Internationales Theater / English Theater

ENGLISH THEATER

HIM - A new comedy drama by Stewart Booth
He is grumpy, pompous and difficult. A one-time successful writer, long withdrawn from society; he talks to himself and shouts at his computer. From the outside world, a few stubborn characters see beyond the brusque exterior. His nephew, his publisher, even his cleaner all offer lifelines. Then, after 20 years of his publisher’s efforts, he wins a prestigious prize for literature meaning worldwide recognition for his work. But is it still possible for him to make the transfer from isolation to limelight? This entertaining and moving comedy drama asks questions about talent, creativity and love. It draws us into his world. The world of Him.
The boothwessel production company was founded in 2001 by Joan Wessel and Stewart Booth, with the aim of providing high quality and entertaining original theatre to English-speaking audiences. For over a decade, it has been entertaining audiences with highly successful productions like “Happy Birthday, Uncle Walter!” and “French Toast”, including some extended runs at the ITF. All of its original plays are written by, and often starring, Stewart Booth. They have been performed in Germany and abroad, for example at the Dundalk Theatre Festival in Ireland.

Director: Bijan Booth
Cast: Stewart Booth, Paul Booth, Anna Rogers, Linda Potlitz
Drama group: boothwessel production company
[auf Englisch; Thu 19 - Sat 21. and Thu 26 - Sat 28.01.2012, 20h00; 15/18 € ; Veranstalter: boothwessel productions company]

Drama: Living Together by Alan Ayckbourn
The small scale of the drama Living Together is typical of Ayckbourn’s work. There are only six characters, namely Norman, his wife Ruth, her brother Reg and his wife Sarah, Ruth's sister Annie, and Tom, Annie's next-door-neighbor. Annie, Ruth and Reg are the adult children of a disastrous mother, who we never get to see. Sarah, Reg’s wife would like to whip things into shape, Tom a country vet likes Annie but cannot muster up the courage to do anything about it. Norman, Ruth’s husband wants to take Annie away for a romantic weekend, but when Sarah finds out what Norman was planning, things go hilariously downhill.

Living Together is part of the The Norman Conquests trilogy (1973), which established Ayckbourn's commercial success as a playwright in 1973. Most of the plays focused heavily on the subject of marriage in the British middle classes. Ayckbourn's biographer Paul Allen has referred to the similarity of characters and themes in his mature plays with his childhood experiences of several unconventional relationships and an unhappy marriage later in life.
Sir Alan Ayckbourn (born 12 April 1939) is a prolific English playwright. With a résumé of over seventy plays, of which more than forty have played at the National Theatre or in the West End, Alan Ayckbourn is one of England’s most successful living playwrights. The plays have been translated into over 35 languages and are performed on stage and television throughout the world. From 1972 and 2009 he was the artistic director of the Stephan Joseph Theatre in Scarborough. Although Alan Ayckbourn is best known as a writer, his career started immediately after school as an actor. In March 2010, 71 years old, he directed an in-the-round revival of his play “Taking Steps” at the Orange Tree Theatre, London, winning universal press acclaim.

Estuary Players, Dublin, was formed in 1977 for a production of T. S. Eliot’s “Murder in the Cathedral”. Since then, the company has established a reputation for the sheer variety of its repertoire from drama to farce, from mediaeval mystery play to contemporary writing. The company is participating each year at the All Ireland Championship of amateur theatre and won the RTE Irland Drama Award in 2009. Artistic director is Myra Maguire.

Author: Alan Ayckbourn
Künstler: Darragh Feeny (Tom), Jane Gribbin (Sarah), Denise Brady (Annie), Dave Sheridan (Reg), Caitríona Conolly (Ruth), tba (Norman)
Artistic Director: Brian Nutley
auf Englisch, Fri 09. and Sat 10.3.2012, 20h00; 15/18 € *]

Drama: THE FOREIGNER - A Farce by Larry Shue
Charlie Baker, a British proof reader by day and a boring husband by night, comes to rural Georgia for a little escape from his social problems. Fearing conversation of any kind, his fellow Briton and his friend Froggy convinces him to adopt the persona of a ‘foreigner’ who doesn’t understand English in order to avoid any unwanted social interaction. When others begin to speak freely around him, he starts to discover an adventurous extrovert within himself. Cleverly, Shue provides an additional reason for Charlie to keep up the pretense. Moreover, people begin spilling dangerous secrets when they talk in his presence - and they wouldn’t take kindly to knowing he was eavesdropping.

Larry Shue (1946 – 1985) was an American playwright and actor, best known for writing the two often-performed farces “The Nerd” and “The Foreigner”. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and grew up in Kansas and Chicago. He graduated ‘cum laude’ from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1968, served in the Army during the Vietnam War and then began his career as a professional actor and playwright. Film appearances include the shorts ‘A Common Confusion’, ‘Another Town’; and ‘The Land of the Blind: or The Hungry Leaves’ and the feature-length ‘Sweet Liberty’.
The idea for “The Foreigner” came to the playwright Larry Shue while he was studying with a theater company in Japan. Shue discovered that the Japanese would tolerate even his most bizarre behavior, due to the fact that he was unaware of Japanese social customs, dismissing his inappropriate actions as the conduct of an outsider.

The Theatre Language Studio Frankfurt aspires to creatively melt together art and learning by producing high-quality English language theater productions that echo universal truths and make a contribution to community, alongside a theatre language school where barriers to context are broken down and bridges of communication are built.

Artists: David Juarez (David), Rowan McMurray (Owen), Margot Phelan(Catherine), David Jamieson (Froggy), Alex J. Kay(Charlie), Anne Stuecker (Ellard) and Barbara Zachrias (Betty).
Director: Abigail Paul
[auf Englisch, Thur 19.04.& Fri 20.04.2012, 20h00; Sun 22.04.2012, 19h00; Thur 26.04. & Fri 27.04.2012,20h00; Sun 29.04.201, 19h00; 15/18 € *, http://www.tlsfrankfurt.com ]

Das Internationales Theater Frankfurt