Sue Eckstein

The Cloths of Heaven was broadcast as a serialised drama on BBC Radio 4′s Woman’s Hour in March 2010, with Ruth Gemmel playing Rachel and Matthew Pidgeon as Daniel.  Directed by Bruce Young (centre).

The Tuesday Group   Directed by Tim Jackson, performed by BSMS Theatre 18 & 19th November 2011.

To be performed at Brighton Festival Fringe 25-27th May 2012 http://boxoffice.brightonfringe.org/event.aspx?evID=3689

First performed as part of King’s College London’s Art of Dying Festival, 2002, starring Gina McKee and Phyllida Law.

The following plays by Sue have also been broadcast on BBC Radio 4:

Kaffir Lilies

Kaffir Lilies is the story of two romances which both involve the same man – one tells of unrequited love, the other of a secret liaison that ends in tragedy.

In 1929 a young English girl, Louisa Shelbourne, has recently married an older man, Edward, a British administrator in Nigeria. When the dashing young Charles Middleton arrives to take up a posting in a nearby district, Louisa’s youthful enthusiasm allows her to mistakenly believe that Charles is in love with her – but she hints that they must understand that this is a love that cannot speak its name.

After some years Louisa’s husband dies suddenly and, in the fullness of time, she expects that Charles will marry her. Charles tells her he cannot oblige but finds it difficult to fully explain his reasons. Completely distraught after this unexpected rejection, Louisa refuses to see him again. Forty years too late, Louisa reads Charles’s diary entries – they reveal that he was in love with Musa Mohammed, his Nigerian house boy.

Cast

Matthew Pidgeon – Young Charles Middleton

Candida Benson – Young Louisa Shelbourne

Edith Macarthur – Older Louisa Shelbourne

Michael Mackenzie – Edward Shelbourne

Damian Lynch – Musa Mohammed

Joanna Tope – Vera, the nursing home assistant

Praise for Kaffir Lilies:

“Really wonderful and a first rate production. Congratulations.” Nell Dunn, author of Poor Cow and Steaming.

Old School Ties

The annual magazine for a Catholic boarding school carries an obituary of a former pupil who was once Kit Nichols’s best friend. Kit – now in his 40s and a successful stand-up comedian – is fired by a mixture of guilt at having so comprehensively lost touch and for failing to respond to the one occasion in adulthood that his friend, William Hennessy, tried to get in touch. Kit believes that their former teacher and mentor, Brother Dominic, remained close to William, and when Kit tracks down Brother Dominic he discovers the truth about his friend’s death, leading them both to confront difficult questions about faith, loyalty, friendship and the ethical issue of the right to die.

Cast

Kit Nichols – Thomas Arnold

Father Dominic – Crawford Logan

Lucy Nichols – Noreen Leighton

Abbott – Gareth Thomas

William Hennessy – Richard Greenwood

Ted Thomson/Bursar – Paul Young

Praise for Old School Ties:

“A sparky and intriguing yarn, written and performed with a real edge” Guardian Pick of the Day

Laura

Laura is a short story by the Scottish satirist H.H.Munro, better known as Saki. It is both grim and ironic and, in places, very funny.

As Laura lies dying, she derives some pleasure from the thought of being reincarnated; firstly as an otter, particularly if it means she can continue to irritate Egbert and wreak havoc on his beloved flock of hens, and then perhaps as a naked Nubian boy. Egbert’s wife Amanda is sceptical until, during Laura’s funeral, all the hens are massacred. Egbert organises a hunt, and the otter is killed. Egbert takes Amanda to the Nile Valley where her nerves continue to recover; that is until she hears her husband complaining about the naked Nubian boy who has thrown all his shirts in the bath.

Cast

Sir Lulworth – Benjamin Whitrow

Egbert – John Warnaby

Amanda – Candida Benson

Narrator/Evans/Vicar – Michael Mackenzie

Laura – Irene Macdougall

Aurora/Cook – Joanna Tope