Modern and contemporary plays / drama

Book SynopsisJust married. Bored already. Hedda longs to be free.This vital new version by Patrick Marber (Closer, Three Days in the Country) opened at the National Theatre, London, in December 2016.''A bold, clear, finally harrowing account of the play.'' DAILY TELEGRAPH''Forces us to see Ibsen's masterpiece with fresh eyes.'' GUARDIAN

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Book SynopsisThe third full-length collection from poet Stevie Edwards, Quiet Armor examines how capitalism and patriarchy impact romantic relationships and, more broadly, intimacy.Trade ReviewThe poems in Quiet Armor explore the shadows and nuances of one woman teetering between conventional, gendered expectations and witch/martyr/saint/goddess. These poems unfold with improvisational energy, creating an ongoing sense of a life lived, of time passing, of wisdom accrued through experience. It is difficult to write of life’s reparations, especially where love is concerned, without sentimentality—here, Edwards succeeds, and how: when we reach the end of the last poem, we feel we know the collection’s speaker intimately, and we feel—some of us, anyway—known." - Diane Suess, author of frank: sonnetsTable of Contents Parthenogenesis Window Shopping Easy as Pie Ladylike Nobody Is Lost What Is Left to Say About the Body Composed Portrait of My Mother, Age 56 Spell for Undoing a Life Sentence Essay on Guns Verity Clytemnestra, Daughter of Leda, Beholds a Swan Dream without Men Red Spell Mouthy Self-Portrait as Medusa Calling Her Names Elegy for Lavinia Five Days Before the Election Rumor Has It Drunk Bitch Dreams of a Luminous Stream Babylove Harm’s Way Drunk Bitch Wants to Fuck Like a Man After the Election I Woke Up What I Left Learning to Leave a Bad Thing Alone Drunk Bitch Tries Her Hand at Recovery Medusa with the Head of Harvey Weinstein The Astonishing A Few More Lines on Lavinia Some Things We Carried Medusa as Shield Dread Myth Some Lines in which I Want to Go On Aubade with the Longest Eyelashes On Progeny Some Threads from a Depression Ode to Chill Pills Self-Portrait as Too Much On Want All the Heavens Were a Bell Another Poem About Pain Dear Extraterrestrials Ode to Joy Entreaty Epithalamion Tapping Therapy Notes Acknowledgments Thank You

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Book SynopsisA powerful debut collection exploring one family's pursuit of the American Dream. Sebastian Paramo renders a semi-autobiographical collection, utilizing self-portraiture and memory to uncover how his Texan, working-class, Mexican American identity shapes his relationship to his stepbrother and to his family's burning desire to become American.Trade ReviewPortrait of Us Burning wrestles with the deep, unknowable layers of familial history and the myriad possibilities of narrative a son imagines to better know from whom and from where he comes. For those interested in narratives of immigrant parents and experiences of first-generation children, this collection is lush with material. Traveling between geographical borderlands (crossing between Mexico and the United States) and the borderlands of memory (the synapses of memory that result from intergenerational trauma), these well-wrought and complex poems serve as exploration of lineage and testament to love of family even under the most difficult of circumstances." - Ángel GarcÍa, author of Teeth Never SleepTable of Contents Table of Contents Where Your Father Was I. Portrait of Us Portrait of My Father as a Failed Romantic Diego Rivera, the Flower Carrier, 1935 Self-Portrait as My Father, the Roofer Where Your Mother Was Portrait of a Firebird Self-Portrait of the First aBorn's Questions Footage of Us Playing Watching The Lion King with My Father Hibiscus Dear Father Self-Portrait as Half-Sibling Diptych: Days of the Latch-Key Siblings Portrait of Rivalry Portrait of a Reunion Self-Portrait While Holding My Mother’s Hand The Laundromat Saint Self-Portrait as My Mother’s Blood Portrait of What He Didn’t Want Unfaithful Father, Disobedient Son When Father Sings Portrait of a Boy Returning to Dirt Stepping Through a Door The Home Slaughter Self-Portrait with Thunder & Exhaustion, or, Self-Portrait as My Father Crossing Your Portrait in Smoke Portrait of Family I Footage of Me Tomorrow Not Pictured: II. Burning Portrait of the Unsaid Portrait of Vows Self-Portrait Looking Backwards My Mother’s Blessing Portrait of My Parents’ Desire Portrait of My Mother, as the Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Myself, Diego, and SeÑor Xolotl After El Hombre by Rufino Tamayo Big Tex Is on Fire! Lost Footage of Us Playing Studying Abroad in Mexico, Looking Up at Man of Fire by Jose Clemente Orozco Footage of My Father Telling a Story about Dirt When Father & I Speak Father’s Advice Footage from the Field Sobbing in a U-Haul Diptych: Dreams on Fire My Father Never Speaks about His Father Blood & Breath Footage of Me Yesterday Portrait of Us Burning Everything Is on Fire When My Mother’s Portrait Sings Portrait of Family as a Bag of Worms Portrait of Family II Cajeta Still Life with Salt on Fruit Watching the End of the Film Paris, Texas Forgive Me, Brother Distant Father The Ownership of the Night Acknowledgments

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Book SynopsisSpring Awakening is set in a small German town in the 1890s, where adolescent boys and girls grope their way towards knowledge and maturity against the blocks set up by parents and teachers in the name of morality. Melchior, fearless in his pursuit of the truth, manages to retain his freedom of spirit, but his friends are not so lucky or strong.Wedekind's controversial play occupies a special place in modern theatrical history as a key work of the naturalist school and the principal precursor of German Expressionism.Trade ReviewThe best and most enduring German play of its era. * Jonathan Franzen *

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Book SynopsisOne of the first Russian writers to make a name for herself on the Internet, Linor Goralik writes conversational short works that conjure the absurd, reflecting post-Soviet life and daily universals. Her mastery of the minimal is on full display in this collection of poems, stories, comics, a play, and an interview, translated for the first time.Trade ReviewFound Life will richly reward readers interested in short-form fiction and in the shifting landscape of contemporary Russian literature more generally, not to mention daily life in today’s Russia. -- James H. McGavran III * Translation and Literature *By turns entertaining, quixotic and unnerving, this sampling of the prolific writer’s many voices and styles is something you will want to leave lying around to dip into when you have a spare moment, or just before nodding off to bed, to seed your dreamscape. * Russian Life *The most engaging pieces, despite their brevity, require concentration, but whatever your attention span, you'll be rewarded by miniatures such as this: 'The signature taste of a gun barrel.' -- Anna Aslanyan * Times Literary Supplement *A welcome collection from a writer worth hearing more from—so translators get busy. * Kirkus Reviews *Linor Goralik is a Renaissance woman of our own day, writing (and drawing!) in a wide range of genres, all with sharp intelligence. Her writing is fresh and thought-provoking, with both profound insight and deadpan humor. The numerous translators allow exploration of different aspects of Goralik’s voice, so that this selection of work offers the reader a wonderful variety and versatility. A beautiful and important book! -- Sibelan Forrester, Swarthmore CollegeLinor Goralik has a perfect ear for the wander and wonder of ordinary speech, for the way the weirdness of human language conveys the weirdness of human experience. In turn hilarious and heart-rending, her fictions and poems bristle with epiphanies, with jolts of comprehension and, just as commonly, of vertiginous incomprehension. A literary descendant of Daniil Kharms, the conceptualists, and Chekhov, this transnational writer-ventriloquist describes a world of multiple realities, including that of the supernatural, but she is also painstakingly precise in her depictions of male and female behavior in post-Soviet space. The editors and translators are to be praised for, among many other things, finding the idiomatic and colloquial American English to convincingly express the alive Russian of the original. -- Eugene Ostashevsky, author of The Pirate Who Does Not Know the Value of PiGoralik remains a key figure in post-Soviet literature and culture due to her omnivorous referentiality and intertextuality, her deployment of detail, her absurdist, jarring wit, and her ability to construct tiny, perfect vignettes out of everyday scraps of language . . . Found Life is a strong introduction to a writer representing an important thread of contemporary Russophone literature and culture. -- Anne O. Fisher * The Russian Review *Table of ContentsIntroductionPart I: PoetryPart II: ComicsPart III: TheaterPart IV: Short ProseExcerpts from Biblical ZooFound LifeIn Short: Ninety-One Rather Short StoriesSomething Like That (A War Story)The Blind EyePart V: Longer ProseAgatha Goes HomeValerii: A Short NovelPart VI: “Everyone Reads the Text That’s in Their Own Head”

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Book SynopsisOne of the first Russian writers to make a name for herself on the Internet, Linor Goralik writes conversational short works that conjure the absurd, reflecting post-Soviet life and daily universals. Her mastery of the minimal is on full display in this collection of poems, stories, comics, a play, and an interview, translated for the first time.Trade ReviewFound Life will richly reward readers interested in short-form fiction and in the shifting landscape of contemporary Russian literature more generally, not to mention daily life in today’s Russia. -- James H. McGavran III * Translation and Literature *By turns entertaining, quixotic and unnerving, this sampling of the prolific writer’s many voices and styles is something you will want to leave lying around to dip into when you have a spare moment, or just before nodding off to bed, to seed your dreamscape. * Russian Life *The most engaging pieces, despite their brevity, require concentration, but whatever your attention span, you'll be rewarded by miniatures such as this: 'The signature taste of a gun barrel.' -- Anna Aslanyan * Times Literary Supplement *A welcome collection from a writer worth hearing more from—so translators get busy. * Kirkus Reviews *Linor Goralik is a Renaissance woman of our own day, writing (and drawing!) in a wide range of genres, all with sharp intelligence. Her writing is fresh and thought-provoking, with both profound insight and deadpan humor. The numerous translators allow exploration of different aspects of Goralik’s voice, so that this selection of work offers the reader a wonderful variety and versatility. A beautiful and important book! -- Sibelan Forrester, Swarthmore CollegeLinor Goralik has a perfect ear for the wander and wonder of ordinary speech, for the way the weirdness of human language conveys the weirdness of human experience. In turn hilarious and heart-rending, her fictions and poems bristle with epiphanies, with jolts of comprehension and, just as commonly, of vertiginous incomprehension. A literary descendant of Daniil Kharms, the conceptualists, and Chekhov, this transnational writer-ventriloquist describes a world of multiple realities, including that of the supernatural, but she is also painstakingly precise in her depictions of male and female behavior in post-Soviet space. The editors and translators are to be praised for, among many other things, finding the idiomatic and colloquial American English to convincingly express the alive Russian of the original. -- Eugene Ostashevsky, author of The Pirate Who Does Not Know the Value of PiGoralik remains a key figure in post-Soviet literature and culture due to her omnivorous referentiality and intertextuality, her deployment of detail, her absurdist, jarring wit, and her ability to construct tiny, perfect vignettes out of everyday scraps of language . . . Found Life is a strong introduction to a writer representing an important thread of contemporary Russophone literature and culture. -- Anne O. Fisher * The Russian Review *Table of ContentsIntroductionPart I: PoetryPart II: ComicsPart III: TheaterPart IV: Short ProseExcerpts from Biblical ZooFound LifeIn Short: Ninety-One Rather Short StoriesSomething Like That (A War Story)The Blind EyePart V: Longer ProseAgatha Goes HomeValerii: A Short NovelPart VI: “Everyone Reads the Text That’s in Their Own Head”

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Book SynopsisSam Shepard has been described by the New Yorker as ''one of the most original, prolific and gifted dramatists at work today''. Here are seven of his finest plays, including True West and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Buried Child. Also included are Curse of the Starving Class, The Tooth of Crime, La Turista, Tongues and Savage/Love.The volume is introduced by Richard Gilman, who provides a fascinating profile of the author and places the plays in the context of contemporary American drama.

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Book SynopsisDon''t be miserable, you wonderful woman; be a mermaid. There''s the ocean; throw yourself in. Fall in love with some poor mortal and drag him down with you. Astonish us! On an isolated country estate, Sonia and her Uncle Vanya are committed to a life of ceaseless toil. But when the ageing invalid Serebriakov and his bewilderingly beautiful young wife take up residence, a yearning envelops the household and disturbs the accustomed tedium. Friend and confidant Astrov grows lovelorn, Sonia''s heart breaks and even Vanya falls under the spell. And so they fight, bond, belittle, lament, make peace and contemplate the odd murder.Featuring sex, comedy and unbearable sadness in nineteenth-century Russia, this version of Anton Chekhov''s Uncle Vanya was written and directed by Terry Johnson and opened at Hampstead Theatre, London, in November 2018. And having weathered the storm, what''s left? My feelings for you; a few droplets on a window pane, cat

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Book SynopsisIn this radical new version of Peer Gynt, David Hare kidnaps Henrik Ibsen's most famous hero and runs away with him into the twenty-first century.Stripped of fretwork and greenery, the play is projected into a freewheeling modern world of music, dance, poetry, weddings, coronations, trolls and two-headed children as Peter steals a bride and embarks on an extraordinary lifetime's journey before returning home, finally, to Scotland.David Hare's Peter Gynt posits the same fundamental question the great Norwegian asked in 1867: does a belief in individualism help or hinder us in trying to live purposefully in the present day?The play opens at the National Theatre in July 2019 and transfers to the Festival Theatre Edinburgh, for the Edinburgh International Festival.

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Book SynopsisA genius with language, but convinced of his own ugliness, Cyrano secretly loves the radiant Roxane. While Roxane is in love with the beautiful but inarticulate Christian.Cyrano's generous offer to act as go-between sets in motion a poignant and often hilarious love-triangle, in which each character is torn between the lure of physical attraction and the seductive power of words.Martin Crimp's adaptation of Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac premiered at the Playhouse Theatre, London, in November 2019.

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Book SynopsisIt is Mr. Miller''s notion, potentially a great one, that the Baums'' story can help tell the story of America itself during that traumatic era.'NEW YORK TIMESWhen the stock market crashes, the once-financially comfortable Baum family lose everything and are forced to leave their lofty home in Manhattan to live with relatives in Brooklyn: how can their pride, purpose and artistic endeavours survive such a sudden and shocking reversal of fortune?A sweeping, hard-hitting look at the Great Depression of the 1930s, The American Clock is a vaudevillian celebration of American resilience and optimism in the face of national crisis, and was performed on Broadway in 1980.This Methuen Drama Student Edition is edited by Jane K. Dominik, with commentary and notes that explore the play''s production history (including excerpts from interviews with designers of the 1980 Broadway production) as well as the dramatic, thematic and academic debates that surround it.Trade ReviewThis panoramic 1980 play about America during the Great Depression [is] described as “a vaudeville” [and] it shows how the nation’s built-in optimism came up against economic reality ... The play, which combines the texture of despair with a residual hope epitomised in the line “a country can’t just die”, shows just how much the 30s shaped Miller’s artistic imagination. ... It shows [Miller's] enduring capacity to capture the state of a troubled nation. -- Michael Billington * Guardian *The piece serves as a warning from history ... but there’s nothing dusty or dutifully clock-watching about it ... [Miller] billed the show as a “vaudeville”, likened it to a mural – and that gives him a means of pushing out across the nation, giving voice to a chorus of bewilderment, as the banks fail, the bailiffs call, the crops rot, and the air hangs heavy with resentment and revolutionary fervour. Yet swimming amid the tide of acrimony, there’s stoical humour, resilient American optimism and even young romantic love ... [The play feels] eerily up to-the-moment and [serves] as an invaluable reminder of how an economic shock can change a country forever. -- Dominic Cavendish * Daily Telegraph *No 20th-century playwright was more gifted at depicting the downsides of the American dream than Arthur Miller -- Dominic Maxwell * The Times *Frequently magnificent and ... also ... nauseatingly prescient. [The play's] kaleidoscopic vision of an advanced society sleepwalking into an essentially self-inflicted disaster is certainly painfully relevant to Britain’s current interests. ...It’s a powerful, poignant and frequently enlightening journey ... This strange, flawed forgotten play is the most relevant piece of political theatre in town. -- Andrzej Lukowski * Time Out *Table of ContentsCHRONOLOGY COMMENTARY Historical, social and cultural contexts Genre and themes Play as performance Production history Academic debate Behind the scenes Further study PLAY TEXT NOTES

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Book SynopsisThrough a series of arresting vignettes and a collection of nameless characters, Alice Birch examines the language, behaviour and forces that shape women in the 21st century. The play asks what''s stopping us from doing something truly radical to change them?Written in response to the provocation that well-behaved women seldom make history, the play is an assault on the language that has fueled violence against women throughout history. Problematic language frequently attached to women is interrogated, from lazy sexist clichés to the conventions around a marriage proposal. Through doing so, the play rails against the conventions of work, sex, motherhood, aging and love. Revolt. She said. Revolt again was first performed at the 2014 Midsummer Mischief Festival in Stratford-upon-Avon. It transferred to the Royal Court Upstairs and was more recently produced at New York''s Soho Rep.It is published here in a Student Edition alongside commentary and notes by Marissia Fragkou, who locTrade ReviewAlice Birch doesn’t want this work to be unseen. Her angry and frantic play Revolt. She aaid. Revolt again is an experimental work focused on using a feminist voice which is loud; a feminist voice which seeks to change the world not through small increments but through a revolution: through the destruction of language; through the destruction of society... * Guardian *Ms. Birch’s play, which became a hit for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2014, has a way of making you question everything you say when it comes to discussing women and their relationships with men, one another and a world in a state of unending upheaval... Linguistic confusion plagues the frantic souls portrayed... Even the play’s title, with its use of periods instead of commas, suggests the difficulty of getting words out and how inadequate they seem when you do... Yet Revolt teems with the same anarchic fury that possessed Jimmy Porter [in Look Back in Anger] and the same frustrated awareness that there are no easy fixes for an unsatisfactory social system... Instead, Ms. Birch is articulating the alternatives that come to women’s minds in dealing with how they are dealt with — as objects of love and lust, as employees and employers, as mothers and daughters. * New York Times *Acts One to Three are dialogues. Issues of gender language change into material questions of marriage, of women in capitalism, women raped and colonised, women desperate for refusal of the roles imposed on them. By Act Four, everything is deconstructed and there isn’t dialogue anymore... We witness conversations, haunting solo performances, disturbing statements about or directed to women, and a lack of genuine solutions provided in a system that benefits from oppression... In many ways, this play is a call to arms. It exposes the contradictions in simply refusing sexism in words, which is promoted as “revolutionary” by the very agents of the status quo. * Diva Mag *Table of ContentsIntroduction Historical and cultural contexts Scene analysis Critical reception List of key productions Works Cited Revolt. She said. Revolt again Notes

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Book SynopsisThe [Vagrant Trilogy] extends far beyond the timeline of devastating events, and instead shows us something greater: humanity. - Broadway World The Vagrant Trilogy is a set of three plays by award-winning Arab American playwright Mona Mansour which explores the Palestinian condition prior to, during, and after the infamous Six-Day War. It sketches the devastating effect this conflict had on members of the Palestinian diaspora scattered in Europe and in Lebanese refugee camps. With productions in Washington DC, New York, and Abu Dhabi, this trilogy has moved audiences across both America and the Arabic-speaking world. The Hour of Feeling, The Vagrant, and Urge for Going offer a deep exploration of the Palestinian struggle for home and identity, a powerful glimpse into a reality that many face and few understand. The volume includes a foreword by director Mark Wing-Davey; an introduction by Arab American theatre scholars Hala Baki and MichTable of Contents1. Acknowledgements 2. Dedication 3. List of Photographs 4. Foreword by director Mark-Wing Davey 5. Introduction by editors Hala Baki & Michael Malek Najjar 7. A Note on the Texts 8. The Plays Part 1: The Hour of Feeling Part 2: The Vagrant Part 3: Urge for Going 9. Afterword by Mona Mansour 10. Critical Essay by Dr Diya Abdo 10. Notes and Bibliography

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Book SynopsisBarber Shop Chronicles is a generously funny, heart-warming and insightful new play set in five African cities, Johannesburg, Harare, Kampala, Lagos, Accra, and in London.Inspired in part by the story of a Leeds barber, the play invites the audience into a unique environment where the banter may be barbed, but the truth always telling. The barbers of these tales are sages, role models and father figures who keep the men together and the stories alive.Inua Ellams''s celebrated play was first produced by the National Theatre, Fuel and Leeds Playhouse in 2017.Trade ReviewThis is an absolute cracker. Inua Ellams has the simple but ingenious idea of exploring black masculinity through the humble barber's shop... It's funny, fast, laced with music and dance, and performed with irresistible good humour and style... But deep down this is also a thoughtful, serious and moving piece of drama... he writes with zip and a wonderful ear, and the piece is beautifully woven. * Financial Times *It's a play crammed with questions, discussing African attitudes to parental discipline in one scene, and the role Nigerian Pidgin plays in cultural identity in the next. Idea follows idea: Christianity as a business fattening the wallets of pastors; the western media's depiction of Lagos; the way that words can be used to debase and destroy. Again and again the plays returns to the theme of black masculinity and the different shapes it can take... The tone of the play shifts fluidly from comedy to poignancy to rage... This is all handled with skill and a huge amount of warmth. Barber Shop Chronicles is a pleasure to experience. The level of joy in the room is high... Rich, exhilarating theatre that opens a window into a world of men. * The Stage *It's always bracing to watch the National open its arms, doors and repertoire to new work, new audiences, new experiences. There's certainly not been anything like this all-male, all-black piece from poet/playwright Inua Ellams, which bounces with brio as it whisks us around a series of African barber shops in six countries on two continents over the space of a single day... it becomes gradually clear that these resolutely female-free spaces are also part confessional, part psychiatrist's chair for both the staff and customers. Hefty topics ripple and re-echo over the thousands of miles that separate the establishments: how to be a father, how to be a son, how to be a man. A joke about a fly in a pint also travels effortlessly. * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisA unique anthology bringing together stories of queer life from international playwrights, these seven plays showcase the dazzling multiplicity of queer narratives across the globe: the absurd, the challenging, and the joyful.From the legacy of colonialism in India to the farcical bureaucracy of marriage law in Kosovo; from a school counsellor in Taiwan coming out as HIV+, to coming of age in an Israel-Palestine coexistence camp, this is a genre-spanning collection of global writing.Contempt by Danish Sheikh (India)55 Shades of Gay by Jeton Neziraj, translated by Alexandra Channer (Kosovo)No Matter Where I Go by Amahl Khouri (Jordan)Only the End of the World by Jean-Luc Lagarce, translated by Lucie Tiberghien (France)Taste of Love by Zhan Jie, translated by Jeremy Tiang (Taiwan)Peace Camp Org by Mariam Bazeed (Egypt)Winter Animals by Santiago Loza, translated by Samuel Buggeln and Ariel G

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Book SynopsisIn Killology, players are rewarded for torturing victims, scoring points for creativity.But Killology isn't sick. In fact it's marketed by its millionaire creator as a deeply moral experience. Because yes, you can live out your darkest fantasies, but you don't escape their consequences.Out on the streets, not everybody agrees with him.There is an instinctive revulsion against taking a human life. And that revulsion can be conquered.

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Book SynopsisA young Shona girl escapes an arranged marriage by converting to Christianity, becoming a servant and student to an African Evangelical. As anti-European sentiments spread throughout the native population, she is forced to choose between her family's traditions and her newfound faith.

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Book SynopsisAnna Ziegler has written the plays Actually (produced at Manhattan Theatre Club, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Geffen Playhouse, Trafalgar Studios and others; L.A. Ovation Award winner for Playwriting for an Original Play), the widely produced Photograph 51 (directed on the West End by Michael Grandage and starring Nicole Kidman; WhatsOnStage Award for Best New Play; named the number one play of 2019 by the Chicago Tribune and in other years selected as a Best of the Year play by The Washington Post and The Telegraph), Boy (Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award nominee), The Wanderers (The Old Globe; upcoming at The Roundabout Theatre Company; Craig Noel Award winner for Outstanding New Play), The Last Match (Roundabout Theatre Company; The Old Globe; upcoming: Writers' Theatre, Chicago), and A Delicate Ship (New York Times Critic's Pick; The Playwrights Realm; Cincinnati Playhouse). Recent notable: Photograph 51 at Melbourne TTrade Review“[Ziegler’s play is] thoughtful, compassionate, funny…The playwright deftly displays the barbed and tender sides of [the central characters’] relationship…But “The Wanderers” is about more than bittersweet relationships and coping with the past; it’s about the human tendency to be chronically dissatisfied. Confused and yearning, Esther wonders, “Who really understands whether or not they are happy?” * Washington Post on 'The Wanderers' *“The world premiere of “The Great Moment” at Seattle Rep is touching, clever, relatable, and enchanting.” * Seattle Pockets on 'The Great Moment' *Effortlessly gripping….funny and aching in all the right spots….it’s a good one, and splendidly played * Washington Post on Another Way Home *“…[A] taut, devastating play… a smart, profoundly painful exploration of [a] murky, treacherous sexual culture… Actually’s great strength, and its great heartbreak, is that it allows us to see both Amber and Tom so fully…Actually’s wit and its intelligence are part of what makes the complex darkness at its center hit so hard. There is brightness in this play, and in these people, and to see its sparks overwhelmed by such fearful and familiar shadows is shattering. In moments, it’s even revelatory.” * New York Magazine on 'Actually' *Table of ContentsIntroduction by the author The Wanderers The Great Moment Another Way Home Actually

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Book SynopsisAlmost 170 years on, Charlotte Brontë's story of the trailblazing Jane is as inspiring as ever. This bold and dynamic production uncovers one woman's fight for freedom and fulfilment on her own terms.From her beginnings as a destitute orphan, Jane Eyre's spirited heroine faces life's obstacles head-on, surviving poverty, injustice and the discovery of bitter betrayal before taking the ultimate decision to follow her heart.This inventive staging of Brontë''s masterpiece was first staged by Bristol Old Vic in 2014, when the story was performed over two evenings. Director Sally Cookson now brings her celebrated production to the National Theatre, presented as a single, exhilarating performance.Trade Review‘Even in what is fast becoming a very strong opening season from Rufus Norris at the National, Sally Cookson's staging of Jane Eyre still stands out.’ * British Theatre Guide *‘The book has been filleted cleverly… Inventive, moving and at times unexpectedly funny, this is an admirable piece of devised theatre.’ * The Express *‘clever, touching, minimalist yet expansive… makes you see entire new possibilities in theatre. I recommend it with a roar’ * Daily Mail ????? *‘Cookson and her company stripped Charlotte Brontë's novel down to its bones; what was left was plot and emotion… the magic, the passion, the raw pain is allowed to remain intact.’ * Culture Whisper *‘Newcomers and Brontë-holics alike will be gripped, amused and moved by a boldly theatrical show.’ * The Times *‘Sally Cookson’s production is full of wit, resource and invention.’ * Michael Billington, Guardian *'This is a production full of intelligent detail... Original, engaging and unexpectedly funny... an adaptation that Charlotte Bronte herself might have approved.' * Telegraph *‘A continually absorbing achievement.’ * Telegraph *‘A remarkable performance of startling modernity and unaffected honesty.’ * Guardian *‘A vivid two-part adaptation that combines powerful drama and unexpected humour.’ * Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisHe was born in Cheshire, and educated in Oxford, where he lectured in mathematics.

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Book SynopsisThis vital anthology includes fresh translations of four of Paco Bezerra''s plays in one edited collection for the first time in English. Winner of the National Literary Drama Award in 2009 and the Calderon de la Barca Theatre Drama Prize for New Authors in 2007, Paco Bezerra has become one of the most lauded and essential voices in the Spanish theatrical scene. His works have received both critical and audience acclaim, and his plays have been performed throughout Europe, South America and Asia. In the four plays included in this volume, Bezerra addresses critical issues such as child abuse, racism and women's rights. And, in a manner common to all of his works, Bezerra continually explores how marginalization weaves into all aspects of human existence. Together with an edited introduction to Bezerra''s work and world, this collection offers a rare insight into contemporary Spanish theatre for performance and study.Table of ContentsIntroduction Translator's Notes Grooming - Grooming follows one middle-aged man and one young woman who meet in a park at night after flirting online. The man blackmails her with sensitive material from their online chats, but the tables soon turn, and it will be the young woman who entraps the man in a game where the playwright daringly explores the limits and consequences of paraphilias. Mr. Ye Loves Dragons - Mr. Ye Loves Dragons explores the issue of racism with four neighbors in a low-income building: a Chinese mother and her daughter and two Spanish women who believe the daughter is illegally hiding people in the basement. Lulú - In Lulú, Amancio, a widower, discovers the body of an unconscious, naked woman in the middle of a forest. He takes her to the home he shares with his two grown sons where tragedy will soon unravel. Bezerra’s retelling of the Lilith or Lulu’s myth abruptly changes when the woman addresses the audience and utters her real name: Lucía. I Die for I Die Not - One of Bezerra’s most recent works, I Die for I Die Not is an experimental dramatization of a woman whose story has been silenced and heavily manipulated by the powers-that-be; a women whose agency has been stolen by the respective hegemonic narrative that plagues the world to this day.

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Book SynopsisProfessor John Halder is a 'good' man. But 'good' men must adapt to survive. As the world faces its Second World War, Halder finds himself pulled into a movement with unthinkable consequences. Good is a story about a liberal-minded university professor who drifts well-meaningly into a position in the upper reaches of the Nazi administration. John Halder, a professor of literature, seems to be a good man; he diligently visits his blind and senile mother and looks after his vacant wife and three children. He is unremarkable, other than an unusual neurotic tic: the imaginary sound of band music plays in the background of his life, particularly at moments of high emotion. But by writing a book the result of his own experience discussing euthanasia for senile elderly people and by lecturing on the delicacy of German literary culture, John has unintentionally made himself a very desirable acquisition for the Nazi party. A profound and alarming examination of passivity and the rationaTrade ReviewGood is an original and intelligent play, light in texture but serious in content, that tries to work out how decent, liberal, humane men came to be swept up by the Nazi juggernaut. * Michael Billington, The Guardian *Taylor's play is about moral compromise in a political fog, and like all good plays is as much about now. as then * Time Out *One of the most powerful, politically pointed nights at the theatre * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisFirst, do no harm. How do we defend the truth when no one agrees what it is and many have reason to undermine it?Very freely adapting Professor Bernhardi by Arthur Schnitzler, Robert Icke''s gripping moral thriller uses the lens of medical ethics to examine urgent questions of faith, belief, and scientific rationality.After a critically acclaimed run at London''s Almeida Theatre, The Doctor transferred to the West End in September 2022. This revised and updated edition was published to coincide with the new production.Trade Review‘A gripping moral thriller and a scorching examination of our age.’ * Financial Times *One of the peaks of the theatrical year. * Guardian *Brilliant stuff. And brave. * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisGlobal Voices Theatre is a female-, non-binary, migrant-led theatre company that explores and platforms international marginalised voices. They have curated events with partners such as Bush Theatre, Border Crossings, AWAN, British Library, and Roundhouse. The plays showcased at the event that led to GVT's creation were published as Global Queer Plays.Zhui Ning Chang (she/they) is a Malaysian editor, writer, educator, sensitivity reader and theatre maker based in London, UK. Her work engages with topics such as decolonialisation, migration and diaspora, speculative futures, and building support and solidarity through storytelling.Table of ContentsPreface by Victor Esses Extinct - Philip Arditti (Turkey/UK) Heartlines - Sarah Waisvisz (Canada) La Kahena, Berber Queen - Berthe Bénichou-Aboulker (Algeria), translated from French by Jessica Benhamou Papa'gina - Hana Vazana Grunwald (Israel), translated from Hebrew by Sivan Battat A People - L M Feldman (US)

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Book SynopsisOphelia's story in a way you've never heard it before, and seven more ways as well.Ophelia is trapped, stuck inside the machinery that has created her consciousness, fighting to be heard. Hamlet, overwhelmed by the ceaseless flood of media, mindlessly watches TV, consuming a mish-mash of beauty and horror; a daily soup of innocence and violence. The two of them hopelessly confined, and separated by the Atlantic Ocean.A polemic response to Heiner Mueller's Hamletmachine, Opheliamachine is a postmodern tale of love, sex and politics in a fragmented world of confused emotions and global, virtual sexuality. Since its premiere in 2013, Magda Romanska's celebrated experimental play has been performed and studied around the world, with each culture and language feeding into and responding to Opheliamachine's collage of modern existence.This edited collection brings together eight different translations of the play, offering English, GermaTrade ReviewDifficult comedy of ideas and ideologies. * The Hollywood Reporter *An uncompromising vision. . . . fiercely confrontational new play. * Los Angeles Times *Relentlessly provocative and challenging. * LA Weekly *Table of ContentsHow to Lose a Guy in Ten Wars: Introduction to Opheliamachine by Ilinca Todorut From Elsinore to American Techno-Solitude by Maria Pia Pagani, translated by Margaret Rose Production History Opheliamachine (English) Opheliamaschine (German) Ophéliemachine (French) Opheliamachine (Italian) La Máquina de Ofelia (Spanish) Opheliamachine (Japanese) Opheliamachine (Korean) Opheliamachine (Romanian) Maszynofelia (Polish) Bibliography

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Book SynopsisTen new short plays by African women tackling taboo topics on identity, gender, sexualities, family relations and power. Following the international success of Contemporary Plays by African Women, this new collection is the next step in the African Women Playwright Network (AWPN) both showcasing and encouraging the development of new work. Consisting of the ten winners of the AWPN''s international writing competition, this collection is centered around the theme of ''Tackling Taboo Topics in African Female Writing'', originally performed as staged readings at the AWPN Festival hosted by the University of Ghana in 2022. Selected from 75 submissions from nine African countries, these plays speak to contemporary and pressing issues, illuminating lived experiences of African women that are common but seldom discussed. An important resource for schools and universities looking to diversify and decolonise curricula and engage with short works for practical classes, pTable of ContentsIntroduction - by ‘Tosin Kooshima Tume, Ekua Ekumah and Yvette Hutchison Plays – with playwright biographies Yanci by Rukayat Nihinlola Banjo (Nigeria) The Arrangement by Gisemba Ursula (Kenya) A woman has Two Mouthsby Chioniso Tsikisayi (Zimbabwe) Who is in my Garden ?by Irene Isoken Agunloye (Nigeria) The Taste of Justice by Martina Omorodion (Nigeria) Desperanza by Kaulana Williams (South Africa) Oh! by Miliswa Mbandazayo (South Africa) In Her Silence by Faustina Brew (Ghana) Horny&…by Philisiwe Twijnstra (South Africa) Gnash by Katlego K Kolanyane-Kesupile (Botswana) Interview with Dr Sarah Dorgbadzi by Ekua Ekumah, AWPN-Ghana festival 2022, University of Ghana, 1-4 September. Suggested Further Reading

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Book Synopsis1986. Ghana's prestigious Aburi Girls Boarding School. Queen Bee Paulina and her crew excitedly await the arrival of the Miss Ghana pageant recruiter. It's clear that Paulina is in top position to take the title until her place is threatened by Ericka a beautiful and talented new transfer student. As the friendship group's status quo is upended, who will be chosen for Miss Ghana and at what cost?Bursting with hilarity and joy, this award-winning comedy explores the universal similarities (and glaring differences) facing teenage girls around the world. This edition is published to coincide with the UK premiere at the Lyric Theatre, Hampstead, in June 2023.

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Book SynopsisAva Wong Davies is a playwright and theatre critic based in London. She is a regular contributor to The Stage and Exeunt Magazine, is a monthly theatre columnist for gal-dem, and in 2018 won the Sunday Times Harold Hobson award for criticism. As a playwright, her work has been showcased at The Yard, The Bunker, Theatre Deli, VAULT Festival, and The North Wall. Her debut play i will still be whole (when you rip me in half) was programmed as part of Chris Sonnex's second season at The Bunker Theatre in November 2019. She is an alumna of the Soho Theatre Writers Lab 18/19 and one of the Bush Theatre's Emerging Writers.

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Book SynopsisIn this deeply moving and life-affirming tale, a mother must nurture her five-year-old son through an unfathomable situation with only the power of their imagination and their boundless capacity to love.Written for the stage by Academy Award nominee Emma Donoghue, this unique theatrical adaptation featuring songs and music by Kathryn Joseph and director Cora Bissett takes audiences on a richly emotional journey told through ingenious stagecraft, powerhouse performances, and heart-stopping storytelling. Room reaffirms our belief in humanity and the astounding resilience of the human spirit.This updated and revised edition was published to coincide with the Broadway premiere in Spring 2023.Trade ReviewRoom soars! Visually arresting and emotionally rich, Emma Donoghue’s Room is boldly realised for the stage … harrowing … astonishingly moving. * Toronto Star *Emma Donoghue's adaptation of her novel works beautifully onstage, and the songs capture heightened moments with sensitivity. A story of survival and love — something we all need to hear more of at this time. * Now Magazine *The most striking thing about Emma Donoghue’s stage version of her award-winning novel, Room, is its intense imaginative quality… Kathryn Joseph’s songs, co-written with Cora Bissett, burst from the texture of the play like some heightened form of speech… The story of Room is in some ways a harrowing one, that brings many in the audience to tears. Yet it is also a tremendously beautiful, vivid and uplifting show about the power of a mother’s love * The Scotsman *Haunting and reflective music and lyrics. They emerge naturally from the narrative … Compelling viewing (even in you know the ending.) This coproduction… is a triumph * Times of London *A strangely moving work about the power of imagination and the pain of adjustment to a new reality. … I found the prospect of the play intimidating. In the end, I was deeply touched by its testament to human resourcefulness * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisPassion. Obsession. Acceptance. Betrayal. Three ground-breaking female playwrights have cooked up a feast, with a trio of short plays with music that explore love in all its glorious, sticky complexity. From the boozy warmth of the social club to the endless labyrinth of the internet, this is a show about the communities we form, the care that we show each other and the love that we hope never tears us apart.The Start of Space by Laura Lindow: A visiting expert lecturing on the secrets of the heart has a dark and unexpected truth of their own.fangirl, or the justification of limerence by Naomi Obeng: An obsessive fan poses as her musical idol online and becomes lost in a maze of love and revenge.with the love of neither god nor state by Vici Wreford-Sinnott: A young woman runs away from a world that doesn't understand her and finds shelter in a local social club. But will they have the heart to truly let her in?This edition was published to coincide with the world

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Book SynopsisThere''s a legend about the Watch House... Scrape beneath the whitewash and you''ll find terror. You''ll find him.Tynemouth, late 1970s. Christmas is coming and Front Street''s swinging. But Anne, dumped here while her parents sort their divorce, isn''t in the mood. She escapes to the castle, the Priory, and the beaches. Best of all, the Watch House. The old coastguard''s place is packed with weird treasures and no one bothers her. Until lights start to flicker and something stirs in the dark nights...Buried deep in the past is a secret which now threatens everything. Only Anne can stop it. The Watch House is an epic new adaptation of Carnegie Medal-winner Robert Westall''s original novel, from Olivier Award-winning theatre-maker Chris Foxon. This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at Laurels Theatre in Whitley Bay, in December 2023.

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Book Synopsis''She's like no one I've ever met... She's like fire and water all at once.''Warwickshire, 1582. Agnes Hathaway, a natural healer, meets the Latin tutor, William Shakespeare. Drawn together by powerful but hidden impulses, they create a life together and make a family.As William moves to London to discover his place in the world of theatre, Agnes stays at home to raise their three children but she is the constant presence and purpose of his life.When the plague steals 11-year-old Hamnet from his loving parents, they must each confront their loss alone. And yet, out of the greatest suffering, something of extraordinary wonder is born.This new play based on Maggie O''Farrell''s best-selling novel and adapted by award-winning playwright Lolita Chakrabarti (Life of Pi, Red Velvet, Hymn), pulls back a curtain on the imagined family life of the greatest writer in the English language. Hamnet is a love letter to passion, birth, grief and the magic of nature.

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