Tim Luscombe
Original playscripts
The Schuman Plan
It tells the story of Bill Bretherton, a passionate British Europhile whose idealism is challenged by burgeoning European agencies and the colourful personalities he meets – back-stabbing politicians, volatile Suffolk fishermen, fraudulent Sicilian Mafiosi, his old pal Teddy Heath and a girl from the Ministry whom he loves to the end. A celebration of the political altruism behind the European ideal and a challenging look at what it has become.
Kimalia
Kimalia is an exploration of race, gender and nationality seen through the experiences of two asylum seekers. Ade from Uganda makes it to London to claim asylum on the grounds of sexuality, but border guard Vincent is unimpressed with his gay credentials. Marion from Nigeria strikes it luckier when she encounters Home Office reformer Yvonne. But no one finds their path home easy.
Amateur Rites
What could be more unsurprising than a suburban AmDram company staging a Jane Austen adaptation? But the ambitions and neuroses of the members of Pogchurch Valley Amateur Dramatic Society come to a tragi-comic climax in the white heat of the rehearsal process for their production of Northanger Abbey. A comedy of modern manners – a Stepping Out for the twenty-first century.
Adaptations
Turn of the Screw
A new governess must be employed in a country home in Bly. Little Flora and Miles need education, entertainment and love. But, on the governess’s arrival, it seems that the children know more than they’re letting on. In discovering what happened to her predecessor, she uncovers the disturbing truth.
Emma
Young, bright and beautiful, Emma Woodhouse has the world at her feet, or at least the small part of Surrey in which she lives. Denied an outlet for her creativity, she employs her social skills in matchmaking. But to her great surprise, the more she tries to manipulate everyone, the less success she has.
Northanger Abbey
Romantic fiction fan Catherine is taken to Bath where she meets dashing Henry. But in Northanger Abbey, Henry’s family’s country seat, her head remains filled with the gothic fantasies of her favourite novel, ‘The Mysteries of Udolpho’. Obsessed by fictional love, she nearly blows her chance of the real thing. Nearly, but not quite.
Mansfield Park
Fanny, a quiet, intelligent young woman, is unceremoniously dumped by her parents into the noisy household of her uncle, where life buffets her from one crisis to the next. One thing remains certain, however – her love for charismatic Edmund. Fanny must battle family duty before she can claim the man of her dreams.
Persuasion
At 18, Anne Elliot was persuaded to part from her beloved Captain Frederick Wentworth. At 27, she believes her destiny is to live off the memories of their few short months of happiness. When the war ends, Captain Frederick returns, prized and promoted. He’s back to marry. Will Anne get a second chance?