Stainer & Bell Ltd Dramas with Music

Dramas with Music

Religious Publications

Dramas with Music

The Battle Ref: Y140

A Play with Music
By Edmund Banyard

There can be a struggle beween opposing armies, or between commanders and generals on the same side, or between the conflicting of purposes in the mind of their leader. In The Battle, Ahab is that man. The story, from I Kings 22 and II Chronicles 18, concerns the struggle for Ramoth-Gilead, in which Ahab, King of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, conspired against Aram in a military encounter. Written for two readers, four voices (unseen), actors, singers and musicians, the work offers ample opportunity for artists and performers of many skills to use their talents.

Price: £4.25

Brendan Ahoy! Ref: AC124

Arthur Scholey and Donald Swann

This vivid account of the Brendan story can be performed by any combination of children and adults with piano, and is equally suitable for semi-staging cantata style or for a full dramatic production. Words by Arthur Scholey and music by Donald Swann tell of the original discovery of America in colourful terms, but with a sub text relating to joy in the created world, and the spiritual hopes and uncertainties relating to any voyage of human discovery. The Vocal Score provides everything for performance.

Price: £10.50

One Friday. Chorus Part Ref: B563A

Edmund Banyard and Kathleen Johnson

This play for Passiontide is built around a character in an unnamed country, eventually taken for execution. The play relates the events from which the Christian Gospel was born as the Passion narrative is interwoven with the story of our contemporary 'Tom'. The music can be played on keyboard, but is best supplemented with flute and guitar and other improvising instruments. The play runs for about two hours and formed part of a festival of plays presented for a season at London's Westminster Theatre. A minimum of five male actors and two female singing actors is needed, with opportunity for all the extras and an on or off stage chorus.

Price: £3.25

One Friday. Dramatic Text Ref: B563

Edmund Banyard and Kathleen Johnson

This play for Passiontide is built around a character in an unnamed country, eventually taken for execution. The play relates the events from which the Christian Gospel was born as the Passion narrative is interwoven with the story of our contemporary 'Tom'. The music can be played on keyboard, but is best supplemented with flute and guitar and other improvising instruments. The play runs for about two hours and formed part of a festival of plays presented for a season at London's Westminster Theatre. A minimum of five male actors and two female singing actors is needed, with opportunity for all the extras and an on or off stage chorus.

Price: £2.50

One Friday. Vocal Score Ref: AC82

Edmund Banyard and Kathleen Johnson

This play for Passiontide is built around a character in an unnamed country, eventually taken for execution. The play relates the events from which the Christian Gospel was born as the Passion narrative is interwoven with the story of our contemporary 'Tom'. The music can be played on keyboard, but is best supplemented with flute and guitar and other improvising instruments. The play runs for about two hours and formed part of a festival of plays presented for a season at London's Westminster Theatre. A minimum of five male actors and two female singing actors is needed, with opportunity for all the extras and an on or off stage chorus.

Price: £9.95

One Friday in Eternity Ref: Y138

A Play with Music
By Edmund Banyard

Written for the simplest of dramatic settings, such as a church without scenery but with a cross used as the focus for lighting and action, One Friday in Eternity has proved to be a popular and thought-provoking account of the crucifixion story. Admirers of Edmund Banyard's full-scale Passiontide play One Friday will welcome this same inspiring treatment of the Easter theme, but on a scale that requires neither elaborate preparation nor a sophisticated stage venue. The text and songs of One Friday in Eternity have been used as part of church services and as a separate dramatic presentation. A minimum of players is required (there were five at the first performance), and the duration is approximately half-an-hour.

Price: £3.75

Out of This World Ref: Y139

A Play with Music
By Edmund Banyard

Out of This World begins where One Friday in Eternity ends; these two short dramas can be performed on their own or in sequence, being separate presentations of the two parts of the Easter story, crucifixion and resurrection, that are so skillfully woven as in the narrative of Edmund Banyard's full-scale Passiontide play, One Friday. Tom, who in the play is a modern-day political prisoner, becomes the Messenger, a man out of time who is witness to Christ's resurrection and condemned to execution. Topical, yet also concerned with eternal themes, Out of This World can be performed by four readers, players and musicians with minimum staging, and is about 30 minutes' duration.

Price: £4.25

The Song of Caedmon. Full Score Ref: AC90

Arthur Scholey and Donald Swann

The well-loved story of the simple, shy cowherd, lay brother in the seventh century Whitby Abbey, and how he was inspired by a divine vision to become 'father of religious poetry', in a musical drama (40 mins. approx.) with beautiful music by Donald Swann. The story is told in dialague, which can be acted in full costume and adapted to provide several more parts, or simply narrated by one person in the concert version as required. The music is for choir and instruments (piano, recorders, bells as available). The Full Score contains background notes and production suggestions.

Price: £10.50

The Song of Caedmon. Chorus Part Ref: B107

Arthur Scholey and Donald Swann

The well-loved story of the simple, shy cowherd, lay brother in the seventh century Whitby Abbey, and how he was inspired by a divine vision to become 'father of religious poetry', in a musical drama (40 mins. approx.) with beautiful music by Donald Swann. The story is told in dialague, which can be acted in full costume and adapted to provide several more parts, or simply narrated by one person in the concert version as required. The music is for choir and instruments (piano, recorders, bells as available). The Full Score contains background notes and production suggestions.

Price: £4.25

Stone on Stone. Full Score including text Ref: W188

Timothy Dudley-Smith and Derek Scott

Stone on Stone is a cantata for two soloists, choir and organ and just about anyone else who can join in. Timothy Dudley-Smith dramatizes the theme of the Trinity through a confrontation between the builders of a great church and groups of sceptical bystanders. The music, by former Muppet-Show MD Derek Scott, is continuous, and packed with good tunes. A 'Searcher of the Soul' (soprano or tenor) and a 'Watcher of the Heavens' (bass) meditate on the inner meaning of events. Different viewpoints are reconciled in the final affirmation 'A Trinity of Love who reigns alone', sung congregationally. Available in vocal score and separate melody edition, this highly accessible piece is guaranteed success whether performed by small groups or a massed gathering of singers.

Price: £2.40

Stone on Stone. Melody Edition Ref: W189

Price: £1.60

The Super Skyscraper. Vocal Score Ref: AC83

Edmund Banyard and Graham Bishop-Hunt

A pop cantata, with mime and movement if desired, links the story of Babel to Pentecost. A song from the work 'Shout in the Street' was chosen for the ecumenical hymnbook Hymns and Psalms. The work was written with schools and youth groups in mind.

Price: £9.95

The Super Skyscraper. Melody Edition Ref: SS68

Edmund Banyard and Graham Bishop-Hunt

A pop cantata, with mime and movement if desired, links the story of Babel to Pentecost. A song from the work 'Shout in the Street' was chosen for the ecumenical hymnbook Hymns and Psalms. The work was written with schools and youth groups in mind.

Price: £2.40

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