A Play [2m, 3f]

When a bitter, abusive and alcoholic man finds himself struck down with terminal cancer, how does he reconcile himself with a family he abandoned? Donnie Gallagher is such a man. He walked out on his family following a horrifying, violent and drunken incident and now his older son and only daughter are forced to confront him and face their demons. Set in a hospice, 'Hungry Ghosts' explores relationships and their consequences, with gallows humour and some uncompromising language.

A powerful and gritty family drama, set in a hospital side ward where the patriarch appears to be dying an agonising death from cancer. He has lived his life as an aggressive drunken bully, his children gather around him to confront, to condemn and to find out why. Ultimately it is a story of need and unfulfilled longing.
“Donnie Gallagher will not go quietly into that good night. But while he clings to life, his son clings on to the past. And the truth is, some things never die.”

To read "Hungry Ghosts" please contact Alistair direct at the address below or by email.

Entertaining Angels

A Christmas Entertainment

It’s getting near to Christmas and “The Jongleur’s Travelling Circus” is suffering from declining audiences. Kids seem to be more interested in staying at home with their Playstations and computer games than going out to the circus. Then some of the clowns come up with an idea. Why not stage their own version of the Nativity, using their well-honed clowning skills and the skills of the other Artistes in the circus - which could bring in audiences who seldom go to see their kind of show? The Boss, Mike Gabriel, will have none of it as he has problems of his own too and anyway, who needs “religion”? His estranged daughter has a new baby and an unemployed husband who’s older than her father! Mike is initially reluctant to get involved; that is until he gets the best advice available from an other-worldly stranger.

Loosely based upon the 15th century Miracle Play, “The Second Wakefield Shepherds’ Pageant”, this new play aimed at a Family Audience looks at how Mike reconciles himself with his daughter and how, with the help of the stranger, he, his daughter and the Circus get a new lease of life through the Miracle of Christmas. Cast List and extracts are available on aapantos.co.uk.

A Ghost Story in Two Acts

[6m; 4f; doubling possible; composite setting]

The true-life murder of Maria Marten, upon which John Latimer’s famous melodrama “Maria Marten; or The Murder in the Red Barn” is based, has been adapted several times over the years. This is my version of the story. Not only have I used the original text freely by adapting, cutting and re-arranging it, but I have also gone back to contemporary sources – reports of the crime itself, the events leading up to the crime, the people involved, the locale and the horrible fate of William Corder himself. Was he cursed by a Gypsy? Did he kill Maria in cold blood? Did he get a fair trial? Is the play a ghost story, a melodrama or a psychological thriller? You decide…

Or: The Rudest of Health

An Entertainment in One Act

When Jean-Baptiste Poquelin de Molière wrote his great medical satire “Le Médecin Malgré Lui”, I’m sure he didn’t think that some 400 years later someone like me would turn it on its head, update it, add anachronistic gags and some saucy innuendo and pass it off as his own work? Well, I’ve done all that… apart from passing it off as my own work. In this updated version Jacques Jambon, a pickled ham, is mistaken for a doctor and is hired to cure a young girl who has been struck dumb. Add to the mixture a sexy maid, her jealous fiancé, two lovesick teenagers, a randy gardener and a stupid policeman and the stage is set for a mad, knockabout farce. As perhaps Molière might have said, “Au moins j’identifie mon jeu original”…

A Play in One Act

Based upon the full-length Melodrama by John Walker, the play tells the tragic story of George Allen, the “factory lad” of the title, and his fellow workers who are dismissed when the owner of the factory installs new steam machinery. Unable to support his wife and children George is forced to break his own moral code and help burn the factory down. But when the “Flames of Justice” are used there is also a terrible price that has to be paid…

Read a sample scene.

And When The Pie Was Opened
The Legend of Sweeney Todd

A Play

Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street can be described as one of the greatest villains in the history of British Drama, in films and in Musical Theatre. In this version I do not attempt to explain his evil deeds, nor to give a reason for them. So, step back in time to Victorian London, when Jack the Ripper stalked the streets of the Capital and where Sweeney Todd plied his murderous trade in an extravaganza of High Camp, Low Comedy and the all the horrors of Grand Guignol. Oh, and a few songs too!

Read a sample scene.