Max Frisch
Frisch's dramas up until the early 1960s are divided by the literary commentator into three groups: (1) the early wartime pieces, (2) the poetic plays such as "" ("Don Juan oder Die Liebe zur Geometrie") and (3) the dialectical pieces. It is above all with this third group, notably the parable "The Fire Raisers" (1953), identified by Frisch as a "lesson without teaching", and with "Andorra" (1961) that Frisch enjoyed the most success. Indeed, these two are among the most successful German language plays. The writer nevertheless remained dissatisfied because he believed they had been widely misunderstood. In an interview with Heinz Ludwig Arnold Frisch vigorously rejected their allegorical approach: "I have established only that when I apply the parable format, I am obliged to deliver a message that I actually do not have". After the 1960s Frisch moved away from the theatre. His late biographical plays "" ("Biografie: Ein Spiel") and "" were apolitical but they failed to match the public success of his earlier dramas. It was only shortly before his death that Frisch returned to the stage with a more political message, with "Jonas and his Veteran", a stage version of his arresting dialogue "Switzerland without an army? A Palaver".
A Cup of Kindness (play)
Walls and his team had already enjoyed five substantial hits at the Aldwych, with "It Pays to Advertise" (1923), which had run for 598 performances; "A Cuckoo in the Nest" (1925, 376 performances); "Rookery Nook" (1926, 409 performances); "Thark" (1927, 401 performances); and "Plunder" (1928, 344 performances). All except the first of them were written by Ben Travers. The earlier Travers farces had depicted upper or upper-middle class characters and country houses. For "A Cup of Kindness", he turned his attention to middle class suburban life and petty snobbery. Each of the regular members of the team was generally given the same sort of part in the various new plays, but in this one Coleridge played a maid – a grumbling, kindly factotum – rather than her usual bossy authority-figures.Jim Finch, an engaging but dubious businessman, is trying to sell shares to Charlie Tutt, and when he refuses them, to Charlie's prospective father-in-law, Ernest Ramsbotham. Both Charlie and Ernest have bought shares from Finch before, and are not going to do so again, the first lot having lost all their supposed value.