1st Edition

Contemporary Scenes for Actors Women

By Michael Earley, Philippa Keil Copyright 2000

    Contemporary Scenes for Actors: Women collects scenes from the most acclaimed and award-winning playwrights of the 1990s. It contains over 40 two-character scenes (for women/women and women/men), with the selection of scenes encompassing the widest range of styles from serious to comic and shades in between.

    A fuller appreciation of the dramatic context of the scenes is enhanced by the editors' introductions and commentaries. Each of the scenes offers the actor the opportunity to develop and explore the vital, dynamic and unique challenge of working with a partner on stage.

    Part 1 Scenes for One Woman and One Man; Chapter 1 The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Martin McDonagh; Chapter 2 Boys’ Life, Howard Korder; Chapter 3 Broken Glass, Arthur Miller; Chapter 4 Closer, Patrick Marber; Chapter 5 Dog Opera, Constance Congdon; Chapter 6 The Heidi Chronicles, Wendy Wasserstein; Chapter 7 The Lodger, Simon Burke; Chapter 8 The Pitchfork Disney, Philip Ridley; Chapter 9 Raised in Captivity, Nicky Silver; Chapter 10 Shopping and F***ing, Mark Ravenhill; Chapter 11 Simpatico, Sam Shepard; Chapter 12 Some Voices, Joe Penhall; Chapter 13 Two, Jim Cartwright; Chapter 14 The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband, Debbie Isitt; Part 2 Scenes for Two Women; Chapter 15 Amy’s View, David Hare; Chapter 16 The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Martin McDonagh; Chapter 17 The Cripple of Inishmaan, Martin McDonagh; Chapter 18 Kindertransport, Diane Samuels; Chapter 19 Low Level Panic, Clare Mclntyre; Chapter 20 The Memory of Water, Shelagh Stevenson; Chapter 21 My Mother Said I Never Should, Charlotte Keatley; Chapter 22 A Perfect Ganesh, Terrence McNally; Chapter 23 Serving it Up, David Eldridge; Chapter 24 Sweet Panic, Stephen Poliakoff; Chapter 25 Talking in Tongues, Winsome Pinnock; Chapter 26 Weldon Rising, Phyllis Nagy; Chapter 27 The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband, Debbie Isitt;

    Biography

    Michael Earley and Philippa Keil are the editors of The Classical Monologue, The Modern Monologue and The Contemporary Monologue, all available from Routledge.

    "Libraries and faculty bookshelves are a good place to keep books such as the two under review (companion volume Contemporary Scenes for Actors: Men). They both include unknown material, along with noted plays and playwrights. The cuttings are well chosen and balanced. The comments by the editors are well thought out and informative." -- Choice