doollee banner
The Playwrights Database
contact doollee


Philip Osment

PHILIP OSMENT

  
Nationality:    English
email:    n/a     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    Alan Brodie Representation Ltd  represented by Kara Fitzpatrick

Philip Osment read Modern Languages at Keble College, Oxford and trained as an actor at Webber Douglas. He acted with leading alternative Theatre companies including the Half Moon, Shared Experience and Gay Sweatshop (who performed his first scripts) and then went on to work as a director and writer. He has also written and directed plays for young people for Theatre Centre and Red Ladder. His trilogy of Devon plays (the DEARLY BELOVED, WHAT I DID IN the HOLIDAYS and FLESH AND BLOOD) was commissioned by Mike Alfreds and produced by Cambridge Theatre Company (aka Method and Madness). these were all nominated for Writers Guild awards and the DEARLY BELOVED won the award for best regional play in 1993. In 1999 Mike Alfreds commissioned BURIED ALIVE which played the southwest before coming in to Hampstead Theatre. In 2000 LITTLE VIOLET AND the ANGEL was the co-winner of the Peggy Ramsey Award; WISE GUYS was performed as the inaugural production at the new Contact Theatre and was nominated for TMA and Manchester Evening News Best Play awards. His play LEAVING for Quare Hawks Theatre Company toured Ireland in 2002 and he devised COLLATERAL DAMAGE about terrorism and the Oklahoma bombing with Mike Alfreds and students from LAMDA, which was performed in the autumn of 2004. Three of his radio plays have been broadcast on BBC Radio. He translated PEDRO the GREAT PRETENDER (Pedro de Urdemalas) by Cervantes as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company Spanish Golden Age Season at the Swan and in the West End in 2004 and in 2006 he directed his translation of Moliere's GEORGE DANDIN for Graeae Theatre Company. His adaptation of Anderson s the Ugly Duckling - DUCK! - for the Unicorn Theatre ran over Christmas 2007 and his translation of Gianina Carbunariu s KEBAB from Romanian ran at the Royal Court in September 2007. FAtheRS INSIDE, commissioned by the National Youth Theatre, was presented at the Soho Theatre in August/September 2009. His latest commission, WHOLE, for 20 Stories High is on tour nationally (spring 2013). Work in progress: a commission from Theatre Royal Stratford East.

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 Philip Osment's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Buried Alive         Collateral Damage         Dearly Beloved, The         Duck!         Fathers Inside         Flesh And Blood         George Dandin         Inside         Kebab         Kes         Leaving         Listen         Little Violet And the Angel         Mad Blud         Of the Terrifying Events on the Hamelin Estate         Our Days of Rage         Palace Of Fear, The         Pedro, The Great Pretender         Sleeping Dogs         Telling Tales         This Island's Mine         Undertaking, The         What I Did In the Holidays         Whole         Who's Breaking         Wise Guys
Buried Alive

Synopsis:
Stewart is an award-winning photo-journalist who specialises in recording atrocities around the world. A young woman, a journalist herself, who is an admirer of his work, starts to investigate Stewart's life and in doing so uncovers a disturbing family history. Set in Edinburgh, the play moves between the present day and the late 1970s of Stewart's childhood. Gradually, the story of Stewart and his two sisters and the nightmare imposed on them by their deranged mother and ineffectual Father reveals itself. the play works as a psychological thriller and is about coming to terms with the past and the need for redemption and forgiveness.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Theatre Royal, Plymouth

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:  5            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Collateral Damage

Synopsis:
Collateral Damage, four notorious killers stand in wire cages at a maximum-security jail in Colorado, pumping iron and discussing their crimes. they are Timothy McVeigh, soon to be executed for the 1995 Oklahoma bombing, Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing, and the Cuban gang leader Luis Felipe.

Notes:
by Philip Osment and Mike Alfreds and students from LAMDA

1st Produced:
Macowan Theatre, Logan Place, London W8     11 Dec 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:
piece

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Dearly Beloved, The

Synopsis:
Members of a church choir face up to their achievements and failures.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Connaught Theatre, Worthing     1993

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1993   

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. - - Lesbian, theme/character, full length

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Duck!

Synopsis:
Meet Ugly, he's no ordinary duck. In fact, he might not even be a duck at all! An embarrassment to his brothers and sisters, Ugly eats snails, speaks funny and looks even funnier. Fed up with being the butt of all the pond jokes, he strikes out on his own. . .

Notes:
from Hans Christian Anderson

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:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Fathers Inside

Synopsis:
Seven young fathers in a Young Offenders Institution face up to their relationships with their children and their own fathers in a prison eduction programme that reveals their vulnerabilities, their hopes, their dreams and their self deceptions.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Soho Theatre, London, Eur >>>     01 Sep 2009

Organisations:
National Youth 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

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Flesh And Blood

Synopsis:
rural craft is no match for the onward march of finance as farm family is trapped by mortgage

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Northcott Theatre, Exeter     1996

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:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

George Dandin

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Original Playwright - Moliere

1st Produced:
Graeae Theatre Company     2006

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:
translation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Inside

Inside
Looking for relief from boredom and a chance to get off the wing, seven young fathers in prison sign-up for an education programme. they try to use the workshops to settle scores and to rise up the prison pecking order. But they're confronted with more than they'd bargained for, as they face up to their relationships with their children and their own fathers.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Playing On in association with the Roundhouse

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:  9            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Kebab

Synopsis:
Having moved to Dublin to start a new life, the young Romanina, Madalina finds herself working in a kebab shop. . .until her boyfriend Voicu suggests a more lucrative, if not altogether savoury, line of work. Her new career brings her into contact - quite literally - with a Romanian art student, Bogdan, and the three of them find a way of living and working together. their uneasy, messy menage-a-trois persists until Madalina decides to choose between her two men. . . Kebab explores some of the harsher realities of immigration and what people are willing to give up in the hope of a better life

Notes:
Original Playwright - Gianina Carbunariu

1st Produced:

Organisations:
International Playwrights: A Genesis Project

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:
Translation

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Kes

Synopsis:
Up in the Yorkshire mining towns of 1960s Britain, a little hope was a dangerous thing. Social disintegration and disenchantment taught you to accept your lot; or else get the spirit kicked out of you. Yes, back then, life was certainly grim up North. . . Especially for our hero; streetwise school-kid Billy Casper. Emotionally neglected - bullied at school and at home - his is a pretty bleak existence; smoking, cadging money and getting into scraps. . .Until, that is, Kes comes along. Kes is a kestrel that Billy rears and trains; Kes is hope. Together, their friendship shines amid the gloom; but how long can it last. . .? Come and celebrate our first birthday with a theatrical event in our Main Space combining drama, outdoor spectacle and live falconry.

Notes:
adapted by Philip Osment and Kully Thiarai from the novel A Kestrel For A Knave by Barry Hines

1st Produced:
Doncaster: Cast     05 Sep 2014

Organisations:
Right Up Our Street

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:  4            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

Top of Page Top of Page

Leaving

Synopsis:
Leaving tells the story of a Monaghan farming family. Una and Paddy have two sons, Sean, beer-drinking and hard-working, and Noel, shy and withdrawn. Deirdre, their old school pal, loves them both. When Noel returns home unexpectedly from UCD their lives are thrown into chaos.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Garage Theatre, Monaghan, Ireland     01 Jun 2002

Organisations:
Quare Hawks, Monaghan, Ireland >>> in association with Garage 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

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Listen

Synopsis:
At the heart of 'Listen' is the fractured relationship between a deaf teenager and his uncomprehending father

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Toured By Theatre Centre     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:
Youth Audience

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  doubling

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Little Violet And the Angel

Synopsis:
Philip Osment's magical play is funny, tender and true. Gabriel has to earn his stripes as a guardian angel to a poor orphaned girl as she grows up with her adoptive parents. Along the way he learns things about his own history and the real reason for his growing friendship with the little girl. Astonishing theatrical skills, including puppetry, live music and song combine to create this wondrous adventure, an unforgettable exploration of the joys and heartaches of living and loving. A family show for audiences of 6+, Little Violet and the Angel won the Peggy Ramsay Award

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Toured By Theatre Centre     2001

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:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Mad Blud

Synopsis:
Mad Blud is theatre Royal Stratford East's verbatim Drama exploring the effects of knife crime on East London society. In 2010 knife crime rose by 8% in London: this hard-hitting play will reveal the reality behind the headlines. Armed with MP3 players, theatre Royal Stratford East interviewed friends, families, victims, neighbours, teachers, police, people on the street, recording their responses to and experiences of knife culture. Capturing these real voices Dramaturge and Director Philip Osment shapes the testimonies into a powerful, urgent and sometimes uncomfortable new work, which will tour Newham schools before a three week run at the theatre.

Notes:
revised 18 May 2011

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:
Piece

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
Theatre Record Volume XXXI (2011) Issue 10 Page 520

Top of Page Top of Page

Of the Terrifying Events on the Hamelin Estate

Of the Terrifying Events on the Hamelin Estate
A high-spirited contemporary satire bringing the Pied Piper legend up-to-date.

Notes:
Three 30 minute plays by leading playwrights for children to act, commissioned by the Unicorn, one of the world's foremost companies creating theatre with young people. Premiered as end of year performances by primary classes, the scripts are ideal school productions or for younger youth theatre groups. they are designed to be directed by teachers or youth leaders with no previous Drama training. the book includes advice and ideas to support preparation, rehearsal and production.

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:
TYA 30 min

Parts:
Male:  15            Female:  9            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Our Days of Rage

Synopsis:
Directed by NYT's Artistic Director Paul Roseby, 'Our Days of Rage', is written in response to the uprisings across North Africa, the Middle East and Middle England and staged over the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Ten years on from 9/11, a generation of actors and writers brought up on fear will mark this anniversary with an urgent response to the unfolding Drama in North Africa, the Middle East and Middle England. UK students try their hand at anarchy while young Arabs fight for the right to protest and are willing to die for their cause. From an Arab Spring to another UK Winter of Discontent; the latest battle in the war on terror is coming to a department store near you.

Notes:
written by Natasha Collie, Karla Crome, Warren Drew, Joel MacCormack, Thom May, David Mumeni, Steve Rolling, Martin Stirling, Kirstie Swain; Director : Paul Roseby; Other : Philip Osment (Dramaturgy)

1st Produced:
Old Vic Tunnels, London     18 Aug 2011

Organisations:
National Youth Theatre of Great Britain

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:
Drama - political

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Palace Of Fear, The

Synopsis:
A play combining fanstasy and realism about two children coping with their mother's depression and learning how to overcome their own fears. the Palace of Fear was developed in primary schools and will tour Leicester schools in the Autumn term.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Tour     2006

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Oberon Books, London,    

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:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Pedro, The Great Pretender

Pedro, The Great Pretender
the plot of this play revolves around a lovable trickster who aims to be helpful in order to be liked. His journey to find his identity ends with him finding his true vocation on the stage.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Miguel Cervantes

1st Produced:
Stratford Upon Avon, Swan     2004

Organisations:

1st Published:
Oberon Books, London, 2004   

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:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Sleeping Dogs

Synopsis:
concerns the love affair between a Muslim boy and a Christian girl during the war in former Yugoslavia

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Toured By Red Ladder Tc     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:
Youth Audience

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  doubling

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Telling Tales

Synopsis:
-

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:
Solo Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

This Island's Mine

This Island's Mine
A gay man and a lesbian are forced into a marriage of convenience.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Drill Hall, London >>>     24 Feb 1988

Organisations:
Gay Sweatshop

1st Published:
in "Gay Sweatshop", Methuen, 1989   

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:  5            Female:  3            Other:  doubling

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Undertaking, The

Synopsis:
Five friends journey into the Irish countryside to scatter the ashes of a friend who has died of AIDS

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:
Play/Drama. - - Gay, full length

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

What I Did In the Holidays

Synopsis:
Children's lives and futures change with arrival of hitchhikers at the farm.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich     1995

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, 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:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Whole

Synopsis:
What happens when you're in a hole? What happens when that hole's inside you? What do you do you fill it with to make yourself feel whole? Last year 3 teenagers emailed 20 Stories High to ask them if they could make a play about their friend Holly. This is how it unravelled. . .

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
20 Stories High with Philip Osment

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:
piece

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Who's Breaking

Synopsis:
a young man, learning that he is HIV-positive, is forced to rethink his life and attitudes

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Toured By Red Ladder Tc     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:
Youth Audience

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Wise Guys

Synopsis:
Three youths living on the fringes of society try to survive an imperfect world. their solution is crime. Drugs alter their perceptions, theft lines their pockets, crime gives them a buzz. But when two of them are caught stealing cars, all three go on the run up north and it changes their lives forever.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Theatre Centre And Red Ladder Company     1997

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:
Youth Audience

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  doubling

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page