Steve Dimmer

If you are interested in purchasing or performing one of Steve's plays, you can contact him here: inflatabletheatre@ntlworld.com

1M/2F

One Act/Short/Black Comedy

Peggy and Pat have been partners for many years. Peggy's decline in health means she has had to enter a care home. Not only does she have many physical health problems but her personality fluctuates between moments of lucidity and confusion, not helped by the fact that her attitude makes her play games with everyone she encounters. 

Late one morning Pat visits her and experiences this until her tolerance reaches breaking point.  The play examines the relationship between the two women, exploring themes of love, loyalty and the situations the elderly have to endure as they reach the end of their life.

Running Time: 30 minutes

1F

One Act Monologue

Sitting in a small room in limbo, waiting for her husband to join her before entering the pearly gates, Margaret Rutherford, one of the most beloved and eccentric actresses of all time, reflects on her life, her career, her relationships with some of the towering giants of British theatre and her own struggles to reach the top of her profession. 

Both funny and poignant, the play reveals secrets about Dame Margaret's life that will guarantee surprises for all her admirers

The play is not a ‘talking head’. Movement, props, sound and lighting cues are all required and make this play a kinetic vital piece of theatre. It offers a true challenge for any dedicated company. Combined with any other play in the FUNNY FACES series, it makes for a brilliant full evening of theatre

‘An amazing Catherine-wheel of a play’ - Northampton Chronicle & Echo

Running Time: 1 hour.

1M

Comedy Drama/One Act Monologue

Holed up in his dressing room at The Sunderland Empire, just before what will be his final performance, that lovable rogue Sid James reflects on his life, his career, his many affairs and his addictions to booze, horses, dogs and money, all the while trying to avoid the painful memories of the lost love of his life Barbara Windsor. 

Sid will make you laugh, think and have sympathy for this great flawed talent who is now remembered as simply a man who made us all laugh.

The play is not a ‘talking head’. Movement, props, sound and lighting cues are all required and make this play a kinetic vital piece of theatre. It offers a true challenge for any dedicated company.

‘Painfully sad yet hilariously funny, WOT SID DID was a perfect, thought-provoking piece of theatre’ -

Bridgnorth Journal

Running Time: 1 hour

1F  

Comedy Drama/One Act Monologue

Joan Sims was looked upon as a constantly happy actress, yet her life was one of highs and lows as she sought true love and tried to find a face to meet her growing fame. 

The show explores, among other things, her career, her friendships with Kenneth Williams and other Carry On legends, her difficult relationship with her doting parents and her romances that never quite came to fruition. 

PUT ON A HAPPY FACE is a play about an actress who is now considered a comedienne and yet was much much more.

The play is not a ‘talking head’. Movement, props, sound and lighting cues are all required and make this play a kinetic vital piece of theatre. It offers a true challenge for any dedicated company.

‘Absolutely wonderful. A funny yet poignant tour-de-force that turns on a sixpence’ - THE QUAY THEATRE, SUDBURY

RUNNING TIME 1 HOUR

1F

Comedy Drama/One Act Monologue

Living in her little flat, Irene Handl looks back on her life. Born of Austrian and French parents, Irene had a privileged childhood before her mothers death. 

Her acting career did not begin until she was 40 and her immensely successful life as a novelist began when she was 64. 

Irene worked with all of the great screen actors of the day, having especially close friendships with Peter Sellers and Noel Coward. Irene had a constant optimism which ripples through this play about this much admired yet private actress.

The play is not a ‘talking head’. Movement, props, sound and lighting cues are all required and make this play a kinetic vital piece of theatre. It offers a true challenge for any dedicated company.

RUNNING TIME; 1 HOUR

1M

Comedy Drama/One Act Monologue

Dad’s Army star, John Le Mesurier reminisces about his life, his work, his love of Hattie Jacques and the way he lost her as well as his resilience and decency when his third wife began an affair with best friend Tony Hancock.

Tinged with irrepressible humour, wit and warmth, this gentle man (and gentleman) has a life story that is as fascinating as it is unique.

The play is not a ‘talking head’. Movement, props, sound and lighting cues are all required and make this play a kinetic vital piece of theatre. It offers a true challenge for any dedicated company.

‘A super play. I felt like I was having a real conversation with this lovely man. Very funny and often tinged with sadness… 5/5’ - Kettering Evening Telegraph

1M

Comedy Drama/One Act Monologue

Set on a psychiatric ward, this is a play about an undisputed genius of comedy. From The Goon Show to his war memoirs and all points in between, Spike Milligan reflects on his achievements and the price he paid for them. 

Packed with Milligan’s irrepressible humour and melancholy, Spike's journey to become a national institution is chronicled with jokes, depression and a language that reflects his army background.

The play is not a ‘talking head’. Movement, props, sound and lighting cues are all required and make this play a kinetic vital piece of theatre. It offers a true challenge for any dedicated company.

1M/1F

Full Length/Drama

The play begins in 1954 with the main action taking place in Wally’s living room. 

Wally Stott is a successful band leader working in radio and has recently been appointed Shirley Bassey’s musical director. He has a solid marriage to Christine and they love each other. 

During the first act, Christine has noticed some puzzling things. Her stockings kept disappearing, there was lipstick on cups that were not her shade, odd little incidents. For her birthday, Wally gives her a very expensive platinum and diamond bracelet in addition to a blue cocktail dress. She’d found a version of this before her birthday and confessed this to Wally as it was 3 sizes too big. 

When she finds ladies underwear hidden in the house, she concludes that Wally is having an affair and leaves him. A few days later, when she has calmed down, she returns to the flat and Wally confesses that the underwear is his, he identifies as a woman and has harbored this secret for all of his life. Christine is disgusted and leaves. 

When next they meet, Wally’s explanation of his situation finally persuades Christine that he is sincere and although she still has doubts, she proposes the two of them seek expert medical help. 

They head for Europe and Act 2 explores the very extreme choices Christine and Wally (who is now called Angela Morley) have to make. The play ends in a cautiously optimistic way as the couple realise the love they have for each other goes deeper than the labels of ‘man’ and ‘woman’

This play was shortlisted for The Bread & Roses Play Award 2019. Their feedback included 

"….our readers agreed that this was a very strong piece of writing with well-developed characters, journeys and relationships. The world and era that the play is set in is well established as well as clearly and evenly created for the reader / eventual viewer.

A two-hander is always a challenging element to pull off in a play but is very

successfully done in this case with sparkly dialogue and good pacing, keeping the audience engaged and the story moving forward. It also captured well the language and tone of the time"

Running Time: 2 hours (excluding interval)

2M/2F

Full Length/Black Comedy

After the break-up of her marriage Christine has been obliged to return home to live with her mother, Mon. Mon is a manipulative woman who has a very low opinion of her daughter. Mon is also a schemer, always vying to be in control. Her manipulative tactics belittle Christine, making her anger grow and grow. 

Christine feels she has been subservient to Mon all her life and is finally refusing to accept this treatment. Living with them is their Ukrainian lodger, Gregor.

Attempting to rebuild her life, Christine tries internet dating. She meets Paul who, despite her initial reluctance, Mon also warms to. 

On Christmas Night a chance remark by Mon throws Paul and Christine's budding relationship into question. Paul leaves and Christine, unable to control her temper any longer, hits her mother.

The next day Mon makes light of her injury. Christine’s mind-set has changed and she becomes as devious as her mother. Although there is no more physical violence, Christine begins manipulating Mon, undermining her, confusing her, making her doubt herself and even drugging her into submission. Gregor at last witnesses this treatment and tries to put an end to it but when he exposes Christine, Mon refuses to believe his accusations and at last, probably for the very first time, sides with her daughter. This action gives the women a connection and a chance for resolution and perhaps forgiveness.

The play deals with the little-explored issue of elder abuse and asks how it can happen that parental/child love can turn over time into hate and even worse. It explores the debts some parents feel their children owe them and how that debt is never considered repaid.

PLEASE AND THANKYOUS also examines the unassailable self-importance that people develop when their actions aren’t challenged.

The play is written with a light touch and has many comic moments. It is deliberately structured to wrong-foot the audience into thinking it is a frothy piece before its real themes become apparent.

It also explores the nature of forgiveness, whether it is possible to move on from other people’s casual cruelty. But ultimately the play doesn’t answer this question.

This play was shortlisted for The Radius Playwriting Award.

Running Time: 2 hours (excluding interval)