doollee banner
The Playwrights Database
contact doollee


Maureen McManus

MAUREEN MCMANUS  

 Nationality:    Irish
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Aura-Pont Theatrical and Literary Agency  


Maureen McManus is an Irish poet and playwright currently based in Prague in the Czech Republic. She lived in London for many years, and before that in Belfast, Dublin and Galway, where she studied English and Philosophy. She likes writing history and comedy, and is happy to provide copies of her material for reading purposes, and open to discussing new commissions on Irish historical material and on subjects with a Czech theme. She has had poems published in magazines and anthologies in Ireland, England and in Prague.

Buy Plays with Doollee

Each page of doollee.com has links to play/book outlets, either directly to the Publisher, through Stageplays.com and Amazon to the second hand and 1st editions of AbeBooks. These links will automatically take you to the relevant area obviating the need for further search.
AbeBooks.co.uk   AbeBooks.com   Stageplays.com   amazon.com   amazon.co.uk   amazon.ca
whether you are a Playwright who wishes to make their entry definitive, an unlisted Playwright or a User with a tale to tell - we want to hear from you.
download WORD submission template

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

 After Troy         Cajovna         Celebrity Angst         Ladies' Cage, The         Shoe Fishing

After Troy

Synopsis:
The play presents a version of the Helen of Troy myth, which postulates a bitter and unresolved Helen at the end of the Trojan War, back home in Sparta, making life hell for her husband Menelaus and her daughter Hermione, and for herself. Racked with guilt over the destruction of Troy, she finally gets an opportunity for redemption when Telemachos, the son of Ulysses comes to the palace at Sparta searching for his father, and his arrival triggers a process of memory and acceptance as Helen relives the past, is visited by the ghost of her younger self, and finally is able to come to terms with her decision made twenty years before. She is aided in the process by an old woman living in the palace of Menelaus and by the servant she has brought back with her from Troy. The play is about aging, about regret, and about finding peace with decisions made in the past.

Notes:
This play is About women, And the play uses A devise whereby one character is represented in her old And young persona. This can't be doubled by the same Actress, but the daughter can play the mother As A younger character. It received support in the writing from Arts Council London. It's A full-length two Act play.

1st Produced:
Public Readings in Paris and London - un-produced professionally    -

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 ( or 2 with doubling)            Female:  5 (or 4 with doubling)            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Cajovna

Synopsis:
Sam, an English teacher in Prague and his student Lenka, go through 4 seasons of meetings in a tea-house in Prague, as they gradually reveal their problems and fall in love.

Notes:
Roles for young man And woman And older woman to play the mother of Lenka.

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:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Celebrity Angst

Synopsis:
Guy Whean is a successful television executive whose reality-television watching life is thrown into turmoil when his 18 year old daughter Bella (from his failed marriage) arrives to stay for the summer to pursue a career as a supermodel. Meanwhile his girlfriend Fiona seems to be having an inappropriate relationship with his assistant Conrad. Life changes radically after Guy confesses to a journalist what he really thinks of his daughter's ambitions. The play seeks to be a light-heartedly look at a father/daughter relationship stretched to breaking point by a burning zeal for celebrity. This is a blend of throw-away sentiments with half-serious existential angst.

Notes:
This is A play for 2 men, one 20's And one 50's onwards, And 3 women, one 18ish, one 30's And one early 40's. It is set in London in the late 90's or early 2000's but can be updated. The themes Are reality television And celebrity, with A hint of existential Angst. Full-length 2 Act play.

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:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Ladies' Cage, The

Synopsis:
Women, we are often told, get written out of the history books. Maureen McManus has come up with a perfect example in Anna Parnell, sister of the famous Irish nationalist politician. The result is a passionately feminist and ferociously partial play that celebrates the contribution of militant women to Irish history. Set in the period fiom 1879 to 1882, McManus's play deals with Anna Parnell's formation of the Ladies' Land League. W ile her brother, Charles, was playing politics at Westminster, or in prison, Anna and her team were actively fighting the land war prompted by local rent rises at a time of potential famine: supporting tenants suffering wrongful eviction and standing up to vindictive Anglo-Irish landowners. In rescuing Anna.
Michael Billington, Guardian

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Scary Little Girls Productions

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:  doubling

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Shoe Fishing

Synopsis:
A ghostly figure of a woman, sits on a raft, fishing for shoes, and laying bare her soul. It's not a comedy.

Notes:
This is A poetic rumination rather than A strict one-woman show.

1st Produced:
Public Reading at Oval House Theatre, London 2002 -part of First Bites Season.Un-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:
One-woman show

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page