What Does The Future Hold?

Some ideas for future plays to be read.  I'd truly welcome your input - positive or negative!

But firstly ...

Future Dates

5th February

5th March

2nd April

7th May

4th June

2nd July

6th August ? TBC.  I may well be on holiday ... but there is NO reason why you should not meet elsewhere!

3rd September 

1st October

5th November

3rd December

Future Ideas

Before you consider any of the below you might want to look into them further. These are just ideas I'm throwing out and I only know Dog in the Night and Journey's End. Possibly Waiting in the Wings too!

Waiting in the Wings by Noel Coward.  Set in a retirement home for thesps, it addresses the feud between two leading ladies who once loved the same man.  This play is familiar to me, but maybe we read it at the ECC Play Reading, as it's not on my list of plays we have read!

The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter.  Often described as a "Comedy of Menace".  A birthday party turns into a nightmare.

The Caretaker by Harold Pinter. Well, you get one idea and others follow!  A tragi-comedy psychological study.

Angels in America by Tony Kushner.  A modern masterpiece speaking to us of an entire era of life and death as no other play within memory. Through the gay community in America it explores life, death, religion .... I understand it is heavy but humorous.  Part One of Angels in America, subtitled Millennium Approaches, erupted on to the stage of the National Theatre in January 1992. Part Two, Perestroika, followed in November 1993. Since then Angels in America has become one of the most studied American plays.  This will require some editing as I believe both plays are very long.  

Red by John Logan. Highly recommended by my reliable friend Malinda.  Very similar to Art. An artist exploring his art.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night by Mark Haddon.  Based on the book.  I saw it at NT Live and thought it was amazing.

Peter and Alice by John Logan.  Sheer coincidence!  Found this before Red whilst browsing online.  Highly acclaimed film about the real Alice and Peter Pan.

This is what Amazon has to say:

'Of course that's how it begins: a harmless fairy tale to pass the hours' 
When Alice Liddell Hargreaves met Peter Llewelyn Davies at the opening of a Lewis Carroll exhibition in 1932, the original Alice in Wonderland came face to face with the original Peter Pan. In John Logan's remarkable new play, enchantment and reality collide as this brief encounter lays bare the lives of these two extraordinary characters. 
This is the first new play from Academy Award winning screenwriter and playwright, John Logan since his RED went on to sell thousands of copies, played London to great acclaim before transferring to a smash hit Broadway run where it won 6 Tony Awards including Best New Play.

The Ackrington Pals by Peter Whelan.  I believe Sheila first suggested this last year?  Lancashire life for the men and women caught up in WW1.

Journey's End by Robert Cedric Sherriff.  WW1 masterpiece set in the trenches.

The History Boys by Alan Bennett.  We like Bennett don't we, and this is one of his best.

Thoughts please!!!

February 5th - Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde

We met in January and read Our Man in Havana - and thank goodness we had a good turn out as there were an awful lot of roles to fill!  With some jumping about I think everyone had a fair turn at reading, and with so many characters coming and going it kept us on our toes!

And talking of characters going ... this really was Cathy's last official Play Reading, but we truly hope that she will fit in her return trips to Brussels with a visit to us!

Lady Windermere's Fan

It was suggested in January that we read a Wilde in February.  As the ECC is about to put on An Ideal Husband I was tempted to do that ... but as I am helping out with props and will be heartily sick of the play by March, I hope you won't mind if we read Lady Windermere's Fan instead.

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars

Lady Windermere is a 'Good Woman' who comes to believe that her husband is having an affair.  He forces the presence of this other woman upon her, and she turns to another man.  But who is the mysterious Mrs. Erlynne who Lord W denies he is having an illicit relationship with?

All will be revealed!  And in the process Wilde will turn his attention to the behaviour of the ladies of his era.

Interesting Fact:  There is a condition known as Lady Windermere Syndrome.  This is named after this play, to suggest the fastidiousness of Victorian genteel ladies.  It is a syndrome where the patient involuntarily suppresses coughing, causing internal difficulties.