom finishes his script and capitalises on his promise.

Notes:
Can be played together with its sequel 'Ice Cold in Alaska' the two together being called 'Frozen Fish'.

1st Produced:
Mac, Birmingham     1997

Organisations:
Puffin' Penguin Theatre Company

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:
60 min Comedy

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Splitting the Atom

Synopsis:
a one act, one-man play about life and death, good and evil, right and wrong. It was produced to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of its author's death and the sixtieth anniversary of its publication. Not available for production.

Notes:
1998 (George Ivanov (1895-1958), A great Russian poet, wrote this Amazing prose-poem As Raspad Atoma in 1938. It was Acted As A one-man play by Leslie Brand [1975-200]. Leslie was trying to get it performed in London when he was killed As A pedestrian on the roads). Directed by Victor Sobchak.

1st Produced:
Mac, Birmingham     1998

Organisations:
Puffin' Penguin Theatre Company in collaboration with anglo-Russian Theatre Company, London

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:
110 min Tragedy/Translation Translation

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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