Kirjahaku

This book holds a very interesting group of plays. Aunt Ethel's Death Notice takes us through the dirty event of dividing up personal items of a departed loved one. Doped Up Deal provides an insight of the not so glamorous life of cash-strapped everyday city folk and the not so friendly drug dealer who won't take no for an answer. Then, it's Happy Birthday, Christmas Bernii; a thirteen-year old girl with a macabre sense of humour. Separating The Dust is a glimpse into the world of two brothers; the gloves are off after the last mourners have departed their mother's funeral service; one fights for his lion's share of the Will and the other fights for his life. Spring is a season of new beginnings but Mrs Wentworth-Brewster feels it's time to spring-clean the tenants of her rooms at her lady's only boarding house. Richly dark and humourous, extreme in its social commentary of the human psyche, this collection of one-act plays will have the audience on the edge of their seats right from page one.

David takes us on a journey through a weekend of tragedy, which not even he could alter through misfortunes of fate. As Craig and Sheryl apathetically deal with the death of their love, their three children, David, Michelle and Rick relentlessly struggle with denial, contempt and rebellion. The sibling rivalry abounds with our protagonist David, openly discussing his sexuality within the realms of his family home. David struggles to hold his own place in the world. His circle of friends comforts him; however his longing for acceptance from his family remains poignant. The wicked web we weave within the family unit; acceptance is as important as is non-acceptance within David's family, yet brotherly love can only show its boundaries once tested and it fails. The relationship between denial and rebellion build a night of thick tension, exposing itself in the face of sodomy and complacency. Not even David's bloodline can stop the outcome it first set up to accomplish.

A few members of the Hainsworth family are arriving for the weekend as Marcie prepares for their arrival. Alfred and two of his children, Elizabeth and Candice are met by Robert, Elizabeth's boyfriend, at the train station. Alfred, tennis pro turned coach has been invited to a conference on Carbon emissions as their motivational speaker. Alfred and his wife Julia are two free spirits who enjoy their family life and their individual pursuits of happiness; they share a special arrangement in their intimate affairs. Alfred enjoys his tennis (students) and Julia enjoys her art (students). This weekend, Elizabeth decides who is eligible to win her heart. Waiting for Elizabeth's arrival is George, her ex-boyfriend, keen to win back Elizabeth. Candice, the baby of the family sees how much George pines for her eldest sister and devises a plan to overthrow Robert's stronghold. Secretly, Alfred's tennis student Mimi arrives to partake in extracurricular tennis games.

Darren Brealey has completed his next full-length stage script, Shattered Reflection. A story of a corporate psychopath, a strong-headed and educated woman with a Masters Degree in Arts Science and Degrees in Business Management. Her role as the Divisional Manager of the Asia Pacific region for an international manufacturing company for truck engines and farming equipment dissatisfies her career goals. She finds the people she works with boorish and common. Without a tendency to commit to relationships and feel for true love, her only outlet for sex is rent boys on a Friday night. She suffers from mental illness and personality disorder and this is exacerbated by her addiction to a cocktail of illicit drugs and alcohol.

Day three celebrating Lord Florien Thrust's Birthday, his friends Gertrude, an instructor of Deportment and Hygiene, and Lucinda Undercarriage, a celebrated Nightclub dancer, toast Florien's good health and scheme their plans to entrap his love. Will Florien's one true love, Titiana be the distraction needed to detach his love for Fergus?