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Reginald Denham

REGINALD DENHAM  (1894 - 1983)

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

Literary Agent:    Film Rights Ltd  


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

 Be Your Age         Blue Heaven         Dark Hammock         Dash Of Bitters, A         Dead Giveaway         Give Me Yesterday         Harem, The         Ladies In Retirement         Minor Murder         Oh, Mama! No, Papa!         Perfectionist, The         Platinum Set, The         Recipe For A Crime         Round Trip         Stars In My Hair         Suspect         Sweet Peril         Trunk Crime         Wallflower

Be Your Age

Synopsis:
archibald K. Holly is a widower with three daughters and a problem. Gwendolyn, his middle daughter, wires that she is jilting the boy next door for a new beau from college and that she is bringing him home. The potential groom is not a young man as expected, but Eliot Spurgeon, a suave, sophisticated professor as old as Mr. Holly himself. But the fun really begins when Mr. Holly realises that Eliot is an old fraternity brother of his, famous as the campus wolf. Holly's determination to break up this May-December infatuation and get his stubborn daughter to marry the more suitable young man her own age, leads to a crescendo of comic situations.

Notes:
written by Reginald Denham And Mary Orr

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    -

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:
Romantic Comedy Comedy

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  6            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Blue Heaven

Synopsis:
Laura and Julian are a middle-aged couple whose marriage has begun to sour. Laura confuses her selfishness with sensitivity, and is increasingly convinced that Julian doesn't "understand" her. There is also the added irritant of Daniel, who is Juliau's assistant and (as Julian suspects) Laura's lover. after a stormy session with Julian she decides to leave him and go off with Daniel. She is obliged to return briefly, however, and it is here that the midsummer madness of the Eve of San Juan takes over. When Laura tiptoes back she is more than slightly perplexed to find that its not a few hours later at all - but ten years in the future. an atomic war has intervened, Spain is under Russian control, and Julian is living with another woman. The old comforts are gone, but Julian is a happy man at last and his changed situation fills Laura with the truth of her own past failures as a wife and a person. But then we are suddenly back in the present and a sobered Laura pleads vainly with Julian for a second chance. ag

Notes:
Original Playwright - Alfonso Paso (El Cielo Dentro de Casa);

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1979   -

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:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Dark Hammock

Synopsis:
In a remote part of Florida Coral Platt, a sinister woman has married a man considerably older than she. For reasons sufficient to her, she wants him out of the way and plans an ingenious though slow murder by poison. She has succeeded in making it seem that Marvin is dying through natural causes. However, she is forced unexpectedly to play hostess to two women who have come to Florida. The women stay longer than they planned because they have begun to suspect what Coral is up to. In a series of exciting scenes they discover just what is going on and prevent Marvin's death.

Notes:
written by Reginald Denham And Mary Orr

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    -

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:
Melodrama

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Dash Of Bitters, A

Synopsis:
Muriel Whitlock, a middle-aged English spinster, is a perfectionist. Small wonder that Virginia Whitlock, an attractive young girl, hopes to get away. Virginia is a sculptress and she has just finished a statute which she is convinced will win her a scholarship to an art school in Rome. Muriel is not pleased, when she realizes that Virginia's mind is made up, she agrees, and even offers to help finance the trip. all seems well, but when they leave for church one day Muriel slips back and smashes Virginia's statue. But Muriel's act was witnessed by Ricky Vidal, a young Latin-American, who has slipped into the house, unknown to Muriel. Ricky presents himself to Muriel as her long-lost nephew, and she suspects of ulterior motives; but she is also intrigued by his charm. He flatters her, gets money from her, encourages her in her artistic endeavors, which consists of drawing the same still life over and over. Ricky diverts her to other models, among them some goldfish which he gives her as a gift; but the fish keep moving around, and Muriel can't get them to stay still until she puts them in the refrigerator, freezing them into position. Now Ricky realizes he is dealing with an unbalanced mind, and from this point on it's a tug-of-war between his lack of principles and Muriel's single mindedness.

Notes:
adapted from "The Perfectionist" by Margaret St. Clair. / written by Denham, Reginald And Smith, Conrad

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    -

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 adaptation

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Dead Giveaway

Synopsis:
The setting is the living room of a boarded-up hunting lodge in rural Ohio, the secret hideaway of a prominent U.S. Senator. a young couple, on the run after having accidentally killed a gas station attendant during a robbery, break into the lodge to hide out-only to be discovered by the Senator when he arrives for a surreptitious tryst with another man's wife. Thereafter the plot begins to twist and turn ingeniously as the young couple, aware that they have caught the Senator in a compromising situation, blackmail him for $5,000-only to have the tables turned on them when the Senator discovers the body which they have hidden in the lodge and realizes that the peril of discovery is as great for them as for him. Meanwhile his new lady friend, knowing that the Senator has presidential aspirations, decides to exploit his predicament for her own advantage. Needless to say the complications multiply steadily as the various protagonists try to outwit each other, leading, in the end, to an unexpected but ironically fitting denouement.

Notes:
written by Reginald Denham And Mary Orr

1st Produced:
apple Corps Theatre, NY    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    -

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:
Suspense

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Give Me Yesterday

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
written with Edward Percy

1st Produced:
-    1938

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
English Theatre Guild, London, 1959   -

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:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Harem, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Written by Steve Percy and Reginald Denham

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French Ltd, London 1939   -

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:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Ladies In Retirement

Reginald Denham
Ladies in Retirement is based on a famous murder in France in the 1880s. The play, while biting and funny, reflects the plight of powerless, impoverished women facing lives of desperation with no social or financial support. Set in an isolated cottage near Gravesend, in Victorian England (1885), sinister changes are set into motion when housekeeper Ellen Creed brings her two needy sisters to visit the lonely house she shares with her colorful mistress Leonora Fiske

Notes:
written with Edward Percy

1st Produced:
Broadway, NY    1940

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Josef Weinberger, London,    978-0856761041

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:
Period Thriller

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  6            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Minor Murder

Synopsis:
The scene is a remote ranch in the Australian outback, where Shirley, a widow, lives with her teenage daughter, Margaret. Shirley has become disturbed by the intense relationship that has grown between Margaret and her friend, Carla, the child of her late foreman, who Shirley took in after her parents' death. To eliminate Carla's influence over Margaret, Shirley decides to send her daughter to boarding school and Carla to live with relatives. This plan leaves the girls devastated. Their bond is even more unhealthy than anyone suspected, and to avoid separation the girls coolly arrange to murder Shirley, charting each step so that it will appear to be an accident. at first, it is accepted by all, including Shirley's best friend, Patricia, and her attorney, Claude. But then, with growing horror the two grown-ups unearth small inconsistencies. To get at the truth, Patricia and Claude devise a strategy as clever as the crime itself, and painstakingly stalk their quarry, who outwit them at every turn until, in the final, chilling moments of the play, an ironic twist of fate causes them to become the means of their own undoing.

Notes:
written by Reginald Denham And Mary Orr

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1967   -

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:
Murder

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Oh, Mama! No, Papa!

Synopsis:
Eleanor (a widow) and Silas (a widower) are both, if you take their word for it, near death's door. Louisa (Eleanor's daughter) and James (Silas' son), having tired of their parents' perpetual grumbling and moaning accompany them to see Dr. Bolt-the idea being to get a first-hand report on just what is wrong with their elders. all four meet for the first time in the Doctor's waiting room, and immediately strike up friendships. In fact Eleanor and Silas are smitten with a romantic passion of the sort usually experienced only by the young. This happens to be exactly what the Doctor ordered-although their children are shocked by such carrying on. Nevertheless love has its way, and in short order Silas is pacing the living room of his apartment in anticipation of a visit from Eleanor. When she arrives the champagne is uncorked, and soon our "outpatients" are billing and cooing like two love birds. The bloom of passion is suddenly deflated by the unexpected appearance of James and Louisa, who manage to make the whole thing seen tawdry and ridiculous, and who decree that their parents are not to see any more of each other. The unrequited lovers are soon as filled with aches and pains as ever, but a trumped-up story of a clandestine meeting and the imminent arrival of a wee one brings the spoil-sport children back in line.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Alfonso Paso. From Cosas de Papa y Mama

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    -

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:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Perfectionist, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Written by Conrad Sutton Smith And Reginald Denham

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Platinum Set, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
written by Reginald Denham And Mary Orr

1st Produced:
Theatre Royal, Newcastle    07 Mar 1950

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 3 act

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  8            Other:  -

Further Reference:
Wearing - The London Stage 50.57

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Recipe For A Crime

Synopsis:
In their tour of Mexico, Charles and Emlyn arrive at a remote inn in the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountains and a surprise encounter with Lloyd, a friend from Charles' college days. although their meeting is fortuitous, it also happens that Charles and Lloyd share a common interest in the ancient legend of "El aguila Negra," the Black Eagle, a Spanish grandee who built the fortress which has since become the guest house of the play. The legend which surrounds him is a tale of murder and unrecovered treasure, and its story is echoed in another unsolved crime which occurred in the same place and under cloudy circumstances just a short while before the action takes place. adding to the aura of mystery are Laura, a beautiful and taciturn guest from New York; Dr. anton, the local physician; and adriana and Daniel, the brother and sister who manage the hostelry. all are, it appears, somehow connected with the most recent murder and all would seem, as well, to provide clues to the untangling of the earlier crime. Charles and Lloyd discuss the limited information available, and Charles becomes convinced that by adding logic where facts are missing he will be able to reconstruct, and solve, both crimes. Charles sets to work in earnest, reluctantly abetted by a timorous Emlyn and then joined by Laura as well. But as the process of reconstruction and reasoning brings the trio closer to the truth, it also draws them ever deeper into danger. The last moments of the play become breathtaking, and the denouement, when it comes, is shattering.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Alfonso Paso. A free Adaptaion of Receta Para un Crimen

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    -

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 Mystery Mystery

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Round Trip

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Written by Mary Orr And Reginald Denham

1st Produced:
Biltmore Theatre, New York    29 May 1945

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Stars In My Hair

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Written by Edward Percy And Reginald Denham

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Crown Publishers, New York 1958   -

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:
Thriller

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Suspect

Synopsis:
a newspaper magnate is staying in Cornwall. He believes that he has met his landlady before. He remembers that as a junior reporter he had covered a murder trial in Scotland which had ended with a not proven verdict. He sets out to find out what really happened.

Notes:
Written by Edward Percy And Reginald Denham

1st Produced:
-    1937

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1937   -

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:  4            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
Wearing - The London Stage 55.229

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Sweet Peril

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
written by Reginald Denham And Mary Orr

1st Produced:
Pavilion, Bournemouth    27 Oct 1952

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 3 act

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
Wearing - The London Stage 52.279

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Trunk Crime

Synopsis:
Wolfe lives a cloistered life in his beautifully decorated room at college. On the evening of a party, he and Pamela, a girl he is very interested in, are rudely interrupted by several other students. after Pamela leaves, the intoxicated young men tell Wolfe how intensely they dislike him, and then systematically destroy his piano, his beloved books, and a family heirloom, a charm which, according to the legend, will bring tragedy if broken. Early next morning Dick Seele, the ringleader, comes by to apologize. Wolfe is strangely quiet. Seele makes it clear he is interested in Pamela, and Wolfe invites him to date her. as Seele is leaving he asks how Wolfe seems not to have been ill affected by the party. Wolfe tells him it's a matter of a hypodermic injection and offers one to Seele. The moment the syringe is out Wolfe informs Seele that he will lose consciousness in a few moments and he awaken he will find himself inside a trunk with holes bored into it, which will be thrown into 20 feet of water near Wolfe's home. The scene shifts to Wolfe's home in the marsh country where Sonia, an attractive young widow with 2 children, is about to leave after renting the place. Wolfe is annoyed at this threat to his plans but can't do anything about it, particularly when one of Sonia's children is injured, and the family must stay a little longer. Sonia sees that Wolfe is under a strain and, for all his charm, is something of a psychopath. But she is intrigued by him. But when she discovers that one of the two trunks he brought has a body in it the truth is out. Wolfe threatens to kill her to conceal his crime, but Sonia manages to switch the trunks before he carries it out. When Wolfe realizes the enormity of what he has done he is on the point of going to pieces. But he is saved by the appearance of his victim on the stairs-alive. In order not to disturb the tremendous tense mood created by the climax of this play, the authors have most ingeniously placed their epilogue first, so that the audience may know without being in any way let in on the secret of the play, that Wolfe has been cured and will marry Sonia.

Notes:
written with Edward Percy

1st Produced:
-    1944

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    -

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:  10            Female:  8            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Wallflower

Synopsis:
Jessamine Linnett and her husband, andrew, are typical Americans. Each has a daughter from a former marriage. The story begins with the two girls' return from college. Jackie, andrew's daughter, and Joy, Jessamine's, are fond of each other. But Joy's attractiveness runs to beauty so apparent that Jackie's charm is overshadowed. Jackie is taken aback with the realization that her one suitor, Warren, is dazzled by Joy. When Jackie gets no bid to the dance there follow riotous attempts to secure an escort for her, resulting in nothing more than funny arguments between Jessamine and andrew over their respective daughters, and their communication with each other only through the medium of both girls. Jackie decided to take matters into her own hands when Warren, who has proposed to Joy and been turned down, turns to her for solace. Jackie's way of getting her man is drastic, but entirely successful.

Notes:
written by Reginald Denham And Mary Orr

1st Produced:
-    1944

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    -

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:  8            Female:  7            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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