Featured Playwright
Lance Woodman
About Me: Writer for theatre and audio based in the West Midlands of the UK. I wrote The Same River, Inheritance and Red Skies Over The Severn for Worcester Swan Theatre and Upside Down and Back to Front for artworcs. For BBC Radio 4's Afternoon Play slot I wrote an audio version of Upside Down and Back to Front and a new play called The Climb. In recent years I've done more short-form drama, but I'm currently writing a full-length stage play. More at lancewoodman.co.uk.
Featured Play
happy ending
HAPPY ENDING\\\' a play BY john collings (synopsis) follows a mans’ decline into drug addiction. It starts dramatically with what looks like a rape scene. But, is in affect a couple (bill & molly) trying to consummate their relationship, unsuccessfully. This leads to Bill having sex with various glamour models, in a seedy studio. In a dream he is visited by an old teacher who encourages him to go to college and become a writer. But, his dreams, of reaching his full potential, are destroyed. One of the models he encounters is a drug addict, which quickly leads Bill to become addicted to Heroin. Eventually, he reveals his mixed feelings about his own sexuality (cross-dressing), as he overdoses and dies. Molly has a premonition, a sort of nightmare/daydream/flashback to her wedding day. In the premonition she sees her and her husband, being separated. Then Molly (back in reality) receives news that her husband overdose. After Bill’s funeral, and after being attacked by her mother-in-law, who blames Molly, for Bill’s death. Bill appears as a ghost, and tries to tell Molly to go on without him (we don’t know if the ghost is real, or just a part of Molly’s imagination). Molly refuses to let Bill go. After a flashback, to when Bill and Molly first met, aged 16, Bill disappears. But Molly still thinks Bill is alive. Molly’s son Johnnie tries to bully Molly into moving house and living near him in Docklands. Bill appears, he’s against the idea, but shortly after, disappears. Johnnies’ insistence, that his Mother moves, and the disappearance of Bill, coupled with months of waiting for her husband to return, leads Molly to attempt suicide. It is New Years Eve. Molly meets Alan a new man in her life, but is attacked, by her son and mother-in-law, for doing so. They think she should stay loyal to her husband. In spite of this, Molly still goes out with Alan, but when Alan tries to kiss her, Molly becomes very angry and runs home. Back in her room, Molly rebukes herself for going out with another man, and contemplates suicide, for the second time, but is stopped by her dead husband. Bill persuades Molly to carry on with her life and to start a new relationship. Alan appears and toasts in the New Year. Molly and Alan make up.
Playwright: john collings