About the Play:

I'm Really Here has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female/Male Scenes.

War and Four Other Plays contains a collection of five one-act plays by Jean-Claude van Itallie, seminal off-Broadway playwright, famed for his landmark triptych of counter-culture plays, America Hurrah.

War: Two actors, one young, one old, and a bizarre lady, engage in a series of fantasy-like improvisations, articulating the relentless war that humankind is doomed to wage against harsh reality and the inexorable passage of time. (Premiered in 1963 at Van Dam Theater and re-mounted in 1964 at the now legendary Caffe Cino in New York City; Cast: 1 female, 2 male)

Where Is De Queen?: A brilliant, haunting, and strikingly imaginative play, which illuminates the shadowy reaches of a man's dream – taking place in that brief but timeless moment between sleep and sudden wakefulness. (Premiered in 1966 at the famed  LaMama ETC in New York City; Cast: 4 female, 5 male)

Almost Like Being: A delightfully acerbic spoof of the unreal world of big screen movie personalities and the American custom of accepting any code of behaviour, as long as it is dedicated to the making of a buck. (Premiered in 1964 at Van Dam Theater in New York City; Cast: 2 female, 3 male)

The Hunter And The Bird: Humorous, fantastic, and yet telling in its perceptions, this brief but arresting exercise in absurdist style delights and intrigues both by what is said and what is left unsaid. (Premiered in 1964 at Sheridan Square Playhouse in New York City; Cast: 1 female, 1 male)

I'm Really Here: Tackles the wide-eyed innocence of those who believe that they will be loved, just because they are American. An innocent American girl in Paris, a dashing Italian guide, and romance – all handled with a marvellously stylized tongue-in-cheek parody of the American-in-Paris movies, which treats the play as if it were a movie being filmed. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops. (Premiered in 1964 at Van Dam Theater in New York City; Cast: 1 female, 1 male)

About the Playwright:

Jean-Claude van Itallie (1936-2021) was one of the most distinguished playwrights of the American avant-garde. Born in Brussels, Belgium, he was three when his family fled the Holocaust to America as refugees in 1940. He grew up on suburban Long Island, graduated Harvard in 1958, and in the 1960s was a seminal force in the explosive New York Off-Broadway theatre. He may be best-known for America Hurrah (his landmark counter-culture trilogy comprised of Interview, TV and Motel), The Serpent, Tibetan Book of the Dead, and his classic translations of Chekhov's major plays, which are prized by directors and actors for their clarity and actability, are possibly the most performed Chekhov versions on the American stage.