Four Plays for Coarse Actors

by Michael Frederick Green

Performed at the Edinburgh Festival as the Coarse Acting Show.

Genres: Theatre, Humor, Plays, Drama

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Michael Frederick Green ( 2 January 1927 - 25 February 2018) was a British journalist and author of humorous books. He is best known for The Art of Coarse Rugby, The Art of Coarse Acting and other books with similar titles.

Reviews

[Mantas Giga]

Sooooooo funny!!!! I really liked all the plays.

Rehearsals are starting today and I'm looking forward to see how we will act this on the stage 😁

[Liz]

HYSTERICAL! “The Play That Goes Wrong” team must have learned from Michael Green

[John Geddie]

A series of very short plays designed to be produced as a "things go wrong for bad actors" school of comedy plays. There are definitely some good bits in there, but I do think they're likely better performed than read. And this type of show has grown so much that it's almost a genre now-- I'm not certain there aren't better examples of it out now. Still, a bet there's a lot of fun to be had for some actor's looking for some over-the-top fun. The introduction and advice to the productions has some real gems of wisdom on comedy.

[Mark Woodland]

Screamingly funny, though to truly appreciate these plays (and the original book, The Art of Coarse Acting), you need to be either a fan of the theatre or a participant (at any level). These plays lampoon the very worst in amateur theatricals, and are deliberately written so that if you do them "well", they're so bad that they make you laugh. This is the essence of the Coarse experience. If you're in the theatre, then you must read the original book, followed by these plays. The plays won't quite make sense to you unless you've been first grounded in the Coarse Acting concept. Personally, I'd love to do any of these plays, but I can't find anyone that will produce them. One problem with biting satire is that the average Playreading Committee associated with any given theatre will contain all too many members who simply won't get it. More's the pity.

[Joshlynn]

As a "theater kid" and someone who just loves to laugh, I was in tears when reading these ultra-short pieces and the satiric philosophies behind them. Pitch-perfect farce.