Summer Programme

Is up in the usual spot. The usual mixed bag of goodies to keep us warm during the summer.

A Guy at Work Story

Some of you may be taking the day off to watch something on the telly. But for others, the work continues, and for Eddie Coleman, it's just another day at the office as he puts on yet another play, hot on the heals of his P-P reading for Barbara Finds Happiness. It's called A Guy at Work Story, and is on at the Red Lion Theatre in Islington, for three performances only, once on Friday May 6th and twice on Saturday May 7th. Be there!

Wedding Fever

With Easter so late this year, it's been one of the longest terms on record, but finally, on Monday April 18th we end with our traditional competition, and being all topical and up to date our theme is Wedding Fever, as the nation gears up to celebrate a moment that will unite the races and classes as we all share in their happy day.
Yes, Ed Miliband is doing the decent thing at last. Ten scripts, but there can only be one winner. Who will it be? Come along to the Phoenix at 7.45 to find out.
In the mean time, here's footage from an earlier time. Happy days indeed.

Love and Other Games

Members who printed out the programme when it was first published may have been expecting a play by Francis Beckett. Hold your horses. The great man has been busy with one thing and another so we're keeping it for next term. However, in its place comes a portmanteau of comedy plays entitled Love And Other Games by P-P legend Lisa Fulthorpe. I say legend not only because I have never met her, but because she is also a member of longer standing than I, and she's written an episode of Doctors and contributed sketches to Smack the Pony which I used to like, back in the day.

Let Lisa explain:

"Relationships promise much, but rarely deliver. You might crave a moment of bliss or a lifetime’s worth, but how often does it work out like that? They often feel like a game: with two (or more) players and rules that constantly change.
I’ve written these plays, all comedies, some light, some darker, with the idea that relationships are secret deals between two people right from the start, with neither side really knowing what the other one wants.
They explore what happens if that deal gets broken and how characters behave next: Back-down? Compromise? Forgive? Lie? Betray? Avenge. . .?
Central to this is that all the characters have something at stake: their future happiness, their security, freedom, sanity; their finances, their families, their senses of self, their need not be alone in the world. Some have a lot more at stake than others.
The characters inhabit familiar worlds (the one night stand, the dirty weekend, the sub-urban party, chance encounters, domestic bliss. . .) and they are at different stages in life (from young to old). They are, for the most part, heterosexual, but they don’t have to be".

Is your appetite well and truly whetted? Then come along on Monday 11th April.

Man by the Lake & A Bed Made for Love

Spring in the air, there's magic everywhere, when you're young and in love. And there's plenty of magic and love at Player-Playwrights on April 4th, with a double bill by Maryse Addison. Maryse may be yet another writer making her debut with us, but by industry standards she's a grizzled veteran. A TV director and producer from way back, who has written about such varied subjects as polar bears and Nazis, she's now gracing us with a double bill of radio plays. Man by the Lake is a very atmospheric tale of spooky goings-on when a woman starts to have visions of a man... by a lake.


And a Bed Made for Love is a lighter, romanticish comedy about a couple on honeymoon. I'm afraid to warn you that there's even a dash of sex involved. But we like that, especially on radio. They clock in at thirty minutes and twenty minutes respectively, so there's plenty of time for the readings, the discussion, and then a cup of cocoa at home where we can all calm down at home watching Paxman on Newsnight.

Competition Closed

Just for the record, in case you are scribbling away, we already have ten entries for the Wedding Fever competition. So, keep it for next time. Or, if you've already finished it but not sent it in and don't think it can be rewritten for our inevitable Olympic Fever contest for the next summer, we may have it done out of competition early next term, if I'm feeling generous. But this has proved to be a popular theme - everybody loves a wedding, don't they?

Macbeth

Some of the more educated among you may have heard of Macbeth, often referred to by theatrical folk as The Scottish Play. Well now we have what will no doubt go down in history as The African Play, as our very own Eamon McDonnell has taken Shakespeare's tragedy, cut out the boring bits, and moved the action to the Ancient African civilization that was the Benin Empire - "giving this famous tale an original and engaging twist". ( well that's what he thinks ) "This production delivers, both visually and culturally, a very exciting performance, fusing the original violent tale with a new setting and context - bringing the vibrancy of Africa to the stage".

It's playing at the Greenwich Playhouse and runs for almost four weeks. First night is Tuesday April 7th, and continues till May 1st.

Be there.