David McGillivray – författare

The Farndale Avenue ladies attempt lift off with their Dramatic Society's unique production of a sci-fi thriller. Needless to say, high-tech effects going awry and the limited talents of some group members ensure that the cast remains firmly on the ground some more than others. As ever, the resourceful Mrs. Reece brilliantly circumnavigates pitfalls as she steers the company into orbit and through space to genteel tea on Mars, where the nail biting action is interrupted to present the Flower Arranging Award. The tear-jerking culmination has hysterical audiences on the edges of their seats.

"Superb, minutely observed spoof with some hilarious set pieces." - The Guardian

"'Hilarious' cried the blurbs; 'I laughed till I cried.' I did." - Guernsey Evening Press

"Some marvelous, almost surrealist moments." - What's On

Characters: 4 females and 1 male

Scenery: Simple set

In a festive mood, the ladies mount another assault on the classics with their stage version of A Christmas Carol. They enthusiastically portray a dizzy array of characters from the Dickensian favorite (and a few which aren't), engineer some novel audience participation while bravely contending with an intrusive PA system and a real Farndale first rap their vocal cords and feet around two original, show stopping songs.

The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery

Full Length, Comedy

Revised Version

Characters: 1 male, 4 female

1 set

Every drama group has experienced the horrors of what can go wrong on the night and the ladies of the F.A.H.E.T.G. Dramatic Society are no different, with the possible exception that almost everything that could happen does. The scenery collapses, cues are missed, lines forgotten, and the sound effects take on a strange note at times, as the ladies present their ambitious evening's entertainment with the cunning whodunit, "Murder At Checkmate Manor". And just in case the audience should get bored there's a Film and Fashion Show and Murder Mystery Quiz complete with Prize. The crunch comes in the denouement when the "murderer", about to be revealed, has to rush home to bandage up an injured daughter. But Mrs. Reece, doyenne of the group, rises above the slings and arrows of outrageous dramatics to save the situation and provide the final inventive twist.

As the event management field expands, there has been an emergence of a distinctive ‘events’ policy field of study and a need for more advanced texts that look at this subject with a multidisciplinary research and theoretical orientation.

Events Policy: From Theory to Strategy is the first text to embrace this new direction in the field of events management. Its main aim is to locate the phenomena of events (and festivity) within a theoretical and strategic framework and, in doing so, demonstrate the links between the development of events in policy-making and the theoretical exploration of the role of events as policy. Building on a strong coherent framework, the book explores the conceptual terrain in which events and festivities are located, evaluates the range of theoretical perspectives pertinent to the study of events policy, appraises the socio-economic and socio-cultural implications of event-led policies internationally and draws together the main theoretical and event policy issues for the future. It utilizes a good range of international cases, from Dubai, Singapore, New Orleans and Glasgow, to help demonstrate the relationships between theory and strategy, and includes useful features to help students understand the subject and deepen their knowledge of the events policy terrain.

This groundbreaking volume will be essential reading for students, researchers and academics of events and other related disciplines.

As the event management field expands, there has been an emergence of a distinctive ‘events’ policy field of study and a need for more advanced texts that look at this subject with a multidisciplinary research and theoretical orientation.

Events Policy: From Theory to Strategy is the first text to embrace this new direction in the field of events management. Its main aim is to locate the phenomena of events (and festivity) within a theoretical and strategic framework and, in doing so, demonstrate the links between the development of events in policy-making and the theoretical exploration of the role of events as policy. Building on a strong coherent framework, the book explores the conceptual terrain in which events and festivities are located, evaluates the range of theoretical perspectives pertinent to the study of events policy, appraises the socio-economic and socio-cultural implications of event-led policies internationally and draws together the main theoretical and event policy issues for the future. It utilizes a good range of international cases, from Dubai, Singapore, New Orleans and Glasgow, to help demonstrate the relationships between theory and strategy, and includes useful features to help students understand the subject and deepen their knowledge of the events policy terrain.

This groundbreaking volume will be essential reading for students, researchers and academics of events and other related disciplines.

Bidding contests for sporting and cultural events are attracting increasing media and public attention. Yet, despite the cost, size and scale of these bidding contests, relatively little academic attention has been paid to the strategies and tactics used to develop successful bids. Event Bidding: Politics, Persuasion and Resistance develops a comprehensive, critical understanding of the bidding processes surrounding the award of major peripatetic events. This is achieved by drawing together existing knowledge on the subject of event bidding, combining this with historical and contemporary examples to enable a critical commentary on the bidding process itself and the struggle for power that it represents.

The text draws on case studies of ‘mega events’ including the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games as well as a range of smaller peripatetic events from across the world to analyse the bidding process and some of the increasingly controversial issues which emerge during often lengthy and expensive bid campaigns. Finally, the text reflects on a range of critical issues of contemporary significance in bidding contests, including the growing ethical and governance issues surrounding the development and award of events as well as the impact of growing oppositional movements surrounding each contest.

This timely volume brings theory and practice together in one place to produce a critical appraisal of a phenomenon with a relatively recent history and is particularly suitable for students, researchers and academics of sports, events, tourism and related subject fields focusing on the strategic and political dimensions of major events.

Bidding contests for sporting and cultural events are attracting increasing media and public attention. Yet, despite the cost, size and scale of these bidding contests, relatively little academic attention has been paid to the strategies and tactics used to develop successful bids. Event Bidding: Politics, Persuasion and Resistance develops a comprehensive, critical understanding of the bidding processes surrounding the award of major peripatetic events. This is achieved by drawing together existing knowledge on the subject of event bidding, combining this with historical and contemporary examples to enable a critical commentary on the bidding process itself and the struggle for power that it represents.

The text draws on case studies of ‘mega events’ including the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games as well as a range of smaller peripatetic events from across the world to analyse the bidding process and some of the increasingly controversial issues which emerge during often lengthy and expensive bid campaigns. Finally, the text reflects on a range of critical issues of contemporary significance in bidding contests, including the growing ethical and governance issues surrounding the development and award of events as well as the impact of growing oppositional movements surrounding each contest.

This timely volume brings theory and practice together in one place to produce a critical appraisal of a phenomenon with a relatively recent history and is particularly suitable for students, researchers and academics of sports, events, tourism and related subject fields focusing on the strategic and political dimensions of major events.

The digital turn in leisure has opened up a vast array of new opportunities to play, learn, participate and be entertained – opportunities that have transformed what we recognise as leisure. This edited collection provides a significant contribution to our changing understanding of digital leisure cultures, reflecting on the socio-historical context within which the digital age emerged, while engaging with new debates about the evolving and controversial role of digital platforms in contemporary leisure cultures.

This book also demonstrates the interdisciplinary nature of studying digital leisure cultures. To make sense of how individuals and institutions use digital spaces it is necessary to draw on history, science and technology, philosophy, cultural studies, sociology and geography, as well as sport and leisure studies. This important and timely study discusses both the promise of the digital sphere as a realm of liberation, and the darker side of the internet associated with control, surveillance, exclusion and dehumanisation.

Digital Leisure Cultures: Critical perspectives is fascinating reading for any student or scholar of sociology, sport and leisure studies, geography or media studies.

This empirically-grounded text examines the policy, planning, development and implementation of disability sport events. It draws insights from a major international comparative study of different types of large multi-national sporting events: integrated events where able-bodied athletes and athletes with a disability compete alongside one another, and non-integrated events where athletes with a disability are separated by time but occurring in the same location.

Guided by a critical disability studies perspective, the book highlights the strategic opportunity of sporting events to influence social change around community participation, and attitudes and awareness about disability more broadly. It also challenges assumptions about positive event legacies and suggests a need for a multi-lateral approach to planning.

An important read for students, researchers and scholars in the fields of sport policy, sport development, disability sport, sport management, disability studies and event studies.

This empirically-grounded text examines the policy, planning, development and implementation of disability sport events. It draws insights from a major international comparative study of different types of large multi-national sporting events: integrated events where able-bodied athletes and athletes with a disability compete alongside one another, and non-integrated events where athletes with a disability are separated by time but occurring in the same location.

Guided by a critical disability studies perspective, the book highlights the strategic opportunity of sporting events to influence social change around community participation, and attitudes and awareness about disability more broadly. It also challenges assumptions about positive event legacies and suggests a need for a multi-lateral approach to planning.

An important read for students, researchers and scholars in the fields of sport policy, sport development, disability sport, sport management, disability studies and event studies.