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Playing God

Laurence Marks & Maurice Gran

Genre: Comedy

Cast size: 4

Duration: 110 mins approx

Laurence Marks & Maurice Gran | Comedy | Full-length | 2m, 2f

Short synopsis

Ed is a rock and roll legend. He’s married to the beautiful and vivacious Claudia, a travel writer with a guilty secret. Best friend Clive is a man of contradictions. He’s married to high-flying Henri, a tough businesswoman with a spiritual side. One night during dinner, Ed makes an announcement that puts them all off their pudding. Suddenly everything’s changed. The beat may be the same, but now they’re dancing a very different tune.

'Playing God' is a four-hander about control. Millionaire Ed, a rock and roll legend, is dying and worried what will happen to Claudia, his beautiful young wife, after he’s gone. The problem is that Claudia is agoraphobic, imprisoned in Ed’s fabulous home – ironic, since Claudia continues to work as an award-winning travel writer. What’s to become of her?

Ed decides to find to find a man who will take care of Claudia, post Ed’s mortem. His chosen candidate is his best friend, Clive, Head of Religion at the BBC, and a man with no discernible backbone. Clive happens to be married to high-flying financier Henri, but as it’s an unhappy marriage Ed doesn’t see why that should scupper his masterplan. What Ed doesn’t know is that Clive and Claudia have been having an affair for years…At least, Clive and Claudia think Ed doesn’t know.

(2m, 2f)

  • Ed 
  • Claudia
  • Clive
  • Henri
  • Radio Announcer (voice over)
Free

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Playing God

Free
More information

In 2003 Laurence found himself sitting next to Sir Alan Ayckbourn at an awards dinner at the Hay Literary Festival. Sir Alan asked whether Marks and Gran had ever thought of writing for the theatre, preferably his theatre?

Laurence said, “As it happens we have got an idea for a play”. Sir Alan seemed very interested until he suddenly lost consciousness and collapsed face down into his soup.

An ambulance was called and Sir Alan was given oxygen. He came to and was able to walk unaided to the ambulance, oxygen mask over his face, oxygen cylinder over his shoulder. As he passed Laurence, he pulled aside the mask and said, “Don’t forget that play.” Laurence replied, “End of act one, I think.”

This isn’t that play, but as a result of that bizarre encounter, we worked with the Master to write our very first stage play, ‘Playing God’, and yes, it was premiered at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough.

If you require any additional information regarding this script, please don’t hesitate to contact us here.

Frequently asked questions

Can we try before we buy?

Of course! All our plays and pantomimes have a free Preview Script available for download as an A4 pdf file that contains 60-75% of the full script. If you like what you read then you can buy an inexpensive e-script of the entire play (typically less than half the cost of a traditional printed script) which is licensed to you for your personal use. Purchasing a script copying licence allows you to make just enough copies to support rehearsals and performances.

All our musicals are included in our perusal service. Through this, representatives of producing organisations can request a USB Stick of perusal material  which comprise the script/libretto and piano/vocal score as PDF files; a Cast (or Studio) Recording as MP3 files and (where available) an MP4 file video of either the premiere production or of a subsequent production.

Some titles have the facility to read the entire script online on our website.

Do we need a Licence To Perform?

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Under the international laws of copyright, you must be in possession of a valid, unexpired licence before performing any piece of theatre unless the owner or managers of the copyright has waived their rights.

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When you request a quotation, it is logged in our system, it forms part of an orderly queue and protects your place in that queue should multiple licensing requests occur for the same show.

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