doollee banner
The Playwrights Database
contact doollee


John Burrows

JOHN BURROWS

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

Literary Agent:    n/a

John Burrows is a playwright, director and actor. His many plays include For Sylvia (with John Harding) about the Battle of Britain, which started life in a room above a London pub, toured the country, and went on to be screened on BBC TV as a Play For Today; The Golden Pathway Annual (also with John Harding) about a working class boy growing up in post war Britain, which was commissioned by the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, transferred to the Mayfair Theatre in London, was televised, and has had many subsequent productions in the UK and abroad; One Big Blow, about a colliery brass band, written and directed for 7:84 Theatre Company, a all-male a cappella musical which toured the UK, won a Festival First at Edinburgh, was televised by Granada TV, and brought together the six actors who went on to become the chart topping group, The Flying Pickets; It a Girl!, about a group of women having their first babies, was another a cappella musical, this time with an all female cast, written and directed for the Dukes Theatre Lancaster, it transferred to the Bush Theatre and went on to receive many further productions in the UK and abroad; and Viva Espania, about Club 18-30 holidays, which was written and directed for Hull Truck, toured the UK, won the award for the Best Musical on the London Fringe and transferred to the Arts Theatre. John also writes for radio and television. He has been a writer on Channel 4s Hollyoaks. His plays Whitlocks Walk, about the 1936 Olympics, and Glyndebourne, about a production of Don Giovanni at the famous opera house in 1939, were both heard on Radio 4.

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 John Burrows's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Cash Street         Checkpoint         City Delights         Dirty Giant         Dole Queue Fever         For Sylvia         Freedom Point         Golden Pathway Annual, The         It's A Girl         Keep On Running         Last Benefit, The         Loud Reports         Manly Bit, The         One Big Blow         Restless Natives         Some Animals Are More Equal         Son Of A Gun         Stony Broke in No Mans Land         Sweet Broken Heart         Viva Espana         Wartime Stories

Cash Street

Synopsis:
two sisters, one a boss, the other her worker, feud in a laundrette

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Highbury Roundhouse, London    1977

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:
for junior schools

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  6 people

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Checkpoint

Synopsis:
In the middle of a forest of fir trees there is a checkpoint on the border between two super powers. It has been there for years and is privately run

Notes:
written with the People Show

1st Produced:
Hampstead Theatre, London    1983

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

City Delights

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Oxford    1978

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:
Sketches in Sketch

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Dirty Giant

Synopsis:
Superstardom versus reality

Notes:
written with John Harding And Peter Skellern

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:
Rock Musical Musical

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Dole Queue Fever

Synopsis:
about youth unemployment

Notes:
music Rick Lloyd

1st Produced:
Albany, London    1978

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:
Band show

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

For Sylvia

Synopsis:
Two man version of the battle of Britain

Notes:
written with John Harding

1st Produced:
London    1972

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "the Best Short Plays 1978", Chilton, Radnor, Pennsylvania, 1978   -

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:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Freedom Point

Synopsis:
30 years after animal Farm, a new rebellion on the farm next door

Notes:
music Rick Lloyd

1st Produced:
Albany, London    1979

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 with Music

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Golden Pathway Annual, The

Synopsis:
about a boy growing up in the period from the end of WW2 to the late 1960's

Notes:
written with John Harding

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Heinemann, London, 1975   -

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:  13            Female:  7            Other:  doubling

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

It's A Girl

Synopsis:
ordinary' woman fights two parallel campaigns, one for the right to have her baby at home and the other against a nuclear waste dump

Notes:
music Andy Whitefield

1st Produced:
Lancaster    1987

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:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Keep On Running

Synopsis:
Four forty something fellas gather once a week for band practice. By the play's own account it is for 'every bloke who's been in a rock band'

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:
Musical Comedy Musical

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Last Benefit, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
London    1980

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Loud Reports

Synopsis:
Three man treatment of British 20th century history. With music

Notes:
written with John Harding And Peter Skellern

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Manly Bit, The

Synopsis:
Two man play about rape

Notes:
written with John Harding

1st Produced:
Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, London    1976

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:  2            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

One Big Blow

Synopsis:
in the round, about a colliery brass band

Notes:
music Rick Lloyd

1st Produced:
-    1980

Organisations:
7:84

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 comedy Musical

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  6 people

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Restless Natives

Synopsis:
for the all Lewisham Campaign against Racism and Fascism

Notes:
music Rick Lloyd

1st Produced:
Albany, London    1978

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:
anti-racist cabaret

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Some Animals Are More Equal

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
London    1977

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:
Sketches in Sketch

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Son Of A Gun

Synopsis:
life and times of eventual feminist during 50's and 60's

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Sidewalk 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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Stony Broke in No Mans Land

Synopsis:
Let us honour if we can the vertical man, though we value none but the horizontal one. W.H. Auden Stony Broke in No Man's Land, the world premiere of a new play from acclaimed playwright John Burrows, starring two original members of the Number 1 chart-topping group, The Flying Pickets, as two jobless ex-Tommies, busking on a London street, Stony Broke in No Man's Land uses words, songs and music to tell the story of Private Percy Cotton and the love of his life, bogus-spiritualist Nellie Mottram. On 11 November, 1920, the Unknown Soldier was buried with great ceremony in Westminster Abbey. But was it a genuine act of recognition and gratitude by Lloyd George's government? Or a calculated display to diffuse the pain and anger of a country grieving for nearly a million dead? And where did the idea of burying the Unknown Soldier come from? Did an army padre suggest it to the Dean of Westminster who passed it on to the Prime Minister? Or did Lloyd George perhaps get the idea from a very different quarter... When Private Percy Cotton's commanding officer is killed, Percy is determined to return his diary to his next of kin. But the love of his life, Nellie Mottram, has other ideas. She soon convinces Sir Arthur and Lady Elizabeth Munroe that she is in contact with their dead son. Taking up residence with them in Grosvenor Square, Nellie abandons Percy to his fate on the battlefields of France and is soon the aristocracy's favourite psychic. And mistress to Sir Gregory Sleight&Secretary to the War Cabinet. A fast moving, comic yet poignant piece of storytelling, taking the audience from the streets of Woolwich to the battlefields of France, from London smart society to the highest echelons of power.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Vertical Man Productions

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 120 min

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Sweet Broken Heart

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
music Whitfield

1st Produced:
London Bubble, London    1991

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:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Viva Espana

Synopsis:
eight people on an 18-30s holiday - sun, sand and sex. Who will bed who? Who will be able to hold their drink? and who will spot that it is a Spanish transvestite?

Notes:
written By John Burrows And Rick Lloyd

1st Produced:
Edinburgh    1988

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:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Wartime Stories

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
music Dickson, lyrics Burrows

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page