Poppy Jhakra and Sue Devaney in Horse or River, directed by Jodie Lamb.

THEN HE KISSED ME

2m 3f minimum        7m 5f maximum cast

Royal Theatre Northampton 1993, Guildford SA 1994, Brighton Festival 1995, Courtyard Theatre/Soho Theatre Co, London 1996

Then He Kissed Me is a chillingly straightforward tale - Tina, a factory girl, discovers, a few days after her 21st birthday, that the boy she had a one-night stand with three years earlier was HIV positive. Goulding's job is to show the effect this has on the lives of those around her, and he does this movingly. Goulding has a good ear for realistic conversation and a Mike Leigh-like eye for the details of human relationships, and it is this authenticity that gives Then He Kissed Me its power: the rows and misunderstandings, the inadvertent  insensitivities, the everyday ironies. By its honesty, quality of observation and lack of self-pity, Goulding's play goes further, emotionally, than many others I have seen with the same subject. (The Stage 1996)

A provocative and appropriate love story for the 90s. (Plays International)

Goulding's ambitious exploration. (Time Out)

This powerful piece. A disturbing, contemporary love story. A thought-provoking, moving production. (Radio Nene Valley)

The superb script was subtle in its approach, and full of comic nuances along with a few surprises and plenty of punches. (Chronicle & Echo)

A sensitive examination...highly charged emotional scenes. A moving evening. (Morning Star)

Raw dramatic power...genuinely funny scenes. Riveting. (Camden New Journal)

Philip Goulding has approached this subject head-on. He does not preach or dictate but faces the turmoil with reality, fear & compassion & some wonderful humorous touches. (The Stage 1993)

David Case and Lisa Howard in Then He Kissed Me for the Royal Theatre Northampton, directed by Joe Sumsion.

WAITING FOR ELVIS

2m 2f minimum cast      8m 3f maximum cast

March 1960. Word gets out that Sergeant Elvis Presley is scheduled to land at Prestwick Airport in Scotland on his way back to the USA from National Service in Germany. It would be the one and only time Elvis set foot on British soil. Tony Taylor is a mechanic in Nottinghamshire. Hearing the news of Elvis’s imminent arrival he decides to skip work and set off on a quest to see his hero in the flesh. Joining him for the adventure are his sister Jean and her friend Sylvia. Jean’s feet appear to be firmly on the ground, while Sylvia is hoping to be swept off of hers. Waiting for Elvis follows the ups and downs of the gang’s journey from Nottinghamshire to Scotland and their subsequent dramatic dash from Gretna Green to Prestwick. Will time run out or will Tony achieve his ambition – to see the Memphis Flash at close range?

A livewire script and top quality acting – how much better can it get? Wonderful entertainment. (Chronicle & Advertiser)

Gillian Perry and Kate Setchell as Jean and Sylvia in Waiting for Elvis, directed by Gavin Stride.

interval (with nude)    (2m 1f)

interval (with nude) is an intricately-structured, witty and truthful play about the behind-the-scenes world of the theatre. Imaginatively conceived and confidently written, this quirky, entertaining and thought-provoking piece features George Spelvin - a washed-up, middle-aged, former TV actor, who, with young, upcoming actress Anna McLean - is about to star in the premiere of a new play - also entitled: interval (with nude).  Set in six different intervals, interval (with nude) presents a credible and authentic series of back-stage scenes showing the development of a new play from the first dress rehearsal, through a tour of provincial theatres, and on to the final performance. Along the way George and Anna spar not just with each other, but also with the writer/director of interval (with nude), as he struggles to shape his play into the kind of commercially-viable product which might guarantee the project an extended life beyond the confines of its first provincial tour. Suffice to say, George and Anna don't always agree with Philip's inflated opinions about his play.

ON A FOREIGN SHORE     (2f 1m)

Margaret is a trawlerman's widow living on the edge of a decaying coastal town. Against her wishes, her daughter Rebecca is finally leaving home to move in with her 'poet' boyfriend. But before too long Margaret has acquired a lodger - Milton, an American painter on the trail of a famous artist who visited the area over a hundred years ago. On A Foreign Shore looks at the ways the lives of the two women are irrevocably reshaped by the arrival of this exotic male stranger.

Fisher Girls on the Beach at Tynemouth by Winslow Homer

THE SPIRE   (Minimum cast 10 m 3f + 1 child. Maximum cast 22)
Adapted from the novel by William Golding. 

Set in England in the Middle Ages, The Spire tells of Dean Jocelin's efforts to realise a vision by building onto his cathedral a huge, 400-ft tower and spire. Without foundations, and against the advice of clergy and masons alike, the spire is erected - octagon upon octagon, until its shadow falls darkly upon the world below. This superb tragedy is about the conflict between faith and reason, and explores how the making good of Jocelin's vision entails endlessly disagreeable and unforeseeable discoveries. Driven on by his faith, Jocelin's folly is eventually constructed in the teeth of technical obstacles which any sane man would have regarded as prohibitive. The building of the spire symbolizes the things man calls into existence, with his vision, brain and hands, that were not there before, and shows the incidental sacrifices made by men and women involved even indirectly in this work. William Golding's extraordinary story shows us how one man comes to terms with what it means to be human.

Interior of Salisbury Cathedral by Joseph Mallord William Turner