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Russ Tunney

RUSS TUNNEY

  
Nationality:    English
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    n/a

Russ Tunney is a director and playwright who specialises in work for young people. He is the Associate Director of the Nuf?eld Theatre

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

         20,000 Leagues under the Sea         Alice In Wonderland         Another Sun         Arabel and the Escaped Black Mamba         Arabels Raven         Bleak Expectations         Blitz         Candlelit Ghost Stories         Fable         Falling Fandango         Happy Prince, The         It was a Dark and Stormy Night         Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The         Mr Parker's Bones         Phoenix and the Carpet, The         Shelter         Shoah         Wizzil         Wolves of Willoughby Chase, The
20,000 Leagues under the Sea

Synopsis:
Trapped like sardines in a can, Professor Arronax and his group of unlikely companions are imprisoned in the indestructible submarine Nautilus. Caught up in Captain Nemo's evil plot to rule the world, can this hapless bunch of adventurers find a way to stop him or will they become his victims?

Notes:
adapted from book by Jules verne

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Nuffield 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:
-

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Alice In Wonderland

Synopsis:
Amid the madness underground, meet the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, the Walrus and the Carpenter, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and a cast of quirky characters! Enter a surreal and fantastical world of colour, song and riddles, ruled by a Queen with a very short temper. the further you journey with Alice, the stranger and funnier this world becomes. . . Don't be late, don't lose your head, and watch out for a cat with a big fat grin!

Notes:
Based on the "Alice" books by Lewis Carroll

1st Produced:
The Nuffield Theatre, Southampton     31 Mar 2010

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

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Another Sun

Synopsis:
In 1884, five year old Albert Einstein is given a compass as a present, awakening in him a scientific curiosity. In 1939, he writes to the US president urging him to build the atomic bomb to counter Nazi aggression. Six years later in Hiroshima, the hands of the town clock are bent backwards, and the trees are crumbled to ash. Einstein's footprints are fading fast. In 2007, in the centre of a small Ukrainian town there is a statue of the god who gave fire to man. It is a ghost town. A sign reads 'Welcome to Chernobyl'.

Notes:
written by Helen Newell And Russ Tunney

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Nuffield 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:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Arabel and the Escaped Black Mamba

Synopsis:
A performance based on Joan Aitken's series of classic books about a little girl and her mischievous pet raven. When Arabel and her irrepressible friend Mortimer the raven spend a fun-packed evening with their favourite babysitter Chris Cross, they have no idea of what chaos they will leave in their wake. A reckless game of dressing up and hide and seek results in a number of domestic accidents, a trumpet wedged onto Mortimer's head, and a milk shortage! While Arabel, Mortimer and Chris are out replacing the milk, Arabel's parents return home to find the house empty and apparently ransacked. Can it be that a black mamba has escaped from the zoo? Or has Arabel been kidnapped?

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Nuffield 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:
TYA

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Arabels Raven

Synopsis:
When Mr Jones rescues a large, black raven one dark rainy night, little does he know that life at Number Six, Rainwater Crescent will nevermore be quite the same again. . . Arabel's Raven is the very first stage adaptation of Joan Aiken's book about the adventures of young Arabel and her best friend, the mischievous, perpetually hungry raven that she names Mortimer. Together they take on the mighty cash-and-carat boys and an evil squirrel in a race against time to find and return a precious diamond brooch. Will they succeed? Is Rumbury Town Tube Station haunted? Will Mortimer finish eating the stairs? And just who is the suspicious squirrel?

Notes:
from the book by Joan Aiken

1st Produced:
The Citadel Arts Centre, St Helens     19 Sep 2004

Organisations:
Nuffield Theatre First

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

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Bleak Expectations

Synopsis:
A delicious romp through Victorian London in the 1800s, for children aged 5+ and their families! Marvel at the exploits of young Pip Squeak, who survives both a terrible orphanage and an equally cruel workhouse before making his fortune in a series of astonishing and death defying adventures. Along the way he must battle his cruel guardian (Sir Angel Dark deeds), the rise of the industrial north, the progress of science and many other period obstacles. He must find love and friendship and curb his youthful follies! Will the dastardly French try to invade again? Will he lose his family home in Yorkshire (Withering Slopes)? And will that peasouper of a fog ever lift?

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Nuffield 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:
TYA 55 min

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Blitz

Synopsis:
the children are placed in role as evacuees fleeing enemy bombs as they board a train bound for the countryside. Immersed in this world they must navigate their new life - a life of rations, gas masks, strange new sights (cows! fields!) and a very different experience of school. . . Making difficult decisions and learning to adapt to the changes that confront them, the choices the children make will affect the story that they tell - no two performances will be the same!

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Nuffield 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:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Candlelit Ghost Stories

Synopsis:
A blend of Ghost stories, both original and classic, from MR James to contempary urban myth. As a Victorian undertaker prepares the corpse of a young girl for burial, stories begin to pour into the room. . .

Notes:
Based on short stories by M R James

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

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Fable

Synopsis:
Once upon a time, in a land like ours, at the meeting of nine roads, grew a giant ash tree. On the branches of this tree Ratatosk the squirrel rushed about his daily business as two men sheltered below him, drinking the dew and waiting for the winter to end. As the leaves of the tree whistled in the wind, stories were begun and songs were sung. An imaginative show featuring stories from world mythology and music.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Nuffield 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:
TYA

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Falling Fandango

Synopsis:
-

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:
Short play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Happy Prince, The

Synopsis:
High above the city sparkles the golden statue of the Happy Prince. One night a little swallow on his way to Egypt rests at his feet. Splish splosh. . .the little bird thinks it's raining and shivers. . .he looks up and realises it is not rain but real tears falling from the statue's eyes. the statue wants the little swallow to help him but it is growing colder, what is he to do?

Notes:
Adapted by Patrick Sandford, Russ Tunney And Scott Young from book by Oscar Wilde

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:
TYA

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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It was a Dark and Stormy Night

Synopsis:
"It was a dark and stormy night, the rain came down in torrents, there were brigands on the mountains, and wolves, and the chief of the brigands said to Antonio, "I'm bored - tell us a story!" A very brave eight year-old has been kidnapped by a nasty band of brigands and has been carried off to their secret cave. What stories will he tell? Will it be enough to save him? What is the Thingy in the moat? And will the chief manage to dodge the flying Gorgonzola?

Notes:
adapted from book by Janet And Allan Ahlberg

1st Produced:
Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham     25 Sep 2005

Organisations:
Nuffield 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:
TYA

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The

Synopsis:
A dark stormy night. the sound of horse's hooves rattle through the woods. Curtains are drawn and gates are bolted. A trombone wails in the night as the lovely Katerina Van Tassell-von Trapp-Vin Rouge brushes her hair by the light of a full moon. Tonight the horseman rides and Ichabod Crane is looking to keep his head - even if everyone else is losing theirs. Will Katerina ever fall for Ichabod? Can Brom Bones learn to play his trombone? And is it safe to ride a horse if you have no head?

Notes:
adapted from book by Washington Irving

1st Produced:
Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham     07 Oct 2007

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:
TYA 60 min

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Mr Parker's Bones

Synopsis:
Set in the historic grandeur of Southampton's former Magistrate's Court, the audience will decide the fate of the accused in this bloodthirsty yarn of loss and murder based on the true story of Southampton Cabin Boy, Richard Parker.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Nuffield Youth Theatre (with Fairbridge Solent and Great Oaks School)

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:
TYA

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Phoenix and the Carpet, The

Synopsis:
Four children find an egg wrapped in an old carpet. the egg hatches - it is a phoenix and it grants wishes.

Notes:
Based on the book by Edith Nesbit

1st Produced:
The Lights, Andover     19 Dec 2011

Organisations:
Forest Forge

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

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Shelter

Synopsis:
Occupied Europe. 1945. As a battle rages outside, three strangers take refuge in a shelter on a windswept, stormy night. All three have lost their way, and fear for their lives. As they begin to talk, laugh and smile at the good fortune of finding each other and the relative safety of the shelter, a new danger emerges. For these three strangers are an allied pilot, a German soldier and a young Jewish woman wearing what appear to be striped linen pyjamas. A story of conflict and resolution, hatred and alliance, duty and responsibility, Shelter explores the morality of choice and the search for common ground in a climate of hatred and fear. . .

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
The Nuffield Theatre, Southampton     16 Nov 2010

Organisations:
Nuffield 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:
One act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Shoah

Synopsis:
Shoah (Heb: N, the Holocaust, disaster). Shoah is a contemporary piece of physical theatre set within the darkest days of the Holocaust and tells the astonishing story of one of the greatest heroes of the twentieth century - Raoul Wallenberg. This unarmed Swedish diplomat personally faced down the SS, the Hungarians and even Adolph Eichmann himself.

Notes:
conceived by Helen Newell And Russ Tunney

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Nuffield 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:
piece 60 min

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Wizzil

Synopsis:
Based on the original book by William Steig, cartoonist and award-winning, best selling author of children's books, including the Hollywood phenomenon Shrek, Wizzil is a delightfully original tale about Wizzil, a bored witch, with unexpected

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Nuffield 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:
TYA

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Wolves of Willoughby Chase, The

Wolves of Willoughby Chase, The
A thrilling, funny and spectacular adaptation of Joan Aiken's classic children's novel, perfectly suited to performance by theatre companies and drama groups of any size. A thrilling adventure set in an alternative history of England, the Wolves of Willoughby Chase tells the story of two brave and determined girls as they fight against ferocious wolves, snowy wastelands and their very evil guardian, Miss Slighcarp. the opening of the Channel Tunnel has led to dangerous wolves roaming Britain, but this is not the only danger that cousins Bonnie and Sylvia, and their friend Simon the Goose-boy, must face as they encounter unforgettable characters and mysterious scheming. Russ Tunney's magical adaptation was originally performed by a cast of ?ve, but it has also been staged by  and is suitable for  much larger casts. Featuring a chorus who narrate, sing and comment on the action, and plenty of opportunities for song and dance, this version will suit any theatre company, youth theatre or drama group wanting to exercise their theatrical imagination.

Notes:
from book by Joan Aiken

1st Produced:

Organisations:
forest forge 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:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  with doubling

Further Reference:
-

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