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Trevor Sellers, Rebecca Thornhill and Philippe de Grossouvre
'Roger interviews Pierre' - Trevor Sellers and Philippe de Grossouvre
' Roger picks his moment to propose' - Trevor Sellers and Rebecca Thornhill
Theatre TV Radio
Playing Away 2005 Sadler's Wells
Skool for cats 2005 Polka Theatre
Marry Me, You Idiot 2002 Jermyn Street Theatre
The Great Lucifer 1998 Old Fire Station, Oxford
Contact Doodah Theatre
C P Sykes is also a much published poet and playwright who was once sacked from a BBC TV series for writing a script that was ‘too funny.' It was the best thing that could have happened to him because he went off and wrote the 'heart-warming' comedy; 'Marry Me, You Idiot’ which opened in 2002 starring Lynda Bellingham. He followed it up with ‘Playing Away' which premiered in London to great notices in 2005
PLAYING AWAY 2005
Elisabeth is at the centre of a love triangle. She has one lover in London, Roger Rodgers, and another life in Paris with paramour Pierre. But can she carry on having her gateau and eating it?
A comedy about men, women friendship and the love/hate relationship between the English and the French
Performed at the Lilian Baylis Theatre, Sadler's Wells Roseberry Avenue, Islington London EC1 February 15th -March 5th 2005
| Cast | |
| ELISABETH DOUBLEDAY | Rebecca Thornhill |
| ROGER RODGERS | Trevor Sellers |
| PIERRE LAPIN | Philippe de Grossouvre |
| Producer | Siobhan Boyer |
| Director | Thierry Harcourt |
| Designer | Gemma Fripp |
| Lighting Design | Simon Macer-Wright |
| Sound Design | Lee Quinn |
Trevor Sellers, Rebecca Thornhill and Philippe de Grossouvre
'Roger interviews Pierre' - Trevor Sellers and Philippe de Grossouvre
' Roger picks his moment to propose' - Trevor Sellers and Rebecca Thornhill
Reviews
Chris Sykes's elegant exploration of national stereotypes doesn't take itself too seriously. Berets vs bowler hats, bouillabaisse vs spotted dick, 'La Vie en Rose' vs 'Old Macdonald' (don't ask, it's very funny) - no cultural cliché escapes inspection. The writing is crisp with a subtle use of rhyme and an exuberant delight in formal symmetries. The small cast certainly have fun with the playwright's airy pattern-making - it's also light that even the props, suspended from the ceiling, appear to float.
Robert Shaw Time Out
Elegantly directed.Delightfully written.
The Stage
Well-crafted by playwright Chris Sykes, Playing Away is a highly sophisticated comedy of manners. At the end of the day this is adult entertainment and by adult I mean written for grown-ups rather than soft-pornographic.
Peter Simpson What's On in London
Script
The play is published by Josef Weinberger Plays Ltd., London
ISBN 0 85676 285 7
Copies can be purchased from bookshops or direct from the publisher - josef weinberger
See also www.filmrights.ltd.uk
Review from Amateur Stage July 2006
...a sparkling comedy about men, women, friendship, and the love/hate relationship between the English and the French.
The three characters are well defined in the script. The play has three fairly flexible settings: Libby & Roger's home in London; Pierre's bar "Les Trois Amoreaux" in Paris; Elizabeth's Office - London and Paris, and, wait for it - Eurostar - a train seat that transforms into a Car with two steering wheels, one left hand drive in London, one right hand drive in Paris and the final set is a Bed, half in Paris and half in London.
Oh, indeed it could be technically quite challenging, but I suspect that it is a play that could be a lot of fun for three actors in the thirty something age group.
SKOOL FOR CATS
Where cats go to learn to control their humans. Rehearsed reading at Polka Children's Theatre, Wimbledon 2005.
MARRY ME, YOU IDIOT!
A story of obsession, jealousy, paranoia, betrayal and deceit. In other words, marriage.
Adapted and directed by Chris Sykes from Molière's The School For Wives.
Performed at Jermyn Street Theatre, 16b Jermyn Street, London, SW1 23 April to 25 May 2002
| Cast | |
| ELINOR WAUGH | LYNDA BELLINGHAM ("All Creatures Great and Small", "At Home With the Braithwaites") |
| CARADOC | David McAlister |
| APRIL | Jacki Piper |
| GEORGE | Patrick Monckton |
| ANDREW | Samuel Board |
| HENRY | Claire Andreadis |
| Producers | Richard Jackson and Sally Vaughan |
| Director | Chris Sykes |
| Set Designer | Simon Scullion |
| Lighting Designer | Adam Crossthwaite |
A modern role reversing adaptation in which Elinor Waugh is a New York feminist bringing up a boy to be a new man. Just as Molière satirised his time, "Marry Me, You Idiot!" is a perfect satire of today. MARRY ME, YOU IDIOT! shows the sex war can be fun. It is Nuture v. Nature with a real twist.
Reviews
'Sykes's enjoyable romp turns Molière on its head - the roles maybe reversed but the conflict remains in this perennial battle of the sexes.'
Sarah Willcocks The Stage
'Heart warming . Sykes deviates from the original to offer a kinder treatment of age thwarting youthful passions in this fresh six hander that shows we're all love's idiots.'
Sarah Adams Time Out
THE GREAT LUCIFER
The last three months of Walter Ralegh's life as he struggles against fate and his enemies
Performed at The Old Fire Station, Oxford June - July 1998
| Cast | |
| Robert CECIL | Michael Sheldon |
| BESS Ralegh | Jane Leonard |
| Sir Walter RALEGH | Andrew MacDonald |
| Sir Lewis STUKELEY | Peter Hamilton Dyer |
| Robert CARR | Colin McAllister |
| Producer | Siobhan Boyer |
| Directed | Chris Sykes |
| Designer | Ralph Lillford, ARCA |
| Choreographer | Cecilia McFarlane |
Reviews
"Racy, witty and compelling. An excellent play."
The Oxford Times
"Brilliant, vivid and real, the flowing dialogue brings the era alive."
Fox FM
"A study in betrayal. Carries historical and philosophical arguments to mull over."
London Theatreviews
Other Theatre work
- The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival/Vodafone new writing event 2005 - 'Mr & Mrs M' - a 30 minute play in a reading by Sian Philips and Trevor Sellers, directed by Thierry Harcourt at the Oxford Literary Festival
- The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival/Vodafone new writing event 2004 - directed Samantha Bond and a company of five actors in a rehearsed reading of two new plays for the stage by Simon Brett and HRF Keating
- The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival/Vodafone new writing event 2003 - "3 Characters in Search of a Mobile Phone" directed Harriet Walter and a company of six actors in a rehearsed reading of four new plays for the stage by the finalists
- 2001 'Marry Me, You Idiot' - Rehearsed reading at The Criterion Theatre, directed by Anthony Marriot
- 1995 'The Great Lucifer' - Theatre Agog production at the Old Fire Station Oxford
- 1995 'The Great Lucifer' - rehearsed reading at The Oxford Playhouse by the Oxfordshire Touring Theatre directed by Daniel Buckroyd
Television
- 1990 - 'The Specials' - dramatisation work for a 12 part BBC TV drama comedy series about part-time police. Sacked for writing a script that was "too funny"
- June 1990 Frankie's Lot' - 2 parts commissioned for a drama comedy 'BBC TV
- 1988 'The Gentle Sex' - short-listed for the BBC Radio Times Drama Awards
Radio
1998 Sport in Books, 6 part series for BBC Radio 4, writer/presenter
A 'fine literate series'
Gillian Reynolds in the Independent
'erudite'
Frank Keating in the Guardian
- 1997-8 BBC Radio Gloucester writer/presenter
- 1997-8 BBC Radio Thames Valley writer/presenter
- 1997 'Ways To Write' Series of 5 programmes on writing for BBC Radio Thames Valley
- 1995-1996 BBC Radio Oxford writer/presenter
- 1989-2002 Poetry Readings of own work in public and on radio throughout
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