doollee banner
The Playwrights Database
contact doollee


Tess Berry-Hart

TESS BERRY-HART  (1975 - )

 Nationality:    British
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Conville & Walsh Ltd  

Writer-in-Residence, Blue elephANT Theatre, London

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 Tess Berry-Hart's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Circus Ain't In Town (Jack), The         Drinking From A Dirty Glass         Legoland         Sochi 2014         Someone To Blame         Waking Up Suddenly

Circus Ain't In Town (Jack), The

Synopsis:
Monologue about the fantastical world of an alzheimer's sufferer. Jack can see monkeys climbing the walls again, but Margery doesn't believe him. Come to that, why can't anyone else see Margery? at least Jack has his dancing shoes to keep him company.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Under the Skin writing festival

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 (magic realism)

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Drinking From A Dirty Glass

Synopsis:
Two Western backpackers in Pakistan's North West Frontier see how the other half live. Idealistic Jenny's always wanted to travel, but scatterbrain elsie's never been further than the outskirts of Burnley before. Working as teachers in dusty Peshawar, their lives are changed irreversibly when they meet Sami and aysha, young Muslims caught between two cultures. Who is the mysterious figure in black that haunts elsie's dreams? During the bloody festival of ashura Muharram, elsie's nightmares become a reality.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
read at Royal Court and BeT theatres    2001

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 (social/magic realism)

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Legoland

Synopsis:
after the death of her mother, fifteen-year old Jo lives alone in LegoLand, the brightly-coloured mechanically-controlled house designed and painted to accommodate her mother's disability from cancer. Disgusted by the succession of mourners that visit the house concealing sinister agendas of their own behind sympathetic smiles, Jo takes the ultimate step to ensure that she will never be left alone again.

Notes:
Reading in Royal Court theatre (July 2001) And Blue elephant theatre (May 2003)

1st Produced:
european Interplay playwrights' Festival in Poland    2000

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 (social/magic realism)

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Sochi 2014

Synopsis:
Reacting to the escalating violence and oppression towards gay Russians after Putin's anti-gay legislation (Propaganda of Non-traditional Sexual Relations bill) and the current high-profile debate over the Sochi 2014 Olympics, the King's Head theatre have commissioned a rapid-response protest piece to help raise the public's perspective of the situation as ahumanitarian issue that needs to be urgently addressed. Gay activist Russians have been viciously attacked and prosecuted for "spreading homosexual propaganda", gay teens have been lured into traps and tortured on the Internet, homophobic murders are on the increase and gay parents are fleeing their homeland for fear of having their children taken away from them. Sochi 2014 provides an invaluable opportunity to focus the eyes of the world on Russia's hardline attitude towards lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. For the first time, the verbatim voices of LGBT Russians will be heard on stage, providing a visceral and affecting testimony from those who endure oppression on a daily basis, and raising the important questions that cannot be avoided: What will the countries of the world do about this? What can we make our leaders do? What will happen if we do nothing? Playwright Tess Berry-Hart is an experienced verbatim theatre writer who is interviewing LGBT Russians in Russia and the UK, and using their stories to increase deeper authentic public awareness in the UK. Interspersed with media coverage, debate over solutions and extracts from the Olympic charter which show the flagrant violations of the Olympic spirit by Putin's regime, the play uses the real words of all involved to harness the power of theatre as a political vehicle to demand change. 100% of profits from the performances will be donated to SPECTRUM, Russia's leading human rights organisationdevoted to human rights advancement on behalf of people who experience discrimination or abuse on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or expression

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:
verbatim piece

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

Top of Page Top of Page

Someone To Blame

Synopsis:
In 2004, at the age of 17, Sam Hallam was tried and convicted of murder in a London street fight. But he maintains that he wasn't even there. With little education and no funds, Sam was at the mercy of the justice system and two eye-witnesses, one of whom retracted his accusation in court, and another who admitted in court that when she accused Sam, she had been looking for someone to blame. He has so far spent the last 7 years in prison. the campaign for his release has taken his case to the Criminal Cases Review Commission and an independent police enquiry, whose findings have been so significant that the case has now been referred back to the Court of appeal. the campaign is being led by Paul May, who was responsible for leading the campaigns of the Birmingham Six, the Bridgewater Four, Judith Ward, Danny McNamee and many other miscarriages of justice. To highlight Sam's case at this critical time, the King s Head theatre, director David Mercatali and writer Tess Berry-Hart have produced a verbatim piece of theatre using police interviews, court transcripts and independent interviews. every word of SOMeONe TO BLaMe has been taken verbatim from written sources or interviews. Miscarriages of justice are no longer make today s headlines, but they can still happen. This is Sam's story.

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:
piece

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

Top of Page Top of Page

Waking Up Suddenly

Synopsis:
Family Drama going backwards in time. When Brin, a divorced, fortysomething ex-soldier commits suicide, his family - Father Don, sister ann, estranged daughter ema and nephew Charlie - are unable to articulate either their grief or understand the reason for the tragedy. But, looking back on events, the causes of his death gradually become clearer.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
Blue elephant Theatre Press, 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:
Play (social realism)

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

Top of Page Top of Page