David Spencer » Theatre

THE GLAMOUROUS LIFE OF A SPUD (2005)

David — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 13:40:31 +0000

Soho Theatre Reheared Reading

Language:

English

LADY, MY LIFE AS A BITCH (2004)

David — Mon, 01 Nov 2004 13:41:18 +0000

stage adaptation of Melvin Burgess novel Feb 05
For Platypus Theatre

Languages:

English

I KILLED WERNERSCHWAB AND I DUG UP HIS CORPSE (2003)

David — Mon, 01 Sep 2003 13:42:06 +0000

Theater Text

Languages:

English
German

ARCANE (2002)

David — Tue, 01 Oct 2002 13:42:49 +0000

ARCANE, the Opera, at Saddlers Wells, London England

On Stage:

Opera Circus London / Fast Food Theater Muenchen
Shown Battersea Arts Center, May 14th 15th, full
Premiere, Cardiff Festival of Contemporary Music, Oct 2002
Currently on tour in England Sep 2004

Languages:

English
German

FETCHING EDDY (2002)

David — Tue, 01 Jan 2002 13:44:09 +0000

Theatre Play – non commissioned

The Stage: Glass Hearts

David — Thu, 17 May 2001 17:35:30 +0000

Date: 05/17/2001
Author: Aleks Sierz

The domestic arrangement that the middle classes call a “men-age a trois” would be recognised by Sun readers as a simple three-some. In David Spencer’s gruelling new play, Darren, a divorced sixties music fan, moves in with Tina and her disabled teenage son, Ollie. So desperate is she for love that she allows Damen to watch porn movies in the house, dresses up for him and allows him to do anything he likes. But when she brings home his new 17-year-old lover Carol, Tina is punished to the brink.

Spencers writes with a rare ability to explore emotive issues – such as female jealousy, male manipulation and abusive relationships – without pontificating or being politically correct. Like playwright Paul Tucker, he is prepared to leave the cosy suburbs and explore the less previleged side of town: Psychologically convincing, desperately raw and bleakly funny, his play is at first a little cluttered with family detail, but soon emerges as a thumping plece of in-yer-face theatre – strong, violent and emotionally truthful.

After an unforgettably brutal opening with describes the killing of a cow, the play is tautly directed by George Ormond, who is helped by committed performances from Adrian Lochhead, Karen E Jones and Lorraine Hodgson as Darren, Tina and Carol, with Alexander Perkins making his stage debut as Ollie.

Blessed with an exhilarating sixties soundtrack, this powerful production by Critical Mass leaves a indelible impression of the excruciating impression neediness and appalling cruelty of love. It is a smashing show.

Glass Hearts

David — Thu, 17 May 2001 17:12:52 +0000

Originally titled BLUE HEARTS

Press and Reviews:

On Stage:

Tough Love Series at Southwark Playhouse London
For Critical Mass

Evening Standard: Glass Hearts

David — Wed, 09 May 2001 17:14:37 +0000

Date: 05/09/2001
Author: Rachel Haliburton

A love triangle that makes you wand to scream

Davis Spencer’s play starts von territory familiar to Royle Family fans and progresses to the ninth circle of relationshop hell. As the play develops, the circle constricts, drawing the audince into a vortex of romantic delusion and the psychological cancer of self-loathing.

The action begins with a documentary voice-over, describing how a cow becomes aware of imminent slaughter by smelling the fear and adrenaline of those preceding it. Throughout this portrayal of a love-triangle in a TV-dominated lounge, that image of a withless animal struggling helplessy towards its own destruction adds to the sense of catastrophical claustrophobia.

Tina has the sex appeal of a tub of lard, but when Darren agrees to set up home with her, a romantic paradise seems to beckon. Simon Sullions’s set evokes a love reach their apogee in a fake tiger-skin bed-heart inset with a cassette recorder to play everything from Frank Sinatra to Dusty Springfield.

Tina has a handicapped son, Ollie, and has been sterilised after delivering her second child still-born. Her problems start anew when Carol, Ollie’s 17-year-old babysitter, catches Darren’s porn-fuelled attentions, and moves into the flat.

Although the echoes of Spencer’s latest work are strongly televisual, both the structure and the lit-fuse tension make it a compellingly theatrical piece. The key factor in transforming Glass Hearts from a stereotypical story about a middle-aged man dumping his lover for a younger, perter model is inescably Karen E Jones’s powerful portrayal of Tina’s fermenting discontent as she demotes hersel to the doormat of all doormats to keep his love.

Director George Ormond has drawn out beautifull understated performances from Adrian Lochead as Darren and Lorraine Hodgson as Carol to complete this strikingly unequilaterial love triangle. There is no backhand to this compliment: it makes you want to run screaming from the theatre.

IN HOPE Delivered (2001)

David — Thu, 01 Mar 2001 13:44:56 +0000

Commissioned theater play for Manchester Royal Exchange

SYMON SAYS (2000/2001)

David — Wed, 01 Nov 2000 13:45:35 +0000

A classroom in a British comprehensive school. As a punishment four teenage students have to stay back in school for an extra hour. Cindy, Nicole, Peter and the supervising teacher are in the classroom ready to start, but Simon is missing. The one hour detention period can only begin when all four Students are present. Tension mounts. When Simon finally arrives, he is brandishing a weapon and takes control of the teacher and his classmates. The teacher tries in vain to intervene. Simon forces his friends to sort out matters which have been kept secret too long. A biting, musical satire featuring four actors, Hip Hop and a Master of Ceremonies.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCeinwS6Rqo

On Stage:

Various Venues in Berlin
inc. Podewill / Pumpe
As Amok/Shrinker
A Rap Musical for Schools