Kirjahaku

A selection of the best work of Stephen Jeffreys, whose career stretches from an award-winning play at the National Student Drama Festival in 1977 through to an adaptation of The Alchemist for the RSC in 2016. Included here are his first big success, Valued Friends, a comedy of manners about the property market which won both the Evening Standard and Critics' Circle Awards; a riotous farce set in the time of Elizabeth I, The Clink, in which a stand-up comedian becomes involved in the political skulduggery surrounding the ailing queen; an autobiographical drama set in 1966, A Going Concern, about a washed-up family business; and Jeffreys' smash-hit, The Libertine, a Restoration romp about the licentious Earl of Rochester, much revived and also filmed with Johnny Depp. Rounding off the volume are two previously unpublished plays: Interruptions, inspired by Jeffreys' interest in the collective aspect of politics and his fascination with the Japanese aesthetic principle of Jo-ha-kyu; and a very likable, short autobiographical monologue, Finsbury Park. Together, all six plays represent the impressively wide range of topics and styles that Jeffreys can embrace. Above all, each one of them is intensely and enjoyably theatrical to its very core.

Four people live together in a large old house in London. They include Sherry a wacky girl trying to make it as a comedienne; Paul a pop music journalist; Paul's girlfriend Marion; and Howard, who is writing a left wing analysis of the corruption of capitalism under the Thatcher government. They all are perfectly content living where they are; until, that is, a developer offers them a huge sum of money to vacate. Soon, their talk about music and idealism gives way to heated discussions about real estate, capital appreciation and negotiating tactics.2 women, 4 men

For over two decades, Stephen Jeffreys' remarkable series of workshops attracted writers from all over the world and shaped the ideas of many of today's leading playwrights and theater-makers. Now, with this inspiring, highly practical book, you too can learn from these acclaimed masterclasses. Playwriting reveals the various invisible frameworks and mechanisms that are at the heart of each and every successful play. Drawing on a huge range of sources, it deconstructs playwriting into its constituent parts, and offers illuminating insights into: Structure--an in-depth exploration of the fundamental elements of drama, enabling you to choose instinctively the most effective structure for your play Character--advice on how to generate and write credible characters by exploring their three essential dimensions: story, breadth, and depth How to Write--techniques for writing great dialogue, dynamic scenes, and compelling subtext, including how to improve your writing by approaching it from unfamiliar directions What to Write--how to adopt different approaches to finding your material and an exploration of the fundamental "Nine Stories," plus how to evaluate the potential of your ideas Written by a true master of the craft, this authoritative guide will provide playwrights at every level of experience with a rich array of tools to apply to their own work.

Stephen Jeffreys' The Convict's Opera reimagines the world's first ever musical, The Beggar's Opera, as a performance on board a creaking convict ship bound for Australia. To pass the time on their journey to Australia, the convicts put on John Gay's musical satire, The Beggar's Opera, introducing us to treacherous highwayman MacHeath and sweet Polly Peachum as they juggle love and deceit in the dirty underbelly of eighteenth-century London. It's a world the convicts have left far behind, and will probably never see again. The Convict's Opera was first performed by Out of Joint and Sydney Theatre Company at Sydney Theatre in 2008, followed by a UK tour in 2009.

A historical romp with real bite, Stephen Jeffreys's The Libertine has received several major stage productions and was filmed with Johnny Depp and John Malkovich. John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, is the Libertine. Poet. Friend and confidant of Charles II. Notorious rake. An anti-monarchist Royalist, an atheist converted to Christianity, his contradictory morals are never more tested than when he falls in love with the actress Elizabeth Barry. Thoroughly modern in its attitude to Rochester’s sexual indulgence, with all the wit, flair and bawdiness of a Restoration comedy, the play is an incisive critique of an age of excess. Originally performed on stage at the Royal Court Theatre in 1994 as part of Out of Joint's UK tour, The Libertine was given its American premiere by Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company, was adapted for radio, and became a film starring Johnny Depp and John Malkovich. This edition of the play was published alongside the production at Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, in 2014. Included in this edition is Mickey Gallagher's music for the original Out of Joint tour.

‘I am up for it. All the time. That’s not a boast. Or an opinion. It is bone-hard medical fact.’? John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester. Charismatic poet, playwright and rake with a legendary appetite for excess. Yet when a chance encounter with an actress at the Playhouse sends him reeling, he is forced to reconsider everything he thinks and feels. With all the wit, flair and bawdiness of a Restoration comedy, Stephen Jeffreys’ brilliant play is an incisive critique of life in an age of excess. Originally performed at the Royal Court Theatre in 1994, The Libertine has been staged around the world, was adapted for radio, and became a film. This edition of the play was published alongside the 2016 production at the Theatre Royal Bath and Theatre Royal Haymarket, directed by Terry Johnson and starring Dominic Cooper as Wilmot.

For two decades, Stephen Jeffreys's remarkable series of workshops attracted writers from all over the world and shaped the ideas of many of today's leading playwrights and theatre-makers. Now, with this inspiring, highly practical book, you too can learn from these acclaimed Masterclasses. Playwriting reveals the various invisible frameworks and mechanisms that are at the heart of each and every successful play. Drawing on a huge range of sources, it deconstructs playwriting into its constituent parts, and offers illuminating insights into: Structure – an in-depth exploration of the fundamental elements of drama, enabling you to choose instinctively the most effective structure for your play Character – advice on how to generate and write credible characters by exploring their three essential dimensions: story, breadth and depth How to Write – techniques for writing great dialogue, dynamic scenes and compelling subtext, including how to improve your writing by approaching it from unfamiliar directions What to Write – how to adopt different approaches to finding your material, how to explore the fundamental 'Nine Stories', and how to evaluate the potential of your ideas Written by a true master of the craft, this authoritative guide will provide playwrights at every level of experience with a rich array of tools to apply to their own work. This edition, edited by Maeve McKeown, includes a Foreword by April De Angelis.

A play about a washed-up family business, from the author of The Libertine. 1966. The technological revolution has not yet reached Chapel & Sons, an ailing family business making billiard tables. In the dilapidated workshop, three generations conspire against each other for control of the firm. Stephen Jeffreys' play A Going Concern is at once a lament for the passing of an industrial age, a retelling of the classic mythical struggle between fathers and sons and a thoroughly entertaining story. It was first performed at Hampstead Theatre, London, in 1993.

A riotously funny satirical farce in the tradition of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Shakespeare in Love, from the author of The Libertine. Elizabeth I is tottering at death's door. Conspirators are everywhere. Lucius Bodkin, an Elizabethan stand-up comedian, becomes unwillingly involved in the political skullduggery and jiggery-pokery surrounding the ailing queen. The Clink could pass itself off as a long-lost Elizabethan comedy. In fact it is a brilliant political satire offering many sharp parallels with our own times, when art must be sponsored, but to be sponsored it must be 'safe'. Stephen Jeffreys's play was first staged by Paines Plough in 1990 on tour in Britain and Holland.

A play about the myth surrounding an old blues singer, from the author of The Libertine. 'Tonight I'm up on stage, Robert Johnson number. I'm singing it and it hits me. Crossroads. That's where he'd go. He'd go to live at the crossroads' Jesse Davidson, last of the old-time Delta blues singers, died fourteen years ago. But legends continue to surround him – like the story about him selling his soul to the devil so that he could play guitar. And the story that he isn't dead at all. When an English rock band hits town, their leader comes looking for the truth and triggers a confrontation of mythic proportions. Stephen Jeffreys' play I Just Stopped By To See The Man was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in November 2000.