doollee banner
The Playwrights Database
contact doollee


Ray Brown

RAY BROWN  (1941 - )

 Nationality:    British
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    n/a


Writer/director and broadcaster. about one hundred features/programmes on BBC R4. also three radio plays - IN THE aBSENCE OF LOVING (1979); BaRNES aND MOLLY (2000); STEINBECK IN aVaLON (2006). Co-founder of Headrow Productions and Normal Productions - small scale touring theatre. Based in Leeds UK. Directs his own and other's work.

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 Ray Brown's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

 Is Normal         Living Pretty         Vacant Possession

Is Normal

Synopsis:
creates a unique impression of Yugoslavia and its peoples before, during and after the Balkan wars. Focusing on the writer's friends . . .is normal! is a celebration of the strength of the human spirit in the face of tragedy.In a sequence of scenes responding to the dictates of emotion and memory, writer and broadcaster Ray Brown uses recorded interviews, actors, fact and fiction to explore his relationship with former Yugoslavia and her people. Brown first visited Yugoslavia in 1985 and has been back once or twice a year ever since; his friends there, of all nationalities, include poets, peasants, painters, musicians and waiters. The performance is set between 1985 and 1996 in the Istrian hamlet of 'malo Brdo' (an assumed name for an actual hamlet), Leeds and Dalmatia. Mixing techniques and conventions of stage and radio drama, radio documentary, poetry and vernacular, music and fx recorded on location, . . .is normal! creates a compelling impression of place and time.

Notes:
Features A rich soundtrack with recordings, including interviews, made in formerJugoslavia. Ray Brown plays himself.

1st Produced:
West Yorkshire Playhouse    1996

Organisations:
Normal 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:
dramadocumentary Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Living Pretty

Synopsis:
From childhood in Jamaica to old age in England - alfred Williams was an ordinary man made extraordinary by a harsh life and his attitude to it. Everal a. Walsh and Pauline Tomlin or Litty Ezieffula star in Ray Brown's seriously funny biographical play which is peppered with wisdom, tears, hope and laughter. LIVING PRETTY is rich in the poetry of Jamaican storytelling and is enjoyed by old and young alike.

Notes:
part of the British Council Edfringe Showcase in 2005.

1st Produced:
Leeds West Indian Centre    2003

Organisations:
Normal Productions

1st Published:
as 'to live it is to know it' by Normal Productions,    -

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:
biographical drama One act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Vacant Possession

Synopsis:
VaCaNT POSSESSION is set in the mid Eighties. Joe (66), fearing dementia, decides to sell his house and commit suicide. Gary (25), a man of untested left wing principle, seeks a house and independence from his mother. Fascinated by Joe, Gary finds his value system under threat. a deal is struck. Gary buys the house and mortgages himself for years to come. He agrees to let Joe live in the house 'until the time is right.' Joe persuades Gary to becomes his accomplice in a series of unsuccessful suicide attempts. The developing relationship with Gary renews Joe's interest in life and his sense of well-being. However, he has donated to an obscure charity his meagre savings and the sale price of his house. Joe and his 'wife', the third Mrs Sweetman, (an inflatable lady) are now homeless. Gary homes the homeless. In his new house, with his new family, he begins to reconstruct his political identity. VaCaNT POSSESSION runs for one hour fifty minutes to include a twenty minute interval.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Carriageworks Upstairs, Leeds    2006

Organisations:
Normal 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:  2            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page