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Saturday 22 & Sunday 23 November 2003
Plays were received from the USA, Hong Kong, Croatia, Holland,
Australia, Estonia, Sierra Leone, Italy, New Zealand and from all over the UK.
These were joined by plays from our international partners plus work from our Writers' Workshops

Club de Almuerzo by Erik Haggstrom IPF Selection An Englishman, Australian and a Yugoslav working on a construction site come together to share their lunch. The casual swapping of stories and sandwich suggestions intensifies when a woman, Nicky, is accepted into the group. She starts a relationship with one of the men, which in time reveals the worrying attitudes that surround multi-racial relationships. Club de Almuzero is an insight into culturally diverse Britain and the important lessons that can be learnt from one another. Closure in Retrospect by Daniel Louis Warehouse Writers' Workshop A bus trip to Birkenau, a bus ride in Belfast, the lunchtime bus from school. Humanity is on the move again and the dispossessed search for security across continents. Behind the machine gun an angel stands, weeping. A woman struggles to understand her journey through a world where evil continues to flourish. Eurydice Rising by Steffen Silvis IPF Selection 1920's Columbia River in Northwest America, and a once famed opera soprano Eurydice finds herself caught up in a religious sect called 'the Flock' which is run by Malachi who likes to think himself a prophet. In between them lies Calliope the defunct opera house's café owner. Eurydice Rising is a dramatic and haunting play which promises to be a visual delight when it is brought to life for the first time. Family Affairs by Edoardo Erba translated by Gillian Hanna in partnership with Premio Candoni Let down by her fiancé, Annalisa finds herself in a bizzarly strange family; a dangerous husband, a delusional mother-in-law, a porno-babe au pair and two uncontrollable children. But not all is what it seems…An everyday horror love story, Family Affairs is a bitter sentimental journey through the new iniquity of the noughties, the family. Erba uses his distorting lens to produce a play that is devastating, tender, outrageous and grotesque. Green Grass by Andrew Muir  IPF Selection Claire and Hugh live out their very routine existence on a housing estate in the far flung corner of West London. Downstairs, John and Anna who feel sorry for their poorer and less affluent neighbours decide to invite them down for a drink. But where is their daughter Sam who is supposedly with a friend for the evening? Green Grass is written in an intriguing style and it's rather sinister conclusion is not for the faint hearted! Lubbock's Balls by Steve Glover IPF Selection In a South London garret Lubbock, high on brandy is discussing art with his wheelchair bound brother Kenny. The conversation turns to an interrogation as the lethal combination of Lubbock's lubricated tongue and Kenny's inner rage uncovers more truth than they both bargained for. Lubbock's Balls is a painful yet touching story of brotherly love and the dark secrets that plague a family's past. Safe by Lucy Ingrams Warehouse Writers' Workshop Seth is from Palestine. He is thankful to be in England - here is much safer than Jenin! He finds employment as a school guard, manning their new security gate. His job is to keep everything safe. But what exactly is it that his boss Troy is so scared of? A short sharp and unsettling parable for our times. Peoples' Home by Grant Buchanan Marshall IPF Selection Three elderly Caribbean ladies are being evicted from their residential home by the council. They couldn't be more different, Martha is a god fearing church goer, Josephine, still frisky for her age is never too far from her secret stash and Clarabell, the calm mediator is plagued by a deep dark secret from her the past. They all vow to stay together but when it seems like it may fall apart, Josephine comes up with a plan that may save them from their fate. People's Home is a very funny insight into the lives of three women who, when faced with a crisis start opening up to each other and discover the deeper reasons for wanting to grow old together. With Strength from Kifisia by Demetris Kehaides and Eleni Haviara Theatro Ena, Cyprus with Melani Steliou, Christina Christofia, Irene Konstantinou and Elia Ioannidou presented in Greek with English surtitles In the middle class suburb of Kifisia, four lonely women are desperate to find a new meaning in their lives. The constant search for love forces them into re-examining their relationships with men and the process brings about a friendship that binds these women for life. With Strength from Kifisia is a bitter sweet comedy about the lives of four women in contemporary Athens; Greek in temperament yet universally human. Court Pastoral by Deborah Davis  IPF Selection Alexander Pope 'The Genius of the Rhyming Couplet' is worming his way up Society's ladder. Blinded by the love for the ravishing Lady Mary Wortley Montaqu, he ascends alongside his good friend John Gay, both competing for the top job of Poet Laureate from the newly crowned George II and his wife Caroline. Who will gain the King's favour? Will Pope catch the love of Lady Mary or succumb to his ever faithful companion Miss Patty? Poetry, sex, scandal and a Prime Minister who enjoys talking dirty down his mobile phone; Court Pastoral is a delicious comic romp about Alexander Pope and the Court of George II.