“unexpected returns”: three one-act plays

Half an Hour  (1910)
Lilian decides she would rather run off with a civil engineer than stay married to an uncivil financier. But then the unthinkable happens, and to secure her future she has to face some unexpected obstacles...

A Well-Remembered Voice  (1918)
Mr and Mrs Don have lost their only child in the Great War. They each struggle to come to terms with the devastating loss in their own way. But not even Grace Dan's unorthodox grieving strategies could have prepared her husband for the experience which lies in store for him...

The Twelve-Pound Look  (1913)
Harry Sims is the man who has everything: Wealth, social status, influence and the trophy wife to underscore it all. But here comes an unexpected visitor who doesn't quite agree he is worth a quarter of a million pounds...

Author(s)
James Matthew Barrie
Year(s) of publication
1910, 1918, 1913
Performance dates & venue(s)

7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 16, 18, 21, 22 May 2010
Cellar Theatre, Nadelberg 6, Basel

Cast
Half An Hour  
Mr. Garson Xander Deubelbeiss
Lady Lilian Garson Johanna Schüpbach
Withers Roy Fischer
Hugh Paton Joel Andres
Susie Sophie Debrunner Hall
Doctor Brodie Oguz Kanca
Mr. Redding Samuel Ammann
Mrs. Redding Lena Vidoni
A Well-Remembered Voice  
Mr. Don Patrick Kuntschnik
Mrs. Don Laura Vegh
Major Armitage Tom Mani
Georgina Rogers Marie-Louise Uehlinger
Laura Bell Ilenia Ballacchino
Another Nicolas Hunziker
The Twelve Pound Look  
Sir Harry Sims Alex Van Lierde
Lady Sims Eva Mann
Kate Helena Müller
Tombes Roy Fischer
Production crew
Directed by Nora Naust
Assistant Director Xander Deubelbeiss
Lights Nicolas Hunziker, Xander Deubelbeiss
Costumes Claudia and Eva Ott
Acknowledgments

Seminar für klassische Philologie der Universität Basel, Jan Müller, Fischer Shop Basel, and too many relatives of the cast to mention – for loan of props.

The volunteers at bar and box office!

Ralf Gruber – for finding the most improbable props, taking photographs and supplying emotional support no matter what.

Alex Van Lierde – for his help with ticket reservations, installing and programming the lights, organizing props, and all sorts of support behind the scenes from hanging curtains to shopping for drinks.

Claudia and Eva Ott – for designing and creating the costumes from a very vague description of what I have in mind.

Xander Deubelbeiss – for too many things to list here: co-directing, unspecified hours of taking care of annoying paperwork, prop building, ticket reservations and endless patience.

My cast – because more than usual for Gay Beggars productions, this production was less the work of the director, but rather the combined effort of a great cast, who made the best – and I mean the BEST – of a bunch of deficient ideas thrown at them.

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