CHARLES EDWARD POGUE
PLAYWRIGHT
THE PLAYS
Henrik Ibsen's
The Pretenders
Flexible set
8 men, 4 women
​​
"Full of humor, passion, and mystery, Pogue's intoxicating distillation restores Ibsen's neglected masterwork to its rightful place in the classical pantheon."
-F. Kathleen Foley, LA TIMES Theatre Critic
​
Henrik Ibsen's THE PRETENDERS was his first great success. Critic Kenneth Tynan acclaimed it also his “first great play.” Called his “most Shakespearean”, this historical chronicle about the quest for the Norwegian throne has rarely been performed in the United States or England.
Charles Edward Pogue's new lean, swift-paced version captures the poetic imagination and psychological intensity of this sweeping, yet intimate epic that explores the nature of power and personal ambition, the obligation of leadership and the search for national unity.
​
...a keen adapter of classics...[Pogue] has resurrected and retooled Ibsen's least produced and most epic work."
-The Lexington Herald-Leader
Whodunnit, Darling?
One set
5 men, 2 women
​​
“...a delightful variant on the Nick and Nora Charles ‘Thin Man’ series.”
-The Germantown News
​
Concocted by Hollywood talents Charles Edward Pogue and Larry Drake (two-time Emmy winner from LA LAW), with lots of cocktails and clever conversation over corpses. Set in the thirties, the era of the sophisticated sleuth.
​
“It’s a hit mystery! Has everything going for it...”
-The Marketplace
​
“...bright, fast-paced, eminently entertaining...”
-Potomac News
​
Sherlock Holmes
and the Curse of the Ebony Ape
Two interior sets
8 men, 4 women (doubling possible)
​
“It’s a love letter for the genre, and the prose is rich.”
-The Lexington Herald-Leader
​
A Sherlock Holmes tale of Victorian horror and bizarre mystery fraught with forbidding curses, weird murders, and an unusual array of eccentric and colourful suspects. Steeped in Holmes mythology and authorized by the Conan Doyle Estate.
“...done with panache...[Pogue’s] characterizations of Holmes and Dr. Watson...and his creation of Victorian parlor parlance are masterfully done.”
-The Lexington Herald-Leader
Moliere's
Tartuffe
One set
7 men, 4 women
​​
“How exceptionally well this message resonates with contemporary audiences is thanks primarily to the efforts of Mr. Pogue. Tartuffe is excellent...also it’s hilarious.”
-Edge, San Francisco
​
A free but faithful adaptation of Moliere’s classic comedy Tartuffe.
​
“...a dense theatrical outpouring that can go from archly humorous delicacy to rough-and-tumble slapstick in a second.”
-The Berkeley Daily Planet
Shadow King
One set
10 men, 5 women (doubling possible)
​
"Magnificent Stuff!"
-F. Kathleen Foley, LA TIMES Theatre Critic
​
Malignant or Maligned? The “alternative facts” version of Tudor History. This bold, language-rich retelling isn’t your Shakespeare’s Richard III.
Geroges Feydeau's
A Flea in Her Ear
Two sets
9 men, 5 women
​
"...stylish, crisply articulated, and exuberantly naughty, even bawdy at times, and filled with a rich abundance of physical comedy..."
-The Greenville News
​
This "robust" new version of Geroges Feydeau's classic French farce revels in "loads of witty wordplay" and wild door slamming dashing-about, rambunctious hilarity.
​
"Pogue's translation is eloquent without sounding dated..."
-The Greenville News.
Sherlock Holmes
and Blackmail in Blood
Flexible set
5 men, 5 women
​
"A feast for actors!”
-F. Kathleen Foley, LA TIMES Theatre Critic
​
When a crowned head of Europe clashes with the queen of the English stage, Sherlock Holmes becomes enmeshed in a web of intrigue and blackmail through which runs the scarlet thread of murder. Within the dark knot of deceit, Holmes must match wits with a suspicious tangle of suspects - including an imposing array of women who force him to confront his well-known wariness of the so-called gentler sex. With the staunch Dr. Watson by his side, Holmes summons all his powers of deduction to ferret out who are the play-actors, the predators, and the pawns and unravel the mystery.
​