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Stephen Poliakoff

STEPHEN POLIAKOFF  (1952 - )

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

Literary Agent:    Judy Daish Associates Ltd  

Stephen Poliakoff, born in December 1952, was appointed writer in residence at the National Theatre for 1976 and the same year won the Evening Standard's Most Promising Playwright Award for Hitting Town and City Sugar. He has also won a BAFTA Award for the Best Single Play for Caught on a Train in 1980, the Evening Standard's Best British Film Award for Close My Eyes in 1992, the Critics' Circle Best Play Award for Blinded by the Sun in 1996 and the Prix Italia and the Royal Television Society Best Drama Award for Shooting the Past in ~ His plays and films include Clever Soldiers (i974), the Carnation Gang (1974), Hitting Town (I~75), City Sugar (1975), Heroes (1975), Strawberry Fields (1977), Stronger than the Sun (i~'~), ShoutAcross the River (1978), American Days (1979), the Summer Party (1980), Bloody Kids (1980), Caught on a Train (1980), Favourite Nights (1981), Soft Targets (1982), Runners (1983), Breaking the Silence (1984), Coming in w Land (1987), Hidden City (1988), She's Been Away (1989), Playing with Trains (1989), Close My Eyes (1991), Sienna Red (1992), Century (1994), Sweet Panic (1996), Blinded by the Sun (1996), the Tribe (i99~), Food of Love (1998), Talk of the City (1998), Remember This (1999), Shooting the Past (x99~), Perfect Strangers (2001) for which he won the Dennis Potter Award at the 2002 BAFT'As and Best Writer and Best Drama at the Royal Television Society Awards, and the Lost Prince (2003), winner of three Emmy Awards in 2005 including Outstanding Mini Series. His most recent work for the BBC includes Friends and Crocodiles (2006) and Gideon's Daughter (also 2006) which won two Golden Globes and a Peabody Award in 2007.

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

         American Days         Bambi Ramm         Berlin Days         Blinded By the Sun         Breaking the Silence         Capturing Mary         Carnation Gang, The         Caught On A Train         Century         City Sugar         Clever Soldiers         Close My Eyes         Coming In To Land         Day With My Sister, A         Favourite Nights         Granny         Heroes         Hidden City         Hitting Town         Joe's Palace         Lay By         My City         Playing With Trains         Pretty Boy         Real Summer, A         Remember This         Sad Beat Up         She's Been Away         Shooting the Past         Shout Across the River         Sienna Red         Strawberry Fields         Summer Party, The         Sweet Panic         Talk Of the City         theatre Outside

American Days

Synopsis:
Three aspiring pop stars confront almighty record company boss in the plush headquarters.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
ICA, London >>>    1979

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Eyre Methuen, London, 1979   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Bambi Ramm

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
London    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

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
National Library of Scotland ref: Traverse - Dep.256/Box 55/2

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Berlin Days

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Little Theatre, 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

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Blinded By the Sun

Synopsis:
Scientific research is motivated by fame and greed.

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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Breaking the Silence

Synopsis:
Stephen Poliakoff's intriguing and moving play is inspired by his own family's experience in Russia. Father spends his time (and government money) in trying to record sound on to film. With the death of Lenin, however, the research must be abandoned and the family is forced to flee. the play follows the material and spiritual adjustments the upper-middle-class Pesiakoff family have to make when forced to live for years in a railway carriage.

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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Capturing Mary

Synopsis:
Poliakoff takes his characters into a dark and terrifying exploration of the past and its power to capture and destroy a person's life. Dame Maggie Smith plays the lead role

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
BBC    2007

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:
Screenplay

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  3            Other:  3 singers

Further Reference:
-

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Carnation Gang, 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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Caught On A Train

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
BBC    1980

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:
Screenplay

Parts:
Male:  14            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Century

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
BBC    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:
Screenplay

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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City Sugar

Synopsis:
A commercial station's disk jockey uses air time to expound his own satirical view of technological mass culture.

Notes:
companion piece to Hitting Town.

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Eyre Methuen, London, 1976   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Clever Soldiers

Synopsis:
Officer class of the first world war portrayed in 1914 Oxford.

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:
Historical

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Close My Eyes

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:
Screenplay

Parts:
Male:  9            Female:  10            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Coming In To Land

Synopsis:
the links between the political worlds of the east and west and problems with cultural duality

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:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Day With My Sister, A

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:
-

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Favourite Nights

Synopsis:
London's West End with a surreal landscape of gambling casinos with piped mUSAk and seedy language schools

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Lyric Th London    1981

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:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Granny

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Westminster School, London    1969

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:
-

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Heroes

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:
-

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Hidden City

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:
Screenplay

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Hitting Town

Synopsis:
An incestuous relationship between dropout student and his sister develops against a background of urban decay.

Notes:
companion piece to City Sugar.

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Eyre Methuen, London, 1976   -

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:
Seven scenes

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Joe's Palace

Synopsis:
explores the relationship between a reclusive billionaire (played by Michael Gambon), and the teenage boy he employs to take care of a grand house. This is a lavishly shot contemporary film about loneliness and loss.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
BBC    2007

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:
Screenplay

Parts:
Male:  11            Female:  9            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Lay By

Synopsis:
Fellatio as rape gets perpetrator ten years and pregnant heroin addict victim committed to Holloway. Denouement as main characters are washed in blood and made into jam.

Notes:
written by Brenton, Clark, Griffiths, Hare, Poliakoff, Stoddart, Wilson

1st Produced:
Edinburgh    1971

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Plays & Players" Nov, 1971   -

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:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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My City

My City
Beautifully atmosphEric and infused with a sense of yearning nostalgia, the play presents a series of strange, seemingly coincidental encounters with others which evoke momentous trends in the city they live in and the shifts of society throughout history. Two former school friends are reunited with their erstwhile teacher, the glamorous, gracious Miss Lambert who is now engaged in nightly pilgrimages on foot across London as an antidote to her chronic insomnia. In the course of these nocturnal journeys, she witnesses a paradigmatic range of incidents reflecting today's society: the kindness and the violence, the glut of discarded rubbish and the sanctity of that which is carefully preserved, as well as the ghostly vestiges of the past.

Notes:
My City contains All the hallmarks of Poliakoff's best writing: high in style And sustained mood, the play tells stories of the past with melodic descriptions, cinematic scope And Aesthetic preciseness.

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Methuen Drama, London   978-1408159637

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:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Playing With Trains

Synopsis:
An attack on British inertia by an entrepreneur causes friction with his children

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Royal Shakespeare Company >>> at the Warehouse, London London    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:  6            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Pretty Boy

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:
-

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Real Summer, A

Synopsis:
charting the development of an unexpected friendship between a young aristocratic woman and Mary before she enters the dangerous world of Mr Graham's house

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
BBC    2007

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:
Screenplay

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  2            Other:  played by 1 actor

Further Reference:
-

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Remember This

Synopsis:
In 'Remember This', the author looks at the role that technology plays in all our lives. the video camera becomes an interruption in the daily existence of Rick and Victoria as the couple prepare for their wedding, and begins to take over their lives.

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:  5            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Sad Beat Up

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Little Theatre, 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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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She's Been Away

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
BBC    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:
T.V. Play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Shooting the Past

Synopsis:
Oswald and Marilyn, played by Timothy Spall and Lindsay Duncan, are the custodians of the collection of 10 million black and white photographs housed in a beautiful period building on the edge of London. their peaceful old fashioned existence is threatened when some Americans buy the property to turn it into a business school. they have to use their resources and ingenuity to fight the forces of the modern world and as they do so their battle uncovers a mystery from the past, hidden away amongst the photos which has a Dramatic effect on the lives of all those involved.

Notes:
A series of three-hour-long linked plays for BBC2 plus two shorter plays

1st Produced:
BBC    1998

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:
Screenplay

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Shout Across the River

Synopsis:
Claustrophobic mother conflicts with her vicious teenage delinquent daughter

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Warehouse, Covent Garden, London    21 Sep 1978

Organisations:
RSC

1st Published:
Eyre Methuen, London, 1979   -

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:

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Sienna Red

Synopsis:
A charming but domineering man has unlikely love affair with gentile woman.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Richmond Theatre, Surrey    May 1992

Organisations:
Peter Hall Company, London

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:
Romantic Comedy Comedy

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Strawberry Fields

Synopsis:
Three members of the sixties generation decide to journey the length of the country only to find violence and paranoia

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Eyre Methuen, London, 1977   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Summer Party, The

Synopsis:
the promoters and stars of a mammoth open air music festival are gathered in the VIP enclosure when they receive an unscheduled visit from the top brass of the police

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Eyre Methuen, London, 1980   -

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:
-

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Sweet Panic

Sweet Panic
a child psychologist's understanding of contemporary life is brought into question when she finds herself stalked by the mother of one of her young clients

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Methuen Drama    978-0413707505

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:
Thriller

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Talk Of the City

Synopsis:
the BBC London in the late 30's, with war on the horizon radio gives the bizarre spectacle of costumed singers and dancers performing live in a medium where they can only be heard and not seen

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:  9            Female:  6            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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theatre Outside

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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