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Camden McDonald

CAMDEN MCDONALD

  (1959 - )

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

Literary Agent:    Elspeth Cochrane Agency, UK  

Camden McDonald was born in Derby in 1959, the eldest child of Irish and Jamaican immigrants. Despite his family's meagre circumstances, he attended Derby Grammar School along with his brother, Martin, also attending Hughes School of Dance & Drama. At Derby School he encountered the early work of fellow student David Calladine, Director and founder of Public Spirit - an early influence. He made his professional stage debut in 1972 at the age of 13 in Brecht's Galileo at Derby Playhouse. Leaving school at the age of 16, he briefly studied 'A' levels before joining Playground Theatre Company, and then co-founding with Dorothy McCree the Young National Trust Theatre, acting, devising and writing shows for young people. Moving to Manchester in the early 80's he acted in television and Theatre before founding Roar Material Theatre Co-operative - a new writing company - with Norman Leach and Lesley Martin. the Co-op premiered works by Leach and other prominent Manchester writers including Richard Gallagher. In 1986 he went to Wuppertal, Germany to observe the working methods of Pina Bausch and her TANZteater. In 1987, he met Karen Crook and Lorraine Hackett and they began devising original performance pieces beginning with "Invasion of the Cliches", followed by the Everyday life series, adaptations of Shakespeare, and also satirical comedy for video and radio. After traveling and working in Spain and the United States in the early 90's, he moved to London in 1997 and took an MA in advanced Theatre practice at Central School if Speech and Drama. While at Central he met Funmi Olowe who featured in the two subsequent Everyday Life pieces. In 1999 he met Ken Campbell and his daughter Daisy who had just embarked on a revival of "the Warp" the infamous 24 hour play cycle. After collaborating on "the Warp", he directed Theatre on the London fringe and then began working in film, notably the features "Room 36" and "Halal Harry". He is currently collaborating with director Silvio Narizzano on a screenplay called "Nobody's Land".

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

        Everyday Life In Berlin         Everyday Life In Hollywood         Everyday Life In Paris Rome & Munich         Everyday Life In the Eighties         Everyday Life In the Empire Of Japan         Everyday Life In the Sixties         Invasion Of the Cliches         XP


Everyday Life In Berlin

Synopsis:
A mythopoeic vision of Berlin centreing on four cabaret artists

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
The Green Room, Manchester     1992

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:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Everyday Life In Hollywood

Synopsis:
Sychophants gather at the Belaire dream-home of faded star Karina Cruikshank to play out the tragic interior of a mind utterly deranged by adulation.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
The Green Room, Manchester     1989

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:  4            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Everyday Life In Paris Rome & Munich

Synopsis:
Artistic and personal angst on the set of 70's European art movie starring Karina Cruikshank

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
The Green Room, Manchester     1990

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:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Everyday Life In the Eighties

Synopsis:
the surrealy vacuous and materialistic lives of a group of greedy, corporate high flyers.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
The Drome, London     1999

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:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Everyday Life In the Empire Of Japan

Synopsis:
Jilted bride Lotus Blossom takes spectacular revenge on her loathsome fiance and his cohorts.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
The Green Room, Manchester     1989

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:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Everyday Life In the Sixties

Synopsis:
the Sixties from the point of view of three groupies

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
The Lion & Unicorn, London     1998

Organisations:
Roar Material

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:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Invasion Of the Cliches

Synopsis:
A Nightmare of Urban Angst & Surreal Humour. the lights go down and a slick, enthusiastic announcer introduces us to "the Wonderful World of Magnum", and to three ordinary clerks at work in the multi-storey office of Magnum Enterprises. they are dressed and behave like cliched all-American guys; the type you might see in a 50's corporate propaganda film or sci-fi movie - bright and eager, gut-tuggingly content with their lot, and totally - ridiculously - committed to their way of life: one dominated by corporate ideology. We find out a little about each of them - Al, young, spunky and newlywed; Barney, a dry jestful bachelor; Chuck, solid & regular family man. Most of their enthusiasm, however, is directed at their mind-numbing bureaucratic tasks. they climax with a song and dance routine about the nature of individuality. the lights fade again and the announcer introduces a flashback - what we have seen is the happy and contented Al, Barney & Chuck, but now we are shown the way they were before the cataclysmic event that transformed them - before the arrival of AN ASTEROID FROM OUTER SPACE!! the lights come up on a slightly different scene. the three have become Alec, Bernard and Charles. they are bored and listless - gone are the bright eyes, American accents and moronic grins - they are dull office drones, company conformists, dressed in grey. As they listen to reports on the radio of a meteorite impact on the outskirts of the city each of them is drawn inexorably into his own worst nightmare - Part One climaxes with an intrusion by the extra-terrestrial visitor Phoebe Zeitgeist and another song and dance routine. Part Two is the mirror of Part One - the same structure the same overall pattern of events, but the central characters are three downtrodden women from the Repro Department. they are replaced by aliens who have been taught how to behave like "real women" through TV ads. the climax of the piece brings all of the characters together for the appearance of Phoebe Zeitgeist and a grand musical finale - Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
The Green Room, Manchester     1988

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:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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XP

Synopsis:
A radical reassessment of the life of Christ and satire on current events.

Notes:
written by Camden McDonald, Viv Galvagna And Ruth Robinson

1st Produced:
The First Church Of Christ Performance Artist, 491 Gallery, London & Liverpool Biennial Festival     2004

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:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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