Nick Hern is home to many of the most exciting and renowned plays & playwrights working today – including Jez Butterworth, Helen Edmundson and Robert Icke - as well as numerous exciting, emerging voices
Theatre adaptations of many bestselling authors appear – such as Andrea Levy’s Small Island , Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman and Hilary Mantel’s short story collection The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher
Book SynopsisA powerful, provocative play about international relations and the shifting balance of power between East and West. Winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Play (2014), the Evening Standard Best Play Award (2013), the Critics' Circle Best New Play Award (2014), and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Tiananmen Square, 1989. As tanks roll through Beijing and soldiers hammer on his hotel door, Joe – a young American photojournalist – captures a piece of history. New York, 2012. Joe is covering a presidential election, marred by debate over cheap labour and the outsourcing of American jobs to Chinese factories. When a cryptic message is left in a Beijing newspaper, Joe is driven to discover the truth behind the unknown hero he captured on film. Who was he? What happened to him? And could he still be alive? A gripping political examination and an engaging personal drama, Chimerica examines the changing fortunes of two countries whose futures will shape the whole world. Lucy Kirkwood's play Chimerica was first performed at the Almeida Theatre, London, in 2013 before transferring to the Harold Pinter Theatre in the West End.Trade Review'Gloriously rich, mind-expanding... if we see a better new play this year, we'll be extremely lucky' * Guardian *'Hurtles along with a mixture of humour, dramatic tension and terrific visual ingenuity... a hugely entertaining and at times deeply affecting play... I cannot recommend it too highly' * Telegraph *'A gripping, multilayered and meticulously researched thriller... like an expansive HBO mini-series expertly compacted into an evening at the theatre... Kirkwood's sharp, incisive dialogue is splendid' * Time Out *'A tremendously bold piece of writing... topical without being gimmicky and well-informed without being showily so... a landmark production' * Evening Standard *'Ambitious, sprawling, morally fascinating, as gripping as a good novel' * The Times *'A taut, complex and nuanced thriller with [an] exhilaratingly ambitious scope' * Exeunt Magazine *'Rich, riveting and theatrically ambitious... fizzing with wit and intelligent ideas... a work of real brilliance' * The Arts Desk *'Absolutely riveting... an important, far-reaching drama' * The Stage *
£10.44
Book SynopsisSephy and Callum sit together on a beach. They are in love. It is forbidden. Sephy is a Cross and Callum is a Nought. Between Noughts and Crosses there are racial and social divides. A segregated society teeters on a volatile knife-edge. As violence breaks out, Sephy and Callum draw closer, but this is a romance that will lead them into terrible danger. This gripping Romeo and Juliet story by acclaimed writer Malorie Blackman is a captivating drama of love, revolution and what it means to grow up in a divided world. Sabrina Mahfouz’s stage adaptation first toured the UK in 2019 and won the Excellence in Touring category at the UK Theatre Awards. It was commissioned and presented by Pilot Theatre in co-production with Derby Theatre, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, Mercury Theatre Colchester and York Theatre Royal.Trade Review'Malorie Blackman's bestseller leaps off the stage in a fine new adaptation' * Observer *'A searing insight into the injustices of the world… Mahfouz's adaptation highlights some deep truths and sharp parallels with the here and now' * The Stage *'A fascinating and disturbing play which forces all of us to re-evaluate our fundamental assumptions about race and power... profoundly life-affirming... an important play with a message for us all' * LondonTheatre1 *
£10.44
Book SynopsisA modern classic about one woman's struggle to come to terms with her past. Brutally separated from her German Jewish parents at the age of nine, Eva is brought to England with the promise of a new life... Between 1939 until the outbreak of World War II, nearly 10,000 Jewish children were taken from their families in Nazi-occupied Germany and sent to live with foster families in Britain. Diane Samuels’ seminal play, Kindertransport, imagines the fate of one such child. Now widely considered a modern classic, Kindertransport has been read and studied the world over. Kindertransport won the 1992 Verity Bargate Award and was subsequently staged by the Soho Theatre Company at the Cockpit Theatre in London in 1993. It also won the Meyer-Whitworth Award in 1993. Since its premiere the play has been revived several times. Watford Palace Theatre staged it in 1996, in a production that transferred to the West End. Renowned theatre company Shared Experience also revived the play to great acclaim for a regional tour in 2007. This edition includes several personal memoirs by German-born children whose lives were saved, and transformed, by the Kindertransport. Kindertransport is a SET TEXT for GCSE English Literature (AQA) and AS/A-Level English Literature (WJEC).Trade Review'Desperately harrowing... searing theatre that cuts across a continuum of suffering to the very heart of what unifies us as human' * The Times *'A powerful contribution to Holocaust literature... presented with emotional clarity and intense sympathy' * New Yorker *'Samuels has written the best play about the pain and passion of mother/daughter relationships' * Guardian *
£10.44
Book Synopsis‘What doctor know about our illness? Just give you pills to sick you stomach and a doctor certificate. What they know about a black woman soul?’ In North London, Del and Viv are soul-sick. Del doesn’t want to be at home; staying out late – 3 p.m.-the-next-day late – is more her thing. Viv scours her schoolbooks trying to find a trace of herself between their lines. When Enid takes her daughters to the local obeah woman for some traditional Caribbean soul-healing, secrets are spilled. There’s no turning back for Del, Viv and Enid as they negotiate the frictions between their countries and cultures. Two generations. Three incredible women. Winsome Pinnock's play Leave Taking is an epic story of what we leave behind in order to find home. It premiered in 1987, and was revived at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2018, in a production directed by the Bush’s Artistic Director, Madani Younis. Winsome Pinnock has written numerous plays, including Talking in Tongues, for which she won the George Devine and Pearson Best New Play Awards. ‘The godmother of Black British playwrights’ GuardianTrade Review'A devastatingly powerful story of a British-Caribbean family... why Winsome Pinnock's play isn't on the English Literature syllabus is a mystery to me, given its shocking contemporary relevance... this play warms and devastates' * Time Out *'A beautiful, humourous and often impossibly sad portrayal of the immigrant experience... Pinnock's dialogue is a subtle marvel, offering all the poetry and rhythm of the Jamaican accent, where phrases sing with layers of meaning. It is a brilliantly wrought piece of drama' * WhatsOnStage *'An epic story that spans generations and puts the narratives of four formidable women on the centre stage... Leave Taking is an undeniably important addition to our theatrical landscape' * Broadway World *'There are few plays in British theatre that speak so directly, resonantly and truthfully to the experience of the black woman. Winsome Pinnock's first full-length play does this with such profound eloquence – it is rousing to watch… Leave Taking is timely in its politics, yet timeless in its themes' * The Stage *'Three decades since its debut Winsome Pinnock's pioneering portrayal of the lives of black Britons feels shockingly contemporary... Pinnock was a pioneer and her piece still hits home through its often shocking honesty about the hazards facing black people in Britain' * Guardian *
£10.44
Book SynopsisA classic of 20th-century theatre, Ariel Dorfman's Death and the Maiden ran for a year in the West End, was a hit on Broadway and was filmed by Roman Polanski starring Ben Kingsley and Sigourney Weaver. A woman seeks revenge when the man she believes to have been her torturer happens to re-enter her life. Death and the Maiden was given a first reading at the Institute for Contemporary Art in London in November 1990. After a workshop production staged in Santiago, Chile, in March 1991, the play had its world premiere at the Royal Court Upstairs, London, in July 1991, transferring to the Main Stage at the Royal Court in October. The play then transferred to the West End, at the Duke of York's Theatre, in February 1992. Death and the Maiden won the 1992 Olivier Award for Best New Play.Trade Review'A play for today, for the age of revenge, when dictatorships crumble right and left and the victims, the living dead, emerge from the shadows and present their accounts...' * Sunday Times *
£10.44
Book Synopsis
£10.44
Book SynopsisLove is challenged by divisive political realities in Harrison David Rivers' play at Soho Theatre, London, in 2025, starring Omari Douglas.
£10.44
£10.44
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£10.44
£11.04
Book SynopsisSomeone sneezes. Someone can't get a signal. Someone shares a secret. Someone won't answer the door. Someone put an elephant on the stairs. Someone's not ready to talk. Someone is her brother's mother. Someone hates irrational numbers. Someone told the police. Someone got a message from the traffic light. Someone's never felt like this before. In this fast moving kaleidoscope, more than a hundred characters try to make sense of what they know. Caryl Churchill's play Love and Information was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in September 2012.Trade Review'This exhilarating theatrical kaleidoscope... What is extraordinary about Churchill is her capacity as a dramatist to go on reinventing the wheel' * Guardian *'A myriad of short scenes, a plethora of ideas, a large cast, a script of unallocated lines (with an appendix of "random" alternatives), a comedy of communication, a drama of depression, a modern manual of sex, memory and schizophrenia. I'm not quite sure how it happens, but every time Caryl Churchill writes a play, she breaks the mould' * Whatsonstage.com *'In the fast-moving traffic of life there are still quiet moments of beauty, heart wrenching sorrow, joy, and profound epiphanies... (The) succinct and thought-provoking script... speaks volumes about the fast turnover of modern life. Five Stars' * Huffington Post *'A wonderful web of complex emotions, memories, secrets and facts' * A Younger Theatre *'The wit, invention and structural ingenuity of Churchill's work are remarkable...she never does anything twice' * Telegraph *
£10.44
Book SynopsisAn urgent and explosive play that explores of the pressures on young people today in the wake of advancing technology. When a naked photograph of Scarlett goes viral, she becomes the centre of attention for all the wrong reasons. But while rumours run wild and everyone forms an opinion, Scarlett just stays silent... With roles for up to twenty-four young female actors (though it can also be performed by a smaller cast), the play is perfect for any schools, youth theatres or drama groups looking to tackle a contemporary subject in a theatrically exciting way. Specially commissioned by Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Theatre Royal Plymouth and West Yorkshire Playhouse, Evan Placey's play Girls Like That was developed through work with young people from the three theatres and first performed by their youth theatre companies in 2013. It was revived at the Unicorn Theatre, London, in November 2014. Girls Like That was named Best Play for Young Audiences at the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards 2015.Trade Review'Placey's eye-opening, often uncomfortably honest play... deserves to be widely seen by teenage audiences. And by their parents too' * Guardian *'[Tackles] strong, relevant issues... a well-written, immaculately crafted and brave piece of energetic theatre' * A Younger Theatre *'An urgent, powerful and haunting examination... I can see this play becoming a very popular resource for 16+ groups and that will be no bad thing' * National Drama - Drama magazine *
£10.44
Book SynopsisMike Bartlett's 'future history play' explores the people beneath the crowns, the unwritten rules of our democracy, and the conscience of Britain's most famous family. Queen Elizabeth II is dead. After a lifetime of waiting, her son ascends the throne. A future of power. But how to rule? Drawing on the style and structure of a Shakespearean history play, King Charles III opened at London's Almeida Theatre, directed by its Artistic Director Rupert Goold, in April 2014, before transferring to the West End. The play went on to win Best New Play at both the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards and the Olivier Awards. It also won the South Bank Sky Arts Theatre Award.Trade Review'Outstanding and provocative… the most spectacular, gripping and wickedly entertaining piece of lèse-majesté that British theatre has ever seen' * Telegraph *'Bold, brilliant and unstoppably entertaining… an intelligent, empathetic, moving look at the power and limitations of the modern monarchy… theatre doesn't get much better than this' * The Times *'Extraordinary… a meaty, hilarious, dizzyingly audacious state of the nation political thriller' * Time Out *'Royally entertaining… raises fascinating questions about the future of the monarchy' * Guardian *'Scintillating and highly ambitious... a brilliant, provocative piece of drama' * Financial Times *'Wonderfully original... Bartlett's brilliant text pulses with Shakespearean resonances... a right royal triumph' * The Stage *'Pitch-perfect… bracingly provocative and outrageously entertaining' * Independent *'Brilliantly ambitious… deliciously smart… [the] script is a witty amalgam of Shakespearean rhythms and sharp modern colloquialisms' * Exeunt Magazine *
£10.44
Book SynopsisA short play about death by Caryl Churchill. A funeral party for a man with an adventurous past and a ginger cat that needs a home. Where is he now? Is his heart lighter than a feather? How did he die? And what happens to his friends? Caryl Churchill's play Here We Go was premiered at the National Theatre, London, in November 2015.Trade Review'Provocative and startling… I was mesmerised' * Evening Standard *'Exquisitely atmospheric… [has] a black humour that resonates far off, like the mad laughter of the cosmos' * Time Out *'Many plays confront death. A few deal with the process of dying. Caryl Churchill's new work manages, in 45 minutes, to encompass both. It not only confirms her ability to experiment with dramatic form but, more importantly, acts as a chilling reminder of our own mortality... a striking memento mori for an age without faith' * Observer *'This is unforgettable. You feel as though you've aged a decade as the light gradually fades' * Independent *
£6.99
Book Synopsis‘Imagine being him. Every day you wake up. You’re tired. Your body doesn’t work properly… You said it – you’d kill yourself.’ Two teenagers sneak into an old man’s home for a secret meeting. A young couple try to build their future whilst looking after an ailing parent. A care home offers its residents the opportunity to unburden their children. James Fritz's play The Fall takes a funny, moving and candid look at young people’s relationships to older people, confronting the frightening prospect of ageing in a country undergoing crises of housing and care. It was commissioned and premiered by the National Youth Theatre at the Finborough Theatre, London, in 2016, and revived at Southwark Playhouse in 2018. Trade Review'Takes a candid look at young people's relationship with their elders, mixing humour with a deeper contemplation of life and death… delicately outspoken writing' * Broadway World *'[A] short, sharp shock of a play... youth theatre at its most mature, and most dazzling' * Guardian *'Perfectly pitched as a play for young actors... sets a new standard for youth theatre' * The Stage *'Intelligent, absorbing... confirms Fritz as a major new voice in British drama' * The Reviews Hub *'It's dreamlike, but gritty at the same time, and gripping... it's a little glimpse of a faintly dystopian future that hits home because it doesn't take things too far... what's impressive about Fritz's writing is that he manages to horrify with his vision of human coldness, and yet it's not propaganda: it recognises that there are no simple statements to be made.' * Exeunt *
£11.39
Book SynopsisOn a reality television show, six remarkable - and remarkably young - geniuses are competing for the coveted Golden Brain trophy and the title 'Britain's Brainiest Child'. As the contestants battle it out round after round, the pressure mounts, the spotlight gets harsher, and each is faced with questions they were never expecting. Who will win and who will lose - and what exactly does winning mean anyway? Georgia Christou's Bright. Young. Things. is a funny, fast-paced play about identity, truth and the challenge of finding out who you really are. It is part of Platform, an initiative from Tonic Theatre in partnership with Nick Hern Books. Aimed at achieving greater gender equality in theatre, Platform comprises big-cast plays with predominantly, or all, female casts, written specifically for performance by young actors.Trade Review'There is fun to be had in portraying these quirky characters and some amusing situations, plus the flexible staging leaves a lot of staging decisions to the company... an interesting challenge for any youth group' * British Theatre Guide *'[Offers] strikingly different characters and an effective storyline... a young, brilliant director could do wonders with this' * Broadway World *'A clever piece about identity, parental pressure and the media... has much humour and tremendous energy' * BritishTheatre.com *
£9.49
Book Synopsis‘Come, you drunken spirits. Come, you battalions. You fields of ghosts who walk these green plains still. Come, you giants!’ When Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2009, it served notice of an astonishing development in the career of a writer whose debut, Mojo, had premiered on the same stage nearly fifteen years before. Unearthing the mythic roots of contemporary English life, and featuring Mark Rylance in an indelible central performance as Johnny 'Rooster' Byron, the play transferred to the West End and then to Broadway, before returning to the West End in 2011. 'Storming… restores one's faith in the power of theatre' Independent. 'Unarguably one of the best dramas of the twenty-first century' Guardian. Jerusalem was followed by the bewitching chamber play The River (Royal Court, 2012), a 'magnetically eerie, luminously beautiful psychodrama' Time Out. 'A delicately unfolding puzzle… all of it is wrapped in marvellous language… extraordinary' The Times. This volume concludes with the multi-award-winning The Ferryman (Royal Court and West End, 2017; Broadway, 2018), an excavation of lives shattered by violence, set in a farmhouse in Northern Ireland in 1981. 'A richly absorbing and emotionally abundant play… an instant classic' Independent. 'A magnificent play that uses, brilliantly, the vitality of live theatre to express the deadly legacy of violence' Financial Times. Also included here is the screenplay for the short film The Clear Road Ahead (2011), published here for the first time, and an edited transcript of a conversation between Butterworth and the playwright Simon Stephens.
£17.09
Book SynopsisA dip-in, flick-through, quick-fire resource book, part of the bestselling Drama Games series, offering 80 games and exercises to explore the fundamental concepts of clowning and physical comedy, encourage playfulness, curiosity and collaboration, and help develop performance material.
£11.69
Book SynopsisA fresh interpretation of George Orwell's classic story ofrebellion and treachery, first performed by the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain.
£10.44
Book Synopsis'It's kind of a ritual, we speak the truth. Then, let go and cook.' In the bustling kitchen of a run-down Pennsylvania truck stop, the formerly incarcerated staff have been given a second chance. Under the tyrannical eye of their boss Clyde, this unlikely team strives to create the perfect sandwich, as they dream of leaving their past mistakes behind for a better life. Lynn Nottage's hilarious and hopeful play Clyde's premiered in 2021 at the Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, becoming the most-produced play in the United States the following year. It received its European premiere at the Donmar Warehouse, London, in 2023, directed by Lynette Linton, who also directed the British premiere of Nottage's play Sweat at the Donmar. 'Lynn Nottage is remarkable and uniquely exhilarating' Washington Post 'Is there a better living American playwright than Lynn Nottage?' The Wall Street JournalTrade Review'A glorious, humane and penetrating comedy... uproarious fun with a serious undertow... like cult TV hit The Bear, but better' * Evening Standard *'Sublime... Lynn Nottage's mouthwatering play is a dish to be savoured' * Guardian *'Gritty but gorgeous... a vivid, life-enhancing play, full of heart, hope and humour... There are few finer writers working in contemporary American theatre than Lynn Nottage' * WhatsOnStage *'A laugh-out-loud comedy that has much to say about life beyond prison and the class circumstances that led to incarceration in the first place' * The Stage *'A mouthwatering kitchen drama from one of America's finest... Lynn Nottage's blisteringly funny play will leave you drooling' * Telegraph *'A great play... blue collar grit meets sitcom humour... a joyful feast' * The Times *'Stirs the soul with heart-wrenching intimacy' * Broadway World *'Riotously funny, peopled by characters you come to deeply care for, and skilfully constructed to keep you hooked' * Culture Whisper *'A little gem... a wonderful evocation of human hope, endeavour and creativity' * TheatreCat *
£10.44
£10.44
Book SynopsisIt's Bobbie's thirty-fifth birthday party, and all her friends are wondering why she isn't married. Why can't she find the right man, settle down and start a family? A breakthrough on Broadway in 1970, Company is Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's legendary musical comedy about life, love and loneliness, featuring some of Sondheim's most iconic songs including 'Company', 'You Could Drive a Person Crazy', 'The Ladies Who Lunch', 'Side by Side' and 'Being Alive'. The acclaimed West End revival in 2018 was conceived and directed by award-winning director Marianne Elliott and produced by Elliott & Harper Productions. Reimagining the musical by switching the gender of several characters, including the protagonist Bobbie, played by Rosalie Craig, the production also starred Patti LuPone, Mel Giedroyc and Jonathan Bailey. It won the Peter Hepple Award for Best Musical at the 2018 Critics' Circle Theatre Awards. This edition features the complete revised book and lyrics for the production, colour production photographs, and an introduction by Sondheim's biographer David Benedict.Trade Review'A magic mixture of New York grit and Broadway heart... the text stands alone as a razor-sharp piece of art - and a hugely significant musical renaissance… [this edition includes] a superb introduction by David Benedict... Company jumps off the page from the word go. It's a delight to read' * Broadway World *'An astonishing reinvention of a classic musical' * The Stage *'This is more than a revival: it is a remaking' * Observer *'A sublime cocktail of an entertainment… Sensational. Theatrical magic' * Daily Telegraph *'A game changer. I can't remember ever laughing more at a musical' * i *'Thrillingly inventive' * WhatsOnStage *
£10.44
Book SynopsisHarriet Walter's wonderfully practical - and personal - introduction to acting. 'Acting is what I do with who I am', writes Harriet Walter. And in this book she takes us step by step through the processes involved in performance. Each step of the way is illuminated with brilliantly precise examples from her own career. So we are introduced to the Workshop, the Rehearsal, and the Roots and Pathways into a role. Then follows the main meat of the book: six Keys to the Development and Exploration of character. The closing section deals with Performance on stage and screen. Every insight, every suggestion is firmly rooted in the author's own experience. Harriet Walter's book is full of unparalleled insights into the everyday working life of an actor, and into quite how much hard work is needed before they can convincingly put themselves in other people's shoes. 'My advice to a young actor: read this book' Richard EyreTrade Review'Buy it, and be delightfully and unhectoringly informed about exactly what it is that actors get up to and why... Harriet Walter is sharp, clear, elegant, sturdily sensitive' * Observer *'A fascinating insight into the working life of an actor... very enjoyable' * The Times *
£13.49
Book SynopsisLynn Nottage's Intimate Apparel is a multi-award-winning play about the empowerment of a black seamstress in New York City in 1905. Esther sews exquisite lingerie for clients who range from wealthy white patrons to prostitutes. She has saved enough to allow her to dream of one day opening a beauty salon for black women, and at thirty-five years old, longs for a husband and a future. When she begins to receive beautiful letters from a lonesome Caribbean man who is working on the Panama Canal, it looks like life may be about to take a different course. Intimate Apparel was first produced by South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California, and Centerstage in Baltimore, Maryland, in 2003, winning the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play and the American Theatre Critics/Steinberg New Play Award. It received its UK premiere at the Theatre Royal Bath in 2014 before transferring to Park Theatre, London, the same year.Trade Review'Marvellous... quietly subversive, its recovery of lost lives makes this a defining piece of American drama' * Observer *'Finely wrought... [a] play tinged with love, warmth and lightness' * WhatsOnStage *'Tender, illuminating... this warm, rich, complex tale will stay in the memory for a long time to come' * The Times *'An exceptionally gifted playwright' * New York Times *'A thing of beauty' * Los Angeles Times *
£10.44
Book SynopsisAn essential resource for anyone studying Princess & The Hustler by Chinonyerem Odimba for GCSE English Literature – featuring a complete guide to the text, plus sample questions and answers to help you prepare for assessment. Get to grips with Princess & The Hustler with expert, easy-to-follow breakdowns and analyses of key aspects of the play – including the characters, plot, structure, themes, setting and language – along with a clear explanation of the historical context. This guide also contains prompts for further reflection and research, to help you get the most out of your study and revision, whether at home or in the classroom. Featuring insights from playwright Chinonyerem Odimba, colour photographs of the original production, and extensive quotes and extracts from the text, this GCSE Study Guide will strengthen your understanding, build your confidence and boost your chances of success. It is also an invaluable resource for teachers approaching the play.
£10.44
Book Synopsis'I saved lives and I got rewarded and I'm bloody well not going to apologise for it.' Sir Neil Marriot had a 'good pandemic', becoming familiar to millions from his TV appearances as a government medical advisor. His service even earned him a knighthood, and he is now rewarding himself with a lavish birthday party. But, amidst the oak panelling, the champagne and the silver service, his family are at one another's throats again, and he thinks there's something familiar – and somehow unsettling – about one of the catering staff... The Snail House is a play about how the past impacts on the present, and how overconfidence can have disastrous consequences. Written and directed by Richard Eyre, it premiered at Hampstead Theatre, London, in September 2022.Trade Review'A classic family drama... written and directed with unimpeachable skill' * WhatsOnStage *'Well-crafted' * The Times *'An honourable, polished play with a fine grip on the contemporary moment' * Observer *
£10.44
Book Synopsis'Only what is open and searching is active and alive. You, the actor, must learn to find security in insecurity, certainty in uncertainty, to trust that this will lead to discovery and growth.' In What Actors Do, revered theatre director Mike Alfreds explores the wellspring of the actor's craft, tracing a pathway to creative freedom through the thickets of competing methodologies and confusing paradoxes that you will face throughout your training and career. How do you give life to a character that both is and isn't yourself? How can you be childlike and open in your work without becoming childish? How, when you know what's coming next, can you still be spontaneous? Frank, uncompromising and full of sharply focused insights, this book will help you strip away the inhibitions and habitual thinking that can shackle our imaginations. It will show you how to generate truthful performances by trusting your inner creativity and remaining radically open, responsive and present in every moment. Mike Alfreds has been directing plays for more than seventy years. In the 1970s he founded Shared Experience, and has since worked for the National Theatre, Shakespeare's Globe, the Royal Shakespeare Company and also extensively abroad. He is hugely respected within the profession, and is the author of two previous books, Different Every Night and Then What Happens? 'If I was allowed to train again to be an actor, but I was only allowed one teacher, it would have to be Mike Alfreds. To me he is a genius when it comes to acting and storytelling' Mark Rylance
£11.69
Book SynopsisWhen orphaned Mary Lennox comes to live at her uncle's great house on the Yorkshire Moors, she finds it full of secrets. Left to make her own entertainment, Mary stumbles upon a garden, overgrown and locked for years. A forbidden garden. Finding her way inside, with the help of a friendly robin, Mary begins to feel a connection to the house and its inhabitants. Then, one night, in one of the house's many rooms, she hears the sound of crying... Frances Hodgson Burnett's delightful and enduring tale celebrates the power of transformation and healing through nature. Elizabeth Newman's magical adaptation was premiered at Pitlochry Festival Theatre's open-air amphitheatre in 2023, where Newman is Artistic Director. This version will appeal to other professional and amateur companies looking for a much-loved classic that can be easily staged in theatres, outdoor venues – and gardens.Trade Review'An enriching, affirmative show, steeped in gentle wonder' * The Stage *'A near-perfect summer theatre experience for children... The Secret Garden is fast emerging as a key children's story for our time: a profound legend about how human beings need the natural world and its energy to survive and thrive... Newman's adaptation glows from its opening moments with love for, and understanding of, the basic dynamics of Hodgson Burnett's bold narrative... a beautiful show' * The Scotsman *'Enrapturing... a tremendous fervour of pace... simply gorgeous... a thing of beauty' * Reviews Hub *'Retains all the essentials of the original novel but brings in the whole thing at around 90 minutes, including an interval. It's appealingly crisp, which is helpful for the younger members of the audience, and it doesn't shun the novel's all-important use of Yorkshire dialect... a play that retains its own distinctive sense of charm' * WhatsOnStage *'The perfect show for all the family... delights at every turn... a salve to the soul for grown ups in these troubled times and even better, the children in the audience clearly loved it' * Broadway Baby *'A wonderful adaptation with a sense of magic throughout... A very inviting project for any drama or theatre department or company. "Flexible" really is the key word with this adaptation as it is a play that could work with a range of age groups... It could make for a wonderful open air summer production or one where the outdoors could be brought in. A great addition to any collection' * Drama & Theatre Magazine *
£10.44
Book Synopsis'I said no one should ever try to recreate this. This is agony in its purest form.' Five women in Northern California lie outside on chaises longues and philosophise. But can you ever communicate what it feels like to be inside your own body? Annie Baker's play Infinite Life is a surprisingly funny inquiry into the complexity of suffering, and what it means to desire in a body that's failing. It was first produced in a co-production between the National Theatre, London, and Atlantic Theater Company, New York, and performed at both theatres in 2023, directed by James Macdonald.Trade Review'A great new play. It peeps at the greatest mysteries of life' * The New York Times *'The peerless Annie Baker's latest play is a mind-bending exploration of sex, pain and bodies... Infinite Life is a lucid fever dream, a trippy vision of profound truth... It is another extraordinary play from a writer seemingly capable of nothing else' * Time Out *'Exquisite and bleakly funny' * The Times *'Superb... Infinite Life is that rarest of things – a comedy about death and pain, written with such precision it seems to expose the workings of the heart... a terrific play, understated yet rich, utterly engrossing' * WhatsOnStage *'Extraordinary... meticulous and mighty... a critique can't capture it: you have to be there' * Observer *'A play like no other... I don't know how Annie Baker does what she does. I only know that she does it brilliantly' * Daily Express *'Quietly riveting and stealthily moving... an absorbing, compassionate meditation on pain, mortality and our relationship with our bodies... Annie Baker's extraordinary plays are as idiosyncratic as they are fascinating and as funny as they are profound' * The Stage *'[Annie Baker] has a knack for seeing people's weird innards and transmuting them into something transcendent… an undeniably important and timely work' * Guardian *'Exquisite new comic drama' * New Yorker *'Intensely humane and minutely observed... Baker's plays are singular creations that march to their own rhythm, and we're fortunate that four of them have now come to the National Theatre' * Evening Standard *'Full of small wonders and subtle moments of quiet awakening' * Independent *'Baker's play feels capacious – ever widening its arms to hold more humanity, more searching spirit… Infinite Life gathers us all in its wide embrace, turning its curious, accepting gaze on our brokenness' * New York Magazine *'A very funny play, and a fine showcase for all its cast members… a work of lyrical beauty, humour, and insight' * New York Sun *'An enigmatically idiosyncratic mediation on human suffering... richly rewarding... Baker truly is a powerful writer' * Broadway World *'Spare but richly satisfying, full of beguiling subtleties and opportunities for dry humour' * Arts Desk *'Baker may be the Pinter of our generation, with exquisite writing displaying true human insight. She may never be mainstream, but she remains a genius whose work is always enlightening' * Broadway Baby *'Slow, searing and profound... Annie Baker is a master at tunnelling into the nucleus of niche, private settings, populating them with a wholly plausible cocktail of characters and enthralling her audience with the early interactions and seminal conversations that take place between them' * Culture Whisper *
£10.44
Book SynopsisGregor Samsa wakes up each morning, quietly leaves the house to take the same train, and works to pay off the family debt. But that world explodes one morning, when Gregor awakes to find himself changed. To those around him he is dangerous, untouchable vermin. Worse than that, he is a burden. Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka's shocking tale of cruelty and kindness, has been a literary landmark since it was first published in 1915. Lemn Sissay's thrilling stage adaptation is a visceral and vital depiction of humans struggling within a system that crushes them under its heel. It was commissioned and first produced in 2023 by Frantic Assembly, in a co-production with Theatre Royal Plymouth, Curve, MAST Mayflower Studios and Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, and was directed by Scott Graham.Trade Review'An ingenious, nightmarish adaptation... Frantic Assembly has been rewriting the rulebook for almost three decades now; its rigorous physical exploration of emotion combined with edgy pulsing soundtracks has won an ardent following' * The Times *'Compelling... a brooding, expanded take on Kafka's immortal novella that likes to toy with our expectations' * Time Out *'Uncompromising, utterly captivating... combines the best of physical theatre with poetic language and stimulating storytelling... a sublime, intense theatrical experience' * Reviews Hub *'An urgent observation of a bloodsucking, broken system that renders people worthless if they cannot work' * WhatsOnStage *'Poetically vivid and visually mesmerising' * Broadway World *'Deliciously eerie... makes the 1915 novella speak for today' * Culture Whisper *
£10.44
Book Synopsis
£10.44
Book SynopsisStephen Sondheim's 'cool, and impossibly chic' (New York Times Critic's Pick) final work, written with Tony Award-nominee David Ives. UK premiere at the National Theatre, London, in 2025.
£11.69
Book Synopsis
£10.44
£10.44
Book SynopsisDrama Menu is a brand new concept for planning and delivering dynamic, progressive drama lessons and workshops. Packed with over 150 tried-and-tested theatre games, exercises and improvisation ideas, it’s an essential resource for any drama teacher or workshop leader – guaranteed to deliver delicious drama sessions every time. Simply make a selection from each of the three courses, and your whole drama session will come to life with new-found energy and focus: Appetisers are fast-paced warm-up exercises to energise and enthuse the group; Starters are the intermediary course to challenge the players and encourage creativity; Main Courses provide the central part of the session, culminating in a final performance piece; And a few Desserts are also provided, if you have some space at the end of your session for something sweet. Drama Menu is the recipe book that will relieve the stress of planning lessons and workshops. Now you can get on with what you do best: delivering creative drama sessions that will have your groups hungry for more. Join the online Drama Menu community, browse and share other recommended menus, and download a comprehensive Resource Pack and selection of sound effects, providing everything you need to start playing straight away.Trade Review'Well organised and easy to use… a useful and relevant tool for anyone involved with facilitating drama sessions' * Drama Magazine *'An essential resource for anyone teaching drama to children of all ages... with catchy titles, clear numbering and individual exercise summaries, Drama Menu is an easily accessible, flexible and creative resource useful for any dramatic platform. A must have for all teachers wanting to give their students the very best!' * Word Matters *'Easy to navigate... definitely something for everyone... a really useful collection' * Teaching Drama *'Ideal... [the author's] knowledge and experience are apparent in his writing and this book will provide a great deal of varied and inspiring material for sessions with secondary-aged or older students, although many activities could be used with or adapted for younger age-groups' * Drama Resource *'Unbelievably useful... every reader will find something new and of absolute hands-on usefulness... Drama Menu will become your companion' * ReviewsGate.com *
£15.29
Book SynopsisAn intense real-life thriller centred around the most important weather forecast in the history of warfare. June 1944. One man's decision is about to change the course of history. Everything is in place for the biggest invasion ever known in Europe – D-Day. One last crucial question remains: will the weather be right on the day? Problematically there are two opposing forecasts. American celebrity weatherman Colonel Krick predicts sunshine, while Scot Dr James Stagg, Chief Meteorological Officer for the Allied Forces, forecasts a storm. As the world watches and waits, General Eisenhower, Allied Supreme Commander, must decide which of these bitter antagonists to trust. The decision will not only seal the fates of thousands of men, but could win or lose the entire war. An extraordinary and little-known true story, David Haig's play thrillingly explores the responsibilities of leadership, the challenges of prophecy and the personal toll of taking a stand. Pressure premiered at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, in May 2014 before transferring to Chichester Festival Theatre, in a production directed by John Dove, with the author playing James Stagg.Trade Review'The tension is palpable and expertly maintained throughout, with real wit and warmth as well... Haig has obviously done his research, and then smartly played with the facts for full dramatic effect. You wouldn't think a story about predicting the weather could play like a thriller, but it does… a rip-roaring evening's entertainment' * Radio Times *'Utterly engrossing… unostentatiously and with a quiet intensity, Pressure covers a lot of ground without ever resorting to patriotic cliché' * Whatsonstage.com *'This highly watchable, microscopic look into the mechanics of battle is nothing short of enthralling. It's also surprisingly humorous; Haig's dialogue feels quintessentially British and for that reason it resonates fondly' * Broadway World *'Fascinatingly original… with its moments of comedy and atmosphere of high stakes, this is an excellent documentary drama' * The Arts Desk *'Haig has researched his subject matter in great detail, but more importantly the play grabs the attention from the outset and never loosens its dramatic grip. It captures the extraordinary pressure its characters are under at this crucial turning point in the Second World War, with wit, compassion and sheer dramatic verve. By turns funny, tense and deeply affecting. I cannot recommend it too highly' * Telegraph *'Sharp, witty and affecting… events flow across the stage like sunlight and shadow on a changeable summer's afternoon – fast and hectic, tense and fraught, calm, thoughtful' * Guardian *'A tense, tight and quite brilliant drama… more moving than a dozen Saving Private Ryans' * British Theatre Guide *'Completely gripping... a play about unsung heroes, responsibility, integrity and the nature of bravery' * Financial Times *'Tempestuous and highly charged... a thunderous piece of theatre' * The Stage *
£10.44
Book SynopsisA bold and exciting new approach to Bertolt Brecht, making his theories and ideas about theatre accessible to a new generation of actors, directors, students and theatre-makers, and showing how they can be put into practice. Theatre practitioner and academic David Zoob demystifies Brecht’s theories, and offers an approach to study and performance that can be applied to a wide range of texts and theatre styles. With close analysis of texts by writers including Shakespeare, Chekhov, Miller, Pinter, and of course Brecht himself, the author demonstrates how Brechtian techniques can provide practical pathways to exploring plays across the canon, as well as non-traditional forms of theatre. Also included are dozens of exercises to help turn theory into practice, and explore what Brecht’s ideas mean for actors and directors, both in training and rehearsal. Whether you’re a student, a teacher, an actor or a theatre-maker, this book will change the way you view and work with Brecht. `Zoob has engaged with Brecht’s many and varied principles for a politicised theatre and channelled them into a wide range of novel and innovative exercises that are applicable to a great many dramas and can equally interrogate devised material… Excellent ’ --David Barnett, Professor of Theatre, University of York, and author of Brecht in PracticeTrade Review'Brilliant… a fresh, energised approach [with] comprehensive exercises, playful games, script interpretations and plentiful opportunities for learning' * Drama Magazine *'Where David Zoob makes his mark is in demystifying the terminology and the practice, turning the unintelligible into the practical and allowing readers to gain a really good and deep understanding of what Brecht was trying to achieve and how his ideas can be applied to theatrical performances today… such is the breadth of Zoob's knowledge that anyone wishing to gain a greater understanding of acting and/or directing would do well to pick up a copy since they are just about guaranteed to learn something that will help them to work more effectively in future' * British Theatre Guide *'Demystifies Brecht in a straight-talking, deeply informed way… a fresh, energised approach' * Teaching Drama *
£11.69
Book SynopsisAward winning playwright Chris Bush reimagines the Faust myth to explore what we must sacrifice to achieve greatness, and the legacy that we leave behind. Faustus: That Damned Woman is a radical new work in which the iconic character of Faustus becomes a woman who makes the ultimate sacrifice in order to traverse centuries and change the course of history. It is premiered at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in January 2020, in a co production with Headlong and Birmingham Repertory Theatre, prior to a UK tour. An epic, ambitious, gothic, baroque fever dream of a piece that takes a well known classic and inverts it to say something truthful about the contemporary female experience.Trade Review'Original, ambitious and fantastically revisionist' * Guardian *'With a ruggedly lyrical style, the writing echoes and counterpoints Marlowe's original play but Bush takes the story in exciting new directions... lively and engaging, peppered with humour... an entertaining, lucid piece of storytelling which bursts with ideas and speculation' * BritishTheatre.com *'A re-examination of the most famous pact in world literature from a female slant… rich with ideas... Bush's writing abounds with flair and rhythm' * Daily Telegraph *
£10.44
Book SynopsisThis edition is the prescribed text for the English Mastery Secondary programme. Hortense yearns for a new life away from rural Jamaica, Gilbert dreams of becoming a lawyer, and Queenie longs to escape her Lincolnshire roots. In these three intimately connected stories, hope and humanity meet stubborn reality, tracing the tangled history of Jamaica and Britain. Andrea Levy's epic novel Small Island, adapted for the stage by Helen Edmundson, journeys from Jamaica to Britain in 1948 – the year that HMT Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury. It premiered at the National Theatre, London, in April 2019, directed by Rufus Norris. 'Honest, skilful, thoughtful and important. This is Andrea Levy's big book' Guardian on Andrea Levy's Small IslandTrade Review'A landmark in the National Theatre's history: a tumultuous epic about first-generation Jamaican immigrants... skilfully adapted... one of the most important plays of the year' * Guardian *'In this inspiring adaptation, which compresses the book into a gripping three-hour state-of-the-nation epic, Small Island has found its ideal home... the show acknowledges struggle and strife on all sides, flies the flag for compassion and achieves a hard-won (and still to be fought for) inclusivity' * Telegraph *'A passionate engagement with the past that's sure to resonate with audiences at a time when the very idea of Britain is under such fierce scrutiny' * Evening Standard *'This is a show that shoots arrows of empathy and engagement out towards its audience and they respond... from a novel dealing with the past [comes] a play for today' * WhatsOnStage *'A moving stage adaptation of the late Andrea Levy's great novel about the Windrush generation... Edmundson does some supreme work compacting a sprawling book into a pacy three-hours-ten-minutes - she has a knack for skilfully distilling story... a ferociously entertaining three hours of theatre' * Time Out *'Beautifully translated to stage by adaptor Helen Edmundson, using thrilling theatrical solutions to honour Levy's epic - and still urgent - tale... a stirring spectacle that never loses sight of the people at its heart' * Broadway World *
£10.44
Book SynopsisBruno has a friend called Shmuel. Like Bruno, Shmuel is nine years old. Their birthdays are on the same day. But Shmuel lives on the other side of a fence, and he's always wearing striped pyjamas... Based on the best-selling novel by John Boyne, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a heart-wrenching tale of an unlikely friendship between two innocent boys. Angus Jackson's deeply affecting adaptation was produced by The Children's Touring Partnership and Chichester Festival Theatre on a UK tour in 2015.Trade Review'Heart-breaking... A marvelous piece of theatre' * The Public Reviews *'Parents and teachers looking for a good way of introducing children to the horrors of the holocaust will find what they need in this adaptation of John Boyne's multimillion-selling novel' * The Times *
£9.49
Book SynopsisA complex and intense portrait of the mechanics of a family - and a marriage - through the eyes of four siblings struggling to define themselves beyond their parents' love and expectations. Bob and Fran have worked hard to give their four children the opportunities they never had. Now, with the kids ready to make lives of their own, it's time to sit back and smell the roses. But the change of the seasons reveals some shattering truths, leaving us asking whether it's possible to love too much. Andrew Bovell's beautifully touching, funny and bold play Things I Know To Be True was premiered in Adelaide, Australia, as a co-production between Frantic Assembly and the State Theatre Company of South Australia. It received its British premiere in 2016, co-produced with Warwick Arts Centre in association with Chichester Festival Theatre and the Lyric Hammersmith.Trade Review'Both down to earth and gently magical. It's the sort of uniquely theatrical evening that might just convert those suspicious that theatre doesn't speak to them' The Times; 'An understated gem of a play... [its] searing honesty about family relationships stays with you long after the curtain falls' Radio Times; 'A thing of beauty... Bovell offers us a portrait of family life in all its gory reality - and it is an absolute gem... so exquisitely observed it makes you wince' Telegraph; 'A mix of warm humanity and sadness... there's an intelligent attentiveness to the little details of domesticity, some sour and others honeyed' Evening Standard 'A beautiful and painfully perceptive family portrait... genuinely haunting and fervently recommended' Independent; 'Beautiful and devastating... a powerful look at the coexistence of narcissism and unconditional love in family life' The Stage;'Exquisitely articulate... a drama that explores big ideas through an almost unbearable intimacy' The Arts Desk; 'Bovell's hypnotic, poetic use of language and his unusual plotting structure... are piercingly beautiful' Arts Hub Australia
£10.44
Book SynopsisAmerica in the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis and a conservative Reagan administration, New Yorkers grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell. Originally premiered in Britain at the National Theatre, London, where it won the Evening Standard Best Play Award, Tony Kushner's Angels in America went on to win two Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. This volume contains both Part One: Millennium Approaches and Part Two: Perestroika, plus 45 pages of bonus material including a new introduction by the playwright, a full production history, deleted scenes, and notes on staging. It was published alongside a new production in 2017 at the National Theatre, London, directed by Marianne Elliott and starring Andrew Garfield, Denise Gough, Nathan Lane, James McArdle and Russell Tovey.Trade Review'The finest drama of our time, speaking to us of an entire era of life and death as no other play within memory. In its sweep and imagination, it defines the collapse of a moral universe during the Reagan years in an unforgettable way, transcending its specific time in the richness of its portrait of an America Lost, perhaps to be regained... It's a pretty funny play, too. How we still need it! It ranks as nothing less than one of the greatest plays of the twentieth century' * New York Observer *'A true theatrical epic… Kushner’s writing dazzles. Its sheer imaginative reach can be exhilarating and it’s studded with devilish humour. Instead of appearing dated, it seems pointedly topical in its scrutiny of intolerance, immigration, religious values and national ideals' * Evening Standard *'A start-to-finish sensation… the core themes, about the price paid for denial, and the cost of change and acceptance, the end-times sense of foreboding many feel about the state of the planet too, still pulse with urgency; the emotions sear afresh' * Telegraph *'The scope and vision are enough to make you gasp and cheer… seeing it now is like a vigorously entertaining history lesson. It is a reminder of just how terrifying and tragic the times were, of all the people who died terribly and needlessly, but also a vibrant hymn to the ragged soul of humanity itself, in all its messy, complicated imperfection… Kushner's achievement is to make his characters so compelling that the massive themes he pins around them - the relationship between man and God, the power of the numinous, the root of good and moral in a shifting, dangerous world, the role of progress and change – sit comfortably alongside the unfolding of their stories' * WhatsOnStage *'Epic in every conceivable sense of the word… though valuable as an evocative history play, Kushner's work is still a powerful call to arms. The challenges of progress, immigration and integration, prejudice, global warming, and religious and national identity are still urgent topics, here often brilliantly and waspishly articulated... a monumental achievement' * Broadway World *'Big on ideas, ambition and scope… it liberatingly plays with form: conventional scenes of domestic realism defiantly throw off those shackles with abandon to enter hallucinatory realms of fantasy, mystery and mysticism… where once it might have been stating radical positions, Angels in America now plays like a raw, truthful documentary of where we've come from, and serves as a necessary reminder of those bleak times before AIDS became a treatable disease' * The Stage *'Both a document of the Aids crisis and an enduringly relevant commentary on US politics… what really hits one is the expansiveness of Kushner’s imagination and the rich opportunities he creates for actors' * Guardian *'Probably the great American play of the late 20th century' * Time Out *'One of the greatest achievements in American theatre during the twentieth century… epic in every sense of the word… a once-in-a-lifetime experience that should not be missed' * British Theatre Guide *'An astonishing piece of theatre, madly inventive and driven by deep compassion… the portrait of a fractured America feels no less resonant today; the inquiry into where true progress lies feels no less urgent… the play’s themes emerge through a kaleidoscope of richly varied characters, all wrestling with their own angels and demons' * Financial Times *'This revival confirms its place in the pantheon of dramas that stretch toward the heavens. In the case of Angels in America, the sky is not the limit, and no work of theater since has quite matched its reach… [has] a boundless imagination and a moral rage that roam, at length and at large, where few playwrights have dared to tread… the climate of fear and anger Mr. Kushner summoned feels, if anything, even more pervasive today than it did when Angels first opened… Mr. Kushner's words [have] a Shavian wit and ferocity rooted in the most visceral of feelings... the heroes of Angels are human. This still-singular play fans their anger, confusion and hopefulness into a flame of genuine divinity' * New York Times *
£13.49
Book SynopsisA fascinating meditation on human cloning, personal identity and the conflicting claims of nature and nurture. Bernard thought he was an only child. One day he learns the shocking truth: he is just one of a number of clones. Together, he and his father confront epic questions of identity, intimacy and belonging. Caryl Churchill's play A Number pushes the boundaries of science and ethics with an astonishing twist on the dynamics of the father/son relationship. It was originally produced at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2002, winning the Evening Standard Award for Best Play. Set Text: A Number is a set text for AS/A-Level Drama (WJEC) A Number is also available in the volume Caryl Churchill Plays: Four.Trade Review'A Number confirms Churchill's status as the first dramatist of the 21st century. On the face of it, it is about human cloning... Like all Churchill's best plays, A Number deals with both the essentials and the extremities of human experience... The questions this brilliant, harrowing play asks are almost unanswerable, which is why they must be asked' Sunday Times 'Caryl Churchill's magnificent new play only lasts an hour but contains more drama , and more ideas, than most writers manage in a dozen full-length works' Daily Telegraph 'Caryl Churchill never stands still. After the dystopian nightmare of Far Away, she now comes up with a challenging new form of moral inquiry. And the key question she ask in this play is from what the essential core of self derives: from nature or nurture, genetic inheritance or environmental circumstance?' Guardian
£10.44
Book SynopsisA heartbreaking tale of orphans, angels, murder and music - dramatised from the Whitbread Award-winning novel set in 18th-century England. In 18th-century Gloucestershire, the evil Otis Gardner preys on unmarried mothers, promising to take their babies (and their money) to Thomas Coram's hospital for foundling children. Instead, he buries the babies and pockets the loot. But Otis's downfall is set in train when his half-witted son Meshak falls in love with a young girl, Melissa, and rescues the unwanted son she has had with a disgraced aristocrat. The child is brought up in Coram's hospital, and proves to have inherited the startling musical gifts of his father - gifts that ultimately bring about his father's redemption and a heartbreaking family reunion. Helen Edmundson's adaptation of Jamila Gavin's award-winning novel, Coram Boy, was first performed at the National Theatre, London, in 2005. It won the Time Out Live Award for Best Play. 'A rich and almost Gothic drama' - Philip PullmanTrade Review'A triumph... can still make your heart soar' * The Times *'The story has a gripping intensity... there is a tremendous sense of momentum' * Independent *'Family shows don't come much more harrowing than this - but nor do they come any finer... as gripping, terrifying, beautiful and moving as anything you will see in the theatre this year... Helen Edmundson's adaptation does full justice to the dark power of the original, while also transforming it into a thrilling piece of theatre' * Daily Telegraph *'A highly superior show that should appeal to adults and children alike' * Guardian *
£10.44
Book SynopsisAn exciting and invaluable collection of audition speeches, all chosen from plays produced by the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, spanning more than sixty years as one of the world's leading companies for young performers. Featuring seventy-five monologues by acclaimed writers such as Zawe Ashton, Moira Buffini, Carol Ann Duffy, Brian Friel, James Fritz, James Graham, Dennis Kelly, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Gbolahan Obisesan, Evan Placey, Sarah Solemani and Jack Thorne, the book offers rich and diverse roles ranging from teens to adults. Each audition speech also comes with invaluable supporting material – compiled by NYT Associate Artist Michael Bryher – to help you perform the piece to its maximum effect, including: A detailed description of the play that the speech is originally from Contextual information such as what's just happened in the play, where the monologue takes place, to whom the character is talking, and what their motivations are Things to think about when rehearsing and performing the speech The book also provides extensive advice on choosing a speech, working on it and preparing for auditions, plus tips and first-hand insights into the monologues from current NYT members and alumni who've performed them. An ideal resource for actors auditioning for drama school, the NYT or elsewhere, as well as those preparing for showcases or competitions, National Youth Theatre Monologues offers a wide and diverse range of roles, themes and styles – meaning you’ll be able to find the speech that's just right for you.Trade Review'Offers the broadest range of monologues in one place that I have ever seen… the advice on choosing suitable monologues, preparing them and how to approach the audition day itself is invaluable and presented in a positive and clearly supporting manner… I am not letting this collection out of my sight' * Drama Magazine *'Packed with a plethora of useful information, insightful snippets from interviews with NYT alumnni and endlessly detailed guidance on bringing each text to life... A must-have for any department and an essential purchase for students undertaking any audition' * Teaching Drama *'Accessible, inspiring and entertaining... I would defy any actor to not come away with a strong handful of speeches to investigate and learn' * BritishTheatre.com *'This must-have guide is sure to bolster the confidence of those lining up to take part in auditions… stand outs as a carefully compiled, insightful and considered selection that offers a unique and often refreshing perspective on the broad selection of texts' * Broadway World *'A useful book for anyone at the start of his or her journey towards an acting career' * Ink Pellet *
£13.49
Book SynopsisThirty-somethings Leo, Misha, Ralph and Dawn have been inseparable since college. Making their way together in the big city, they are liberal, open-minded and socially aware. As best friends and lovers, confident in their 'woke-ness', their connection with each other is stronger than anything else – until Leo is assaulted by the police in a racially motivated incident. Shaken to the core, he brings to the group an extreme proposition... Suzan-Lori Parks' play White Noise takes an unflinching look at race in the twenty-first century from both a black and white perspective. It was first performed at The Public Theater, New York, in March 2019, directed by Oskar Eustis, and had its European premiere at the Bridge Theatre, London, in October 2021, directed by Polly Findlay.Trade Review'An enormous provocation of a play... Sharp, zingy and oozing a darkly witty energy... a propulsive drama with pace, plotting and a deadly magnetism' * Guardian *'The magnificence of Parks' writing is that, like all great classical dramatists, you know at some levels what the conclusions will be, yet the tension she builds as she unfolds her arguments has you leaning forward in your seat. She never for a moment lets you rest easy... Her writing [is] immense. She holds huge ideas within her naturalistic frame: the themes of what it means to be awake, to be woke, questions about what it is to be righteous and good, wash through the work... But the play never stops working as fierce, gripping drama' * Whatsonstage *'Savagely absurd... In White Noise [Parks] wields absurdity like a delicate medical scalpel: it's there almost constantly, key to the operation, but she controls it with deadly serious, laser focussed intent... it's a questing, forensic play, that uses Parks's mischievous humour and Albee-esque sense of character to take a brutally hard look at the constructedness of 'tolerent' Western multicultural society' * Time Out *
£10.44
Book SynopsisThe story Charles Dickens might have written after drinking too much gin… Follow half-orphan Pip's extraordinary exploits with sisters Pippa and Poppy and best friend Harry Biscuit, as they attempt to escape the calculating clutches of the dastardly Mr Gently Benevolent, defeat the hideous Hardthrasher siblings, and deflect disaster at every turn! Will evil be vanquished by virtue? Can love triumph over hate? Mark Evans' stage play Bleak Expectations is a hilarious, chaotic caper, featuring dastardly villains, preposterous names, pulse-quickening romances, heart-rending death scenes, and definitely, probably, hopefully a happy ending. Based on the award-winning BBC Radio 4 series, the play opened at The Watermill Theatre, Newbury, in 2022, directed by Caroline Leslie. It transferred to the Criterion Theatre in London's West End in 2023, where it featured a medley of many well-known actors and comedians. It offers rich opportunities to amateur theatre companies looking for a gloriously daft Dickensian romp which will have their audiences joyfully transported and begging for more.Trade Review'Dickens with a dash of Monty Python... nimbly combines period detail with a sense of the absurd... immaculately polished puns and in-jokes' * The Times *'A fast-paced comedy mashup that sends up Britishness with oodles of silliness... zings with intelligence, imagination and comic anarchy' * Guardian *'Cheek-achingly funny... a ceaseless stream of quick one-liners that delivers laugh after laugh of pure entertainment... a great night out' * Broadway World *'A gloriously comic mash-up... hurrah, huzzah and harrumble!' * WhatsOnStage *'Witty, hilarious... filled with so much fun and comic cleverness with tongue-in-cheek humour and many in-jokes... sparkles with inventiveness' * British Theatre Guide *'English eccentricity at its madcap best' * Telegraph *'Joyously silly... a ridiculous pantomime for grown-ups – and the barely grown-up... Mark Evans gets the Dickens parody bang on... a fun, vivacious and uncomplicated romp' * Chortle *
£10.44
Book Synopsis'With great pleasure Leyla & Joel Invite you to celebrate their marriage. Dress code is smart casual. Doors at 7.30 p.m., followed by the exchange of vows. And at the signal, the entertainment will begin. (This performance is being staged without a licence from the Ministry. We recognise the risk that each and every one of you is taking by attending and we salute your courage.)' A Mirror is an elusive, explosive play by Sam Holcroft, interrogating censorship, authorship and free speech. It premiered at the Almeida Theatre, London, in 2023, directed by Jeremy Herrin, and with a cast including Jonny Lee Miller, Tanya Reynolds and Micheal Ward.Trade Review'A beautifully crafted, mind-bending piece of work' * Evening Standard *'A Pirandellian wedding drama that achieves a series of satisfying surprises... delights in the theatrical trickery of dual identities and false realities to throw a final surprise punch' * Guardian *'Bold, inventive and original... a journey of discovery, a hall of mirrors, that takes us into a series of intricate boxes, of plays within plays, where nothing is quite as it seems... I loved it' * WhatsOnStage *'Intriguing, twisty, metatheatrical... an achievement: like nothing else you'll see on London's stages' * Independent *'Pirandello meets late Pinter meets Martin McDonagh's The Pillowman, all sharing a bottle of something strong' * The Times *'Brilliantly mischievous... The joy of Holcroft's play is that it's subversive on so many levels... incendiary and mordantly funny... a triumph' * Time Out *'Undeniably genius: the kind of rare, vigorous writing that sets your head spinning' * The Stage *'A darkly comic, Orwellian affair... as punchy as it is political... a timely production packed with intrigue and passion' * Broadway World *
£10.44
