Description

Volume five of a series of plays written by Pam Gems. THE BLUE ANGEL, LOVING WOMEN, NATALYA
and LADYBIRD, LADYBIRD.

THE BLUE ANGEL was first performed on the 7th of September, 1991 at The Other Place, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire. The production transferred to the Globe Theatre, London, on the 20th of May, 1992. Produced by MARK FURNESS, JOHN NEWMAN and the Royal Shakespeare Company, directed by TREVOR NUNN, designed by MARIA BJORNSON.  Pam Gems has based this musical play on Heinrich Mann’s 1905 novel, Professor Unraat. But she has updated the action to Hamburg in the late 1920s and incorporated Friedrich Hollander’s songs from Sternberg’s legendary 1930s film. The result, however, is much more savage than the movie. – MICHAEL BILLINGTON. The Guardian. 28/08/1991

LOVING WOMEN was first performed on the 31st of January, 1984, at the Arts Theatre, Great Newport Street, London, UK. Produced by JONATHAN GEMS and DAVID JONES, directed by PHILIP DAVIS, designed by JONATHAN GEMS. – In the second act of what strikes me as being Pam Gems’s best play to date, Green Peace-teaching wimp, Frank, is discomfited behind the apricot sofa, and deposited, clutching his groin, in a pose by the Windscale and Crisis In Capitalism wall charts. His loving women – working class hairdresser Crystal and Birmingham communard (recently returned from Bolivia) Susannah – forge a new alliance on the aforementioned sofa. – MICHAEL COVENEY Financial Times. 02/02/1984

NATALYA – The real-life model for Natalya is dead. In NATALYA, the play, she is a survivor. Criminal of course.

LADYBIRD, LADYBIRD was first performed on April 23rd, 1979, at the King’s Head Theatre, Islington, London, UK. “Ladybird, Ladybird” is a gripping, truthful play, which – without making individual accusations – nevertheless indicts our societal structure. – YURI KOHUT. The Stage. 03/05/1979