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Jimmie Chinn

JIMMIE CHINN  (1940 - 2011)

 Nationality:    British
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    n/a


Jimmie Chinn became successful as a playwright, determined to make a something of himself, after a difficult start in life. He was drawn to theatre and acted with amateur theatre groups in Lancashire, eventually deciding to become professional. He won a place at RaDa, but failing to get work, he decided to switch to teaching. Thus Jimmie came into my acquaintance when he enrolled at Whitelands College in Putney as a mature student taking a degree in English and Drama with a teaching qualification. He could keep a group of students mesmerised with his wonderfully funny stories of his life with his mother back in Lancashire and he drew upon this background when he began to write plays for radio and for theatre. The plays were obvious material for the amateur groups that he had acted with in Lancashire and in the Twickenham and Teddington area, which was his London base. The plays were published with amateur theatres in mind, but their quality brought them to the attention of commercial managements. His first major success was Straight and Narrow, which was drawn from his experience with his mother and was a success at Wyndhams Theatre in 1992 and opened the GWT season in 1996. Jimmies mother might have been considered larger than life but he insisted that all of the outrageous events were absolutely true. Eventually he gave up teaching in order to concentrate on writing. Our next production, after September , calls on his teaching experience. His plays are warm and amusing although there are human tragedies in some and it was inevitable that his work attracted the attention of BBC and ITV companies and he was recruited to write for the major long running soaps. He contributed to Coronation Street and Emmerdale while continuing to write for the stage. He was diagnosed with emphysema and this debilitating lung condition caused his death from pneumonia on 1st February 2011.
- thanks to Bill Bray from the Geoffrey Whitworth Theatre for the biography.

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

 After September         Albert Make Us Laugh         But Yesterday         Different Way Home, A         From Here To The Library         Garden Party, The         Home Before Dark, Or, The Saga Of Miss Edie Hill         In By Half         In Room Five Hundred And Four         In The Hall         Interior Designs         Pity About Kitty         Respectable Funeral         Something To Remember You By         Straight And Narrow         Sylvia's Wedding         Take Away The Lady         Too Long An Autumn

After September

Synopsis:
The staff of the Gwendolen Kyte School for Girls are an odd assortment of social misfits and eccentric types. Returning for a new term they face a catalogue of catastrophe and tension reaches breaking point when a government inspector arrives with anonymous letters defaming the school as outmoded, old-fashioned and unsafe, and the staff as unqualified. Who could have betrayed them? and if the school is closed down, where will they go? a warm and touching depiction of female relationships, with several excellent roles for older actresses.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1994   -

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

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  10            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Albert Make Us Laugh

Synopsis:
Some would say albert Nuttall, aged eleven, is backward - but he is special. He is a poet and a visionary who, as he grows into manhood, inspires unexpected depths of emotion in other people, notably his classmate Primrose, whose glorious future as an actress fails to materialise, and the lost and lonely young schoolteacher, Janet Partington. This strange, touching and uplifting story - written to be enacted entirely by adults - is engaging and theatrically innovative. Period 1940s-1950s

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Questors Student group, Questors, london    1986

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1996   -

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:  6            Female:  8            Other:  or 4& 5

Further Reference:
-

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But Yesterday

Synopsis:
Before leaving on a journey Robert returns to the garden of his childhood. Memories come flooding back

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1989   -

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:
One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  2m extras

Further Reference:
-

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Different Way Home, A

Synopsis:
Two members of a family in a small closely knit North of England Town. The voices convey the need for families to communicate and for love to transcend prejudice

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Dukes Head, Richmond, Surrey    1986

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1999   -

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:
Two monologues

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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From Here To The Library

Synopsis:
Beryl Tidy, whose life is dominated by her elderly, irascible and demanding father, has a new boss at the library. Mr Gostilow has just moved to the North from London. When Beryl storms out of work after an uncharacteristic fit of temper and fails to return, Gostilow visits her to find out why. Despite the idiosyncratic and often hilarious comments from Beryl's father, Gostilow succeeds in showing her that she needs and is needed by the world outside.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Teddington Theatre Club, Hampton Court Theatre    1983

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1985   -

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:
One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Garden Party, The

Synopsis:
The scene is set for a day and a night of revelations, arguments and moments of tenderness as the family seek to resolve its differences and put the past behind them

Notes:
written with Hazel Wyld

1st Produced:
Hampton Hill Playhouse    1999

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 2000   -

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:  6            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Home Before Dark, Or, The Saga Of Miss Edie Hill

Synopsis:
a warm and human play set in a small cotton mill town in Lancashire. Edie Hill is our heroine - working hard, raising an illegitimate son and losing her family one by one, victims of the cotton dust from years spent at the mill. Edie is, however, a lively and funny character and the tragedy is lightened by moments of great humour and humanity.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Youth action Theatre, Hampton Court Theatre    1993

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1994   -

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:  13            Female:  16            Other:  doubling possible

Further Reference:
-

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In By Half

Synopsis:
Madam, once a distinguished actress, left alone at the close, relinquishes her long held theatrical pretensions aware that they are now completely meaningless

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Teddington Theatre Club audio    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1994   -

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:
One act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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In Room Five Hundred And Four

Synopsis:
Older Edie reminisces over the past. Out of her memory step her young self and husband at their wedding day in 1942, thus discovering life's big truth in the span of one night

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Dukes Head, Richmond, Surrey    1986

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1988   -

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:
One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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In The Hall

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London,    -

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:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Interior Designs

Synopsis:
Follows three women yearning to fill the emptiness of their lives and their various attempts to trap the eligible Him. Him departs leaving a surrealist abyss of desperation

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Dukes Head, Richmond, Surrey    1987

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1987   -

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:
One act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Pity About Kitty

Synopsis:
Nurse gives evidence at a medical tribunal investigating a patients death. Support she felt she could count on diminishes in the cause of self interest

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Dukes Head, Richmond, Surrey    1987

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1988   -

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:
One act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  3            Other:  2 dummies

Further Reference:
-

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Respectable Funeral

Synopsis:
Three middle aged sisters at their mother's funeral look forward to the inheritance until their brother arrives with a request that changes their lives.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Teddington Theatre Club, Hampton Court Theatre (shorter version)    1983

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1985   -

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:
One act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Something To Remember You By

Synopsis:
armstrong armstrong is a man convinced he is ugly and scarred and desperate to become a writer. Unable to deal with the strange lonely world, he finds escape at the cinema and in his absent father's record collection. Meeting Venetia - the very image of his favourite female singer - armstrong armstrong feels happiness for the first time, until he realises that he has to find a more intense form of escapism

Notes:
played Questors, London, 1995

1st Produced:
Theatre West Four, Dukes Head, Richmond, Surrey (under another title)    1994

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1996   -

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:
Black Comedy Comedy

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Straight And Narrow

Synopsis:
In this West End hit sex comedy the central couple is Bob and Jeff. Jeff is considering leaving Bob and for a woman so he can become a father. Meanwhile Bob contends with a meddling family that is ignorant of his living situation. His mother, a domineering comic creation, complicates matters by pressing Bob to get married. She refuses to recognize that there is anything about her son which might upset her conventional sensibilities. The happy ending finds Bob and Jeff together and mother having come to terms with the truth.

Notes:
Wyndhams 1987

1st Produced:
Theatre West Four, Dukes Head, Richmond, Surrey    1987

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1992   -

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. - - Gay, full length

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sylvia's Wedding

Synopsis:
Gordon finally proposes to Sylvia after ten years of courting, much to the horror of both their families, neither of whom wants to be involved with the other. Sylvia's cynical friend deflates her with her world-weary comments, but against all the odds it seems that the two families will co-operate and the wedding looks set for success - until Fate intervenes.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Oldham Coliseum    1995

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1996   -

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:  3            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Take Away The Lady

Synopsis:
Intriguing glimpses into a cupboard full of family skeletons, together with some serious, and not so serious, detective work, combine in this unusual suspense play, to keep everyone guessing until the very last page! Returning home from prison, after serving fifteen years for allegedly murdering his mother. Matthew finds his three sisters, his wife and his father waiting for him. Still protesting his innocence, Matthew's arrival prompts the question of who did kill Mother scornful Celia, dotty Emma, cold Lavinia, flighty Gilda or even gentle Father? accUSAtions and hypotheses abound, but it takes an apparent suicide, and a good deal of amateur sleuthing, before the truth is revealed and the lady can be taken away.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    1986

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1986   -

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:
Suspense

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Too Long An Autumn

Synopsis:
a retirement home for theatricals in the autumn of their lives, where euphemism reigns supreme together with a firm belief that elderly equals senile. When the irreverent Millie arrives. . .

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Teddington Theatre Club, Hampton Court Theatre    1987

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1987   -

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:
One act

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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