Showing results by publisher "The Copyright Group" in All Categories

The dangling testicles of fate have tea-bagged me yet again." Alice and Keren are coming to the end of the three-hour getting-ready ritual, in preparation for a rare big night out with old mates. Jon is trying his best to get out of it with the help of the not-so-bright Grub. As the countdown begins, the wine is drunk, the hair sprayed stiff, and Jon made to change his shirt, but who will make it out of the house in time?

"God, I need to be bereaved. I could do with losing a few pounds". Jon, Keren, and Grub accompany Alice to the funeral of a uni friend called Boris. Jon wants to know how good a friend the deceased was; Alice wants to know how he died. Will their respective quests for knowledge end in tears or laughter?

The Future Mother-in-Law Predicament: "Why did we have to let her in? Could we not have just posted her a duvet through the letter-box?" Alice’s Mum comes to stay and Jon is not happy. A house-proud woman with a bosom as pronounced as her carefully annunciated consonants, she cleans, criticises, pokes and potters until not even Alice can take it anymore, forcing her to call on reinforcements with equally masterful diction.

Neither Jon nor Alice feels like they are getting enough and the frustration is tangible. If the other can’t help then who can? Best friends? Colleagues? The corner shop/kebab house owner? Fighting for the remote are Jon and Alice, a twenty-something couple living together in London. Alice enjoys socialising; Jon hates meeting people. While Alice is climbing her career ladder, Jon is quite content on the bottom rung of his.

A bitter round of Pictionary ends in a drink-to-the-vomit drinking game after Alice claims she can beat Jon at anything. The rug of Alice and Jon’s host gets in the firing line, rekindling rivalries from the past as well as the present. Jon declares he is not a loser and embarks on a mission to prove it by any means possible.

I remember when we used to have a life and not just a "Lovefilm" account" Jon and Alice’s latest dinner party attempt results in some guests glad to get away. Alice is nostalgic for the past, but realises some things have always been the same.

Warwickshire has seen its fair share of murder down the centuries. This latest collection explores notorious crimes from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, using contemporary documents; trial transcripts and newspaper accounts to examine cases that gripped both the county and the nation. Warwickshire Murders is a powerful and fascinating reappraisal of some of the most brutal and gruesome killings in the country’s history.

“History is an account not of what actually happened, but of what people think happened" Queen Victoria. Marie Tussaud was a remarkable woman. She escaped the guillotine and survived the horrors of the French revolution. She toured the towns of Britain for thirty-three hard years with her travelling wax cabinet, fighting off competition against a background of fire, riot, shipwreck and betrayal. She personified persistence, fortitude, dedication and self-belief.

Born in Newgate Prison and abandoned soon after, Moll Flanders is searching for a secure place in society. Her desire to belong propels her into all kinds of trouble from numerous marriages, bigamy and incest to theft. Charting her progress from an innocent but determined young girl to a contentedly resigned elderly woman, Defoe’s novel casts a light on the splendours and iniquities of life in 18th century England and America.

Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare’s earliest tragedies and probably the best known of all his works. Few do not know the poignant love story between these two young lovers from rivaling and feuding families tracing the first fresh bloom of their love to their ultimate demise.

Oscar Wilde’s only published novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray presents an intriguing idea: the main character, Dorian Gray, allows a painting to be subjected to the consequences of his actions and general aging, allowing him, in turn, to live a carefree and youthful life.

The famed story that one immediately associates with Christmas and Charles Dickens was written at a time in which Britain’s festivity and Christmas cheer were dwindling.

At the time, new traditions such as the Christmas tree were first being introduced. This, coupled with Dickens heart-warming story and characters as notable as Scrooge helped drag both the US and UK out of a solemn period and restored the much-loved Christmas spirit.

As the sun lengthens its days to summer, so a sport begins to dominate the thoughts and actions of many people. This game, which so encapsulated the village greens and evening song of Middle England, has now spread across the world.

WS Gilbert – The Bab Ballads. Before Gilbert was part of the famous Gilbert & Sullivan opera team, he wrote light verse that was very odd but arrived at a logical conclusion...we think! Luckily, the joyous Stanley Holloway is on hand to read and make sense of it all.

This play is well known as one of Shakespeare’s greatest comedies. The story revolves around Valentine and Proteus, the two gentlemen of Verona, who travel to Milan and learn about the world of courtship. Of course they are best friends but in between that friendship comes their love for the same woman. However true love must prevail and the journey Shakespeare takes us on is one of delight and reward. The play is performed by members of The Marlowe Society.

Alice Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There is a marvellous piece of children’s literature by Lewis Carroll. It is also marvellous entertainment for adults. The sequel to the yet more famous Alice in Wonderland makes no reference to the earlier work yet displays an equally vivid imagination.

In our Hollywood Stage presentation John Wayne reprises his role as Tom Dunston and his journey west to build a cattle empire. He adopts a young boy, Matthew, orphaned by an Indian raid. Returning from the Civil War Mathew helps his father on a massive cattle drive only for their relationship to completely fall apart as Father is pitted against Son.

Walter Burns is the editor of a major Chicago newspaper whose ace reporter and ex-wife, Hildy Johnson, visits him to announce her forthcoming marriage to an insurance salesman.

Walter, resourceful, cunning, and connected, works overtime to prevent the loss of Hildy to this other man. Here, Fred Macmurray and Claudette Colbert clash words and wit in this enduring classic comedy.

Maureen O'Hara plays Doris Walker a Special Events Director at the Macy's department store in New York. The actor she has employed to play Santa at their Thanksgiving parade is drunk. The whiskered old man who finds him is persuaded by Doris to replace him and does so extremely effectively.

Stella Dallas marries a rich young man but separates due to his demands that she change. She leaves with their daughter, Laurel, in search of a better life, which she devotes entirely to her daughter. One day, she takes Laurel to an upmarket resort where Laurel befriends some rich kids. Stella realises that for Laurel to have a better life she must send her daughter back to live with her father and his new wife.