The Joy of Misery: Four One-Act Plays

(Paperback)

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Description

Cartoon is a comedy about cartoons and the joy of misery. As Siegfried, the cartoonist, remarks; If you cut succulent slices off people, then everyone laughs. However, if the scalpel slips, then youre down to the bone. But then, of course, comedy is tragedy speeded up. An Evening With The G.L.C. is a play about public morality versus political expediency, and it exposes the dire state of London. Labour Councillor Rennip, who is on the G.L.C., faces some very awkward questions from his son on the combative TV Current Affairs programme Confrontation. Shakebag is a farcical comedy about an amateur companys chaotic rehearsal of Macbeth and A Midsummer Nights Dream on the Bards birthday while the amused ghost of Shakespeare looks down from on high at the antics of his thespian mechanicals. Succubus is Lili, who may, or may not be, a Mesopotamian storm demon or the Moon Goddess Herself. Mark, the Born-Again Christian, confronts Lili with his burning secret, and the play explores female myths, male fears, paganism and Christianity.

Reviews

Cartoon works superbly as a terse, racy and very funny comedy about divorcees, fractured affairs, bizarre accidents and general insanity. * Evening Standard *
An Evening With The G.L.C. is a passionate, searing play, in which David Pinner presents some disturbing, eye-opening facts about the politics in London. * Time Out *

Author Bio

David Pinner trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, after which he appeared on stage and television in many roles. While he was playing the lead in The Mousetrap in the West End, he wrote his first novel, Ritual (later made into the film The Wicker Man). He has written two other novels: With My Body and Therell Always Be An England. His stage plays include The Teddy Bears Picnic, The Last Englishman, The Sins of the Mother, and Lenin in Love.