oap21: Waiting for Gordon by Derek Webb

Scroll down for the synopsis and cast of characters

Synopsis

Summary Performance History
'Finalist - Drama Association of Wales Play Competition 2005'
3# 25-02-10 Amateur performances
2# 12-03-10 Forest Community Centre, Walthamstow
3# 24-03-11 SWATS, Chelmsford
1# Carmarthan (February 2013)
1# Carmarthan (March 2013)

See history for more reviews etc

'Waiting for Gordon' featured on a TV programme about the YFC 1-Act Festival on S4C - the Welsh Channel 4.

Genre
Comedy

Script Notes
Other text goes here.

Synopsis

Three women are attending a DIY class at their local college, when they are joined by a fourth, Helen. They are all, in their different ways, wanting to assert their independence and not rely on men.

Jo doesn’t like men full stop and her motivation is clear-cut: she simply prefers a man-free zone to live in. Linda has recently discovered that her husband has been having an affair with a woman twenty years her junior, and sees the DIY class (together with other similar interests) as being a diversion, something to keep her functioning. She also views it as a way of putting two fingers up to her wayward husband Gordon. She’s just waiting for him to return to her, so she might have the pleasure of rejecting him, like he has rejected her.

Helen has recently been widowed and views the class as a necessary thing to do. She feels at a total loss without John, her husband. Tracy has had a history of problems with men and is just waiting for the right man to come along. She has joined the class for companionship as well as a way of proving herself. In the opening scene we are apparently waiting for the tutor, Mr Rees, who never shows up – he has had an accident doing DIY at home. So the four women are left to their own devices to construct a set of shelves – the assignment that Mr Rees had given them the previous week.

During their conversations we discover that Tracy has ‘met’ someone in an Internet chat room and is planning to meet him properly for the first time the second week… Their various attitudes to men are explored, and become more acute after a fateful visit to an art class, instigated by Linda.

The play resolves with the arrival of Tracy’s ‘Barry’ who, as we are expecting, is in fact the eponymous Gordon.

The Cast List

JO:: A feisty woman in her mid 30’s – early 40’s, most definitely not interested in men.
LINDA:: Somewhat blousy middle-age woman. Looks after herself and cares about her appearance.
TRACY:: Young, mid 20’s woman with a slightly diffident nature, generally unsure about herself, but knows more than she sometimes lets on.
HELEN:: Mid 50’s woman, recently widowed, feeling at a loss and trying to come to terms with life and herself.
ADMINISTRATOR:: The college administrator, an efficient, friendly man or woman in his/her 30s – 50s.