Andrew Rice-Oxley: Writer, Actor,
& Producer
Andrew joined the Lucilla in 1984 and appeared in Maureen Boase's production
of the cricket comedy Outside Edge (by Richard Harris) in the autumn of that
year. Whilst his subsequent acting career at Lucilla has not been particularly
distinguished (so he says!), his years at Lucilla LDS have not been without interest in the
'whirligig of time'. When teaching at Merchant Taylors' School (Crosby), he gave
a small role to a certain Bob Stone - now Lucilla's prolific playwright - in his
production of JM Barrie's The Admirable Crichton. The part Bob was asked to play
was the pompous, ineffectual Lord Brocklehurst, and Bob got his revenge recently
by casting Andrew in the double roles of lunatic Major Rodney Pirbright and
rejected lover Tim Fermor in his production of Lucilla's last autumn show (2002)
- the comedy thriller Murder in Play by Simon Brett.
Apart from occasional acting, Andrew has produced one act plays in the Lucilla
House Studio, including his own adaptation of a short story by Somerset Maugham,
Before the Party, (the leading role of Millicent being magnificently played by
Margaret Chambers), and produced a Monologue evening in March 2002. This latter
production included Andrew's own monologue, Neighbour from Hell, performed with
panache by guess who? Bob Stone. For further fortuitous (or providential)
connections between Bob Stone and Andrew Rice-Oxley you may approach either of
them ... with caution (and preferably a pint of beer). The proposal from the
latter to the former of a joint playwriting venture has so far been met with a
discreet silence!
Andrew has recently published a novel based on his schooldays, called Through
the Archway, which is available through the Lulu website. To learn more details
and order the book, go to lulu.com and
search for the book under its title or author.
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Erstwhile English and Drama teacher,
Andrew Rice-Oxley, has written and produced numerous scripts and stage
adaptations for school, church and the amateur stage. School productions
include Hamlet, Gilbert & Sullivan's Iolanthe, The School for Scandal and
his own streamlined adaptations of The Hobbit and Treasure Island. |
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Andrew has written
scripts for church performance, which include short pieces such as
The Gift (for Bible Sunday),
Father Christmas's Emergency and
Bigmouth Gets Ditched; also the full
length Passion play On the Edge,
written to mark the Millennium and performed in St Nicholas Church by members of
the Blundellsands Group of Churches in April 2000.
Comedies written for adults (no, not 'adult' plays), and performed in schools or
church halls, include his four coarse parodies:
Truelove Conquers All, The True
Adventures of Robin Hood, True
Treasure, and The True Story of King
Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table.
Plays written for
children, in addition to his various sketches for church performance, include
Queen in Boots (a spin on The
Emperor's Clothes) and The Secret Weapon
(written for the Guides and Cub Scouts respectively), and the large scale
fairy tale play The Rings of Noumen,
most successfully produced by the Phoenix Youth Theatre in 1986.
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In 2004, Andrew
published an important new selection of the poems of Christina Rossetti,
entitled Almost Paradise. Details can be found at
christinarossetti.co.uk, also see
arobooks.co.uk &
almostparadise.co.uk. There are
still some copies available of this unique edition of the selected poems
of Christina Rossetti.
Andrew's
published work includes
Ten Original Short
Scripts for Drama/Theatre Studies 'A' Level,
Multi-Purpose Drama/English Workbook for Key
Stages 3-4, and 'Two Short Comedies' -
The Ratbusters and
The
Dastardly Deeds of Lord Swindleham - published by
SchoolPlay Productions. A religious sketch,
The Decision is Yours, which satirises quiz shows and the
trivialisation of serious questions, has also been published, by Nimbus
Press, in a collection of sketches for the new Millennium called Platform
Souls.
Unpublished and unperformed work includes religious plays
Spectators (a modern version of
the 'Woman Taken in Adultery'), and Stan
and sequel Chris, dramas which
explore Christian theology in a contemporary context. Other unpublished
work, which awaits the right entrepreneur, is a satirical sketch about
Bill Clinton's escapades - "Don't Do That, Mr
President!" - and musical settings of songs, with readings,
from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. (Approved by the Tolkien Estate, no
less!). |
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