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Frank McGuinness

FRANK MCGUINNESS

  (1953 - )
Nationality:    Irish
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Casarotto Ramsay and Associates Ltd  

Frank McGuinness was born in Buncrana, Co. Donegal, and now lives in Dublin and lectures in English at University College Dublin. His plays include: the Factory Girls (Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 1982), Baglady (Abbey, 1985), Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme (Abbey, 1985; Hampstead Theatre, London, 1986), Innocence (Gate Theatre, Dublin, 1986), Carthaginians (Abbey, 1988; Hampstead, 1989), Mary and Lizzie (RSC, 1989), the Bread Man (Gate, 1991), Someone Who'll Watch Over Me (Hampstead, West End and Broadway, 1992), the Bird Sanctuary (Abbey, 1994), Mutabilitie (NT, 1997), Dolly West's Kitchen (Abbey, 1999; Old Vic, 2000), Gates of Gold (Gate, 2002), Speaking Like Magpies (Swan, Stratford, 2005), there Came a Gypsy Riding (Almeida, London, 2007) and Greta Garbo Came to Donegal (Tricycle Theatre, London, 2010). His widely performed versions include Ibsen's Rosmersholm (1987), Peer Gynt (1988), Hedda Gabler (1994), A Doll's House (1997) and the Lady from the Sea (2008); Chekhov's Three Sisters (1990) and Uncle Vanya (1995); Lorca's Yerma (1987); Brecht's the Threepenny Opera (1991) and the Caucasian Chalk Circle (1997); Sophocles' Electra (1998) and Oedipus (2008); Ostrovsky's the Storm (1998); Strindberg's Miss Julie (2000); Euripides' Hecuba (2004) and Helen (2009); and Racine's Phaedra (2006). Manuscript collection: National Library of Ireland

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

         Baglady         Barbaric Comedies         Beautiful British Justice         Bird Sanctuary, The         Borderlands         Bread Man, The         Brides of Ladybag         Carthaginians         Caucasian Chalk Circle, The         Chain Play, A         Chain Play, The         Crocodile         Damned By Despair         Dead, The         Doll's House, A         Dolly West's Kitchen         Electra         Factory Girls, The         Feed the Money And Keep them Coming         Flesh And Blood         Gates Of Gold         Gatherers         Ghosts         Glass God, The         Greta Garbo Comes To Donegal         Hanging Gardens, The         Hecuba         Hedda Gabler         Helen         House of Bernarda Alba, The         Innocence: the Life And Death Of Michelangelo Merisi Caravaggio         John Gabriel Borkman         Lady From the Sea         Ladybag         London Cries         Man with the Flower in his Mouth, The         Mary And Lizzie         Master Builder, The         Match Box, The         Miss Julie         Mutabilitie         Observe the Sons Of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme         Oedipus         Peer Gynt         Phaedra         Rebecca         Rosmersholm         Someone Who'll Watch Over Me         Speaking Like Magpies         Storm, The         Stronger, The         there Came A Gypsy Riding         Three Sisters, The         Threepenny Opera         Times In It         Uncle Vanya         Wild Duck, The         Yerma

Baglady

Synopsis:
short monologue of the life of the Baglady and her ring

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in Frank McGuinness Plays 1, Faber and Faber, London, 1988   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Barbaric Comedies

Synopsis:
Barbaric Comedies is a tragi-comedy following the fortunes of one Don Juan Manuel Montenegro. the play is an epic and wild story of greed, ferocity and passion.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
King's Theatre, Edinburgh    2000

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  18            Female:  3            Other:  doubling possible

Further Reference:
-

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Beautiful British Justice

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Liverpool    1989

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Skit Sketch

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Bird Sanctuary, The

Synopsis:
A house in Booterstown, Co. Dublin, overlooking the bird sanctuary

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Abbey, Dublin

1st Published:
in Frank McGuinness Plays 2, Faber and Faber, London, 2002   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Borderlands

Borderlands
Borderlands explores Southern attitudes to Northern Ireland and attitudes of young people in the North. Four young men from Derry, two Catholics and two Protestants, decide to bury their religious differences and go on a charity walk. On their first day across the border, they prepare to pitch their tent in the Republic

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
the Dominican Convent, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin    1984

Organisations:

1st Published:
in Three Team Plays", Wolfhound, Dublin, 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

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Genre:
play for post-primary schools Youth Audience

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Bread Man, The

Synopsis:
the Breadman tells the story of the Sinner Courtney, a middle-aged man who has temporarily gone off the rails in an attempt to come to terms with his relationship with his now dead father, a breadman who delivered bread around a small town in County Donegal all his life. As his antics become more and more unusual, his immediate and extended family become increasingly embarrassed and disapproving of Courtney's behaviour.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Gate Theatre

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

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  9            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Brides of Ladybag

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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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:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Carthaginians

Synopsis:
In a burial ground seven Derry people wait for the miracle to happen, namely that the dead will rise. Through the play they tell their stories, which are also the stories of their ruined city, its sorrows, its comedy and its history.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in Frank McGuinness Plays 1, Faber and Faber, London, 1988   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Caucasian Chalk Circle, The

Caucasian Chalk Circle, The
A morality masterpiece, the Caucasian Chalk Circle powerfully demonstrates Brecht's pioneering theatrical techniques. This version by Frank McGuinness is published to coincide with the National theatre's production touring the UK. A servant girl sacrifices everything to protect a child abandoned in the heat of civil war. Order restored, she is made to confront the boy's biological mother in a legal contest over who deserves to keep him. the comical judge calls on an ancient tradition ' the chalk circle ' to resolve the dispute. Who wins? This version by Frank McGuinness was first presented by the National theatre in 1997 and revived in 2007, opening at the Gulbenkian theatre, Canterbury, on 8 January.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Bertolt Brecht

1st Produced:

Organisations:
National Theatre, London

1st Published:
Methuen Drama    978-0713685947

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  3            Other:  extras

Further Reference:
-

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Chain Play, A

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Samuel Adamson, Moira Buffini, David Hare, Charlotte Jones, Frank McGuinness And Roy Williams each wrote A link for the Almeida's first chain play, performed for one night only As the theatre's major fund-raising event.

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, (not for commercial sale), 2007   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Chain Play, The

Synopsis:
One off performance of chain writing to celebrate the National theatre's 25th anniversary. A scene each from all the authors for a performance on one night

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Conceived and commissioned by Angus Mackenchnie

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Crocodile

Synopsis:
A girl has committed an horrific crime and begins to confide in a lawyer. the play delves into the darkest aspects of charity and aid, of guilt and penitence and of our need to find expression for our secrets and our crimes.

Notes:
Sky Arts launches An exciting new project, bringing live Drama to British television screens with A series of five, newly commissioned short plays. Written by some of the world's most celebrated And controversial playwrights, each play will be previewed At Riverside Studios before being broadcast live on Sky Arts 2 HD.

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:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Damned By Despair

Damned By Despair
Obsessed with his own salvation, the hermit Paulo dedicates himself to ten years of prayerful penance. When his faith wavers, the ever-watchful Devil seizes the moment to convince him that he shares the fate of one Enrico, a notorious Neapolitan gangster destined for damnation. Swearing vengeance, Paulo lashes out against God and assembles a band of rival outlaws. "I'll match Enrico in mad badness. So, we're damned, both of us, are we? then I'll be revenged on the whole world." And yet, even as their villainous crimes escalate, the possibility of redemption hovers over the two men, perhaps within reach. This fast-paced adventure story embraces bandits and beautiful women between glimpses of heaven and hell. the subversive and at times riotous exploration of faith and the transformative power of love races across the Italian landscape, relishing the unpredictability of fate, an extraordinary array of characters and their very real dilEmmas. "Sinner I am - pray for me."

Notes:
Original Playwright - Tirso de Molina. Written in 1635. from a literal translation by Simon bredon.

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

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Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  14            Female:  3            Other:  ensemble

Further Reference:
-

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Dead, The

Dead, The
the year is 1904 in the city of Dublin. Gretta and Gabriel Conroy attend the Morkan Sisters annual dinner on the Feast of the Epiphany and the last day of Christmas. An evening of laughter, music and dance ends in an epiphany for Gabriel.

Notes:
Recognised as a master-piece the Dead, the short story from James Joyces Dubliners is Dramatised for the Abbey stage by one of Irelands most important playwrights Frank McGuinness.

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Faber & Faber (5 Dec 2012)   978-0571302123

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  14            Female:  11            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Doll's House, A

Synopsis:
the final revolt of a wife who has been treated as a plaything by pompous husband.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Playhouse, London    1996

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, 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

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  4            Other:  1b 1g

Further Reference:
-

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Dolly West's Kitchen

Synopsis:
As World War II rages in Europe, in Donegal there is another war closer to home. In Dolly West's Kitchen, her family has its own conflicts to face as their lives are transformed with the arrival of allied troops across the border in Derry. War changes everything - its tragedies, its survivals and the history of the West family will be changed forever.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Abbey, Dublin

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 1999   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Electra

Electra
Electra is bound by grief following the murder of her father Agamemnon, unwilling to forgive and consumed by a desire for revenge, her anger builds. On the return of her brother Orestes, Electras fury explodes without mercy, leading to a bloody and terrifying conclusion.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Sophocles

1st Produced:
Minerva Theatre, Chichester    10 Sep 1997

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Stage and Screen 1998
Faber and Faber Ltd, London >>>   978-0739403655

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  6            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Factory Girls, The

Synopsis:
the Factory Girls tells the story of five women facing the threat of redundancy, who stage a lock-in in a shirt factory in Co. Donegal. As their protest continues the woman learn more about each other and themselves as they explore their anger, courage and compassion.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Abbey, Dublin

1st Published:
Monarch Line, Dublin, 1982   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Comedy Drama Comedy

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Feed the Money And Keep them Coming

Synopsis:
Feed the Money and Keep them Coming was originally presented alongside 'Brides of Ladybag' and 'Flesh and Blood' by the same author (both listed separately) under the umbrElla title 'Times In It'.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Abbey, Dublin

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

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Genre:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Flesh And Blood

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Abbey, Dublin

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

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Genre:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Gates Of Gold

Gates Of Gold
Inspired by the lives of Hilton Edwards and Micheal MacLiammoir, the two founders of the Gate theatre, Gates of Gold is about a marriage, a theatre starting and a life ending. the play explores the magic of theatre and the imagination, and addresses questions of sexuality, gender confusion and human mortality.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Gate Theatre

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 2002
Samuel French, Inc - New York (2010) >>>   978-0-573-69735-7

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play/Drama. - - Gay, full length

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Gatherers

Synopsis:
Gatherers is set in the Phoenix Park in 1932, during the Eucharistic Congress, and in 1979, during the Papal visit. Generations meet and pass, each member telling their story. their lives give personal shape to the destiny of their country, its beliefs and bigotries, its loves and losses, its fears and hates.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
the Lombard Street Studios, Dublin    1985

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
play for post-primary students Youth Audience

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Ghosts

Ghosts
While McGuinness retains the Norwegian fjord setting, the Anglo-Irish inflection of his dialogue brings the tension between morality, integrity and religion closer to home. Robert Bowman's production for Bristol Old Vic is a mix of the compelling and the overcooked, sometimes tending towards meloDrama but at its best burning with a suppressed, white-hot rage. Sian Thomas is Mrs Alving, the widow of a captain whose secret life of debauchery poisoned the family's outwardly respectable domesticity. Buttoned up to the throat in a tight, dark gown, Thomas vibrates with hskation and fear, disgusted by her own collusion in maintaining a lie, but desperate to keep her son, Oswald, free from the taint she dreads may be passed down from Father to son. Anger boils all around her. the pale, sweaty, syphilitic Oswald seems diseased with a toxic hatred for his inadequate parents, worsened by his initial inability to comprehend entirely his own feelings. When he begs Mrs Alving to perform a mercy killing should his suffering become too acute, his greatest horror is that his illness should reduce him to a baby, once again putting him wholly under the control of a mother who, for all her smothering, guilt-ridden devotion, has failed him. there's another problematic parent-child relationship, between the lame, drunkard carpenter Engstrand and his supposed daughter, Mrs Alving's maid Regine. Regine regards Engstrand as a kind of devil, and his mined foot in its clumsy built-up shoe as a cloven hoof; his plans for her future are devious and morally dubious. Yet he suggests a Father who genuinely seeks contentment, albeit of a warped kind, with his cruelly contemptuous child. the tears that fill his eyes when the ambitious Regine rejects him are moving but also richly ironic: she is not, in fact, his daughter, but the illegitimate offspring of dead Alving.
Sam Marlowe, the Times

Notes:
Original Playwright - Henrik Ibsen

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Glass God, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Lourdes Hall, Sean MacDermott Street, Dublin.    1982

Organisations:
Platform Theatre group

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London   978-0571260003

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:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Greta Garbo Comes To Donegal

Greta Garbo Comes To Donegal
Greta Garbo came to Donegal, and she did. the year is 1967 - nothing is ever the same after. Ireland is on the verge of violent change, two couples are on the verge of ending, a woman tries to save her family, a girl tries to save her future. Above it all but in the midst of things, determining what happens next, is the loveliest and loneliest of all women, the great Garbo. But when the gods arrive, they can cause havoc, not least to themselves, as the divine Greta learns.

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

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Genre:

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Hanging Gardens, The

Hanging Gardens, The
Now we have a family, a rivalry, a purpose.A writer and his wife sit together in their garden. They are surrounded by a lifetime's work; their home, their gardens and their children. Rachel wants to be congratulated on her pregnancy, Maurice is struggling for his father's acceptance and Charlie needs his sacrifices to be acknowledged. A crisis has drawn this family together but their honesty may pull them apart. - See more at: http://www.faber.co.uk/catalog/the-hanging-gardens/9780571278275#sthash.lkY3pZbs.dpuf

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Dublin Theatre Festival

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Hecuba

Synopsis:
Euripides himself certainly shows humanity at the end of its tether: the captive Trojan queen, having seen her daughter sacrificed and her son butchered by his Thracian protector, savagely exacts revenge. And Frank McGuinness's new version matches the story's violence with visceral language. Hecuba's daughter tells her mother "you will see your lamb ripped from you." the chorus announces "the gods have scalded the sons of Priam." Hecuba herself dismisses the wriggling Thracian king as a "barbaric thug". - Guardian

Notes:
Original Playwright - Euripides

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

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  4            Other:  boys

Further Reference:
-

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Hedda Gabler

Synopsis:
Revival

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Richmond/tour    1999

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

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Helen

Helen
a free translation to enable Euripides to speak to a modern audience.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Euripides

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Faber and Faber 2009   978-0571252510

Music:
-

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  8            Other:  -

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House of Bernarda Alba, The

Synopsis:
In rural Spain, five daughters exist in a cloistered household managed by their widowed mother and demented grandmother. Following the death of her husband, Bernarda Alba enforces an eight-year mourning period on her daughters, and tensions build.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Lyric Theatre

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  14            Other:  doubling possible

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Innocence: the Life And Death Of Michelangelo Merisi Caravaggio

Synopsis:
Rome 1606, Caravaggio consorting with whores and rent boys- yet believing.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Gate Theatre

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 1987   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play Biographical

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  3            Other:  -

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John Gabriel Borkman

John Gabriel Borkman
John Gabriel Borkman, wealthy, powerful, revered, sacrificed love for success and was handsomely rewarded. Now, disgraced and destitute after financial scandal and a jail sentence, he paces out each day alone, planning his comeback. Downstairs, his wife, Gunhild, lives a parallel existence, plotting for their son to restore the family's reputation. But with the arrival of Gunhild's twin sister Ella, the woman whose love Borkman gave away, the claustrophobic stasis is shattered once and for all.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Henrik Ibsen

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Abbey, Dublin

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  5            Other:  -

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Lady From the Sea

Synopsis:
Trapped in an unhappy marriage, Ellida is consumed by her longing for the sea. But the startling arrival of a stranger forces her to confront both the past and a desire for freedom that could destroy her. . .

Notes:
Original Playwright - Henrik Ibsen. From A literal translation by Charlotte Barslund

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  3            Other:  -

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Ladybag

Synopsis:
A comic routine for two, Ladybag reverses the dilEmmas and crises of single parenthood and the war between generations

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

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London Cries

Synopsis:
London Cries is about the power of music-how music sustains people through hardship. From the crumbling walls and recesses of an old London theatre the ghosts of yesteryear step forth to share with us their lives, their loves, and the lilting melodies of a bygone Victorian era. Drawn from first-hand accounts of the traders and prostitutes, the sewer-men and flower-girls, the criminals and con men who hacked a precarious living from the streets of the metropolis, London Cries speaks to us in words and music of the suffering but also the joys of London life as it was really lived
- press release

Notes:
written by Di Trevis And Frank McGuinness; music by Dominic Muldowney. Adapted from Henry Mayhew's classic book, London Labour And the London Poor.

1st Produced:
Irondale Center, NY    2008

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Musical

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

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Man with the Flower in his Mouth, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
from Pirandello

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Adaptation 1 Act One Act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

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Mary And Lizzie

Synopsis:
Mary and Lizzie Burns, two Irish women, embark on a theatrical, musical and visual journey through the play, encountering a magical priest, their dead mother, the Queen of England, Frederick Engels and Karl Marx amongst others.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
the Pit, London    1989

Organisations:

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 1989   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  6            Other:  chorus

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Master Builder, The

Synopsis:
Halvard Solness, a successful architect and builder in a small Norwegian town, has mercilessly dominated his employees and his wife, Aline. Hilde Wangel, a vivacious young woman arrives unannounced. Hilde has idolized Solness for ten years, since in the early stages of his career, he built a large church in her hometown and heroically climbed to the top of the tower to celebrate its dedication. the architect's presence had a profound effect on the young girl of 12 when he promised to return and, 'build her a kingdom'. Today, the ten years are up and Hilde has come to reap what he has sown.
- press release

Notes:
Original Playwright - Henrik Ibsen

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

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Match Box, The

Synopsis:
And she grew to be a girl, my daughter, my Mary. Sing a song, Mary. Sing for grandma and granda. Sing. the ties that bind can never be broken. For Sal, they hang like a noose around her neck, just loose enough to keep a small but potent flame alive inside. A passionate story of love and hate.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  1            Other:  -

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Miss Julie

Synopsis:
It is a sultry midsummer's night. Miss Julie, the arrogant and beautiful daughter of the master of the house, is alone with the servants. She finds herself drawn to Jean, a footman with ambitions beyond his station. Throughout the night, while Jean's fiancee, Kristin, sleeps on oblivious, mistress and servant play an ever-more intense game of sexual politics until morning breaks into a tragic climax. Strindberg's shocking masterpiece, with its remarkable realism, contradictory characters and frank treatment of sexual desire, is one of the most important and influential works in modern Drama. Its production was forbidden throughout much of Europe, including Britain, where the ban on public performances was not lifted until 1939.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Theatre Royal Haymarket, London    2000

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 2003   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

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-

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Mutabilitie

Synopsis:
Set in Ireland in the 16th century, Mutabilitie explores the area where myth meets and transforms reality and where the harshness of life is transmuted into hope by the chance meeting of a poet and a playwright.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
National Theatre, London

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 1997   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Historical

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  4            Other:  -

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-

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Observe the Sons Of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme

Observe the Sons Of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme
This play follows the experience of eight men who volunteer to serve in the 36th (Ulster) Division at the beginning of the First World War. It reaches a climax at the start of the terrible battle of the Somme on July 1, 1916, the actual anniversary of the battle of the Boyne in 1690. the Somme, where the Ulster Division suffered heavy casualties, has, like the Boyne, come to have a sacred place in the Loyalist Protestant mind. It marks the Union sealed with blood. It stands for the ultimate test of Ulster's loyalty; a blood-sacrifice to match any made by Irish nationalists.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 1986   978-1571146116

Music:
-

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Genre:
Gay theme/character, full length

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Oedipus

Oedipus
-

Notes:
Original Playwright - Sophocles

1st Produced:

Organisations:
National Theatre

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 2008   978-1571242238

Music:
-

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  1            Other:  chorus, children, extras

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Peer Gynt

Synopsis:
Peer Gynt is a young man who has great potential as an artist but who is constantly at war with his physical desires. Despite his quest for absolute purity he repeatedly falls for the fleshy temptations of compromise, as he swaggers and seduces his way from the fjords of Norway to the deserts of Africa and back. Along the way, he has a number of trials and adventures. He meets a young woman and they fall in love; he helps a bride escape from her wedding; he considers joining the Trolls; he becomes a successful businessman, loses it all, pretends to be an Arab prophet, and winds up in a lunatic asylum. Finally, he returns home to confront a creature called the Shadow, who has always been watching him and trying to teach him what it is to be human. It is the Shadow who forces Peer to consider returning to the woman he fell in love with so much earlier in the story, and pursue a career as an artist

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Gate Theatre

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 1990   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  43            Female:  26            Other:  doubling possible

Further Reference:
-

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Phaedra

Synopsis:
Phaedra harbours an overwhelming, incestuous desire for her stepson, Hippolytus. In order to conceal the truth from her husband, she agrees to a terrible lie. the results are catastrophic

Notes:
Original Playwright - Jean Racine

1st Produced:
Donmar Warehouse, London    2006

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 2006   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Rebecca

Synopsis:
the road to Maderlay

Notes:
from novel by Daphne Du Maurier

1st Produced:
-    2005

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Rosmersholm

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
RNY

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Someone Who'll Watch Over Me

Someone Who'll Watch Over Me
about three men-an Englishman, an Irishman, and an American-held hostage in a cell in Beirut. the play is based on the real-life experiences of Irish teacher Brian Keenan

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Hamstead Theatre

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 1992   978-1571168040

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  -            Other:  -

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Speaking Like Magpies

Speaking Like Magpies
Speaking Like Magpies, specially commissioned by the RSC as part of the Gunpowder Season to mark the 400th anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot, brings to vibrant life the background to this notorious event in British history.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Stratford, Swan    2005

Organisations:
RSC

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 2005   978-1571230815

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  11            Female:  5            Other:  doubling, extras

Further Reference:
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Storm, The

Synopsis:
the Storm offers a vivid picture of the savagery, intolerance and primitivism of mid-nineteenth century Russia. the play shows a world in which merchants abuse workers, social progress is spat upon and religion is a reactionary force. In such circumstances, the heroine, Katerina, has little hope. Saddled with a weak husband and a tyrannical mother-in-law, she falls helplessly in love with a rich merchant's nephew. Her guilt forces her to reveal the brief affair with fatal consequences.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Alexander Ostrovsky

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Ameida Theatre Company

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 1998   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  10            Female:  6            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Stronger, The

Synopsis:
A meeting between two women in a cafe on Christmas Eve develops into a hypnotic contest of female wills

Notes:
from Strindberg

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 2003   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Adaptation 1 Act One Act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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there Came A Gypsy Riding

there Came A Gypsy Riding
the McKenna family convenes at a remote West of Ireland holiday home to mark the 21st birthday of their late son Gene. Eccentric cousin Bridget appears along the causeway, inviting herself for birthday cake and conversation, and ready to expose a family secret. Even Margaret, the unstoppable mother, and Leo, the calm father, can't hold things together in the face of an unexpected visit from the past.
the theatre List

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Faber and Faber 2007   978-1571233038

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

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Three Sisters, The

Synopsis:
A new adaptation of Chekhov's study of the tedium and frustration of petit-bourgeois family life in turn-of-the-century provincial Russia, which explores the irony of hope and the inadequacy of consolation

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Gate Theatre

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 1990   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  12            Female:  7            Other:  doubling possible

Further Reference:
-

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Threepenny Opera

Synopsis:
Brecht's adaptation of John Gay's 'the Beggar's Opera' creates the atmosphere of London's criminal underworld. Mr Jonathan Peachum is the mastermind behind a deceitful beggar's ring. When his one adversary, Macheath, abducts and marries his only daughter Polly, Peachum launches an all-out war against Macheath and his gang of rogues.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Gate Theatre

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  18            Female:  10            Other:  doubling possible

Further Reference:
-

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Times In It

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Bride of the bag man, Flesh And blood And Feed the money And Keep them Coming

1st Produced:
Dublin    1988

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Three Short plays One Act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Uncle Vanya

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Field Day

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Wild Duck, The

Synopsis:
the Wild Duck explores the world of the Ekdals, a family whose peaceful existence is fragmented and destroyed in the name of truth

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Abbey, Dublin

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  3            Other:  -

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Yerma

Synopsis:
Yerma is the lonely housewife of a Spanish farmer. She longs to have a child, but believes she is unable to conceive. Upon learning from an elderly psychic woman that the problem may have more to do with her husband, Yerma rebels against her lonely life and her place in society by seeking out a handsome young man to seduce.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Abbey, Dublin

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  11            Other:  doubling possible

Further Reference:
-

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