Bøger udgivet af New Theatre Publications

David Muncaster has been the playscript reviewer for Amateur Stage magazine since 2010. Each month he reviews scripts with a view to alerting amateur theatre groups to the gems that are available for performance. His reviews have fast become one of the most popular sections in the magazine, drawing followers from as far afield as Australia and South East Asia. His honest appraisal of scripts by playwrights that are well-known to those who are just starting out, is valued by groups around the world who are choosing their next production. In this volume, all of David's reviews from 2012 / 2013 have been compiled. From The Ladykillers to Agatha Crusty And The Village Hall Murders, from full-length to one act plays, there's a wide range of playscripts covered here with something for everyone. In Volume 2 (2012 - 2013) you get reviews for 55 Days, Agatha Crusty and The Village Hall Murders, Ali Baba, All Balls and Ashes, Arms Floating Like Seaweed, Before The Party, Better Than The Real Thing, Biscuits, Bitch Boxer, Blue Sky, Blue Stockings, Boris Gudunov, Boys, Bridge, Brief Encounters, Building On Sand, Bully Boy, Cage Of Iron, Chalet Lines, Children Of The Wolf, The Chimes, The Complaint, Death In High Heels, Dirty Business, The Distressed Table, Duckability South Of Runcorn, Dusk Rings A Bell, Eating The Lino, Egusi Soup, Emily Davidson, Entertaining Angels, False Pretenses, Father's Day, Fine Bright Day Today, First Episode, Fit To Drop, Fleabag, Foxfinder, Future Shock, The Gatekeeper, Getting Dark, Girls Like That, God of Soho, Goodbye To All That, Great Expectations, Halycon Days, Happy Birthday Me, Harry Rings - Lord of The Potters, The Haunting, Herding Cats, The Heresy Of Love, Home Death, The Hound Of The Baskervilles, The House Keeper, Hundreds and Thousands, I Am Shakespeare, I'll Eat You Last, Ignorance, Intervals, Invisible, Judgement Day, Jumpers for Goalposts, Just The Ticket, Kes, Kitchen Sink, Laburnum Grove, The Ladykillers, Lagan, The Last Group, The Last of the Duchess, The Last of the Housemanns, Life and Beth, Looking for Love, Losing It, Love In A Glass Jar, The Lovers, Mad About The Boy, A Mad World My Masters, the Maddening Rain, The Martha Syndrome, Meeting Miss Ireland, Mind The Gap, Moby Dick, Mouse and His Child, Mustafa, Needle Time, Never A Cross Word, Nicholas Nickleby, The Nightingales, The Nightwatchman, Nineteen Ninety-Two, No Naughty Bits, No Romance, Parlour Song, Pastoral, Practice To Deceive, Primates, The Prince Of Denmark, Quotations on the Margin, The Railway Siding, Rattigan's Nijinsky, Recidivists, The River, Rose, Roy Brown Untitled, Saving It For Albie, Sex and God, Sex With A Stranger, Side Effects, Silent Night, Sixty Five Miles, Smack Family Robinson, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Sociable Plover, St Nicholas, Strangers Must Beware, The Strangers, Stubbs, The Swallowing Dark, Swallows and Amazons, The Table, There Is a War, Thicker Than Water, The Tobacco Tin, Top Of The Mourning, The Travelling Light, The Tree Of Knowledge, Triptych, Tuesday at Tesco's, Umlaut - Prince Of Dusseldorf, Up Pompeii, The Visitors, Voyager, Walkies, Washington Square, What Love Is, Wit's End, The Witness, The Wolves Of Willoughby Chase, The Xmas Factor, Yes - Prime Minister.

David Muncaster has been the playscript reviewer for Amateur Stage magazine since 2010. Each month he reviews scripts with a view to alerting amateur theatre groups to the gems that are available for performance. His reviews have fast become one of the most popular sections in the magazine, drawing followers from as far afield as Australia and South East Asia. His honest appraisal of scripts by playwrights that are well-known to those who are just starting out, is valued by groups around the world who are choosing their next production. In this volume, all of David's reviews from 2010 / 2011 have been compiled. From Calendar Girls to The Ex Factor, from full-length to one act plays, there's a wide range of playscripts covered here with something for everyone.

One Act Play - 2m 3f A meeting room, a flip chart, an enthusiastic facilitator, and four employees who are determined to give her a hard time. This is the background to Mission Impossible, a hilarious look at the corporate nonsense that anyone who has ever attended a team bonding session will know only too well. Ice Breakers and silly games do little to bond this team as the beleaguered facilitator gets tough to ensure that she gets the outcome she desires. Mission Impossible won the Congleton One Act Play Festival 2009. This is an extended version of the original play and is a little bit longer, a little bit ruder and quite a bit sillier.

Barry Bigley has just set up as a private detective and the last thing he needs, besides a lack of clients, is constant interference from a mother obsessed with cleaning, a father desperate to appear on television, a fiance eager for marriage, and a threatening landlord. So when the daughter of a rich diamond merchant is kidnapped, it should be Barry`s chance to overcome all obstacles and hit the big time. Of course, it would help if he had the faintest idea of how a private detective goes about his business.

*Festival Award Winner & Writing Award Winner* A suicidal failed actor, a maniacally depressed pub landlord and a schizophrenic passer by are the characters in this blackest of comedies. Set on the cliff top at Beachy Head, this carefully researched piece of modern theatre has received critical acclaim since its showcase in Edinburgh and subsequent productions in Chicago, Madrid, Stockholm, Melbourne and Prague. An ideal festival play for amateurs. 2m 1f

*Festival Award Winner* Three women are locked in a cellar. One of them is psychotic. Two are in danger. Only one survives. This play has the power to send shivers down the spines of the audience and keep them guessing until the end. 1m 3f

Call Girls is set in a call centre providing IT assistance to an unspecified company. Three of the women get on well together and 'have a laugh` but for the last six months their happy little group has been spoiled by the presence of Laura, an arrogant and aloof troublemaker whose predilection for short skirts and low cut tops probably has more to do with her getting the job than any particular work skills. Thankfully this is Laura`s last week and the others decide not to let her go without letting her know exactly what they think of her. Surprisingly it is Mary, normally the quietist member of the group, who really lets rip but this uncharacteristic outburst could be the biggest mistake of her life. 1m 4f

*Festival Award Winner* It`s been a busy Christmas week at Tollerbay shopping centre, but peace reigns now that the late-night shoppers have gone home. As midnight approaches, and she does her regular checks, the last thing security guard Connie needs is an old tramp taking up residence on her patch. However, as they talk, he turns out to have had quite a past, and they eventually find they have more in common than either of them would have suspected. This is a warm-hearted look at bridging the generation gap, ideal for the festive season.

It's London, back in the swinging 1960's. Newly-weds Chris and Sally Taylor are moving into their new flat. Ron, a telephone engineer with a passion for paperwork is installing a new telephone. But the Taylors hadn't ordered a new phone, and once they start getting some very strange calls, they soon wish they didn't have this one. They encounter a glamorous Russian spy, not to mention Dracula, John Wayne and a yellow zebra, and an ordinary day becomes crazier by the minute. A play for everybody who hates filling out forms.

Roger and Laura are just an ordinary married couple. Why then do a man and a woman, posing as police, kidnap Laura and keep her captive in a run-down farmhouse? After all, Roger has no money. The plot unfurls on a dramatically-split stage - half in the couple`s flat and half in the farmhouse - as we share Roger`s and Laura`s private agonies and uncertainties. The police are called, but their motives do not always seem in Laura`s best interests. It is left to Laura and Roger to effect the final solution, but there is a price to pay, and their lives will never be the same again. This play has good character parts, especially the schizophrenic kidnapper Dianne and her slow partner Barry. "A tough, taut thriller. As tense as tomorrow`s headlines" - T.O.A.D.S.

In the lounge bar of the local pub, these five linked short comedies all take place during one evening. They are all two-handers and vary from straight comedies to more thought-provoking ones. A short intro and outro - in which we meet the landlord, Bill, and a barmaid (sorry, barperson) Tracy - bookend the five plays. Calling Time is written to be performed by four actors performing all the parts, but can be played by a cast of up to 12. Similarly, the play allows for flexibility in length (from 30 mins to 60 mins). Provided the intro and outro scenes, together with 'Who's Joe?' are played, one or two other scenes may be omitted to reduce the running time for use in festivals etc.

Charlie Brown's day in hospital begins very well. His devoted wife is at his bedside; a scene of conjugal bliss, that is until another female visitor arrives. When she reveals that she is also Mrs Brown, it looks like Charlie's got some explaining to do. As his previously secret life is hilariously disentangled, a third female visitor arrives, also claiming to be Mrs Brown. You'd think Charlie's day couldn't get much worse - but it does. Highly Commended in the SCDA Playwriting Competition and tailor-made for a "mature" cast, the play was described by one adjudicator as "A witty comedy... beautifully written". Cast 1m 4f

'The Inaccurate Conception' is a raucous and often slightly surreal celebration of everyone`s first brush with the theatre - the school Nativity Play! Celia Whibley is a young teacher directing class 3C of Verruca Street Primary School in just such a play, and though the children are unprepossessing and unco-operative, they are the least of Celia`s troubles - her real obstacle is the unhelpful staff. Battling against the odds within and outside the classroom is a 'learning experience' for poor Celia... Will the struggle have been worth it? Seven-year-olds, teachers and parents alike are played by adults in this energetic and warm-hearted comedy. 8m 12 f

Following the success of Packed To The Rafters, this book aims to educate readers in the basics of social networking and how those networks might help to promote amateur or fringe theatre groups and their productions. By examining networks including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and Pinterest, groups can develop an effective online strategy, that will help them get the word out and ultimately help them sell more tickets. This volume examines the use of hashtags, photographs, links, tweets, postings, circles, likes and favourites in an effort to get groups understanding and using social networks to their benefit.

Jack Up! Tells the tale of two rival bowling clubs. It is the final match of the season and the winners take the league title. The problems start when the keenly-fought match is a draw and must be replayed, a week later. The home team Abbeywood suspect that the away team, West Worth, will attempt to sabotage their green so set up an all-night vigil to keep watch. To keep the cold night air at bay they have the occasional swig of home-distilled gin made from grass-cuttings by the greensman. Cue the arrival of a police officer trying to find out what's going on. Oh, yes, the office is alcohol-intolerant. With a copper who now believes he/she is on a cruise in the Caribbean, thank to regular toppings-up of the booze, they just have to keep things calm until the rematch has been played. But police officers have more senior police officers to answer to, and the next arrival is a senior police officer who just so happens to be the chairman of the West Worth Club. In for a penny, in for a pound, Abbeywood now have two inebriated police officers to keep hidden, not to mention a very obvious police car in the road outside. The day of the replay grows ever closer...

Hello...Is There Anybody There is the outrageous farce by Ian Hornby. All is dull and peaceful at Squire Grange. Lady Amelia searches for new ideas for her latest mystery novel as Sir Malcolm sleeps off the excesses of another idle day. Family friend Freddy is persuaded to try and think of new ideas. Meanwhile the hapless Vic Tim arrives and is promptly dispatched by an unknown assailant. Everyone tries hard to discover the murderer before he or she can strike again. The first problem is how to get rid of Vic's body, because he is making an untidy mess on the stage, and because he has to come back in ACT II as a policeman! Smalls, the butler, and Mabel, the maid, try to assist the inept police (and Sir Malcolm attempts to give the delicious WPC Nunall a hand too) but not in time to prevent the Producer being murdered. There is even a suspicion that someone may have poisoned the audience. Eventually Miss Marbles arrives to reveal, Agatha Christie-style, the culprit, who also happens to be the play's prompt. Or is there another culprit? This hilarious farce steadfastly refuses to take itself (or anything else) seriously.