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Michael Black

MICHAEL BLACK

  (1962 - )
Nationality:    British
email:    n/a     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    n/a

Michael Black was born in Liverpool. He attended Wilmslow High School, before studying English and History at York University. He then completed a doctorate in South African literature at Cambridge University. He has worked as a website designer and journalist as well as as a playwright. Scripts are available for download from his website.

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

         Amber Room, The         Life To Come, The         Madame Viardot         Minotaur, The         Panharmonicon         Propaganda Fide (Pure Walking Evil)         Wedding, The
Amber Room, The

Synopsis:
Insane people of all nationalities converge on Kaliningrad in search of the long lost amber Room, a treasure Peter the Great once received from a German king.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Hostage 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:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Life To Come, The

Synopsis:
"MICHaeL BLaCK, who wrote this lively play about a fast and loose young englishman's attempt to sort the world, the flesh and the devil, is unquestionably a name to watch. With a sure hand he explores what makes a rotter, giving us in the process both crackling philosophical dialogue and contemporary social comment. James, his hero, gets drunk and seduces a female pal, anna. James feels morally bound to stay with Beth, his girlfriend, but continues anyway a secret affair with anna. Beth discovers herself pregnant and life for James becomes a series of wrong turnings. all the characters are vividly and poignantly believable as portrayed by a talented cast. the action ends, wittily, a mile in the air when Beth, having been through a harrowing abortion, calls unexpectedly at James's flat and finds anna. the curtain falls and the audience is denied all sight of the life to come. . . Bonnie Lee, the Scotsman."

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Cambridge Rainmakers Theatre Co

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:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Madame Viardot

Synopsis:
"We are given the story of Ivan Turgenev's 30-year relationship with his mistress Pauline Viardot, the French opera star of the 1840s, who met Turgenev on a tour of Russia and was the inspiration for his epoch making work a Month In the Country. Historically, Mr. Black's saga is accurate and interesting. . . and . . . when Mr. Black is good he is very good; his narrator's patter is catchy, and the longer scenes, unfolding for us some of Turgenev's deeper friendships, have a warmth and whimsy tentatively realised by Chris Lailey. Bonnie Lee, the Scotsman" . . . the story of the rather egocentric opera singer Pauline Viardot and her enigmatic relationship with two men, her husband Louis and the Russian novelist Turgenev. Michael Black's lively and powerful play explores this triangular relationship of love and deception: Viardot puts her career above all else, and consequently her marriage suffers; Turgenev's writing career is threatened by his deep, yet unobtainable love for Viardot. the play moves swiftly. . . while the passage of time is explained by a critic/commentator at the beginning of each act. the cast work extremely well together and there is little to criticise in this very enjoyable production. I.M., Festival Times

Notes:
Written with the Aid of An Arts Council Options Award. A reading of this play took place At the Genesius Guild, New York, in 2004

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Cambridge Rainmakers Theatre Co

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:
MeloDrama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  5            Other:  Various other minor roles

Further Reference:
-

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Minotaur, The

Synopsis:
the play is set in Paris in 1945 immediately after the liberation of the city from the Nazis and concerns the relationships between Pablo Picasso and his three mistresses. Picasso had lived in Paris throughout WWII. One, Dora Maar, has a mental breakdown and is given eCT. One, Marie-therese Walter has a child by him and wants money from him, and the youngest one, Francoise Gilot, wants to be the only one. Meanwhile a homosexual American GI trades in Picasso's paintings and the meanings of modern art are discussed aplenty, whilst the attraction of Picasso's personal charisma is thoroughly examined. the American GI also challenges Picasso's political views, Picasso being a Communist at the time. the ethics of psychiatry are also examined, Dora Maar's psychiatrist being the well known Jacques Lacan.

Notes:
This is Michael Black's most recent play, finished April 2007

1st Produced:
Carr's Pub And Restaurant, 1St Arrondissement, Paris     01 Apr 2009

Organisations:
Moving PArts (www.movingparts.org.uk)

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:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Panharmonicon

Synopsis:
a european comedy about Beethoven disguising his increasing deafness, the reaction of the austrian court to the Napoleonic wars, economic crisis and the invention by one Maelzel of a mechanical orchestra . the austrian emperor sacks the Court orchestra as a consequence, and all hell breaks loose.

Notes:
This was A reading only. Written with the Aid of An Arts Council bursary.

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Nottingham Playhouse

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:  10            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Propaganda Fide (Pure Walking Evil)

Synopsis:
a play about the extremities of faith, politics and religion during the rise and fall of Nazism. the Nazi Minister for Propaganda Dr. Josef Goebbels, rises to power and becomes obsessed by the opposition of the Lutheran priest Pastor Martin Niemoller to his rule. Dismayed by this and the general extremities of the Second World War, the wife of Dr. Goebbels, Magda, opposes her husband as best she can (whilst lacking true facts), and falls in love with a junior German officer who has been spying on Pastor Niemoller all along. the play finally depicts the climax of differing faiths that belong to the perverted Dr. Goebbels and the stalwart Pastor Niemoller.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Hostage 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:
Chamber epic Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Wedding, The

Synopsis:
a comedy of manners and family relationships, burglaries, and mental health.

Notes:
Written with the Aid of An Arts Council bursary, 1997.

1st Produced:
Questor's Theatre, Ealing, London     2002

Organisations:
Questor's Theatre

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:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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