doollee banner
The Playwrights Database
contact doollee


Carl Djerassi

CARL DJERASSI

  (1923 - 2015)
Nationality:    USA/Austrian
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    Buehen & Musikverlag Hans Pero  

Carl Djerassi, scientist and author, born 29 October 1923; died 30 January 2015. After decades of scientific research, including the first synthesis of an oral contraceptive for which Carl Djerassi won the U.S. National Medal of Science and numerous other awards, he turned in the mid 1990s to play-writing, predominantly in the genre of "science-in-Theatre." His first five plays have been translated into 11 languages and published in book form in eight; four have also been converted into radio plays. among the themes found in his plays are "sex in an age of mechanical reproduction," the fierce priority struggles of scientists, art vs. science, and "productive insecurity" (the need of even the most successful people to seek external validation).

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 Carl Djerassi's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Calculus         Ego         Foreplay         Immaculate Misconception, An         Insufficiency         Oxygen         Phallacy         Taboos (When Harriet Met Sally)         Three On A Couch

Calculus

Synopsis:
a play about the historical scandal behind the priority struggle between Newton and Leibniz as to who invented the calculus

Notes:
a music version (music by Werner Schulze) first produced in 2005 in Zurich Opera

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Andy Jordan Productions

1st Published:
Imperial College Press, London; under title "Newton's Darkness", 2003   -

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:  5            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

Top of Page Top of Page

Ego

Synopsis:
Celebrity, wealth, acclaim, major prizes. . . it's not enough. a famous writer obsessed with his reputation fakes death to read his own obituaries. a dark comedy about a singular obsession by the man who 'invented' the Contraceptive Pill.

Notes:
cf Three On A Couch

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Andy Jordan Productions

1st Published:
Haymon Verlag, in German, 2004   -

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:
Serious Comedy Comedy

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Foreplay

Synopsis:
Sex of the body or sex of the mind? Which is more pleasurable? What goes deeper? Which hurts more? Four of the greatest minds of the post-war generation, Theodor Adorno and his wife Gretel, Hannah Arendt and Walter Benjamin became caught up in a heady mix of sexual and intellectual intrigue, infidelity, rivalry and mutual obsession. Years later, with Benjamin dead and Adorno established as one of the great celebrity thinkers of his time, he, Gretel and Hannah are invited to dinner by a mysterious young woman. When this woman tells them she could reveal secrets that could change their lives for ever, all three are forced to face the lies, jealousies and sexual proclivities that they have hidden for decades as their loyalty to each other is tested to the utmost. . .This ingenious psycho-sexual thriller of betrayal and revenge takes into the lives of some of the greatest celebrity thinkers of our time to expose the uneasy relationship between genius and hypocrisy in us all.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Andy Jordan Productions

1st Published:
University of Wisconsin Press   -

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:
psycho-sexual thriller

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:

Top of Page Top of Page

Immaculate Misconception, An

Synopsis:
a serious comedy about the use and misuse of a new in vitro fertilization method (ICSI)

Notes:
Based on the novel 'Menachem's Seed'. Already translated into 11 languages. (Tricycle theatre, London, 1998: staged rehearsed reading directed by erica Whyman (with Michelle Fairley, Raad Rawi, Michael Cochrane And Alexandra Lilley).

1st Produced:

Organisations:
DJaNUS

1st Published:
Imperial College Press, London, 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:
Serious Comedy Comedy

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  1 teenager

Further Reference:

Top of Page Top of Page

Insufficiency

Synopsis:
Jerzy Krzyz is a Polish chemist with an unusual specialism. Bubbleology. (Yes it's a serious scientific subject!) Newly arrived at an American University Chemistry Department he is determined to secure a permanent senior post. But the other academics dismiss him and his subject. their rivalry gets out of hand when he gives two colleagues who are blocking his appointment some experimental champagne - which mysteriously kills them. Was it an accident . . . or revenge? This delightful new play is a comedy of academic manners, mystery and suspense that exposes the passions, petty jealousies and foolish behaviour that scientists and academics so often love to indulge in.

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:
comedy

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Oxygen

Synopsis:
On the occasion of the centenary (2001) of the Nobel Prize, the Royal Swedish academy of Sciences establishes a "Retro-Nobel Prize" to recognize contributions made prior to 1901. Which dead scientist should receive the first Retro-Nobel Prize for the discovery of Oxygen? a sharp satirical play about competition among scientists that is historically grounded

Notes:
written by Carl Djerassi and Roald Hoffmann. Already translated into 10 languages, written with Roald Hoffmann

1st Produced:
Riverside, London >>>    14 Nov 2001

Organisations:
Andy Jordan Productions

1st Published:
Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, Germany, and New York, 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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:

Top of Page Top of Page

Phallacy

Synopsis:
a revered classical statue, for centuries thought to be a Roman original, is suddenly proved to be merely a 16th century cast.But is sit worth less? and has it become less beautiful? Personal rivalries and professional reputations clash as art and Science join battle in this topical new play.

Notes:
with immediate transfer to King's Head, London. Already translated into German

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Andy Jordan 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

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:

Top of Page Top of Page

Taboos (When Harriet Met Sally)

Synopsis:
explores the implications of modern fertiliy techniques or, as one character describes it, "a spectaculary complicated reproductive mess among adults, not all of them consenting".
Ian Johns, the Times

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Andy Jordan 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

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:

Top of Page Top of Page

Three On A Couch

Synopsis:
Celebrity, wealth, acclaim, major prizes. . . it's not enough. a famous writer obsessed with his reputation fakes death to read his own obituaries. a dark comedy about a singular obsession by the man who 'invented' the Contraceptive Pill.

Notes:
a slightly modified version of "eGO" (see Above)

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Andy Jordan 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

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:

Top of Page Top of Page