Please email me for any enquiries relating to my writing:
Email:
Karen at
karenlynne@grahamhowes.plus.com
Plays:
Errol Flynn- A question mark for a face written by Karen Lynne
The
infamous movie star Errol Flynn is in the last year of his life. He is
at his Jamaican home struggling with his Biographer. his young
girlfriend and his hated Mother. He does not seem to know the truth
about his life anymore and is consuming herculean amounts of alcohol
and morphine as he continues to play jokes and tests people and
sometimes he just loses the plot. He is forced to confront the past
self up there on the silver screen and questions everything to the
point of actually having question marks sewn into his clothes. The show
is a real roller coaster and has been road tested at the Aldwych
Theatre as a lunchtime production. I was a consultant for the
Australian Broadcasting Corp recent documentary.
We
are currently looking for funding to produce the play about ERROL
FLYNN. In the 100th year since he was born it would be appropriate to
see the show produced. It has a cast of five and our company, Edge of
the World Theatre Company, has previously toured nationally.
Missing Pieces written by Karen Lynne and Graham Howes
We are developing a new Dance Theatre piece about Disability It concerns the Hauxwell family in
Darlington. I am related to Hannah Hauxwell and this family connection
also endured great problems with humour and courage! It must be a
Hauxwell trait! We have based our story around their struggles in an
epic show that follows them from the 1920's to 1960 and through the Second
World War. Although the piece has disability at its core it also looks
at how an Working Class family, with a strongly principled Socialist Dad,
who aspired to a better life, managed in the face of appalling
obstacles to survive. We follow Harry Hauxwell and Violet and the
Hauxwell girls through their extraordinary story. We have appealed through the Northern Echo for people who may have had memories of that time - details here click
on the link below:
Hauxwell Missing Pieces play link
Missing Pieces website:
http://missngpiecestheatreshow.yolasite.com/
Karen
Lynne also has a new one Woman show about Hollywood available for booking
NOW - details below - it will appeal to all lovers of the golden age of
Hollywood movies. The play is modular so can either be enjoyed as a
Theatre evening of wicked anecdotes, poignant stories and songs about
Hollywood and it's cast of characters brought to vivid life by Karen
Lynne's excellent mimicry or a bespoke show can be created and
tailored for your special party, event, Round Table or Rotary evening,
Business or Corporate event! Why not make a bespoke version of the show
the centrepiece for your Charity event?
Hollywood Chronicles: Saints and Sinners
A Music/Theatre play
Devised and performed by
Karen Lynne
Directed by
Graham Howes
“Hollywood
Chronicles” is a wicked yet affectionate look through the lens at the
Golden age of Hollywood through Anecdote and Music stretching from the
Silent Films to the McCarthy era.
It features some of the
World’s most iconic film stars and their directors and writers all
recreated by Karen’s acting skill and excellent mimicry.
The show contains some adult themes and features live songs, both old and new, which illuminate the text.
Some of the stars featured include:
Greta
Garbo, Rudolph Valentino, John Gilbert, Gloria Swanson, Katherine
Hepburn and Spenser Tracy, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Mae West, Vivien
Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Olivia De Havilland, Errol Flynn, Leslie
Howard, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard and many more
“Today everyone is a star - they’re all billed as ‘starring’ or ‘also starring’. In my day, we earned that recognition.”
Bette Davis.
REVIEWS:
Some of the
people Karen has been in the past include: Gracie Fields, Catherine
Cookson, Vera Brittain, Helene Hanff and Phyliss Monkman.
“Karen Lynne is the equal or better of any of the singers on the circuit today”
PETER COOPER, MANAGER MOWLEM THEATRE, SWANAGE.
“Karen
Lynne looks like the young Gracie - she has the cheery chirpiness the
hoydenish manner, and the singing voice. The singing is a near -
perfect imitation of Fields’ mock -operatic style and of her artless
way with comic songs.”
THE GUARDIAN of SING AS WE GO - about Gracie Fields.
"Karen Lynne proves herself a star, her vivid portrayal of Catherine Cookson was something to behold."
Northern Echo
Sing as we go – with Graham Howes
This Play with Music toured for two years, it told the whole story of Gracie Fields for the first time based around new research and showed “Our Gracie” to be a considerable Woman. Gracie survived near rape as a kid and a sham marriage to become the biggest star of her time with a Worldwide career. She was so loved that when she had a touch and go operation for Cancer of the Womb they carpeted the street outside her Hospital window and inundated her with letters and flowers. Parliament was suspended to hear her on the Wireless when she emerged to thank the nation – the only time ever for a performer! How she then became vilified unfairly as a traitor and received Death threats was our story – how she then went on despite stories claiming that she was living the life of riley in the US – and as Arthur Askey said always went further and nearer the battlefield and entertained the troops for longer than any other star. The play was branded as controversial by people who hadn’t seen it for its “warts and all” portrayal earning us front pages in many UK papers and interviews on many TV and Radio programmes. I played Gracie from 9 to death in spaces ranging from small scale venues up to a tour of the Major regional theatres and a run at the Shaw Theatre, London.
Never Goodbye written by Karen Lynne
The story of Vera Brittain and her fiancé Roland Leighton is well known from Testament of Youth, Chronicle of Youth and Mark Bostridge’s Biography of Vera. This play however came about because the well known TV series was so long ago and I felt that I had a different story to tell. This was confirmed when I discovered an incredibly rare version of the tragic story lightly fictionalised by Marie Connor Leighton. It meant that combined with judicious original research that I was able to retell the story from both sides rather than just Vera’s perspective. The tragic losses that she suffered in the First World War and her experiences as a Nurse lead to these searing accounts of the War - rarely seen from a Woman’s point of view. It certainly formed her lifelong pacifism and sharpened her considerable intellect which had a huge effect on her daughter Shirley Williams. The play impressionistically takes us back to the days of Vera’s youth despite constant interruptions from George as she grapples to write her articles and remember her lost and loved friends and fiancé.
karenlynne@grahamhowes.plus.com
