BEFORE DAWN

A hilarious re-telling of Sardou's play and Puccini's opera TOSCA, with Scarpia as a swaggering villain who unfortunately impotent at an intimate and highly inconvenient moment, Tosca as a proud beauty given to bursting into Vissi d'Arte although the aria will not be written for a 100 years or so, and a Captain who gets sadly, but understandingly confused as to whether Scarpia mans that Tosca's lover should really be executed or only appear to be. Tosca's attempt to stab Scarpia with a bread knife is thwarted by his knife-proof vest, and the Curtain falls on the two of them in close embrace on a convenient couch. This play is the 'curtain raiser' to 'In Praise of Love', which means it is sometimes known as 'In Praise of Love II'. Period: 1800.

Cast: 3 Men, 1 Women

First Produced: 1973-Duchess Theatre, London

ISBN: 0-573-12017-X

IN PRINT: 'SAMUEL FRENCH'