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Graham Greene

GRAHAM GREENE

  (1904 - 1991)
Nationality:    English
email:    n/a     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    Alan Brodie Representation Ltd  

Graham Greene was born in 1904, the fourth of six children. He was educated at Berkhamsted School and Balliol College, Oxford. While still an undergraduate he wrote articles for local papers and published his first book - of poetry. He also met his future wife and, influenced by her, was received into the Catholic Church in 1926. In the same year he began working on the Times as a sub-editor. Greene's first novel, the MAN WITHIN, was published in 1929 and its favourable reception led him to resign from the Times to take up full-time writing. Success however eluded him until the publication of STAMBOUL TRAIN, his fourth novel, in 1932. He meanwhile depended on freelance journalism, reviewing books and films for the Spectator and co-editing a magazine, Night and Day. Greene travelled throughout his life. A trip to Sweden resulted in eNGLAND MADe Me. In 1935 he trekked across northern Liberia, (described in JOURNeY WITHOUT MAPS) and his 1938 travels in Mexico, sponsored by Longmans, inspired the LAWLeSS ROADS and the POWeR AND the GLORY. During the war, he worked for the Foreign Office and spent 1942-43 in Sierra Leone (the setting for the HeART OF the MATTeR). After the war he returned to journalism and began a series of wide-ranging travels which gave rise to the QUIeT AmericaN, OUR MAN IN HAVANA, A BURNT OUT CASe, the COMeDIANS, TRAVeLS WITH MY AUNT, the HONORARY CONSUL, the HUMAN FACTOR, MONSIGNOR QUIXOTe and the CAPTAIN AND the eNeMY. Beside the novels, which have been translated into many languages, most of which are currently in print in English, Greene wrote collections of short stories and essays, two works of autobiography (A SORT OF A LIFe and WAYS OF eSCAPe), two biographies, eight plays - among them the LIVING ROOM (1953), the POTTING SHeD (1957) and the COMPLAISant LOVeR (1959) - a book on English Dramatists and four illustrated childrens books. A number of his novels and short stories have been made into films (in some cases more than once) but the most famous of these was written by him as a film script (the THIRD MAN with Orson Wells) and only later rewritten as a novel. A collection of his articles and reports on religious themes was published posthumously. Graham Greene was named a Companion of Honour in 1966 and received the British Order of Merit in 1986. He died in April 1991 at the age of 86.

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

         Carving A Statue         Complaisant Lover, The         For Whom the Bell Chimes         Great Jowett, The         Living Room, The         Potting Shed, The         Return Of A J Raffles, The         Yes And No
Carving A Statue

Synopsis:
deaf and dumb girl enters sculptors studio with disastrous consequences

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Brighton     1964

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Bodley Head, London, 1964   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Complaisant Lover, The

Synopsis:
Mary is bored with her marriage to Victor. She has met a younger man Clive. Clive and Mary plan to go away on holiday to amsterdam. Mary tells Clive she is visiting a friend Jane Crane. Both are surprised when Victor turns up at their hotel. Victor sees nothing wrong with the situation. To ensure that Mary remains with him - Clive gets the hotel manager to write to Victor explaining what the situation is. Victor is upset he gets Mary to confess the affair. But then says it is all right - that Mary can continue to have "holidays" with Clive as long as she stays with him for the rest of the time

Notes:
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1st Produced:
London     1959

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Heinemann, London, 1959   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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For Whom the Bell Chimes

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Greene, Graham, Collected Plays" Penguin, London, 1985   

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Great Jowett, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-     1939

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London,    

Music:
-

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Genre:
radio play One act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Living Room, The

Synopsis:
'since my last confession three weeks ago I have committed adultery twenty-seven times.' On the night of her mother's funeral, Rose Pemberton does not join her Catholic family to say mass. She is in a hotel with Michael, a married psychology lecturer. Graham Greene's powerful and shocking play is a story of sex, sin, and guilt. It unfolds in the mysterious 'living room' of Rose's elderly Catholic uncle and aunts, as a net begins to close around the adulterous couple. With echoes of Terence Rattigan's the Deep Blue Sea, Greene captures a dying but irresistibly powerful world.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
London     1953

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Heinemann, London, 1953   

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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Potting Shed, The

Synopsis:
estranged son returns home to his dying Father where he learns he had hanged himself as a boy and been cut down and 'resurrected'

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Bijou Theatre, Broadway, New York     1957

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Viking Press, New York, 1957   

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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Return Of A J Raffles, The

Synopsis:
pastiche as Bosie burgles father's home. the Marquis of Queensberry, in order to send proceeds to an impoverished Oscar Wilde

Notes:
Based Somewhat Loosely On e.W. Hornung's Characters In "the Amateur Cracksman"

1st Produced:
London     1975

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Bodley Head, London, 1975   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Edwardian Comedy

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Yes And No

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Leicester     1957

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Bodley Head, London, 1983   

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:  2            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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