a night with...

At Playlovers, we are thinking of having "A Night With..." ie. a night of one act plays, monologues and exerpts from a particular author eg. Shaffer, Pinter. We want to include some comedy, to be accessible and to appeal to a wide audience (we want people there!). Can anyone suggest an author who might make them say "yes!" to such an evening.
Many thanks
Julia

Julia,

Alan Ayckbourn is usually a drawcard and he's written loads of short plays "Gosforth's Fete", particularly, comes to mind...

Being a Sondheim lover I would say he, but would probably get shouted down on the grounds you have already described. At least there'd be music involved...

Tom Stoppard provides a glittering array of quotable quotes and some scenes from his plays would be fun...

How about "A Bawdy Night With...Geoffrey 'Bad Boy' Chaucer" - limited appeal, but it sounds good, no? ;~}

J

If you feel like going back a bit, then Oscar Wilde could be a consideration.

William Shakespeare?

Did anyone else see the complete works that played last year at the Maj? Glyn Nicholas nearly drove me nuts making it a vehicle for his own particular brand of comedy - hey i'm in the minority, i sometimes find him more irritating than funny. But this was seriously entertaining material and much of it taken directly from the bard - with liberal embellishments.

I guess when it comes to playwrights, he's the closest thing we've got to a household name. Trouble is that doesn't necessarily translate into popular appeal - some people have the same regard for him as a dose of bad cough medicine.

Cheers
Grant