Play Groups Books

Hard to get hold of volume published to mark Agatha Christie's centenary back in 1990, with an indescribably irrelavent foreward by Sir John Gielgud. Gielgud wasn't a friend of Christie's and never acted in any of her plays, but he says that after her death, her husband Max Mallowan asked him to speak at her funeral because she loved his voice so. Indeed it is one of the curiosities of her canonical writing that he seems almost to appear in one of her greatest novels, SLEEPING MURDER. Its heroine, Gwenda Halliday, has what we would now call repressed memories of childhood abuse, and the fossilized memories now come alive when, as an adult woman, she is taken to the theater to see Gielgud acting all Grand Guignol as Ferdinand, the incestuous villain in Webster's Jacobean horror show THE DUCHESS OF MALFI. "Cover her face, mine eyes dazzle: she died young," he intoned, whereupon the young woman stood and ran screaming from the theater. I take it that Christie did actually attendance a performance of Gielgud's actual revival of MALFI (though who knows, she might have read about it in the newspaper.) People have said that Christie wrote SLEEPING MURDER in wartime but in fact WWII must have been almost over when she saw (or read of) the famous Gielgud/Leslie Banks revival at the Theater Royal., Haymarket, for it opened in mid-April 1945.

It is just this kind of trivia that makes Haining's book such a great gift for the Christie fan in your household. The "four acts" of the title should really have been called "four genres" or something, since the book treats Christie's plays, her work in the cinema (and movies made from her books), her work on the radio (including adaptations made by others) and "Death on the Small Screen," a survey of the TV work. Okay, well, this is the only book I know of in which such incredibly elusive Christie works as "Fiddlers Three," "Personal Call," and "Butter in a Lordly Dish" are dealt with, sometimes described in an intriguing fashion that made me literally ache to experience them. When will the Christie estate authorize the publication of any of them? Please send Tony Medawar or some other researcher into the vaults and pull those babies out!

Fiddlers Three (1972), Christie's last play, written when she was 80!

Personal Call (1960), a 30 minute radio play written for the BBC. Read Haining's description, it will make you weep with longing!

Butter in a Lordly Dish (1948), written to benefit the Detection Club, broadcast January 1948, the Biblical legend of Jael and Sisera brought up to modern times!

Buy me those, Daddy!

Winner of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Anna in the Tropics recreates the Cuban-American community in Ybor City, Florida, in 1929,with its color, its cockfights, its close relationships, and its love of romance. Santiago and his wife Ofelia own a cigar factory, where the sometimes illiterate workers roll cigars and, to keep from becoming bored, hire a "lector" to read to them. Romantic stories spice up their lives, and since they have finished Wuthering Heights, they now look forward to a new novel, Anna Karenina, read by a new lector, Juan Julian.

Conchita, one of the workers whose marriage with Palomo has grown stale, soon finds herself reenacting Anna Karenina, as she has a passionate affair with Juan Julian, and then tells Palomo about it. Marela, daughter of Santiago and Ofelia, also fantasizes about Juan Julian. Reality intrudes on romance, however, when Santiago's gambling on cockfights results in partial ownership of the factory going to Cheche, his half-brother, who now wants to introduce machines to speed up production. He also wants to eliminate the lector, to the workers' further dismay.

In language that is often lyrical and sometimes fanciful, the action unfolds, with discussions evolving about the nature and importance of literature, the enduring values of their culture, the importance of love, and the possible effects of "progress" on traditional values. The characters, though not fully drawn and sometimes too obviously following plot lines of Anna Karenina, are, nevertheless, interesting and unusual as they try to do the best they can during trying times. To celebrate their happiness with the story of Anna Karenina, they decide to create a new cigar in her honor, and to have Marela serve as the model for the cigar box, but their happiness is as fragile and temporary as the idea of a "family" of workers making cigars without machines.

When disaster strikes, it affects the entire factory, and the characters must decide to what extent it is possible to remain in a fantasy world when reality has reared its ugly head, and to what extent it is possible to hold on to the past when the survival of the factory may depend on progress. The obvious themes, their rather thin development, and the plot lines which parallel Anna Karenina show playwright Nilo Cruz's desire to give significance to this tragedy, though the characters do not develop fully on their own. Unique and unusual in its approach, however, the play beautifully captures a time and place in history. Note: I read this in English and cannot attest to the Spanish version. Mary Whipple

Let me say, I am a huge fan of Kushner's work, he is one of the most creative of his generation in theater. This story resonates with me because my mother grew up in Lake Charles and she was in high school when this story takes place, I love the fact Tony used Lake Charles, it's such a quenticential southern city, and it's perfect for the story he tells. I grew up in the south, but really am too young to have experienced the civil rights movement and ive only know Lake Charles as a lovely city, with friendly people, that is very peaceful. The story as told is riviting, and the musical score is perfect, you feel transported to 63 southern Louisiana and you feel the strain on Caroline and the times she lives in, Kushner said that the lady he based Caroline on is alive and well in Lake Charles, Im glad she lived to see Lake Charles as well as the South change, it may not be all the way there, but man has it come a long way in short time, believe me. The stage show is showing in Houston right now, and Kushner said this is the closest it's gotten to Lake Charles..let's hope it makes it at some point to the city that inspired it.

Tina Howe's plays draw from a variety of emotions that could delight any reader or performer. Her unique style is refreshing and her contemporary in-your-face bluntness adds excitement to her dialogue. This is a great selection for those who enjoy contemporary theatre- especially women. As a woman, I found her characters to be very truthful and a realisitc portrayal of the many trials some females naturally face. As an actor, I suggest this book to all actors searching for a strong monologue. Howe's characters have a lot to say, and her wonderful writing style gives you a powerful way to say it.

Nigel Hinton tells the story of a boy who cannot resist the temptation of trying out a motorbike that has been parked outside a pub with the engine running. The reader feels Ray's fascination as he mounts the bike and goes for his first ride which ends in a fatal accident as he loses control of the bike and runs down an elderly lady (chapter one). It is particularly this chapter that lends itself to EFL-teaching as it is exciting and full of useful vocabulary.

An intesting book about the story of the narrow minded puritans fighting back against the british army ,once a great powerful one. A great book espescilly when the army are made out to be fools. A well written book of life in 1777.

Here is a play that conflates the rhetoric of war into bite size pieces and shows us that one war, particularly as we Americans get involved in them, is all wars. Churchill's staccato lines, and disjointed dialogue is not for everyone, and her play presses our continuity buttons, but this two person dialogue between an allegorical Uncle Sam and an allegorical Guy who is drawn to Sam's cockiness underscores how the language of war is a language of insanity.

Peter Brook has staged many successful (and unsuccessful)productions of Shakespeare. Find out what he thinks aboutcontemporizing Shakespeare. Brook writes very simply, as most of his works are transcribed speeches. This book is easy to follow and wonderfully illuminating. Has large print, so that's sort of hard to swallow. This book is packed with information, but it is a SMALL book.

A FAIR COUNTRY is the sort of play that you find yourself coming back to for repeated readings. I've never seen the play produced but I have read it numerous times. Each time I think to myself how the play isn't really exceptionally well written at all, but somehow incredibly moving and relevant. In other words, its content far surpasses its form. Worth reading though, as it is a major step in the career of a major dramatist.

Challenge Of the Superfriends is a very visual, fast-paced episode, and unfortunately this greatly truncated novellization lacks the fun of its visual gags and many parodies. But considering the shortness of such a book the writer must surely be forgiven; and despite that the story itself is still faithful. Included with this book, which was released in time for Easter 2007, is a set of Eduardo, Coco (of course!) Mac/Bloo, and Bloo cardboard Easter egg stands.