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Peter Gill

PETER GILL

  (1939 - )
Nationality:    Welsh
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    Casarotto Ramsay and Associates Ltd  

Peter Gill was born in 1939 in Cardiff and started his professional career as an actor. a director as well as a writer, he has directed over eighty productions in the UK, Europe and North America. at the Royal Court Theatre in the 1960s he was responsible for introducing D. H. Lawrence's plays to the Theatre. the founding director of Riverside Studios and the Royal National Theatre Studio, Peter Gill lives in London. (papers 1911 - 2006 (add 88898). British Library)

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

         Another Door Closed         As Good a Time as Any         As I Lay Dying         Cardiff East         Certain Young Men         Cherry Orchard, The         Friendly Fire         In the Blue         Kick For Touch         Look Across the Eyes         Lovely Evening         Mean Tears         Merry-Go-Round, The         Original Sin         Over Gardens Out         Provincial Life, A         Seagull, The         Sleepers Den, The         Small Change         Talbot House         Touch And Go         Versailles         York Realist, The
Another Door Closed

Another Door Closed
a pair of elderly sisters have closeted themselves away from the world and are suitably alarmed by the arrival of a man

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Peter Hall Company

1st Published:
Faber and Faber 2009   

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:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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As Good a Time as Any

As Good a Time as Any
As Good A Time As Any is a witty and ironic portrait of eight women on a Spring morning in London. The play is divided into five choruses: the eight women are the ordinary, unheroic inhabitants of the city, who speak for the continuity of everyday life, and its inexhaustibility. The world of As Good A Time As Any is on the face of it a small one, yet it has an intensity and depth of emotion which make it feel transcendent and universal.

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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  8            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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As I Lay Dying

Synopsis:
the play is difficult to follow, as the book is difficult to read. But it is worth the effort and, like the best of all Peter Gill's work, it is instinct with gestural scrupulousness and a sort of throbbing, humourless integrity. Faulkner's jocularity, anyway, was never seen to best advantage in this novel, but I feel it a shame that we end on a reverse filial pieta rather than on the news that old Bundren (Robert Hamilton) finds not only a new wife, but also new teeth, as his grim mission is accomplished. the adaptation, for all its merits, is more concerned with mothers and sons than with Faulkner's wild descriptive landscape.

Notes:
novel by Faulkner

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:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Cardiff East

Cardiff East
Set in Cardiff's east side, Peter Gill's new play offers a vivid portrait of a community the Tories thought they'd got rid of, and New Labour would prefer to forget. Cardiff east raises essential questions: What is family value? What does it feel like to be an immigrant in your own country? and most importantly, why don't the Welsh reach for the armalite? Uncompromising and desperately real, with an undercurrent of ironic humour, Cardiff east builds towards an inexorable climax, which combines hope and tragedy in equal parts.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
National Theatre, London

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 1997   

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. - - Gay, theme/character full length

Parts:
Male:  9            Female:  8            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Certain Young Men

Synopsis:
What are two grown men doing living together, faking all the stupidities of a fake straight relationship? a sharp and poignant comedy of contemporary manners, explores the lives and loves of Stewart and Michael, David and Christopher, andrew and Tony, and Robert and Terry.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Almeida Theatre, London >>>     21 Jan 1999

Organisations:
Almeida Theatre Company

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, 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:
Gay comedy full length

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
TR 19/1999

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Cherry Orchard, The

Cherry Orchard, The
Chekhov's characteristic genius and feeling for a society transition are most fully expressed in his last great play, the Cherry Orchard. It is a comedy in a form peculiar to Chekhov and not easily defined, showing as it does fifteen widely differentiated characters in situations that are by turn farcical, tragic and romantic. Written in 1903, the year before he died, the play tells of an old family estate up for auction and how, with the sale, a whole way of life comes to an end.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Anton Chekhov; literal translation by Ted Braun

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Oberon Books, London, 1995   

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:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  9            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Friendly Fire

Friendly Fire
the story of nine young people and a statue of a private soldier in the First World War. at its heart is a trio of people - each in love with the other, but in the wrong order. adie likes Gary, but Gary likes Shelley, who likes adie. None of this is simple, as the three discover as they struggle to understand and cope with the hand life and love have dealt them and 'sort out what they can put up with, and what they can't'. Insightful, tough and moving, this is an important new play offering outstanding roles.

Notes:
company: West Lothian Youth Theatre

1st Produced:

Organisations:
BT National Connections

1st Published:
in New Connections 99, Faber, 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:
Play One act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  10 m/f

Further Reference:
-

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In the Blue

In the Blue
It is perhaps not a play at all, but a slow moving graphic panorama of unrelieved woe In the Spotlight" is the third book of acting scripts for young people and follows the format of its predecessors, aCTING YOUNG and CeNTRe STaGe. Schools and Drama Schools have found the self-contained nature of the pieces means that their pupils have a better understanding of the subjects and therefore greater empathy with them. Once again the subjects range from the serious to the absurd, but always looked at through the eyes of a young person.

Notes:
part of Five Play Bill

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: "In The Blue/Mean Tears published by Oberon Books 1997   

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:
40 min One act. - - Gay, one act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Kick For Touch

Kick For Touch
A love triangle - Jim and Joe who are brothers and Eileen Joe's wife. The brothers had a difficult childhood that has left them jealous of each other - but incredibly close. Untimely Eileen is crushed between them

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in "Small Change/Kick For Touch" published by Marian Boyars 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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Look Across the Eyes

Synopsis:
looks back to family life in the 1940's

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Oberon Books, London, 1997   

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:
Radio Play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Lovely Evening

Synopsis:
conveys a powerful sense of a fledgling love affair in fifties working class Cardiff and a rich impresssion of an almost vanished society, its manners and mores, its hopes and disappointments.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in the York Realist, Faber, London, 2001   

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:
Short Play One act

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Mean Tears

Mean Tears
Julian is an amoral, infantile brat - always seeking compliments. He is the darling of the aesthetes at university. Celia tries to take control of their lives which consists of sex and poetry. Julian beats her up and dumps her. Nell has more luck taking control and is rewarded with midnight near rape assaults. Steve an older gay man accepts Julian's ill treatment - waiting so that he can do the dumping

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Plays International", London, August, 1987. Contained in: "In The Blue/Mean Tears published by Oberon Books 1997   

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:
Gay drama full length

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Merry-Go-Round, The

Synopsis:
Lawrence's second play, written in 1910 when he was 25. It is a romantic comedy set against the background of colliery and countryside that dominated all his work. the emotional content is as intense as you would expect from Lawrence, and the inevitable struggles between mother and son, and lover and lover, are drawn with his characteristic power and acuity. the play is as human as its characters, and like them it is wayward, tender and full of fun.

Notes:
Playwright - D H Lawrence

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
theatreprint, London, 1973   

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:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  7            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Original Sin

Original Sin
angel, a spell-bindingly beautiful boy is plucked from the streets to be the plaything of a wealthy newspaper proprietor. This street-boy turned socialite moves with ease between the worlds of privilege and poverty in 1890's Paris and London. angel's rapid success turns as swiftly in to self destruction as he is caught in a downward spiral of obsession, money, murder, suicide and white slavery.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Frank Wedekind

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Peter Gill Festival

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 2002   

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:
adaptation. - - Gay, full length

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Over Gardens Out

Over Gardens Out
Depicts relationship between two young men who fell that there is no escape from their surroundings

Notes:
1st production 05/08/68, there was A second production At Royal Court on 29/07/69

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Playscript 44, Calder and Boyars, London (Plays & Players Jan 1970), 1970
Faber & Faber   

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. - - Gay, full length

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Provincial Life, A

Provincial Life, A
Chekhov's long story My Life, upon which this play is based, was written in 1896 during the period of his maturity as a story writer. His work of this time is a powerful reflection of contemporary Russian life. the story Ward 6 for example, set in a decrepit provincial hospital, with one terrible ward for the mentally sick, is such a strong image of the Russian intellectual's dilEmma, that the young Lenin was reported after reading it 'to have been seized with such a horror that he could not bear to stay in his room. He went out to find someone to talk to; but it was too late: they had all gone to bed. "I had absolutely the feeling", he told his sister the next day, "that I was shut up in Ward 6 myself"'.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Anton Chekhov (My Life)

1st Produced:

Organisations:
the English Stage Society

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:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  12            Female:  7            Other:  extras

Further Reference:
-

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Seagull, The

Seagull, The
Chekhov's great play, written in 1896, bursts into the 21st century with the burdens of the past bearing witness to the freedoms of the future.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Anton Chekhov

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
Oberon, Birmingham, 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:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  6            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sleepers Den, The

Synopsis:
Depicts poor working class family and their struggle to make ends meet and stay together.

Notes:
revised version Royal Court 1969

1st Produced:

Organisations:
the English Stage Society

1st Published:
Playscript 44, Calder and Boyars, London (Plays & Players Jan 1970), 1970   

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:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Small Change

Small Change
study of relationship between two boys with each other and their respective mothers

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1976
Marion Boyars 2008   

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:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Talbot House

Synopsis:
During the Great War, Talbot House in Poperinge, Belgium - a few miles behind the front line - became a haven for thousands of allied troops where they enjoyed some home comforts and remembered the men that they really were. Run by a diminutive chaplain named Tubby Clayton, the house became known by its army signaller's code of Toc H and ultimately would be the inspiration for the association with that name. Aimed at a family audience, this play recreates the humour, music and wonderful atmosphere of this inspirational house.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Beyond Eternity Promotions

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:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Touch And Go

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Playwright - D H Lawrence

1st Produced:
-     1980

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:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Versailles

Versailles
In the drawing room of the Rawlinson's late Victorian villa in Kent, life as it was lived before the war is quietly resuming.The family's son, Leonard Rawlinson, is among the British delegation sent to Versailles to draw up the treaty that will come to define Europe, the Middle East and the rest of the world. With the ghost of a fallen loved one still haunting him, Leonard perceives that the choices made in Paris will shape the fate of millions for centuries to come.

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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  6            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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York Realist, The

York Realist, The
When farm labourer George is cast in an amateur revival of the York Mystery Plays he meets assistant Director John. their relationship develops and soon John wants him to move to London with him. This finely drawn love-story explores class allegiances, the family and the origins and ownership of art

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
The Lowry, Salford Keys     12 Nov 2001

Organisations:
English Touring Theatre

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 2001   

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:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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