cover photo by Roman Duszek
this collection contains three full-length plays:
WEST MEMPHIS MOJO
SQUATS
DARK RIVER
and a one-act:
OLD SOLDIERS
WEST MEMPHIS MOJO:
“WEST MEMPHIS MOJO...written
with skill and wit by Martin Jones, is set in a barbershop in West Memphis,
Arkansas, in November, 1955, when rock and roll was starting to take off—when,
that is, white record companies and other entrepreneurs were making forays into
rhythm and blues....
The story is a simple one, though none the less powerful for
that.... What matters most of all, of course, is the absolute authenticity of
character and emotion. Mr Jones is a very good writer....”
Edith Oliver, The New Yorker
SQUATS:
“...SQUATS portrays what it is to be young and human in a world
defined by poverty, homelessness, mental illness, prostitution, domestic abuse,
arson, alcoholism, suicide, teen-age pregnancy and AIDS.
But SQUATS is neither preachy nor overdone. It doesn’t take on a
shopping list of societal ills. Rather, they are the landscape for the
characters. Problems intertwine and contribute to each other. Though this
landscape is bleak, the plot and the quirky characters are not....
...It is written with insight and compassion.”
Barbara Bartels, The Times Record
DARK RIVER:
“...DARK RIVER concerns a failing family business that has
inadvertently poisoned the waters...
...DARK RIVER is an environmental Crime and Punishment....
Yet DARK RIVER transcends mere allegory. Jones uses pollution as a
metaphor for the sins of the fathers....”
W D Cutlip, Casco Bay Weekly
PLAYS BY MARTIN JONES
I S B N 0-88145-219-X $16.95