STUART FORTEY
playwright
PLAYS
BANG BANG KISS KISS
Ian Fleming wrote all the James Bond books, one a year for 14 years, at Goldeneye, his house in Jamaica. This carefully researched, intense play examines the emotional turbulence of his marriage to Ann, their despair over their troubled son Caspar and the tragedy and uneasy redemption that followed. Ready with serious observations as well as his own brand of humour is Noël Coward, who lived a few miles along the coast.
Full-length; 2m, 1f (Ian Fleming, Noël Coward, Ann Fleming)
Available for production: if interested please
HOLMES & WATSON:
THE FAREWELL TOUR
Before slipping into well-earned retirement, Sherlock Holmes has prevailed upon his long-time companion Dr Watson, his landlady Mrs Hudson and Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard to join him in a farewell tour of the British Isles. For the first time ever they will re-enact one of the detective's most baffling unrecorded cases – The Case of the Prime Minister, the Floozie and the Lummock Rock Lighthouse – an affair upon whose outcome the security of Europe once hung by a thread. Shrouded in secrecy until now, this case has finally been approved by the government for public disclosure.
It is also understood that Mr Holmes has been entrusted by Her Majesty with the conveyance to the Tower of London of the fabled Satsuma Stone, stolen from the crown of William of Orange in the seventeenth century and only recently discovered in a midden in Maastricht. It is expected that the evening will include a glimpse of this priceless gem; in which case, one can only be thankful that Professor James Moriarty, the Napoleon of crime, fell to his death at the Reichenbach Falls. Or did he? Or is he still alive, planning another deadly strike as he lurks, unseen, in the wings ...?
The show has toured nationally every year from 2009 to the present, winning new fans at every venue.
Presented by Angus & Ross Theatre Company
Julian Finnigan as Holmes
Dominic Goodwin as Watson
Margaret Prendergast as Mrs Hudson
Alan Proudfoot as Inspector Lestrade
Director: David Robertson
This is one of those productions where the script is so clever that to reveal more about the story would be unfair. The audience are drawn into the mysterious case through the brilliant acting, imaginative use of props and the interaction with the audience ... A fantastic night's entertainment!
Teesdale Mercury
This show is so funny, it should carry a government health warning!
Promoter, The Acorn Theatre, Worksop
Expertly written, it uses the basis of Conan Doyle’s canon with the two well-known characters that most audiences would be able to recognise, but also constructed to still work for those without any knowledge of the original.
With so many versions of Holmes and Watson this performance stands out not only as a great homage to Conan Doyle, but also as a stand-alone work of art. It confounds, surprises and amazes, as would an original case by the creator of Sherlock Holmes.
A truly magnificent production, guided through the expert hands of two masters of comedy on stage.
Broadwaybaby.com *****
Gold medal winner at Henley Fringe 2009 and 2012 for Best Production and Best Actor (Dominic Goodwin)
Full-length; available for production: if interested please
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The second production of Holmes & Watson: The Farewell Tour was presented by Cherwell Theatre Company. It premiered at the Mill in Banbury in 2011, was seen at the Courtyard, London, and enjoyed a successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2012.
James Snee as Holmes
Liam Nooney as Watson
Director: Nasser Memarzia
Stuart Fortey's hilarious script kept the audience simultaneously laughing and guessing. . . . Fast-paced entertainment at its very best.
Oxford Times *****
Ingenious; people gasping and howling with laughter.
Banbury Guardian
UP FRANKIE!
...an offbeat and affectionate look at the life of the troubled comedian Frankie Howerd, who died in 1992 but whose tics and mannerisms remain so vivid in the British collective memory. Dominic Goodwin - a very funny man himself, at his best when working an audience at close quarters - conjures up the spirit of Howerd with a repertoire of rolling eyes and 'tittersome' catchphrases, and with the help of Penny McDonald playing everyone else in the story from God to Frankie's mother. What seems in the first half to be a straightforwardly saucy recollection of Frankie's comic style evolves in the second half into a more complex portrait of a lonely depressive tortured by his homosexuality, yet gifted with the ability to make audiences laugh. Stuart Fortey's script pulls no punches, and Goodwin makes the change of mood feel uncomfortably real. The audience lapped up the ancient gags, and responded with audible sympathy to the moments of pathos. A finely crafted and truthful show, not to be missed.
Martin Vander Weyer (columnist for The Spectator)
Frankie Howerd has been thrown out of heaven! As he bemoans his fate, dressed in his robes and halo, he reveals what made him tick, what took him up and what brought him down. Most extraordinarily of all, he tells how his hesitations, his oohs and ahhs, his "no, no"s were all carefully written in advance and not ad-libs at all. So, how much freedom and how much control did he really have in his act? How much do we have in life itself? The man who once wanted to be a saint, battles for his soul with God and throws in some glorious one-liners and a lot of cheeky innuendo along the way!
The show toured nationally encompassing 38 performances: September–November 2010
Presented by Angus & Ross Theatre Company
Dominic Goodwin as Frankie Howerd
Penny McDonald as God, Angel, Frankie's Mother and 15 other parts
Director: Tony Lidington
Designer: Denise Kitchin
Full-length; available for production: if interested please
Penny McDonald
THE KAISER & I
It's Berlin,1914, and the music has to stop. Kaiser Wilhelm has summoned a dance instructress from England to put his officers through their paces, but now war is only days away. From ballroom to battlefield and beyond, this two-hander charts the friendship of a man and a woman caught in their nations' crossfire.
First presented by Theatre of the Dales in 2002/3
Winner of the 2002 Buxton Festival Fringe
Best Drama Award
An unusual story . . . a wonderfully written play skilfully combining humour and stark moments of wrenching sadness
Buxton Fringe Review
Judith Notley/Mary-Ann Coburn as Bella
David Robertson as Gerhard
Director: Serge Alvarez
* * *
The second production of The Kaiser & I was presented by the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough in summer 2002. This lunchtime performance used a specially revised text.
Caroline John as Bella
Barry McCarthy as Gerhard
Director: Laurie Sansom
Caroline John
Barry McCarthy
Like an amazing magic act, a powerful yet touching story, showing how world politics can affect personal lives, telescopes out among the teapots. This is a big little piece ... wunderbar!
Yorkshire Post
Full-length; available for production: if interested please
A HOUSE BY THE SEA
A House by the Sea was first performed by Leeds Actors Company in June 1993.
Joint Winner of the 1992 West Yorkshire
Drama Prize
Peter Spafford as Anton Chekhov
Eleanor Hall as Sonya
Liz O'Hare as Olga Popov
Stephen Anderson as Yuri Garshin
Stuart Fortey as Dmitry Kokoshkin
William Beard as Ivan Belikov
Ron Blass as Semyon
Fergus Colville as Man in Uniform
Director: David Robertson
A House by the Sea compares and contrasts Chekhov's real-life dramas with those he wove into the fabric of his play The Seagull.
Chekhov reads The Seagull to members of the Moscow Art Theatre
* * * * *
Yvonne O'Grady and David Lemkin
Fergus Colville
Ged McKenna
The first professional production of A House by the Sea was presented by Saltaire Productions at BAC, London, in October–November 1994.
David Lemkin as Anton Chekhov
Yvonne O'Grady as Sonya
Liz O'Hare as Olga Popov
Fergus Colville as Yuri Garshin
Ged McKenna as Dmitry Kokoshkin
Gil Sutherland as Ivan Belikov
Brian Edwards as Semyon
Nicholas Prideaux as Man in Uniform
Director: Dominic Cassidy
Dominic Cassidy's lean production gives the text centre stage, while the performances illuminate this wonderful play.
Bonnie Greer, Time Out
Gil Sutherland
Fortey makes Anton Chekhov both his subject and his model – and he does so with considerable success, using gentle humour and dramatic irony to tackle the theme of the responsibility of the artist. Fortey takes as his starting point the fact that before The Seagull took Moscow by storm it had a brief dummy run when, performed by actors who were out of their depth, it was booed off the stage. In A House by the Sea, we attend rehearsals for this first, disastrous showing of the play. Here a pompous director chivvies his disgruntled actors through their paces, while Chekhov struggles to convince them all that his innovative style demands lifelike performances, not grand, stagy gestures. Fortey has fun with his conceit, peopling the play with delightfully Chekhovian characters, and using them and the play within the play to explore the notion of art mirroring life. … This is a rich, enjoyable piece, and Dominic Cassidy's spirited production is full of strong performances.
Sarah Hemming, The Independent
Full-length; available for production: if interested please
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A radio version of A House by the Sea was broadcast as the Monday Play on BBC Radio 4 in February 1997.
Ciaran Hinds as Anton Chekhov
Kate Buffery as Sonya
Helena Bonham Carter as Olga Popov
Julian Rhind-Tutt as Yuri Garshin
Hugh Dickson as Dmitry Kokoshkin
John Carlisle as Ivan Belikov
Ioan Meredith as Semyon
Chris Pavlo as Man
Director: Cherry Cookson
ON SCARBOROUGH FRONT
It is Scarborough 1917, and Wilfred Owen has been detailed to run a seaside hotel, now transformed into officers' quarters. In this peaceful setting, well away from the distant conflict, he struggles to control his war-shattered nerves. But there are ghosts haunting his attic room – ghosts returning home from the front line …
On Scarborough Front was first performed by Leeds Actors Company in 1994.
David Robertson as Gray
Adrian Metcalfe as Owen
Director: David Robertson
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The first professional production of On Scarborough Front was presented by Wycombe Theatre Company at Wycombe Swan Town Hall Theatre in 1999.
Stephen Hartford as Gray
Adrian Metcalfe as Owen
Director: Stephen Hartford
Adrian Metcalfe
This 30-minute play is available for production: if interested please
Details of more plays coming soon . . .