The Playwrights Database
A COLIN WRIGHT (1938 - )
Nationality: British, Canadianemail: Click here to contact Website: Click here
Literary Agent: n/a
Born in 1938 in Chelmsford, England, and educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge (with a doctorate in Modern Languages), A. Colin Wright is Professor Emeritus of Russian Studies, Queen's University. He came to Canada in 1964 and now lives in Kingston, Ontario, where he is active as director and actor in the local theatre.His short stories have appeared in numerous literary journals in Canada and England. Two of his plays have been winners or finalists in the Theatre BC National Playwriting Competition, and another was winner of the 1995 Gladys Cameron Watt Award in the Ottawa Little Theatre One-Act Playwriting Competition. He is the author of many academic articles on Russian and comparative literature, including a major book
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 A Colin Wright's plays - click on a Play Title for more information
George's Funeral Germany Calling! Jennifer's Wedding Lieutenant Kizhe Loss of My Good Name, The Nora's Anniversary Out of This World Really, Judith Tangle of the IslesGeorge's Funeral
Synopsis:
Harriet, George's domineering wife, arrives in the cemetery for his funeral, accompanied by her fatuous brother Oswald, her divorced daughter Matilda, and younger son Tony. From this moment on, it is a comedy of errors: the hearse is constantly delayed by one misfortune or another, and when it finally arrives it crashes and the coffin has to be got out with a crowbar. In the meantime, George's former mistress Nicole turns up, to the horror of Harriet. So does George's ghost, delighted now to be able to stand up to Harriet, whom he torments into being polite to him. Matilda arrives at an understanding with her father, while Tony becomes infatuated with Nicole. Oswald, whose only interests are cars and women, finally has to conduct the funeral service himself since the priest has been injured in the crash. George at last is buried, but seems unlikely to stay in his grave for long.
Notes:
1995 Gladys Cameron Watt Award in Ottawa Little Theatre Canadian One-Act Playwriting Competition.
1st Produced:
Pinnacle Theatre, Belleville, 2000
Organisations:
Pinnacle Theatre, Belleville, and Domino Theatre, Kingston, Ontario
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 One Act
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageGermany Calling!
Synopsis:
Based on the life and trial of William Joyce, who fled Britain before World War II and broadcast propaganda from Germany. Apart from the scenes of Joyce's trial (held at the London Old Bailey 17-19 September 1945) and others relating to the same year, the events shown take place as follows: ACT ONE: Britain, 1935 to 1939. ACT TWO: Germany, 1939 to 1941. ACT THREE: Germany and Britain, 1942 to 1946.
Notes:
(Finalist in the Theatre BC Canadian National Playwriting Competition,2002.) Actors play multiple roles.
1st Produced:
Public reading at Queen's University 1988
Organisations:
Public reading at Queen's University And Domino Theatre, Kingston, Ontario
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 drama (full length) Historical
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageJennifer's Wedding
Synopsis:
A rehearsal two hours before the wedding. Jennifer, visibly pregnant, is to marry Howard, although she was previously the girlfriend of Dick, the best man. It is uncertain whose child she is carrying, but after things got rough with Dick she accepted Howard's proposal partly to spite her mother, Jasmine, who always liked Dick best. But Jennifer has her doubts because she's uncertain of Howard's sexual orientation. Felicity, who is to perform the ceremony, is the minister of an odd religious group where anything goes: she finds everything "cool." Also present is Jennifer's gay brother Roger, whom Howard met years earlier. In the course of the play, Jennifer decides she can't marry Howard because she still loves Dick: they'll get married instead. Howard falls for Roger, and they decide on a same-sex marriage. Felicity finds it all cool, and Jasmine is pleased too. Thus there is a double marriage, performed in haste since Jennifer is about to give birth. Everyone, presumably, will live happily ever after.
Notes:
(A one-act companion piece to George's Funeral And Nora's Anniversary.)
1st Produced:
Domino Theatre, Kingston, Ontario 2006
Organisations:
Domino Theatre, Kingston, Ontario
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 One Act
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: - Other: 3
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageLieutenant Kizhe
Synopsis:
Based on a novella by the Russian writer Yuri Tynianov, a satire on the bureacracy, also relevant to the present. During the reign of Paul I, a non-existent Lieutenant Kizhe is created by a bureaucratic error, while a real Lieutenant Siniukhaev is "killed" in the same way. But once the Emperor has signed the order Siniukhaev is considered as dead and becomes an outcast, while Kizhe is treated as a living person although no one has ever seen him. He has a love affair; is sent to Siberia and brought back again by the Emperor's command; marries and has children; is given land and possessions; advances to the rank of General; and receives a State Funeral when he "dies." Underlying these events is the Emperor's hatred of his mother, Catherine the Great, who usurped the throne by deposing her husband. The ending is the supposed murder of the Emperor, but here I rewrite history somewhat to conform to the absurdist style of the whole play. Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kizhe Suite is used as background music.
Notes:
(1993 winner in the Special Merit Category of Theatre BC Canadian National Playwriting Competition, workshopped in Vancouver with John Cooper.) Published on demand by IRT-Blizzard Press, March 1999. Actors play multiple roles.
1st Produced:
Theatre 5, Kingston, Ontario, Canada 1993
Organisations:
Theatre 5
1st Published:
Toronto Slavic Quarterly, no. 4, 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:
Historical Comedy (full length) Historical
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 2 Other: minimum cast
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageLoss of My Good Name, The
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Public reading at Domino Theatre, Kingston, Ontario 2002
Organisations:
Public reading at Domino Theatre, Kingston, Ontario
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 Drama (full length) Historical
Parts:
Male: 9+ Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageNora's Anniversary
Synopsis:
Nora and Laurence are about to go to a twenty-fifth anniversary party, when Nora's previous husband, Alan, whom she thought had died in a car crash, turns up. Laurence's son Larry, his partner, Francine, and Laurence's former secretary and mistress Yvonne, are all involved in the drama. After the anniversary party all of them stay the night: finally, Alan leaves followed by Nora, who, in a way reminiscent of Ibsen, slams the door on her previous life.
Notes:
(One-act companion piece to George's Funeral And
1st Produced:
Domino Theatre, Kingston, Ontario 2007
Organisations:
Domino Theatre, Kingston, Ontario
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 One Act
Parts:
Male: - Female: 3 Other: 3
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageOut of This World
Synopsis:
Alistair, a somewhat unorthodox professor of theology, picks up the "outrageous" Linda, whose husband Victor, a confidence trickster, is in prison. Victor, however, has just escaped, and turns up too, as does her socialist-minded mother, Rebecca. Iconoclasts in different ways, the four of them contrast with the head of the Divinity School, the pompous but forgetful William Bolsover. Linda, considering divorcing Victor and also attracted to Alistair, is unable to choose between them, and in the meantime Victor persuades Alistair to give him a temporary job as research assistant. Despite others' suspicions, Victor manages to avoid arrest and even rescues Alistair from being charged for harbouring an escaped criminal. Always afraid of other people's opinions of him, Alistair is ultimately converted to Victor's care-free philosophy. Finally, after a Divinity School party where Bolsover makes an ass of himself pursuing Rebecca, Victor takes off to London, while Alistair and Linda go with him.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Public reading at Domino Theatre, Kingston, Ontario 1997
Organisations:
Public reading at Domino Theatre, Kingston, Ontario
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:
full length Comedy
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageReally, Judith
Synopsis:
A theatre is workshopping the story of Judith, the Israelite woman who uses her beauty to gain admittance to the tent of the invading Babylonian general, Holofernes, and kill him. The actors turn out to be reincarnations of the ancient characters: Judith of Judith, Harold (the workshop director) of Holofernes, and Judith's pedantic husband Meredith (the playwright) of her former husband, Menasseh. Judith and Harold are trying to discover if the biblical story is true by improvising, while Meredith wants the play performed his way. In the reinterpreted version, Judith turns out to be desperately and sexily in love with Holofernes, going to him out of desire but aware that she must forever remain pure. Both know they are playing out a part, from which they cannot escape because of the expectations of the more conventional members of their own societies. The scene where Judith is supposed to kill Holofernes turns out differently from the traditional story. Other characters are a conceited pretender to Judith's hand, Achior; a pompous politician, Uzziah (both of whom also play soldiers in Holofernes' army); Holofernes' sadly comic eunuch, Bagoas; and Judith's slave woman, who turns out to be the key to the whole story.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Public reading at Domino Theatre, Kingston, Ontario 2005
Organisations:
Public reading at Domino Theatre, Kingston, Ontario
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:
full length Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 5 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageTangle of the Isles
Synopsis:
Charles Fraser, a businessman, goes back to a house in the Hebrides which he owns with his sister, Janet, but discovers that it is being run as a charity institution for religious women who have fallen on hard times--this by a group of lay sisters who are renting it without his knowledge. Sister Margaret was formerly in prison with Janet; a new arrival, Candice, is on probation; and Sister Alice is a kleptomaniac. Charles tries to have them turned out, but an accident forces him to stay, and he becomes attracted to the younger Sister Fiona. He learns, however, that she earlier forged his signature, and he is determined to go to the police. The others do their best to stop him: getting him drunk and locking him in his room. But when he finally gets away, he himself is arrested for some money he had misappropriated. After a short prison sentence he returns and is reconciled with Fiona and the others--not knowing that Sister Alice has made restitution of the money he took.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Workshop and public reading at Domino Theatre, Kingston, Ontario 2001
Organisations:
Domino Theatre, Kingston, Ontario
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:
full length Comedy
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 5 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page