Blood So Cheap

   Building on Sand -

  The Devil and Stepashka -

  A Doll's House -

  Irish Roulette

  Lust to Dust

Note: click on "Excerpt" for the PDF

Blood So Cheap

(4m: 20's x2/middle aged/30's; 2f: 20-30's x2. Flexible staging. 1 hour 45 mins)

Based on the true story of a young Austrian conscript during the Second World War. The play follows Otto's experiences on the Russian Front as he comes face to face with the morals of war and resistance and the brutality they breed. When commanded to shoot innocent civilian hostages, Otto takes a courageous decision that will cost him his life. "A fully-rounded drama by highly-regarded writer, Claire Booker. Offers serious, in-depth treatment of a vital subject. Moved most of its audience to tears." The Guardian. "Powerful scenes. I loved it." Northamptonshire Herald and Post. "Explicit but never gruesome. This is a play with poignancy as much as pain and degradation of human values." The Stage. "There are few playwrights with her gift of conveying raw passion in her dialogue." Amateur Stage. "Strong stuff, but a rattling good play." The Farnham Herald. "Riveting . . . richly textured. An early revival is surely on the cards." The Wandsworth Borough News.

Productions by the Bunbury Theatre Company, Hants; Hillman's Ancient and Modern, Northants; and New Theatre Company, London. Three week run at the 1990 Edinburgh Festival and the Millstream Theatre, Guildford. Performed at the 1990 Liphook Festival.

Building on Sand

(2m: 30-40s x2; 3f: 20's/50-60's/30's. I set. 1 hour 50 mins)

When Aunt Dot decides to build a sand castle to stop the sea from flooding England, the race is on to save her sanity. Aided and abetted by family and friends, she takes on the mighty ocean - and wins. Meanwhile, nephew, Richard, is busy nursing his own brand of paranoia, convinced his new wife, Juliette, is capable of infidelity. Who better to test her out than his best friend, Dan ? Self-deception is the name of the game in this seaside comedy set among the sand dunes at Littlehampton.

"Witty tale of five people and a cuckolding on the beach. A clever script full of social worker speak and inventive innuendo." Time Out. "An unusual but very funny play." The Playwrights Agency. "A jolly buxom below-the-belt tale, that rips along with great confidence and aplomb." Hampstead Theatre Script Reader. "Enjoyable farce . . . poking fun at feminism and sexism alike." Camden New Journal.

Productions by the St Leonards Players, Gloucestershire; and a 3 week run by the Etcetera Theatre Company, London.

The Devil and Stepashka

(2m: 30-40s x2; 3f: 30's/20's x 2. 1 composite set. I hour 40 mins)

( Also in a 1h 30m version 'The Verdict is Yours' in which the audience acts as jury and votes for one of two alternative endings to the play)

Inspired by Tolstoy's story 'The Devil', the play tells the love tragedy of Zhenya, a Russian landowner driven mad with desire for one of his peasant women. Desperate to end his guilty liaison and safeguard his marriage, he shoots Stepashka and is put on trial for murder. But though status and gender protect him from a severe sentence, images of his victim return to haunt him.

"Powerful stuff." The Times. "Finely written. Astutely observed characters." The Independent. "Compulsive watching." The Scotsman. "An exciting drama, laced with the most delicate irony." Richmond and Twickenham Times. "A fascinating study of female sexuality and repression. One awaits Claire Booker's next project with anticipation." The Stage. "A tightly written and engrossing new play, recommended." Time Out. "An impressive adaptation." London Theatre Record. "The verdict is excellent," Bournmouth Evening Echo.

Production of ‘The Devil and Stepashka’ by the Duke's Head Theatre Company (3 week run) at the 1989 Edinburgh Festival, transferring to the New End Theatre, Hampstead, for a 5 week run. Performed at the 1989 Surrey Arts Festival. Production of ‘The Verdict is Yours’ by Festival Fringe Theatre, Hants (6 theatre tour). Performed at the 1995 Wellington Drama Festival.

A Doll's House

(3m: 30/40s x2; 40-60s x1. 3f: 20/30s x2; 40-60s x1. One set. Two hours)

Norway in the 1870s ? No. Suburban England in the 1950s ! A refreshing new version of Ibsen's Doll's House, set in a time and place to which a modern audience can directly relate. Nora and Harold Helmer, the perfect couple, live out their social pretensions in a post war England of petty snobbery and 'net curtain' morality. With Harold's recent promotion to bank manager all is set for success. But Nora has a skeleton in her cupboard, and her life suddenly collapses when she is blackmailed over her secret.

"Bitingly sharp and savagely humorous. Its revamped social thrust is undeniably on target." What's On, Birmingham. "Attention to detail in the original is scrupulously observed . . . the final episode is riveting." The Stage. “Innovative … had the audience gripped throughout.” Bucks Examiner.

A 12-theatre tour by Bunbury Touring Company, including The Lilian Baylis Theatre, London; The Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton and The Redgrave Theatre, Bristol. A 29-theatre tour by Mind’s Eye Theatre, including The Riley Theatre, Hull, The Regal Theatre, Minehead, The Trinity Arts Centre, Tunbridge Wells and The Grand Theatre Studio, Blackpool.

PDF of 1st 2 scenes for download

Irish Roulette

(minimum of 2m: 20s/30; 2f 20s/30s. Or up to 5f, 6m. One set. 1 hour 50 mins)

A young husband's promise of happiness is shattered by bullets in the Belfast of the 1980s. From joyful bride to grieving widow, gun runner and finally street walker, we follow his young wife Cathy on a cycle of destruction as she attempts to satisfy her craving for vengeance. But only through illness and resulting friendship does she come to learn the true price of revenge. "Impressive. Thunderous. Catch Irish Roulette while the wheel's still in spin." What's On, London. "The strength of Booker's characterisation . . . the power of her writing . . ." Time Out. "Powerful and thought-provoking. The play's funny one-liners deftly mixed desperate humour with tragedy." The Lichfield Mercury. "An extraordinary play of much depth." The Bordon Herald. "Powerful. A finely written piece." The Pink Paper. "An extraordinary play about ordinary people." The Richmond & Twickenham Times."

Productions by the Lichfield Players, Staffs, and a 4 week run by The Bunbury Touring Company at The Man-in-the-Moon Theatre, London, followed by a Hampshire tour. Performed at the 1991 Staffordshire New Play Festival. Shortlisted for The Arts Council of Great Britain's 1990 John Whiting Award.

Lust to Dust

(3m: 20-30s/30-50s x2. 2f: 20s;30-40s (parts can be split to create an additional 4m and 3f). Composite set. 2 hours.

( Also available in a one act version Don Juan Wore Red Braces).

Using his charm, looks and razor sharp wits, John ‘The Don’ Mahaffy deals in deception and cocaine to raise capital for his dodgy property deals. Chauffeur, Mick, abhors his boss’s moral bankruptcy yet makes an uneasy truce with it to fund his addiction to the greyhound track. With a sexual appetite to match his ambitions, no woman is safe from John ‘The Don’. Or is she? Set in Thatcherite London, Lust to Dust is a dark comedy inspired by Molière’s Don Juan.