Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Mrs Atkins remembers: A play for radio in 1 act

Mrs Atkins remembers: A play for radio in 1 act

McManus, Alan

Paperback

Plays

ISBN10: 1514877368
ISBN13: 9781514877364
Publisher: Createspace
Published: Jul 8 2015
Pages: 26
Weight: 0.12
Height: 0.06 Width: 5.98 Depth: 9.02
Language: English
Broadcast annually on Sunny Govan Radio, Mrs Atkins remembers is a seven minute play set in White Cliff's Rest Home where an Occupational Therapist is attempting to lead demented residents Mrs Atkins, Col. Halliburton, Michael, Catherine and the Vicar in a 'Down Memory Lane' session. 'Dementia' means the state of being out of one's mind and here out of the coercive official mindset of remembrance of the 2014 Centenary of the start of WW1. Subverting the 'therapeutic' plans for happy memories, the residents and the Vicar in their fay conversation bring up dangerous memories of homosexuality in the ranks, carpet-bombing, court martial and military execution of shell-shocked soldiers - and the recurring and final question: why? The playwright draws on family memories of his grandfather, stories from his father, accounts from WW1 nurses; a photograph of carpet-bombing; and his own experience of working with NST school heritage tours in Flanders and Picardy. He has previously published a critical article on this subject: Poppies and Pedagogy: learning from the Great War. Alan McManus is the founder of Tent City Theatre Company which, with a cooperative company of about fifty intelligent, creative and initially mostly un(der)employed friends, together with their sister student group, POLIS, played on SubCity Radio, Sunny Govan Radio; at Doune the Rabbithole, The Kinning Park Complex, The Pearce Institute, St Mary's Cathedral and for Philanthrobeats at The Flying Duck - all in and around Glasgow. In doing so, they have learned new skills, honed old ones, have fun, raise their self-esteem and make theatre more popular. Mrs Atkins Remembers is his first play for radio and is preceded by Jésus de Glasgow (in homage to Jésus de Montreal) and Shock Doctrine. Alan is a recent graduate of the Master of Literature: Playwriting & Dramaturgy at the University of Glasgow and, on rejoining the community theatre company of his youth, played several supporting roles in Anne Downie's Parking Lot in Pitsburgh then a main role in the full-length 3-hander Someone Who'll Watch Over Me by Frank McGuinness. As a free-lance academic, he also publishes books and articles on philosophy and ethics as well as an inclusive series of novels set in Glasgow (the Bruno Benedetti Mysteries) under the pen name of Alan Ahrens-McManus.

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