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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.

Darius, King of Persia

Play · 1688

Darius, King of Persia is a 1688 tragedy by the English writer John Crowne. It portrays the reign of Darius III of Persian Empire, focusing on his defeat by Alexander the Great and subsequent death. It was performed by the United Company at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in late April before being succeeded by the hit The Squire of Alsatia. The roles played by the various actors are unknown, apart from Elizabeth Barry who appeared as Barzana and also spoke the epilogue. It was noted for the attendance on the play's third night by James II, who later the same year was overthrown in the Glorious Revolution.

Darkest Russia

Play · 1893

Darkest Russia is a play by H. Grattan Donnelly and Sidney R. Ellis. It premiered at the Chestnut Street Opera House in Philadelphia on September 18, 1893 with Donnelly as the credited playwright and Ellis credited as director and manager of the production. Later sources credit both men as the work's playwrights. Well received in New York, it ran there longer than initially planned for six weeks. It returned to New York later that year for a run at the Columbus Theatre. Other stops on the Darkest Russia tour included performances at the Grand Opera House in Wilmington, Delaware (1893), (1893) the Grand Opera House in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (1893). the Bijou Theater in Pittsburgh (1893), the Lyceum Theatre in Cleveland (1893), the Academy of Music in Buffalo (1893), the Taylor Opera House in Trenton, New Jersey (1893), the Hyperion Theater in New Haven, Connecticut (1893), the Bowdoin Square Theatre in Boston (1893), the Chestnut Street Theatre (1894) in Philadelphia, the Academy of Music in Washington, D.C. (1894), the Fulton Opera House in Lancaster, Pennsylvania (1894), the Academy of Music in Jersey City, New Jersey (1894), and the Bijou Theatre in Brooklyn (1894). The play was adapted by screenwriter Frances Marion into the 1917 silent film of the same name directed by Travers Vale.

Das Käthchen von Heilbronn oder Die Feuerprobe

Play · 1810

Blacksmith Theobald accuses Count von Strahl of bewitching his daughter Käthchen, who follows the count despite their difference in rank. The count frees Kunigunde from a kidnapper and considers marrying her after she claims to match a prophetic dream, while Käthchen's loyalty repeatedly saves him. Kunigunde sends Käthchen into a burning castle, where an angel helps her escape. The count ultimately learns that Käthchen is the emperor's daughter and his prophesied bride.

David Garrick

Play · 1864 est

The action takes place in 1740s London. A young woman, Ada, has developed a crush on the actor David Garrick so strong that she refuses to accept a marriage arranged by her father, Mr. Ingot. Ingot contrives to meet with Garrick and initially tries to persuade him to leave the country or give up acting, but when Garrick learns the reason, he assures Ingot that he will be able to cure Ada of her attraction and asks Ingot to arrange a meeting with her. Garrick is sympathetic to Ada's plight because he himself has fallen in love with a girl he doesn't know, but he promises Ingot that he will not make any romantic moves towards Ada. Garrick is invited to a dinner party at Ingot's house, where he is stunned and horrified to realise that Ada is the very girl he had been admiring from afar, but because of his promise, he goes through with his plan. He spends the evening antagonizing the other guests and pretending to be a drunk and a gambler. When he leaves, Ada is crushed, but she agrees to go through with the marriage her father intends for her. Her fiancé Richard Chivy arrives, actually as drunk as Garrick was just pretending to be, and he tells the Ingots about how he just met David Garrick at his club and listened to him tell a story of how he had spent an evening pretending to be a scoundrel so as to cure a girl of her attraction to him. Chivy does not recognise that the story is about Ada and her father, though they both recognise themselves, and Ada is cheered by the news. Chivy then mentions how someone at the club insulted the girl and father of Garrick's story, and that Garrick is now scheduled to fight a duel with the man. The next day, Ada goes to Garrick's home, both to escape her impending marriage and to try to stop the duel set for later in the day. Chivy has followed her, and she hides from him. Garrick learns that Ada is hiding in the room, but he plays dumb and offers to help Chivy look for her, until the two men leave together for the duel. Not long after they leave, Ingot arrives and finds Ada. He says he will disown her because of how she has misbehaved. Ada is so upset by the news that she faints. Ingot tries to tell her he didn't mean it, but when he sees she has fainted unconscious he goes to get help. Ada then awakens, the last thing she heard being that she was disowned. Garrick eventually comes into the room, having won the duel, and tries to comfort Ada. He convinces her that her father loves her and that she should listen to him. Ingot overhears this and decides that David Garrick is a better man than Chivy, who by now has left in pursuit of Garrick's housemaid, and so he agrees to allow Ada to marry him.

De Monfort

Play · 1800

De Monfort is an 1800 Gothic tragedy by the Scottish writer Joanna Baillie. It was originally published in the author's Plays on the Passions in 1798. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, then under the management of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, on 29 April 1800. The cast featured John Philip Kemble as De Montfort, Sarah Siddons as Jane De Montfort, Montague Talbot as Rezenvelt, William Barrymore as Count Freberg, John Powell as Manuel, William Dowton as Jerome, Thomas Caulfield as Grimbald and Elizabeth Heard as Countess Freberg. It was produced at the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh in February 1810, and revived at Drury Lane in 1821 with Edmund Kean in the title role.

Dead End

Play · 1935

Dead End concerns a group of adolescent children growing up on the streets of New York City during the Great Depression. Bonnie Stephanoff, author of a book on homelessness during the Depression, wrote that it "graphically depicted the lives and longings of a group of boys who swam in a polluted river, cooked food over outdoor fires, smoked cigarettes, gambled, swore, fought, carried weapons and became entangled in [crime] on Manhattan's Lower East Side." The long opening stage directions for Act One vividly evoke the grim setting, and the action carries on. “A gang of boys are swimming in the sewerage at the foot of the wharf, splashing about and enjoying it immensely. Some of them wear torn bathing trunks, others are nude. Their speech is a rhythmic, shocking jargon that would put a truck-driver to blush.” The boys' horseplay includes tossing feces and offal at each other. Gimpty is a would-be architect who struggles with unemployment. As his nickname suggests, one leg is deformed, because he suffered from rickets as a child. A gang member in his youth, he managed to turn his life around, finish high school and go on to college. He dreams of rebuilding the neighborhood with clean housing units, but poverty and hardships have forced him to search for work wherever possible. He yearns for Kay, a young woman who lives in the elegant apartment house on the other side of the street. Drina is a working-class girl who has been struggling to keep her younger brother Tommy off the streets ever since their parents died. Meanwhile, local gangster Baby-Face Martin returns to his old neighborhood to visit his mother and to find his old love, Francey. At the end of the play, Martin is dead and Tommy is headed to reform school, his future uncertain. Variety's review of the film pinpointed some key elements in the play that fell prey to the censors. The girl Gimpty yearns for is being kept in her elegant apartment by a rich man. Martin's former girlfriend, Francey, now a prostitute, is riddled with disease. The play is full of profane language, including ethnic slurs that were common at the time.

Dear Brutus

Play · 1917

The theme of the play is whether it would benefit people if they could have their lives over again and make different choices. The characters consist of dissatisfied couples, who all feel that they have taken the wrong turning in life. They are brought together to the house of an ancient individual bearing the Shakespearean name of Lob, who is described as "all that is left of Merry England". In Act 3 the characters return to reality, having benefited to varying degrees from their experiences in the wood in Act 2. The butler resigns himself to domestic service rather than high finance; the philanderer is mortified but predicts he will be unable to reform; an elderly man who had longed for a second youth proposes again to his faithful spouse; the artist and his wife are reconciled, and the dream child of Act 2 has become almost real to both of them and lives on in their hearts.

Death Drop

Play · 2020

It is a dark and stormy night at Shantay Manor on remote Tuck Island where Lady von Fistenberg has invited a series of top celebrities to gather for her annual dinner party in honour of Prince Charles and Lady Diana's tenth anniversary. As each guest arrives, various rivalries and alliances take shape. 'World Of The News' editor Morgan Pierce brings her camera and tape recorder, convinced that the royal couple themselves will join them for the evening. Conservative MP Rich Whiteman is also a guest and confronts Pierce, upset that his reporters have been harassing his wife with repeated calls, trying to speak with him. Meteorologist and television personality Summer Raines enters and is subjected to a tirade by MP Whiteman about how he considers women to be stupid and helpless. Television producer Phil Maker arrives, bragging about a brief encounter with a woman on the train, before realising that it was Raines he had been with. Maker also states that Pierce had published embarrassing photos of a night out he had had with a pop star. Shazza (the pop star) then arrives, announcing that the island is now cut off as a tree has blocked the bridge. Later we find out the Shazza fears she is losing her celebrity status. Each guest admits they don't actually know Lady von Fistenberg but accepted the invitation regardless. Throughout the evening Lady von Fistenberg and her guests are assisted in turn one by one of the Bottomley triplets, Blue, Brie and Spread (we only see one at a time as all three are played by the same actress). The electricity flickers and the phone line is cut. After eating one of the Bottomley sisters' crispy filled pancakes, Raines becomes violently ill and dies from poisoning. Spread Bottomley attempts to serve a tray of Swiss roll but the lights cut off and on, during which time her hands are chopped off. She too falls dead to the floor. Aware they have a murderer in their midst, but with no way to leave the house or to contact the authorities, the guests agree to go to their separate rooms to wait for morning. Shazza has left her bedroom late in the night and sings a self-described 'dramatic' number to open Act 2. Maker joins Shazza and attempts to seduce her, but he is electrocuted when trying to turn on the television. The other guests run in to find Shazza with Maker's body. A detective arrives at the door. Dressed in a trenchcoat and speaking with a heavy French accent, he says he is Inspector Gadgee, who has reached the island by boat. He begins to interrogate the guests, who have been accusing each other for the murders as each of them seems to have a motive. Blue and Brie prepare breakfast (with one of the sisters now played by the actor who had played Phil Maker). While discussing their buttering skills a masked ninja bursts in on them and mortally injures Brie. Gadgee believes Pierce to be the killer, but Pierce refuses to be interrogated and decides to leave the manor. As soon as she starts her car outside it explodes. Gadgee is now convinced that MP Richman is the killer after the MP admits Pierce had uncovered his affair with a rentboy named Valentino. The MP is tied to a chair for interrogation, then left alone so Gadgee can look for evidence. While the MP is tied to the chair the mysterious masked figure enters and kills him. As the bodies continue to pile up and with accusations flying, Shazza draws a gun she has found. A ricocheting bullet hits Lady von Fistenberg, who falls to the floor. Blue is shot in the foot, causing her to collapse. With only Shazza and Gadgee left standing, Gadgee removes his hat, moustache and trench coat to reveal he is actually Summer Raines, who had faked her death to get her revenge on each of the guests, as she had longstanding grudges against each of the other celebrities. Lady von Fistenberg recovers, retrieves a pistol and shoots Raines dead. There is a knock on the door and Princess Diana enters, apologising for being late to the party.

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