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Martin Wesley-Smith

MARTIN WESLEY-SMITH

  (1945 - )

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

Literary Agent:    Australian Music Centre  

Martin Wesley-Smith's plays including biography, theatres, agent, synopses, cast sizes, production and published dates

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below is a list of Martin Wesley-Smith's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

        Boojum! Nonsense, Truth, and Lewis Carroll         Noonday Gun



Boojum! Nonsense, Truth, and Lewis Carroll

Boojum! Nonsense, Truth, and Lewis Carroll
A set of White chess pieces galumphantly hunts for a Snark, even though they've been warned that if their quarry turns out to be a Boojum then they will "softly and suddenly vanish away". Indeed the Baker (a White Knight) already has, but our heroic crew, undeterred, recruits a new one - the Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson - and ploughs on. With Lewis Carroll (Dodgson's alter-ego) and Alice personning HQ, out Hunt moves inexorably towards its fateful conclusion, where we discover, in the end, that Nothing is quite what it seems . . .

Notes:
Written by Martin And Peter Wesley-Smith; music by Martin Wesley-Smth; lyrics by Peter Wesley-Smith. Boojum! was commissioned by the Adelaide Festival Inc with financial Assistance from the Literature And Music Boards of the Australia Council. Originally A music theatre piece, it was first performed - Amidst controversy, And before Queen Elizabeth II - At the 1986 Adelaide Festival of Arts. Rewritten in 1988, it became A no-nonsense choral nonsense piece designed to be presented in concert with or without theatrical trappings. Productions of this version have been mounted in La Jola, Pasadena, And several Australian cities. Boojum! was presented in its full theatrical manifestation in Chicago in 2010, by Chicago Opera Vanguard And Caffeine theatre in collaboration with the Department of Cultural Affairs. This was A magnificent production And it was extravagantly reviewed.

1st Produced:
Scott Theatre, Adelaide    10 Mar 1986

Organisations:
South Australian Opera Company

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
Studio recording: Vox Australia (VAST 010 2) 1977

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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:
Musical

Parts:
Male:  10            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Noonday Gun

Synopsis:
Noel Coward is staying at the Peninsula Hotel, Hong Kong, in 1930 where he meets Clara Worthington, an aspiring actress, and her pushy mother. they endure a trip to a typhoon shelter, meet the Governor of the colony, and attend Coward's ceremonial firing of the noonday gun. Meanwhile Mrs Worthington's worst fears are realized when Clara fails her "audition" and falls in love with the Governor's Chinese aide-de-camp.

Notes:
Book And lyrics by Peter Wesley-Smith, music by Martin Wesley-Smith. Originally A short piece, the current version, which has not been produced, is more substantial And probably takes up At least one hour. Although set in Hong Kong in 1930, when Noel Coward visited After writing "Private Lives" in Shanghai, it looks to the future when Hong Kong is returned to China. Throughout, the script is informed by the life And work of Noel Coward As it gently satirises the colonial British.

1st Produced:
Fringe Club Theatre, Hong Kong    1986

Organisations:
Fringe Club

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:
Musical

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  1 m

Further Reference:
-

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