About the Play:

Thriller of the Year is a full-length drama by Glyn Jones. The tale of a crime novelist who begins to worry when scenes in her recent murder mystery start to become real experiences. Is it all co-incidence or is there a plot afoot? One notable feature of this play is its all female cast.

Thriller of the Year is about Gillian Howard, a successful crime novelist. She returns late at night after having received the award for the 'Thriller of the Year', to find a copy of her latest award winning book, 'The Lady is Dead', has been delivered with no note and no indication as to who it is from. As the evening unfolds, when a series of unfortunate accidents occur, she soon finds out why: someone is trying to kill her using methods from her own book. As a number of visitors to her home fall under suspicion, Gillian faces a race against time to discover the identity of her would-be murderer before it is too late. Using her novel to stay one step ahead; she finally comes face to face with the murderer. In the last chapter of her book how did her heroine die? And will Gillian suffer the same fate!

Thriller of the Year premiered int 1967 at the Golders Green Hippodrome in North London. Since then the play has been produced widely at community theatres.

Cast: 5 women

About the Playwright:

Glyn Idris Jones (1931-2014) was a South African born actor, playwright, novelist, director, and teacher. Since arriving in England in 1953, he appeared regularly on stage, television, film and radio. In the US, he taught at James Madison University in Virginia and Furman University in South Carolina. He also wrote plays, novels and short stories, the screenplay for the Oscar-nominated documentary A King's Story, about Edward VIII’s abdication of the English throne, and achieved the unusual feat of writing one early episode of Doctor Who and appearing in another.