productions
Click on a link below to display details of a production in the right-hand column of this page.
West End
Glyndebourne
Aldeburgh/Almeida Opera
Community Opera
Shaker Productions
Alarmist Theatre
- The School of Night
- Whose Crime Is It Anyway?
- The Bedbug (adaptation)
- The Assembly Women (adaptation)
Brighton Actors Workshop
Thumbscrew Theatre Company
Trunks
In 1934 Tony Mancini was acquitted of the murder of Violette Kaye whose body he had stored in a trunk. Forty years later he confessed to her murder. But this was only one of the two bodies found in trunks in Brighton in the summer of 1934. The second victim, known only as the Girl With Pretty feet, was never identified, nor was her murderer.
Play by Stephen Plaice
Directed by Alison Edgar
Designed by Henk Shutt
Music Richard Ball
Cast: Ruth Burton, Gregor Truter, Trevor Penton, Lucy Maurice, Kate Fenwick, Lorien Hayes, Emilia di Girolamo, Lucy Taylor, Dom Boydell, Stephen Plaice
Première - The Hawth, Crawley: 17th November 1993
London première - Battersea Arts Centre: 29th March 1994
Transferred to Studio Lyric Hammersmith: 12th July 1994
Press notices
'A lively essay in the macabre, recreating the Brighton Trunk Murders of
1934 which led that famous seaside resort to be dubbed Torso City. Clearly
influenced by Graham Greene and Patrick Hamilton, Plaice's text and Alison
Edgar's complementary production also explore the raffish seediness of pre-war
Brighton.'
Michael Billington The Guardian
'Alison Edgar's stylish and smoothly choreographed production combines
trash with tango culminating in a truly impressive sawing-in-half'
Paul Paul Taylor The Independent
'Shaker productions assemble a powerful production of Stephen Plaice's
study of the desperate fall-out of the Depression era.'
Time Out Critic's Choice
Strongly recommended. See it. If you can get a ticket, that is.'
What's On
"What is the point of this sordid little story? I am not sure, and
I am not sure the author is sure.'
Benedict Nightgale The Times