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Alistair Beaton

ALISTAIR BEATON

  
Nationality:    British
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Literary Agent:    Alan Brodie Representation Ltd  represented by Alan Brodie

Alistair Beaton is Britain's leading writer of political satire, with credits across Theatre, television, radio and publishing. He is currently under commission to the Old Vic Theatre, London to write a new political comedy. He is also completing a play for the National Theatre of Scotland called CaLeDONIa which will be part of this year's Edinburgh International Festival and directed by anthony Neilson. Theatre plays include KING OF HeArts (Hampstead Theatre 2007), FOLLOW MY LeaDeR (Birmingham Rep / Hampstead 2004) and FeeLGOOD (Hampstead / Garrick 2001, winner of evening Standard award for Best Comedy). Translations include the GOVeRNMeNT INSPeCTOR (Chichester Festival Theatre 2005), the aRSONISTS (Royal Court 2007) and the CaucAsian CHaLK CIRCLe (Shared experience 2009). He has also written new English versions of DIe FLeDeRMaUS and La VIe PaRISIeNNe. Recent television credits include the TRIaL OF TONY BLaIR (Daybreak Pictures/ChAnnel 4) and a VeRY SOCIaL SeCReTaRY (Daybreak/ChAnnel 4) which won Best Single Drama at the Broadcasting Press Guild awards in 2006. With co-author Barry Pilton he wrote the ITV sitcom DOWNWaRDLY MOBILe. He was one of the founders of NOT the NINe O'CLOCK NeWS and regularly wrote song lyrics for SPITTING IMaGe. He is author of the satirical novel a PLaNeT FOR the PReSIDeNT (Orion Books 2005) and a number of best-selling humour books, including the LITTLe BOOK OF COMPLeTe BOLLOCKS, the LITTLe BOOK OF NeW LaBOUR BOLLOCKS and the LITTLe BOOK OF MaNaGeMeNT BOLLOCKS. He is co-author of DROP the DeaD DONKeY (2000). alistair Beaton lives in London. He was educated at the Universities of Edinburgh, Bochum and Moscow, graduating with Ma Hons 1st Class. He has worked as consultant for Columbia Tristar, RTL, and WDR Cologne, developing new television comedies for the European market. He speaks fluent German, Russian and French.

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

         Arsonists, The         Caledonia         Caucasian Chalk Circle         Feelgood         Follow My Leader         Fracked! or: Please Don't Use The F-Word         Government Inspector, The         King         King Of Hearts         La Vie Parisienne         Metropolitan Mikado, The         Nose, The         Play Strindberg         Ratepayers' Iolanthe         Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, The         Small Expectations         Ziegfeld

Arsonists, The

Arsonists, The
Fires are becoming something of a problem. But Biedermann has it all under control. He's a respected member of the community with a loving wife and a flourishing business, so surely nothing can get to him. the great philanthropist is happy to meet his civic duty by giving shelter to two new guests but when they start filling his attic with petrol drums, will he help them light the fuse?

Notes:
Original Playwright - Max Frisch. Max Frisch's parable About Appeasement is given its first major UK revival since its Royal Court premiere in 1961, which was directed by Lindsay Anderson.

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Royal Court

1st Published:
Methuen Drama    978-1408103937

Music:
-

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Genre:
Translation

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  4            Other:  -

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Caledonia

Caledonia
Caledonia is a story of greed, euphoria and mass delusion. It is the story of a small, poor country mistaking itself for a big, rich country. William Paterson was a financial adventurer who in the late 1600's planned to found a Scottish colony in Darien on the isthmus of Panama in Central America and turn Scotland, one of the poorest nations in europe, into a prosperous colonial power. He invited the public to invest and within weeks a vast proportion of the nation's wealth had been subscribed. Distance, disease and a naive optimism all played their part in this ruinous episode. Within a few years, the Scots - demoralised and impoverished - gave up their nation's independent status and signed the 1707 Treaty of Union with england. Inspired by documents, journals, letters, songs and poems of the period, playwright and satirist alistair Beaton has created a work that is both a tribute to heroic ambition and a darkly witty take on the deceptions and self-deceptions of rich and poor alike.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, Highland     13 Aug 2010

Organisations:
National Theatre of Scotland

1st Published:
Methuen Drama    978-1408136270

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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Caucasian Chalk Circle

Caucasian Chalk Circle
Alistair Beaton's new translation has an earthy vibrancy and the production matches it. This corrupt little province is an impoverished place. Only in that intensely human scene where peasant maid Gruscha sees the soldier she has promised herself to across a river of patterned blue cloth do we get a suggestion of a countryside that could be beautiful.
- Howard Loxton, British theatre Guide

Notes:
Original Playwright - Bertolt Brecht

1st Produced:

Organisations:
co-produced with Yorkshire Playhouse and Shared experience

1st Published:
Methuen Drama    978-1408126707

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:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  large cast

Further Reference:

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Feelgood

Feelgood
It's party conference time, and in the leader's hotel suite, the spin doctors are sweating over the Prime Minister's speech. With public opinion increasingly volatile, there's panic at the top. This time it's all got to be perfect. But in the same hotel a journalist is piecing together a scandal so far-reaching that it could keep the party out of power for a generation. Can the story be killed? Can the journalist be bought off? and exactly how far will a government go to save itself?

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Hampstead Theatre, London >>>     25 Jan 2001

Organisations:

1st Published:
Methuen Drama    978-0413771445

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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Follow My Leader

Synopsis:
as the real Bush and Blair and their cronies plot the next stage in their plans, the ReP's very own Bush and Blair are joined on stage by Clare Short and Osama Bin Laden, with a guest appearance from God!

Notes:
music by Richard Blackford

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:
Musical Satire Musical

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Fracked! or: Please Don't Use The F-Word

Synopsis:
'How would you feel about sitting in front of that nice old village pub on a sunny afternoon while convoys of 40-ton tankers roll past six feet away?' Deerland Energy's plans to drill for shale gas in the pretty village of Fenstock are going well. The company is looking at big profits. They can count on the support of distinguished scientists working in University departments funded by the energy companies while at local level, Councillor Pilbeam, Chair of the Planning Committee, seems to be open to lucrative offers. The only slight snag is a ragged band of protesters, reluctantly led by retired academic, Elizabeth Blackwood. Surely she's just another 'mad old biddy', as she's characterised by ruthless PR guru Joe Selby? This new razor-sharp black comedy by Alistair Beaton takes a timely look at the conflicted core of planetary energy and earthly power.

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:
black comedy

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Government Inspector, The

Synopsis:
One of the most famous comedies in world theatre, Gogol's masterpiece has lost none of its bite. In a small town corruption is rife, and the Mayor and his cronies have got it made. So when they learn they are going to be subject to an undercover government inspection they panic. Mistaking a penniless nobody for the inspector they swiftly fall victims to their own stupidity and greed. a dazzling blend of preposterous characters and familiar situations, Nabokov called 'the Government Inspector' the greatest play in the Russian language.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Nikolai Gogol.

1st Produced:
Chichester Festival     24 Jun 2005

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Oberon Books, London, 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:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  large cast

Further Reference:

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King

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
written by Richard Blackford, Maya Angelou, Alistair Beaton

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:
musical

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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King Of Hearts

Synopsis:
a handsome young heir to the throne falls for a Muslim girl - and finds himself at war with a panicked prime minister. SuddenIy, it's not just the future of the Royal Family that's at stake, but the very identity of Britain itself
theatre List

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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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La Vie Parisienne

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Music by Jacques Offenbach. New English version by Alistair Beaton

1st Produced:
Wycombe Swan Theatre     27 Nov 1995

Organisations:
Doyly Carte Opera 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

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Genre:
operetta

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Metropolitan Mikado, The

Synopsis:
"I am the very master of the Multipurpose metaphor, I put them into speeches which I always feel the better for, the speed of my delivery is totally vehicular, I'm burning with a passion about nothing in particular, I'm well acquainted too with matters technological, I'm able to explain myself in phrases tautological, My language is poetical and full of hidden promises. . . It's like the raging torrent of a thousand Dylan Thomases."

Notes:
adapted from the light opera by W S Gilbert And Arthur Sullivan by Ned Sherrin And Alistair Beaton

1st Produced:
Queen Elizabeth Hall, London     01 Aug 1985

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:
satirical operetta

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Nose, The

Synopsis:
A government official's nose leaves his face and starts an independent life of its own

Notes:
directed by Martin Duncan. An original play, based on the short story of the same name by Nikola Gogol

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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Play Strindberg

Synopsis:
The 25-year marriage of Alice, a resting actress, and Edgar, an old soldier, would be perfect - if they didn't want each other dead. The vicious cat and mouse games they play on the desolate island outpost which is their home, are interrupted by the arrival of Alice's cousin and former lover, Kurt. Durrenmatt takes the characters and situations from Strindberg's classic Dance of Death to create this gleefully spiteful black comedy, written in 1968.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Friedrich Durrenmatt

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:
adaptation of three black comedies

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Ratepayers' Iolanthe

Synopsis:
an extravagent concotion of parody of Gilbert and Sullivan, Mrs Thatcher and Ken Livingston. Launched as a political self-defensive squib by the Greater London Council, to try and stop its closure. Mrs Thatcher is presented as a usurping and predatory Fairy Queen trying to get Red Ken off the GLC and into parliment to be useless among Labour Backbenchers.

Notes:
adapted from the light opera by W S Gilbert And Arthur Sullivan by Ned Sherrin And Alistair Beaton

1st Produced:
Queen Elizabeth Hall, London     25 Jul 1984

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:
satirical operetta

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  6            Other:  fairies and chorus

Further Reference:

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Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, The

Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, The
Chicago in the 1930s, the Great Depression - a time of unemployment, fear and corruption, and the perfect time for a small-fry crime boss and his henchmen to make it big, to seize a greater power, an absolute power. Arturo Ui and his mob of gangsters run protection rackets for both workers and businesses. Soon Ui's menacing shadow looms large, from the markets, to the docks and across the city itself. You might be with him, you might be against him - it certainly seems you can't stop him. Arturo Ui is a sharp and thrilling parable of the rise of Hitler shot through with razor-sharp wit.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Bertolt Brecht In a translation by George Tabori revised by Alistair Beaton

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:
translation

Parts:
Male:  16            Female:  2            Other:  with doubling

Further Reference:

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Small Expectations

Synopsis:
A musical spoof 'torn ruthlessly from the pages of Dickens' by Alistair Beaton and Ned Sherrin with music by Gerard Kenny.

Notes:
adapted by Ned Sherrin And Alistair Beaton

1st Produced:
Queen Elizabeth Hall, London     28 Mar 1986

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:
musical spoof

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  10            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Ziegfeld

Ziegfeld
This is not so much a biography musical as a musical using all the hallmarks of a Ziegfeld revue - colourful costumes, beautiful girls, spectacular scenery and a melodious score from musical numbers by masters of the genre.

Notes:
Conceived, directed and choreographed by Joe Layton, with book by Ned Sherrin and Alistair Beaton. Score devised by Michael Reed, with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, Noel Coward, George Gershwin, Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern, Leslie Stuart et al. Additional lyrics by Ned Sherrin and Alistair Beaton

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
Original cast recording First Night Cast (14) 1988

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:
musical

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  5            Other:  chorus

Further Reference:

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