Short Plays

These four new short plays were written over the first twenty years of the 21st Century by master playwright Keith Dewhurst, who is perhaps best known for his much-loved, groundbreaking adaptation of Flora Thompson’s Lark Rise to Candleford. In this volume, Sam’s Father and Hannah Vine create an unintended, formidable double-bill examining the impacts of modern feminism, while the latter two plays place us firmly in the 19th Century. Steerforth in Italy is an entertaining fantasy based on what might have happened had Dickens’ David Copperfield attempted to rescue ’Little Em’ly’ from James Steerforth’s clutches, while St Boniface Gardens captures conversations between Karl Marx and his doctor during Marx’s last years on the Isle of Wight. Published for the first time, the collection represents the work of one of the great dramatists of the English theatre at the height of his powers.

The plays are introduced with a foreword by Patrick Miles, literary consultant and translator to the National Theatre (1977-2015).

Summary and Cast breakdowns:

Sam’s Father: A woman’s decision and twenty years later (1 woman, 2 men)

Hannah Vine: A pulp biographer finds more than she bargained for (2 women, 1 man)

Steerforth in Italy: David Copperfield seeks the betrayed little Em’ly (1 woman, 4 men)

St Boniface Gardens: Karl Marx and his doctor on the Isle of Wight (2 women, 2 men)