doollee banner
The Playwrights Database
contact doollee


David Pinner

DAVID PINNER

  (1940 - )
Nationality:    British
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Micheline Steinberg Associates  

David John Pinner; born October 6, 1940, in Peterborough, England, trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, after which he appeared on stage and television in many roles. While he was playing the lead in 'the Mousetrap' in the West End, he wrote his first novel 'Ritual'(later made into the film the Wicker Man). He has written two other novels 'With My Body' and 'there'll Always Be An England'. His stage plays include 'Dickon', 'Cartoon', 'Lucifer's Fair', 'Hereward the Wake', 'the Potsdam Quartet', 'shakebag', 'An Evening With the G.L.C.', 'screwball', 'Revelations', 'the Teddy Bears' Picnic', 'the Last Englishman', 'the Sins of the Mother', 'Lenin in Love'.

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 David Pinner's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         All Hallow's Eve         Cartoon         Dickon         Drums Of Snow, The         Edred, The Vampyre         Evening With the G.L.C.         Fanghorn         Hereward the Wake         Lady Day         Last Englishman, The         Lenin in Love         Lightning At A Funeral         Lucifer's Fair         Marriages         Midsummer         Newton's Hooke         Oh To Be In England         Potsdam Quartet, The         Prince of Traitors         Revelations         Richelieu         Screwball         Shakebag         Sins of the Mother         Skin Deep         Succubus         Teddy Bears Picnic         Thrumbo Perkins
All Hallow's Eve

All Hallow's Eve
All Hallows' Eve is a psychological ghost story exploring one of the greatest taboos. Sisters Francesca and Lucinda are forced to face up to the erotic demons in their past; as they make this dark journey of discovery they will all but destroy each other along the way. When Arthur, a limping stranger with a sinister presence, opens Pandora's Box on All Hallows' Eve, the past is horrifically brought into the light.

Notes:
Midsummer And All Hallows' Eve Are the Summer And Autumn plays in David Pinner's Seasons Quarter. the comedy Lady Day (Winter) And the messianic parable Revelations (Spring) complete the quartet.

1st Produced:
Drama Theatre, Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts     27 Nov 2002

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:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Cartoon

Cartoon
Alcoholic cartoonist at drying out clinic just up the road from his old drinking pub; a comedy about people competing with each other about misery.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Soho Poly, London     1973

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 Act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Dickon

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch     1966

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "New English Dramatists Vol.10" Penguin, London, 1967   

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

Drums Of Snow, The

Drums Of Snow, The
An epic play set in the 17th Century, the Drums of Snow focuses on the power struggle between Charles I and Oliver Cromwell, with John Lilburne, the Leveller, and the English people as their unwilling victims. the vicissitudes of the Civil War culminate in the royal despot's death and a Puritan dictatorship that changes the course of English history.

Notes:
televised 1968

1st Produced:
Stanford Repertory Theatre, California     1968

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "New English Dramatists Vol.13" Penguin, London, 1968
in Three Power Plays, Oberon Books (Aug 2006) >>>    

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:
Political Drama

Parts:
Male:  17            Female:  3            Other:  extras

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Edred, The Vampyre

Edred, The Vampyre
Eldred is a thousand-year-old Anglo-Saxon bisexual vampire, who slept with Shakespeare, but never bit him. Breaking all Bram Stoker's vampire laws, Edred loves garlic and crucifixes, so he lives in the village church where he is confronted by two students who Googled him. But soon the students wish they hadn't.

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:
vampire comedy

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Evening With the G.L.C.

Evening With the G.L.C.
A Labour councillor and his wife are trapped by televised debate conducted by their son

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Soho Poly, London     1974

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 Act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Fanghorn

Fanghorn
Fanghorn is a darkly-surrealistic comedy, which pokes fun at the theatre of Cruelty. Fanghorn is a lesbian vampire, who invades the household of Joseph King, who may, or may not, be the First Secretary to the Minister of Defence, and hilarious emasculation and murderous mayhem follow in her wake.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Penguin, London, 1966 (B0000CN8F9)
in the Vampire Trilogy, Oberon Books (2011) >>>    

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:
Lesbian drama full length

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Hereward the Wake

Synopsis:
Historical burning of the cakes written in the idiom

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Key Theatre, Peterborough     1974

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:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Lady Day

Lady Day
In 'Lady Day', Katya discovers her husband is having an affair with her best friend so she hibernates to a derelict lake-side cottage to re-invent her life in the depths of winter, but none of her friends or family will leave her in peace. All the men in her life fall in love with her again. Comic mayhem ensues as the men duel to the death for the illusive Lady.

Notes:
Midsummer And All Hallows' Eve Are the Summer And Autumn plays in David Pinner's Seasons Quarter. the comedy Lady Day (Winter) And the messianic parable Revelations (Spring) complete the quartet.

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:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Last Englishman, The

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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Lenin in Love

Lenin in Love
Lenin, the Communist icon, believed that his secret life would die with him. the opening of the Soviet archives in the mid 1990s has proved otherwise. Lenin In Love is a comedy about a tragedy, which exposes the sexual troika and the sadistic proclivities of arguably the foremost political genius of the last century. Lenin was a passionate lover, Machiavellian strategist and a calculating murderer, and the frenzied paradoxes inherent in his life changed the course of history.

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:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Lightning At A Funeral

Synopsis:
About a saint and a murderer being opposite sides of the same coin

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Stanford University, California     1970

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:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Lucifer's Fair

Lucifer's Fair
Lucifer's Fair is the family Hallowe'en musical play, about a fair run by the Devil to entrap unwary children. Lucifer is aided by Fangs, who is a bovver boy by day, but an incompetent vampire by night. Simultaneously scary and funny, Lucifer's Fair, with its comic spills, thrills and chills, highlights the unreliability of grownups, both the living and the undead.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Arts Theatre, London     30 Oct 1976

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:
Family Musical

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Marriages

Synopsis:
About four brothers and their hectic marriages

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Lamda, London     1972

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:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Midsummer

Midsummer
In Midsummer, two pair of lovers believe they can transform themselves and each other, with the help of two mysterious strangers. But the Midsummer Night transformations effect others too, and the last Stalinist trades-unionist in England is turned into more than just an ass. When night falls in the wood it is nature which proves the greatest enchanter of all in this modern homage to A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Notes:
Midsummer And All Hallows' Eve Are the Summer And Autumn plays in David Pinner's Seasons Quarter. the comedy Lady Day (Winter) And the messianic parable Revelations (Spring) complete the quartet.

1st Produced:
Brehmer Theatre, Hamilton , New York     27 Feb 2003

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:  5            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Newton's Hooke

Synopsis:
Newton's bitter battle with Robert Hooke in the name of science

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Imperial College Press, 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:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Oh To Be In England

Oh To Be In England
Frighteningly prescient, and tragically current, Oh, To Be In England is a dark comedy examining what it means to live in an ex-empire in economic free-fall, and the political and personal extremism that results when all other belief is lost. A middle-aged Englishman, bred to believe in his innate superiority as a birthright of class, race, and gender, loses his job in the City. Left floundering impotently in a world that is no longer cricket, his family, security, and sanity follow close behind.

Notes:
Like Pinner's contemporaneous 1973 Stalin play the Teddy Bears' Picnic, Oh, To Be In England was unproduceable At the time of its writing because of its unapologetic skewering of political extremism in the UK. Unlike the Teddy Bears' Picnic, which finally ran in 1990 to press Acclaim, Oh, To Be In England has remained lost. After thirty-five years, it is now receiving its world premiere After thirty five years.

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:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Potsdam Quartet, The

Potsdam Quartet, The
the Potsdam Quartet features four embittered musicians hired to entertain Stalin. Truman, Atlee and Churchill as they 'divide up the world'

Notes:
new version Lyric, Hammersmith, 1980

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Terra Nove, Leominster, Herefordshire, 1982
Oberon Books (2011) >>>    

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:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Prince of Traitors

Prince of Traitors
Prince of Traitors is a sardonic comedy about the achievements of a witty, club-footed Anglophile Bishop who manages to outlive Robespierre. After becoming Napoleon's First Minister, Talleyrand helps bring about the Emperor's downfall, claiming that 'treachery is noble when its target is tyranny'

Notes:
aka Talleyrand, Prince Of Traitors

1st Produced:
Bbc     1978

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:  7            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Revelations

Revelations
When a miraculous stranger comes to the aid of a desolate cliff-top village that is ravaged by devastating storms and erosion, he is proclaimed as the new Messiah, even though the stranger protests that he is atheist. 'In Revelations' he enjoys his power without accepting responsibility for his actions until he meets his spiritual nemesis in the storm of the century

Notes:
Midsummer And All Hallows' Eve Are the Summer And Autumn plays in David Pinner's Seasons Quarter. the comedy Lady Day (Winter) And the messianic parable Revelations (Spring) complete the quartet.

1st Produced:
Grinnell, Iowa     1986

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:  5            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Richelieu

Richelieu
Richelieu is an epic of the 17th Century, exploring the rise of the tormented Catholic Cardinal, who elevates Louis XIII to god-like status in order to pacify war-torn France. Richelieu sacrifices himself to a secure but repressive royal kingdom and unwittingly sows the seeds of the French Revolution.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Bbc     1976

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:  7            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Screwball

Synopsis:
proving that contrary to accepted opinion, Americans are merely eccentric whereas the British are absolutely crazy

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:
Farcical Comedy

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Shakebag

Shakebag
about how people reveal themselves by their attitudes to performing Shakespeare

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Soho Poly, London     1976

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:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Sins of the Mother

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Grace, London     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:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Skin Deep

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Chester     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:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Succubus

Succubus
Succubus is Lili, who may, or may not be, a Mesopotamian storm demon or the Moon Goddess Herself. Mark, the Born-Again Christian, confronts Lili with his burning secret, and the play explores female myths, male fears, paganism and Christianity.

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:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Teddy Bears Picnic

Teddy Bears Picnic
an ironic comedy which shows Stalin playing relaxed host and bon viveur in his country retreat. His Politburo guests are somewhat less relaxed.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Chester     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:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Thrumbo Perkins

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
National Library of Scotland ref: Traverse - Dep.256/Box 54/1

Top of Page Top of Page