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Conduct Unbecoming

Play · 1969

The widow of a heroic officer is assaulted by an unrevealed comrade in arms and an investigation takes place to determine his identity. A kangaroo court is convened, as the regiment doesn't wish to have itself dishonored in public. A second lieutenant by the name of Edward Millington is accused of the assault by Mrs Hasseltine, the victim and, at first, everyone is prejudiced against him. Millington himself has no interest in remaining in the army, even though his father was a decorated official. Millington's friend and comrade Arthur Drake is given the duty of defending Millington, much to his initial displeasure. But as events begin to unfold, Drake realizes that Millington is in fact not guilty, and slowly manages to convince everyone else as well. But the question remains... who is guilty?

Conflict

Play · 1925

Set amidst London's 1925 social season, Conflict centers on Lady Dare Bellingdon, a young debutante living with her aristocratic father, Lord Bellingdon. She is romantically involved with Sir Ronald Clive, a Conservative politician aligned with her father. Despite their long courtship, the match leaves Dare feeling restless and intellectually unfulfilled. Dare's outlook begins to change when she encounters Tom Smith, an earnest and articulate working-class candidate for Parliament representing the Labour Party. Initially dismissive of his politics, Dare becomes increasingly intrigued by Tomy's ideas about social reform, class inequality, and workers' rights. As she spends more time with him, she begins to question her own assumptions about society and her place within it. The political contest between Ronald and Tom—who are opposing candidates in an election—parallels Dare's personal conflict. Torn between her established life with Ronald and her growing admiration for Tom, she is forced to confront the moral and emotional implications of her choices. Her evolving political consciousness leads her to reassess her loyalties, both romantic and ideological. Ultimately, Dare breaks with Ronald and aligns herself with Tom, signaling both a romantic union and a shift in her political sympathies. The play concludes with her embracing a more socially conscious worldview, suggesting the possibility of personal transformation amid broader societal change.

Conscience

Play · 1821

Conscience; or, The Bridal Night is an 1821 tragedy by the Irish writer James Haynes. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London on 21 February 1821. The original cast included Sarah West as Elmira, John Powell as Duke of Venice, John Cooper as Arsenio, James William Wallack as Lorenzo. It was acted five times on its original run. It then appeared at the Anthony Street Theatre in New York in May 1821. Haynes dedicated the play to James Perry. John Genest considered the play's language better than its plot.

Constantine the Great

Play · 1683

Constantine the Great is a 1683 tragedy by the English dramatist Nathaniel Lee. It is based on the reign of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. It was first staged by the United Company at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London. The epilogue was written by John Dryden. The original Drury Lane cast included William Smith as Constantine, Thomas Betterton as Crispus, Philip Griffin as Dalmatius, Cardell Goodman as Annibal, John Wiltshire as Lycinius, Thomas Gillow as Arius, Carey Perin as Labienus, Richard Saunders as Eubolus, John Bowman as Sylvester, Elizabeth Barry as Fausta and Sarah Cooke as Serena.

Copenhagen

Play · 1998

Three spirits come together to try to apprehend and explain one simple question: "Why did Heisenberg go to Copenhagen?" The rest of the play details information around this subject through argument and interjections. Heisenberg – "No one understands my trip to Copenhagen. Time and time again I've explained it. To Bohr himself, and Margrethe. To interrogators and intelligence officers, to journalists and historians. The more I've explained, the deeper the uncertainty has become. Well, I shall be happy to make one more attempt." Along the way, Heisenberg and Bohr "draft" several versions of their 1941 exchange, arguing about the ramifications of each potential version of their meeting and the motives behind it. They discuss the idea of nuclear power and its control, the rationale behind building or not building an atomic bomb, the uncertainty of the past and the inevitability of the future as embodiments of themselves acting as particles drifting through the atom that is Copenhagen.

Coquette

Play · 1927

Act I (Living room of Dr. Besant's home. September, early evening.) Jimmie, Dr. Besant, and Stanley Wentworth discuss Norma's refusal to settle on one man. Jimmie resents her curtailing of his second helpings at dinner, so she has tidbits to feed her evening callers. Stanley dotes on her but she will not take him seriously, in part because her father favors him as suitor. Norma's latest beau is ne'er-do-well Michael Jeffery, which alarms Dr. Besant. Norma tries to paint a brighter picture of Michael, coercing Stanley to support her, but betrays her interest and arouses her father's suspicions. Later, Norma upsets Stanley by breaking their dance date so she can go with Michael, and persuades him to take Betty instead. Betty is staying with the Besant's temporarily, so Norma helps her try on a dress for the dance, her first. Mr. Wentworth comes to advise Dr. Besant that Michael Jeffery was involved in a fight on Main Street with a former beau of Norma, who called her a "coquette". Michael calls early on Norma; he cannot take her to the dance because he lacks a dress suit. Norma is unused to being turned down, but quickly rallies and puts Michael on the defensive. A confrontation between Dr. Besant and Michael is averted when Norma fibs and says a patient telephoned about a sick baby. Nevertheless, Dr. Besant forbids Michael to see Norma again. Michael and Norma confess their love for each other. Michael tells Norma he will go away for six months to work with a surveying party in the hills, and return only when he has made enough money for them to marry. (Curtain) Act II (Same as Act I. A bright morning, three months later.) Stanley calls on Norma, but Betty Lee will not let him see her. Norma is moody and upset, for Michael came back unexpectedly last night to the Country Club dance. He had been drinking, and after she cut other partners to dance with him, the two of them left the dance. A friend of Betty saw them driving around at 3am, so Norma must have come home very late. Later, Dr. Besant calls out Jimmie for coming home at 4am and making so much noise. Jimmie says nothing; he actually got in at 12:30am, but allows his father to believe otherwise. Jimmie scolds his sister for chancing her reputation like that, but Norma is unrepenetant. However, she grows anxious as Dr. Besant draws Betty Lee aside to have a little talk. When Michael rings the bell, the other young people clear off to let him speak with Norma alone. From their conversation it is clear they have been intimate. Michael is determined they shall marry today, but Norma pleads with him to let her deal with father. A sternly cold Dr. Besant comes in to accuse Norma of disobeying him and Michael of putting her at risk. He orders Michael out, but the young man will not go without saying his piece. He is intemperate and hotheaded, and reveals all in his rage, before rushing out. Dr. Besant orders Julia to take Norma to her room, and commands Jimmie to take care of Norma, for he will soon no longer be there. Taking a pistol from the matched set in the drawer of a side table, he goes out of the house. It is Stanley who takes the news to Norma; her father has shot and killed Michael, and turned himself in to the law. Norma rages against her father for killing the man she loved, and scorns Mr. Wentworth's advice to say she resented Michael's attention. Growing hysterical, she vows to let her father hang. (Curtain) Act III (Same as Act I. A cold day in March.) Norma and Jimmie have returned home from their father's ongoing trial. They are both discouraged, and Norma expresses remorse for having precipitated this crisis. Joe Reynolds tells Jimmie that sentiment is running against his father, especially as he is being permitted to remain under house arrest, with Sheriff Forsythe transporting him each day to court. Mr. Wentworth, as defense counsel, advises Norma that the District Attorney may subpeona her if the defense does not call her as a witness. Michael having been a veteran, the local Legion post has joined the press in pushing for a tough prosecution. Norma is scared of testifying, and when Wentworth explains the crux of the trial hangs on whether the jury believes her to be pure, she becomes hysterical. Her father has an unwritten right to defend a virgin daughter, but if she is found morally wanting it is murder. Controlling herself, Norma asks Wentworth to return after dinner. She summons Stanley and confesses to him she is carrying Michael's child. After swearing him to secrecy and sending him away, she takes the other pistol from the side table drawer and hides it in her pocket book. As Forsythe brings her father home, Norma intercepts him and asks him to be kind to her. They embrace, and he goes to his study. Norma chats inanely with Betty Lee and Jimmie, excusing herself after a few minutes. A shot is heard from the dining room, followed by screams and shouts. Norma has killed herself, to save her father from conviction once her condition is known. (Curtain)

Coram Boy

Play · 2005

The action takes place in the eighteenth century. The benevolent Thomas Coram has recently opened a Foundling Hospital in London called the "Coram Hospital for Deserted Children". Unscrupulous men, known as "Coram men", take advantage of the situation by promising desperate mothers to take their unwanted children to the hospital for a fee. The story follows a range of characters, focusing on two orphans: Toby, saved from an African slave ship; and Aaron, the deserted son of the heir to an estate, as their lives become closely involved with this true and tragic episode of British social history.

Cortez

Play · 1823

Cortez: Or, The Conquest of Mexico is an 1823 historical extravaganza by the British writer James Planché with music composed by Henry Bishop. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden on 5 November 1823. The original cast included John Cooper as Herdinando Cortez, Mary Ann Paton as Amazitli, Thomas Comer as Velaszque de Leon, William Chapman as Maxicazin, William Claremont as Tentile, George John Bennett as Teluxo, and Thomas Cooke as Oxoctzin. It also featured thirteen horses on stage and the trick rider Andrew Ducrow. The libretto by Planché is inspired by the Spanish conquest of Mexico under Hernán Cortés, and it enjoyed great success.

Count Your Blessings

Play · 1951

Count Your Blessings is a 1951 comedy play by the British writer Ronald Jeans. A married couple draw up a plan to solve their financial problems, but this soon runs into trouble. It premiered at the Garrick Theatre, Southport before transferring to the West End where it ran for 92 performances between 7 March and 26 June 1951, initially at Wyndham's Theatre and then moving to the Westminster Theatre. The original London cast included Naunton Wayne, Patricia Dainton, Harold Lang, Eileen Way, Ambrosine Phillpotts, Joyce Redman and Viola Lyel.

Crazy Mary

Play · 2007

Crazy Mary is a play by A.R. Gurney (The Dining Room; Mrs. Farnsworth; The Cocktail Hour) that had its world premiere at Playwrights Horizons in New York City from May 11 to June 26, 2007. The cast included Kristine Nielsen as Mary, Sigourney Weaver as Lydia and Michael Esper as Skip. Scenic design was by John Lee Beatty (The Color Purple; Chicago; Talley's Folly), costume design by Claudia Brown (Blue in the Face; Psych), lighting design by Brian Aldous (Mrs. Farnsworth; Blue Man Group: Tubes) and sound design by Jill BC DuBoff. Janet Takami served as the production stage manager. The play was directed by Jim Simpson (Mrs. Farnsworth; Psych) and was staged on PH's Mainstage Theater. Crazy Mary follows the scion of a wealthy Buffalo, New York family and her willful, college-aged son. In an attempt to account for the family inheritance, they visit their long-lost cousin Mary. The catch: Mary is living in an asylum, and has barely spoken in years, forcing the mother and son to employ radical methods to communicate with her. The play premiered on May 11, 2007 to sellout crowds, and its run was extended by a week beyond its original closing date. Critical reviews were indifferent. The play has since been performed in community theaters in Florida and elsewhere.

Crimes of the Heart

Play · 1979

The tragicomedy relates the story of the three Magrath sisters, Meg, Babe, and Lenny, who reunite at Old Granddaddy's home in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, after Babe shoots her abusive husband. The sisters were raised in a dysfunctional family with a penchant for ugly predicaments. Each has endured her share of hardship and misery. Past resentments bubble to the surface as the sisters are forced to deal with assorted relatives and past relationships while coping with Babe's latest incident. Each sister is forced to face the consequences of the "crimes of the heart" she has committed.

Critic's Choice

Play · 1960

The action takes place in the Ballantines’ Washington Square duplex apartment in Manhattan. Act One opens on Parker, Angela, and John Ballantine at the breakfast table. John reports that the downstairs neighbor, Dr. von Hagedorn, is writing a play. This prompts Angela to announce that she has been thinking about writing a play herself. It would be based on her memories of her Uncle Ben, who ran a rooming house. Parker is skeptical, but Angela insists and goes off to start work on the play. This gives Parker the idea to write an article for Harper’s magazine entitled "Don’t Write That Play!"—a piece that would discourage amateur playwrights. As Angela begins to write, Parker starts dictating his article into a tape recorder. Angela completes her play, entitled “The Gingerbread World”, and sends it off to a producer. While awaiting his response, she asks Parker to read it. He does, and tells Angela that the play is horrendous. Angela reacts angrily, but when she phones the producer, S.P. Champlain, she learns that he loves the play and wants to produce it, with Dion Kapakos as director. Kapakos, however, feels the play needs work. He demands a rewrite, including a change of title, to “A Houseful of Silence.” Among his other artsy and grandiose changes is the addition of a Greek chorus and a new ending: the suicide of Uncle Ben. The play's first run-through is attended by Parker's son, John. John reports to Parker that the play is the worst thing he's ever seen and questions his father about whether he would really review the play honestly were it to open in New York. John worries that Parker will repeat the mistake he made with the first Mrs. Ballantine: that he'll write a favorable review of a bad play just because it was written by his wife. John is concerned that this will end Parker's marriage to Angela. Parker assures John that, unlike his first marriage, his and Angela's is a strong one and secure enough to weather an honest review. Parker explains that were he to lie about Angela's play, he would lose his own self-respect and become angry with Angela and the whole world as a result. As Angela prepares to depart with Dion to New Haven and Boston for the out-of-town try-outs of “A Houseful of Silence,” they learn that Parker intends to review the play in New York. Angela becomes furious. She storms out of the apartment after recriminating with Parker over writing the Harper's piece. Parker sits down with his tape recorder and begins to erase the entire tape of his article as the curtain falls on Act One. Charlotte, Angela's mother, has been staying in the apartment to cook for Parker and John while Angela is out of town. Charlotte begs Parker to give the play a positive review for the sake of the marriage. The doorbell rings and Ivy London, Parker's first wife, appears. She has learned, from a phone call to Parker's maid, that Angela is out of town. Angela reports to Parker that she has just come from Boston where she was in the same hotel as Angela and Dion and she believes that the two are having an affair. Ivy also tells Parker that she still love him. Ivy leaves and Charlotte re-enters. Charlotte admits she's been eavesdropping on the conversation with Ivy, and tells Parker she believe what Ivy has reported: that it is likely that Angela and Dion are having an affair. Charlotte calls Parker naïve for not believing the rumor and warns him that if he gives Angela's play a bad review that night, he will lose Angela forever. Angela and Dion return to the apartment before going to the theater for the opening of the show. Once again, Angela begs Parker not to review the play. She reminds Parker that he lied about Ivy's bad performances six times while Parker was married to Ivy. She tells Parker that Dion loves her. She repeats Parker's words that during the opening of the play they are not husband and wife, but critic and playwright. She asks whether she should even come home after the play that night. Parker finally backs down, gives his tickets back to Angela, and says he won't review the play after all. Angela and Dion leave for the theater and Parker begins to drink heavily. John becomes angry at Parker for going back on his word about reviewing the play and about staying honest to himself. Parker continues to drink, calls Ivy, and invites her to the apartment to give him a backrub. Ivy is busy making dinner for Parker as he continues to drink. Ivy again proclaims her love to Parker and tells him they will get back together. Parker becomes increasingly drunk and maudlin about not being true to his word about doing his job as a critic regardless of Angela's connection with the play. Finally, Parker decides he must review the play and he rushes out to catch a cab to the theater. Ivy leaves. Charlotte and John return from the opening night party discussing how bad the play was. Angela and Dion storm in carrying the newspaper reviews. Angela tells Charlotte that Parker reviewed the play after all and now Angela is moving out and going to live with Dion. Parker, now sober, returns home and enters with Ivy while John is reading Parker's review, “Opening Night Report”. Angela grabs her suitcase and readies to leave the apartment, but Parker insists that she listen to him. Parker then apologizes for making fun of Angela when she first began to write the play, and for not going to New Haven and Boston to make suggestions to improve it. He tells her that if she did have an affair with Dion in Boston then he, Parker, is to blame for not having traveled there with her. He begs her forgiveness, but goes on to say that “A Houseful of Silence” was an awful play, he was right to give it a bad review, and that Angela should not try to keep Parker from doing his work as a critic. He promises that if Angela writes another play he will help her, and he asks her to stay with him. Angela, charmed, relents. Dion and Ivy leave together. Angela and Parker retreat to the bedroom.

Cross Partners

Play · 1792

Cross Partners is a 1792 comedy play by the British writer Elizabeth Inchbald. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in London on 25 July 1792. The original Haymarket cast included Richard Wilson as Sir Charles Cullender, Thomas King as General Touchwood, James Brown Williamson as George Cleveland, John Palmer as Captain Herbert, Ralph Wewitzer as Corporal Smack, Charles Farley as Pompey, John Henry Johnstone as Thomas, Lydia Webb as Lady Diana Dupely, Charlotte Goodall as Maria Sydney, Louisa Fontenelle as Mrs Mutter and Elizabeth Heard as Louisa Fairfax. It enjoyed a solid run of nine performances.

Crumbs from the Table of Joy

Play · 1995

The play takes place in Brooklyn in 1950. An African-American man, Godfrey Crump, grieving over his wife's death, finds new meaning in religion. He moves his family, Ernestine, a 17-year-old and Ermina, 15 years old, from Florida to Brooklyn. Their Aunt Lily espouses Communist sentiments and Godfrey's new wife is not only a white woman, but German. Nottage has said of the play (in the booklet that accompanied the Center Stage production, page 4): "The 1950s was such a moment in American history in which I felt so much change...everything I had seen was in black and white. And I wanted to make it colorful. So I started writing Crumbs from the Table of Joy to try to understand that era."

Cuckold's Haven

Play · 1685

Cuckold's Haven; Or, An Alderman No Conjurer is a 1685 comedy play by the Irish writer Nahum Tate. It was first staged at the Dorset Garden Theatre in London by the United Company. It was a reworking of George Chapman, Ben Jonson and John Marston's Eastward Ho. The original cast included Thomas Percival as Mr Nokes, Thomas Jevon as Quicksilver, Anthony Leigh as Security, Joseph Williams as Sir Petronell Flash, Thomas Gillow as Captain Seagull, Joseph Haines as Bramble, Susanna Percival as Girtred, Katherine Corey as Mrs Touchstone and Emily Price as Security's Wife.

Cyrus the Great

Play · 1695

Cyrus the Great is a 1695 tragedy by the British writer John Banks. It was his final work, although his earlier The Island Queens was staged several years later. Set at the court of the Persian Emperor Cyrus the Great, it was staged by Thomas Betterton's Company having previously been rejected by the United Company. John Downes described it as one of the "principal new plays" of the decade, although it did not enjoy many performances on stage. The original cast included Thomas Smith as Cyaxeres, Edward Kynaston as Hystaspes, John Bowman as Craesus, John Thurmond as Artabasus, Elizabeth Barry as Panthea and Anne Bracegirdle as Lausaria. The play used the innovation of casting Barry as the romantic object of Cyrus' love, while Bracegirdle is besotted with him and driven to distraction by his rejection.

Daisy Pulls It Off

Play · 1983

Energetic Daisy Meredith, a girl from a poor background, is forced to face and overcome snobbish prejudice and schoolgirl pranks from the wealthier girls. She and her best friend, zany Trixie Martin, search for the missing treasure that could save the fortunes of the exclusive Grangewood School for Young Ladies. Along the way, Daisy overcomes false accusations, saves the lives of her enemies and discovers that the mysterious stranger seen around the grounds is her long-lost father. At the start Trixie has a higher status, but as they start the hunt for the treasure Daisy's status becomes higher than Trixie's as she knows more about treasure seeking.

Dame Dobson

Play · 1683

Dame Dobson; or, The Cunning Woman (1683) is a satirical play featuring a fraudulent "cunning woman" who runs a deceptive business, using tricks and illusions to fool desperate clients from various social classes. The plot follows her comedic interactions with customers, including those seeking physical invulnerability, the death of a spouse, physical enhancement, or a gender transformation, all of which she handles through staged, farcical enchantments. The Vulnerable Citizen: A young man approaches her seeking a magical charm that will make him entirely invulnerable to physical harm. The Scheming Wife: A lady requests a prophecy predicting exactly when her husband will die so that she can freely marry a handsome colonel. The Vain Country Girl: A young country girl visits the Dame wishing for a spell to enlarge her breasts. The Eccentric Welshwoman: A Welsh country woman demands to be transformed into a man so she can enjoy more freedom and successfully woo a wealthy lady. The play exposes human gullibility and greed in 17th-century London through these episodes, highlighted by the Dame’s use of a fake, rigged version of Friar Bacon's Brazen Head to deliver false prophecies. This farcical, episodic structure highlights the booming market for fraudulent spiritualism.

Damon and Pythias

Play · 1821

Damon and Pythias is an 1821 tragedy by the Irish writers John Banim and Richard Lalor Sheil. It is based on the Greek legend of Damon and Pythias. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London on 28 May 1821. The original cast included William Macready as Damon, Charles Kemble as Pythias, William Abbot as Dionysius, Daniel Egerton as Damocles, William Chapman as Nicias, Thomas Comer as Procles, Charles Connor as Lucullus and Maria Foote as Hermion. It was widely performed in Ireland and the United States including at the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia.

Dana H.

Play · 2019

Dana, a chaplain in a psychiatric ward, encounters a magnetic patient — an ex-convict on a desperate quest for redemption. In a harrowing true story, Dana is taken captive, her life entirely in his hands, and held for five months across a chain of Florida motels, disoriented and terrified. The play is told in Dana’s own words and adapted for the stage by her son. Throughout the show, real audio recordings of Hnath's mother play while the actress mouths the words.

Dancing Mothers

Play · 1924

The play was colored by the then recent passage of the Volstead Act, which made public sale and consumption of alcohol illegal. This synopsis was compiled from contemporaneous newspaper accounts and from excerpts published in The Best Plays of 1924. Act I (The Westcourt home in Westbury, New York. A late summer afternoon.) Kenneth Cobb upbraids Kittens Westcourt for her drinking, smoking, and chasing after Jerry Naughton. He threatens to inform her mother if she doesn't mend her ways. She dismisses him for a prude. Mrs. Massarene calls on Ethel Westcourt, to persuade her to come out to a rooftop garden nightclub that evening. When Ethel demurs to be with her family, she is given hints that her husband and daughter are both up to no good. Having heard from Kenneth, Ethel tries to confront Kittens but is dismissed with a lot of sass. She then pleads with her husband Hugh Westcourt to counsel Kittens, for he's the only one to whom she listens. Hugh speaks with Kittens, but is thwarted by a full charm offensive. Hugh then dismays Ethel by saying he will be staying overnight at his club in the city. (Curtain) Act II (Roof garden dancing venue. That evening.) Mrs. Massarene and her escort Clarence Houston are surprised to see Ethel show up to the rooftop garden after all. Jerry is pointed out to her, sitting with Irma Raymond, who is also well-known to her husband Hugh. When Jerry comes to their table, Ethel affects a French accent and claims to be from Paris. Jerry isn't really fooled, but plays along anyway, though he doesn't know she is Kittens' mother. Hugh comes to take Irma into the dancing area, but doesn't see Ethel, who begs off dancing with Jerry to avoid him. Meanwhile, Jerry is becoming entranced with Ethel in her liberated persona. However, Hugh does finally spot Ethel, and tries to order her home. She won't leave, and further informs him she will stay with Mrs. Massarene in the city while Hugh and Kittens go off to White Springs, Florida for a vacation. (Curtain) Act III (Gerald Naughton's bachelor apartment. Early evening, two weeks later.) Kittens shows up at Jerry's apartment in the city after returning from a two-week vacation. Jerry is out, but his man Davis unwisely permits her entry, and acquiesces to her demand for cocktails. She grows woozy with liquid solace waiting for Jerry's return, and Davis is forced to pick her up and deposit her on the bed in the guest room. When Jerry comes in, he is confronted with a visit from Irma. He informs her their affair is over, he has fallen for someone else. Ethel comes by after Irma leaves and is wooed by Jerry. But Kittens has recovered somewhat, and a confrontation between mother and daughter over their joint paramour ensues. Jerry is amused rather than alarmed by the revelation Ethel is the mother of Kittens. He sends the latter home, making plain his choice. (Curtain) Act IV (Same as Act I. An afternoon, a week later.) Hugh and Kittens are at home, discussing Ethel's continued absence. Kittens is again seeing Kenneth Cobb. Mrs. Massarene is brought in by Andrew. She has come with Ethel, who is waiting out in the car to see if Hugh will receive her. She has come, not for reconciliation, but to get personal items for her upcoming trip to Europe. She explains to Hugh and Kittens how their own conduct drove her to esteem happiness over family. She rejects their offers to reform, saying it would be only temporary, and just lead to her being sidelined again. Jerry has followed Ethel to the house; he defends himself well against Hugh's accusations, by counterattacking. Do not blame "scoundrels" for bringing happiness to wives betrayed by their husbands, he retorts. It is clear Jerry plans to follow Ethel to Paris. After they leave, Kittens and Hugh look at each other in astonishment: "She's gone!" they say. (Curtain)

Dancing at Lughnasa

Play · 1990

The five Mundy sisters (Kate, Maggie, Agnes, Rosie, and Christina), all unmarried, live in a cottage outside of Ballybeg. The oldest, Kate, is a school teacher, the only one with a well-paid job. Agnes and Rose knit gloves to be sold in town, thereby earning a little extra money for the household. They also help Maggie to keep house. Maggie and Christina (Michael's mother) have no income at all. Michael is seven years old and plays in and around the cottage. All the drama takes place in the sisters' cottage or in the yard just outside, with events from town and beyond being reported either as they happen or as reminiscence. Recently returned home after 25 years is their brother Jack, a priest who has lived as a missionary in a leper colony in a remote village called Ryanga in Uganda. He is suffering from malaria and has trouble remembering many things, including the sisters' names and his English vocabulary. It becomes clear that he has "gone native" and abandoned much of his Catholicism during his time there. This may be the real reason he has been sent home. Gerry, Michael's father, is Welsh. He is a charming yet unreliable man, always clowning. He is a travelling salesman who sells gramophones. He visits rarely and always unannounced. A radio nicknamed "Marconi", which works only intermittently, brings 1930s dance and traditional Irish folk music into the home at rather random moments and then, equally randomly, ceases to play. This leads the women into sudden outbursts of wild dancing. The poverty and financial insecurity of the sisters is a constant theme. So are their unfulfilled lives: none of the sisters has married, although it is clear that they have had suitors whom they fondly remember. There is a tension between the strict and proper behaviour demanded by the Catholic Church, voiced most stridently by the upright Kate, and the unbridled emotional paganism of the local people in the "back hills" of Donegal and in the tribal people of Uganda. There is a possibility that Gerry is serious this time about his marriage proposal to Christina. On this visit, he says he is going to join the International brigade to fight in the Spanish Civil War, not from any ideological commitment but because he wants adventure. There is a similar tension here between the "godless" forces he wants to join and the forces of Franco against which he will be fighting, which are supported by the Catholic Church. The opening of a knitwear factory in the village has killed off the hand-knitted glove cottage industry that has been the livelihood of Agnes and Rose. The village priest has told Kate that there are insufficient pupils at the school for her to continue in her post in the coming school year in September. She suspects that the real reason is her brother Jack, whose heretical views have become known to the Church and have tainted her by association. There is a sense that the close home life the women have known since childhood is about to be torn apart. The narrator, the adult Michael, tells us this is indeed what happens.

Dandy Dick

Play · 1887

The scene is the Deanery, the residence of the Very Rev Augustin Jedd, D.D, Dean of St Marvell's. He is somewhat impecunious but in a rash moment has promised to give a thousand pounds towards the restoration of the spire of the cathedral. When the money is asked for he is in no mood to listen to the pleas of his daughters Salome and Sheba, who want money for supposedly charitable purposes, but in fact to pay the bills of a London costumier who has supplied them with outfits for a fancy-dress ball, to which they propose to go surreptitiously with Tarver and Darbey, officers in the Hussars stationed nearby. The Dean's widowed sister, Georgiana Tidman, arrives to stay for a visit. Her life revolves around horses and racing, and she is owner of one half – the tail end – of a racehorse called Dandy Dick, the other half belonging to Sir Tristram Mardon, an old college friend of the Dean. The local races are to take place on the following day, and Dandy Dick is to run in the Durnstone Handicap. Georgiana, learning about the monetary difficulty in which her nieces find themselves, advises them to "put their petticoats on Dandy Dick". Georgiana learns how her brother has financially overcommitted himself with regard to the spire, and she recommends him to put fifty pounds on her horse. The Dean is at first appalled by the suggestion, but later he entrusts his old butler Blore with the necessary sum, to be put on Dandy Dick. A fire breaks out at the hotel where Mardon has stabled Dandy Dick, and Georgiana has the horse brought to the Deanery. The Dean, anxious that the horse which will carry his money should not have his chances impaired by a chill, prepares a bolus, into which the unscrupulous Blore, who has backed another horse, secretly slips a few grains of strychnine. The Dean, taking the bolus to the stable, is intercepted by the local policeman, who, being new, does not recognise him, arrests him for attempted doping, and locks him up in a police cell overnight. The next day, Georgiana arranges with some of her disreputable racecourse friends to rescue the Dean from the police vehicle taking him to appear before the magistrates. Dandy Dick gallops home to win the race, the Dean's daughters win the money they need, but the Dean himself ends up no better off, as Blore has put his £50 on a losing horse. Georgiana comes to his rescue with the requisite £1,000.

Dangerous Corner

Play · 1932

Robert and Freda Caplan are entertaining guests at their country retreat. A chance remark by one of the guests ignites a series of devastating revelations, revealing a hitherto undiscovered tangle of clandestine relationships and dark secrets, the disclosures of which have tragic consequences. The play ends with time slipping back to the beginning of the evening and the chance remark not being made, the secrets remaining hidden and the "dangerous corner" avoided. The play begins in darkness with a muffled gunshot and scream. Lights are turned on to reveal a drawing room containing four women listening to a radio play after dinner. Two of them, Freda and Betty, are the wives of directors of a publishing firm. With them are Olwen, a close friend of Freda and Betty, and Maud Mockridge, a novelist whose books are published by the firm. Their chat has turned to the suicide the previous year of Freda's brother-in-law Martin Caplan when they are interrupted by the entry of the husbands, Robert and Gordon, along with Charles, who works at the firm. They discuss whether it is best always to reveal the complete truth; Robert argues that it is, while Charles believes doing so is dangerous. Gordon tries to find some dance music on the radio, but it stops working. Freda offers Olwen a cigarette from a musical box, which Olwen recognizes as having belonged to Martin. Freda insists that Olwen could not have seen the box before because Martin had not had it when Olwen saw him last. Olwen accepts Freda's correction and the matter is about to be dropped, but Robert detects that Olwen, despite her verbal acquiescence, is not really convinced. He pushes the women to be honest about their disagreement. In examining the question of how Olwen could have previously seen Martin's cigarette box, each woman reveals that she has been keeping secret the fact that she had visited Martin shortly before his death. At this point, with tensions rising, Maud takes her leave, and soon all the guests depart except Olwen. The revelations lead Robert, Freda, and Olwen into a deeper discussion of the circumstances surrounding Martin's death. The firm had suffered a theft of £500 the previous year. The group members had assumed that Martin's suicide was an indicator that he had been the thief. However, Olwen now admits that on her final visit to Martin, she learned that he had not stolen the money and further that he believed the thief to be Robert, having been led to that suspicion by Charles. She had not previously mentioned this because she was secretly in love with Robert, which prompts Robert's admission that his and Freda's marriage is unhappy. Robert is shocked both at the accusation that he is the thief and at hearing that Charles had suggested such. Robert snatches the telephone and demands that Gordon and Charles return. Charles admits that he deliberately led Robert and Martin to suspect one another to cover the fact that he had taken the money himself. But he insists that he was planning to return it within a week and that it was not the cause of Martin's suicide. As others try to blame him for Martin's death, he remains defiant in his insistence that Robert should never have begun the process of revealing secrets. Increasingly angry over having been forced into his confession, Charles admits to having had a personal contempt for Martin and suggests that there are still more secrets being kept that are the reason. Knowing that hers is one of the secrets to which Charles is referring, Freda now confesses that the reason her marriage to Robert has been unhappy is that she was having an affair with Martin and had long been in love with him. A jealous Gordon then proclaims that he too was in love with Martin, and he declares himself to have been a much greater object of Martin's affection than Freda had been. At this point, Betty arrives at the house, indignant at being left out, to discover the men on the brink of fighting. As the group continues to angrily blame Charles for causing Martin's suicide, Olwen finally offers that Martin's death was not a suicide. Rather, she accidentally shot Martin while struggling with him; in a drug-fuelled rage, he lunged at her with a gun and tried to rape her. Afterwards, she drove to Charles's cottage for help but left immediately after realizing that Betty was spending the night there. This leaves Robert crestfallen, as he had been in love with the highly idealized view he had had of Betty. Charles's ongoing affair with Betty had been the reason he had become cash-strapped and stolen the money. After a great deal of bitter discussion, all the guests but Olwen leave, totally alienated from one another. The firm is certain to collapse. Robert realizes that his happiness had been entirely built upon illusions and that as such, he had been foolish to insist upon pursuing the complete truth of the situation. His illusions, and with them his happiness, are now destroyed beyond all hope of repair. In despair, he goes into his room and Freda suddenly remembers that he keeps a revolver there. As she tears out after him, the lights fade, and we hear a shot and a scream. When the lights are turned back on, we find ourselves at the beginning of Act I. The opening scene is repeated in a shortened version. As before, Olwen recognizes the cigarette box, but this time, before Freda can object to that recognition, Gordon interrupts upon finding the dance music that he was searching for on the radio. He calls everyone to listen, diverting the conversation before it leads into any of the particulars of Martin's death. With all of the secrets remaining unrevealed, a happy after-dinner party commences for all.

Dangerous Curves

Play · 1953

Dangerous Curves is a 1953 thriller play by the British writer Gerald Verner. It is adapted from the 1939 novel of the same title by Peter Cheyney featuring the private detective Slim Callaghan. It followed the success of Verner's 1952 stage play Meet Mr. Callaghan. It premiered at the Garrick Theatre in London's West End, where the previous play had been staged, and ran for 53 performances between 14 April and 11 June 1953. The cast included Terence De Marney as Callaghan, Shaw Taylor, Stephen Dartnell and Paul Whitsun-Jones.

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