The Last Laugh
Eddie Chopin is 80 and lonely. He is a retired comedian and whilst many of his contemporaries went on to make TV shows and regular theatre appearances Eddie’s life took a different path.
In this short play; running at about 30 minutes, Eddie talks about his life, loves, losses and one or two ‘turns’ he gave around the country. Walking past the Cavern Club whilst the Beatles played. Talking about Ken Dodd’s chart success on a train to Liverpool and jokes that failed all show that it was others who had the last laugh.
Sprinkled with dark humour Eddie tells the story of the sadness behind the comic mask. This monologue is very much in the style of one of Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads.
Fade to Black
Samantha is having trouble at home. Her mother has recently died and Dad is always getting ‘on her case’. She is seeking help from a counsellor but it all becomes too much for her and she runs away from home.
Life as a homeless teenager isn’t easy but she meets a strange girl called Rachel who offers her help. In a strange ‘dream’ Sam is visited by 3 Ghosts who show her what her life was, is and could be like.
Think of a cross between Melvin Burgess’ Junk’ and Charles Dickens’ ‘Christmas Carol’
This play is ideal for teenagers.
For the Love of ‘H’.
Steph is a troubled teen. She has issues and finds real friendships very hard. Her sister and her mother don’t understand her so she has to find something new.
She is visited by a mysterious stranger ‘H’ who shows her a new world. Unfortunately, this can only lead to tragedy. Is ‘H’ real or imaginary? To Steph, it doesn’t matter as he/she offers her a way out.
The play deals with ‘H’ as the drug Heroin and Steph’s increasing dependence on the world that drugs offer her.
This play is ideal for mature teenagers.
Ceremony
23 years ago I took my first trip to the USA and visited the site of the Battle of the Little Bighorn; where Sitting Bull defeated General Custer, in Montana. Walking around the site I can only can say that I felt a spiritual feeling and connection with the place. I felt a sense of loss and injustice not for the US soldiers who had died but for the dispossessed Native American. I wrote a poem about the experience based on a photograph my sister took of a bird sheltering from the hot sun in the shadow of a 7th Cavalry Soldier’s white marker. Since that time I have read, researched Native American history and listened to their music both old and new.
Ceremony tells the story of the repression of the Native American. Through a series of linked stories Native people tell us in their own words the challenges they faced in the past and the difficulties of their future. The play is an expression of their loss but also celebration, a ceremony if you like, of their culture and if we allow ourselves to understand their ways how it can change our world.
The play comes with suggestions for linked music and images.
Through a Glass Darkly
Gem has spent many hours alone in the attic of her house writing, drawing and talking. Not to others but to an old Teddy Bear. She doesn’t consider herself an Emo although she takes a lot of abuse at school for being different.
Laura is popular attractive and can’t stand people like Gem. They have nothing in common, or so it seemed until a strange twist of fate brings them together and they meet Meg.
Through a Glass Darkly explores many of the issues of growing up as a teenager and how events can take over and change lives.
Consequences
A harsh and realistic look at juvenile crime and its consequences. The play follows the story of two prisoners Stuart and Lauren who have been sent to juvenile institutions for a variety of crimes. We discover some of the reasons for their actions as they try to come to terms with the sentence and what the future holds for them. It explores the relationship that they have with their friends, family, and other prisoners as well as the authorities both inside and outside prison. We see them as they journey through a full range of emotions from happiness to despair and realization.
‘I work with young people like that every day and that was amazing and really powerful. It was totally realistic and at times unsettling’. Comment by a social worker on seeing the play in production.
Laughter in the Square
Written as part of a drama and science festival and performed by GCSE students at the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff. The play deals with the relationship between the famous scientist Humphrey Davy, Thomas Bedoes and the creator of the Thesaurus Peter Roget. It follows Davy’s experiments at the Pneumatic Institute with Nitrous Oxide (laughing gas) in Dowry Square; in the Hotwells area of Bristol.
It is a humorous, fictional and scientific account of the experiments and shows how drama can be used to help students understand and enjoy science through a different curricular medium.
Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine. 