A Going Concern (NHB Modern Plays)

A play about a washed-up family business, from the author of The Libertine. 1966. The technological revolution has not yet reached Chapel & Sons, an ailing family business making billiard tables. In the dilapidated workshop, three generations conspire against each other for control of the firm. Stephen Jeffreys' play A Going Concern is at once a lament for the passing of an industrial age, a retelling of the classic mythical struggle between fathers and sons and a thoroughly entertaining story. It was first performed at Hampstead Theatre, London, in 1993. 'Crackles with snappy tensions... A real find' - Daily Mail 'Blisteringly tough and funny' - Sunday Times

Stephen Jeffreys' plays include The Libertine and I Just Stopped By to See the Man (Royal Court); Valued Friends and A Going Concern (Hampstead); Bugles at the Gates of Jalalabad (part of the Tricycle Theatre's Great Game season about Afghanistan); The Convict's Opera (Out of Joint); Lost Land (starring John Malkovich, Steppenwolf, Chicago); The Art of War (Sydney Theatre Company) and A Jovial Crew (RSC). His adaptation of Dickens' Hard Times has been performed all over the world. He wrote the films The Libertine (starring Johnny Depp) and Diana (starring Naomi Watts). He co-authored the Beatles musical Backbeat which opened at the Citizens Theatre and went on to seasons in London's West End, Toronto and Los Angeles, and translated The Magic Flute for English National Opera in Simon McBurney's production. For eleven years he was Literary Associate at the Royal Court Theatre where he is now a member of the Council. His celebrated playwriting workshops have influenced numerous writers.