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Sharman MacDonald

SHARMAN MACDONALD

  (1951 - )
Nationality:    Scottish
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    United Agents  

Born in Glasgow, Sharman Macdonald became an actress on graduation from Edinburgh University but gave it up in order to write. When I Was a Girl . . . won her the evening Standard award for Most Promising Playwright of 1984 and ran in London for one year. Her novels, the Beast and Night, Night, have been published by Collins. She has written a film script, Wild Flowers, which was made for ChAnnel Four.

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

         After Juliet         All Things Nice         Borders Of Paradise         Brave, The         Broken Hallelujah         Girl With Red Hair, The         Hey Persephone!         Sea Urchins         Shades         She Town         When I Was A Girl I Used To Scream And Shout         When We Were Women         Winter Guest, The
After Juliet

Synopsis:
Romeo and Juliet are dead, a tense truce holds between the Capulets and the Montagues, and although Banvolio, Romeo's best friend, is in love with Rosaline, Juliet's cousin, Rosaline is bent on revenge. After Juliet explores the highly charged aftermath of Shakespeare's tragedy of the 'star-crossed' lovers - an explosive dramatic event.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Cardiff HS

1st Published:
Graham-adriani, Suzy, New Connections '99: New Plays for Young People, 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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  7            Other:  1

Further Reference:
-

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All Things Nice

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 1991   

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:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Borders Of Paradise

Synopsis:
ellen and Rose have arrived from Scotland and set up their tent on a Devonshire cliff top. Down on the beach Rob, David, Charlie, Cot and John are enjoying a surfing break. a touching and humorous piece with seven excellent roles for young actors. 'No-one writes about the mysteries of young adulthood with more truth . . . combines warm and funny naturalism with an appropriate touch of the mystic.' the Times

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Plays I" Faber, 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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  2            Other:  5b 2g

Further Reference:
-

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Brave, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Three Plays", Faber, London, 1990   

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:  5            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Broken Hallelujah

Broken Hallelujah
The morning of September 5th 1864 at the siege of Petersburg, Virginia. A gleam of sunlight shines on Northern Lines. . .' Sharman MacDonald's gripping and moving play tells of another extraordinary day in the life of young people living through the American Civil War. Young Confederate and Union soldiers and civilians have a chance encounter which will affect their lives forever. Parallel to the crossfire and desperation which many young people in the world find themselves living in, Broken Hallelujah explores the futility of war through the eyes of young people.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Theatre Royal Bath Young People's Theatre

1st Published:
in Volume 5 of New Plays from a.C.T.'s Young Conservatory, Smith & Kraus, 2007   

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:
Youth play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Girl With Red Hair, The

Synopsis:
In a small town on the east coast of Scotland, three generations are profoundly affected by the death of seventeen-year-old Roslyn. But strangers, friends and family find themselves unwittingly united as the summer warms their skin and revives their hearts. the Girl With Red Hair is an enchanting, humorous and sensitive portrait of a community's recovery from bereavement, and love rediscovered.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 2003   

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:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Hey Persephone!

Synopsis:
Loosely based on the Persephone myth and basd in Glasgow.

Notes:
Music Deirdre Gribbin. Lyrics Sharman Macdonald

1st Produced:
Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Aldeburgh     26 Jun 1998

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:
operetta

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sea Urchins

Synopsis:
A passionate and enthralling play about womanhood and growing up, men and longing for them - set in the summer of 1961 on the Atlantic coast of Wales.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 1998   

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:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Shades

Synopsis:
In 1950's Glasgow widow goes to dinner dance hoping to find love however memories intrude compounded by her sons growing up and away

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Albery, London     1992

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, 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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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She Town

Synopsis:
Set in 'the backies' in the summer of 1936 She Town includes a large female cast made up of members of Dundee Rep ensemble and community actors. Friendships, loyalties and family ties are challenged as tensions rise among a group of Dundonian women. Working all day in the mills to support their families whilst their 'kettle biler' husbands stay at home, the women find camaraderie and their voices. As the local choir audition to sing with Paul Robeson at Caird Hall others are campaigning for the rights of the mill workers. Many miles from Dundee the Spanish Civil war rages and will have a lasting effect on the lives of the local women.

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:  13            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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When I Was A Girl I Used To Scream And Shout

Synopsis:
A funny and moving play set in 1983 on a rocky East of Scotland beach. Spans 25 years in a series of flashbacks and cleverly unfolds the story of a mother and daughter.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, 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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
National Library of Scotland ref: Traverse - acc.10365/56B

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When We Were Women

Synopsis:
Glasgow, 1943. A city of falling bombs, dark corners and whispered secrets. In the blitzed blacked-out streets, a naval officer walks into Isla's life and sweeps her off her feet. But by 1944, Isla is fighting a war of her own - with her tempestuous mother, Maggie. As lives become inexorably entwined, the officer's past is in real danger of destroying the family's future

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Three Plays", Faber, London, 1990   

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:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Winter Guest, The

Synopsis:
We're in a small Scottish seaside town in winter, the sea frozen over. Eight characters move through the day in pairs: Lily and Chloe off to a funeral, recently widowed Frances besieged by her fierce mother, sixteen year old Alex fascinated by sixteen year old Nita, and Tom and Sam, two boys playing truant from school. All are touched by that invisible presence, death; one of them moves out over the ice with him. This is a lyrical play, funny and sad, about the distances between people, about how they try to cross those distances.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
London     1993

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:  3            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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