Peter Colley

Peter Colley is a Canadian-British playwright whose plays have been produced in 32 countries, 48 of the 50 states in the US, every province in Canada and have been translated into 11 languages. His musical "CAGNEY", about the life of actor James Cagney, has been produced in major regional theatres, and ran for 540 performances in New York. "CAGNEY" is due to open on London's West End in 2022. He has won or been nominated for the DRAMA DESK, OUTER CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD, OFF-BROADWAY ALLIANCE AWARD, NEW YORK THEATRE GUIDE BEST SHOW, NEW AMERICAN PLAY AWARD (TCG, EDGERTON AWARD), EUGENE O'NEILL PLAYWRITING AWARD (semi-finalist), FLORIDA CARBONELL AWARD: "BEST NEW WORK", NEW ZEALAND NAPTA AWARD, and many other awards. His comic thriller "I'LL BE BACK BEFORE MIDNIGHT" is said to be the most...

Peter Colley is a Canadian-British playwright whose plays have been produced in 32 countries, 48 of the 50 states in the US, every province in Canada and have been translated into 11 languages. His musical "CAGNEY", about the life of actor James Cagney, has been produced in major regional theatres, and ran for 540 performances in New York. "CAGNEY" is due to open on London's West End in 2022. He has won or been nominated for the DRAMA DESK, OUTER CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD, OFF-BROADWAY ALLIANCE AWARD, NEW YORK THEATRE GUIDE BEST SHOW, NEW AMERICAN PLAY AWARD (TCG, EDGERTON AWARD), EUGENE O'NEILL PLAYWRITING AWARD (semi-finalist), FLORIDA CARBONELL AWARD: "BEST NEW WORK", NEW ZEALAND NAPTA AWARD, and many other awards. His comic thriller "I'LL BE BACK BEFORE MIDNIGHT" is said to be the most widely produced play in Canadian history. As a screenwriter he has won a HUMANITAS AWARD, and two of his plays have been made into feature films. He has been published by Samuel French Inc. (now Concord Theatricals, New York and London); Baker's Plays of Boston, Macmillans, and Simon & Pierre. He has written for the CBC, CBS, Fox Family Channel, British ITV, and WNET TV (New York).

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Scripts

The Man In The Desert

by Peter Colley

1
Cast Size
6—7
Genre
biography,
docudrama/historic,
drama,
period

Inspired by real events, THE MAN IN THE DESERT takes place at a Royal Air Force base in Arabia in the 1930s. T. E. Lawrence, under the alias Aircraftman Shaw, arrives at the base seeking anonymity from his fame. Lawrence is haunted by guilt over what he did in Arabia, has changed his name, rejoined the military at the lowest rank and is seeking a monk-like obscurity in the distant corners of the British Empire...

Inspired by real events, THE MAN IN THE DESERT takes place at a Royal Air Force base in Arabia in the 1930s. T. E. Lawrence, under the alias Aircraftman Shaw, arrives at the base seeking anonymity from his fame. Lawrence is haunted by guilt over what he did in Arabia, has changed his name, rejoined the military at the lowest rank and is seeking a monk-like obscurity in the distant corners of the British Empire. Charlotte Shaw, a close friend and the wife of George Bernard Shaw, arrives at the base to convince him to return to England where his fame could do much good with the progressive middle eastern policies she is championing. Lawrence is dead set against returning to his old name and persona, which he feels has been turned into a grotesque vaudeville by the media. During bursts of malaria, Lawrence replays his past life with Prince Feisal and the promises he made and could not keep, forcing him to confront the demons of his past including his conflicted sexuality.

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