Plays, playscripts, drama

Book SynopsisNew York City, 1930. Following a decade of explosive creativity, the Harlem Renaissance is starting to feel the bite of the Great Depression. In the face of hardship and dwindling opportunity, Angel and her friends battle to keep their artistic dreams alive. But, when Angel falls for a stranger from Alabama, their romance forces the group to make good on their ambitions, or give in to the reality of the time. Pearl Cleage's Blues for an Alabama Sky was first performed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1995. It was revived at the National Theatre, London, in 2022, directed by Lynette Linton, with a cast including Samira Wiley and Giles Terera. Pearl Cleage is a celebrated American playwright, novelist, poet and political activist, and was one of the first Black women in America to achieve national recognition as a dramatist. Her plays, also including Flyin' West and Bourbon at the Border, provide a remarkable and penetrating look at the African-American experience over the last century. 'As a woman, as an African-American, her artistic objectivity and sensitivity to history combine with her capacity to dig for truth' Ruby Dee 'One of the voices singing in the wilderness' Ossie DavisTrade Review'Deliciously funny and deeply affecting... a bittersweet delight' * Evening Standard *'A supreme achievement... I've rarely seen a play in which the imprint of identification and affection for the protagonists is so strong and so involving. It's a work that makes you want to lean in, holding your breath as their fortunes shift and stir, hoping for the best but somehow always fearing the worst... It has a humanity that provokes profound emotion' * WhatsOnStage *'Transfixing... an old-fashioned melodrama with sly winks to Ibsen and Tennessee Williams, but the issues [Cleage] addresses are freshly resonant... A tale for our times' * Guardian *'Compelling... makes a fraught, fascinating era of Black cultural history feel real and alive... And it paints rich, complex friendships with a warmth that stays with you, long after its final notes have faded' * Time Out *'Scintillating... will catapult [Pearl Cleage] to everyone's attention and precipitate a frantic scramble to uncover other gems from her back catalogue... quite the best evening I have spent at the National in a long time' * iNews *'Nothing short of mesmerising... leaves audiences on the edge of their seat' * Broadway World *'A breathless whirl of Jazz Age joy and blues... a seamy pleasure... glorious' * Telegraph *'Wonderful and bittersweet... There's more than a hint of Tennessee Williams in Cleage's story, but she brings her own quick wit and quiet understanding to her characters, which means you grow deeply attached to them' * Financial Times *

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Book Synopsis‘My name is Phyllis Princess James. I will wear this crown every day. I will never take it off even when I am asleep.’ Meet Princess. A cheeky ten-year-old, with a plan to win the Weston-super-Mare Beauty Contest. Trouble is, her mum is busy working several jobs, her brother, a budding photographer, won't even take her picture and then – The Hustler returns. In 1963 Bristol, as Black British Civil Rights campaigners walk onto the streets, Princess finds out what it really means to be black and beautiful. Chinonyerem Odimba's play Princess & The Hustler was first seen at the Bristol Old Vic in February 2019, followed by a UK tour, in a co-production between Eclipse Theatre Company, Bristol Old Vic and Hull Truck Theatre, directed by Dawn Walton. The play was shortlisted for the Alfred Fagon Best New Play Award 2018.Trade Review'Written with heart and purpose... every character in it deserves to be heard' * Guardian *'Odimba's dialogue is witty and flavourful, and the action fizzes with detail... in a story that radiates love and hope, Odimba explores a crucial slice of black British history... richly textured, passionate and enormously affecting' * The Times *'A crucial slice of black British history... Chinonyerem Odimba's beautifully crafted play kaleidoscopes multiple issues with warmth, integrity and humour' * Observer *'Joyously playful... beautiful and celebratory, this is history with a beating heart' * Broadway World *

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Book SynopsisA single-volume re-issue of the well-known play Educating Rita. The story centres on a working-class Liverpudlian woman's hunger for education.Trade Review'Russell plays don't date, any more than Jane Austin novels- Rita is a universal figure: any of us in a time of transition, increasingly uncomfortable in our old world but, as yet, unproven in the new.' Libby Purves, The Times, 28.07.10 'Willy Russell is a dramatistof exceptional warmth and humanity.' Henry Hitchings, Evening Standard, 28.07.10 'Russell, too easily dismissed as a slavish populist, her seems a cherishably perceptive observer of the vagaries of social class and sexual politics.' Henry Hitchings, Evening Standard, 28.07.10

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Book SynopsisShows how the small city of Salem is stirred into madness by superstition, paranoia and malice, culminating in a violent climax, is a savage attack on the evils of mindless persecution and the terrifying power of false accusations. This is a depiction of innocent men and women destroyed by malicious rumour, and more.

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Book SynopsisA hugely-acclaimed black comedy exposing the dark side of the Midwestern American family. When the large Weston family is reunited in Oklahoma after the disappearance of their father, they let loose a maelstrom of repressed truths and unsettling secrets. Tracy Letts's play August: Osage County was first performed by Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago in June 2007. It was first staged in the UK at the National Theatre in 2008. August: Osage County won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Tony Award for Best Play and the Critics' Circle Award for Best Play.Trade Review'One of the truly great nights of American theatre' * Independent *'Something special... a dramatic tour de force, first smouldering and then blazing with acrimony, appalling behaviour and vicious home truths' * Telegraph *'Fully deserves to join the roll call of classic American plays' * Independent on Sunday *'A triumph' * Sunday Times *'Sensationally entertaining...Tracy Letts' fiercely funny, turbo-charged tragicomedy is, flat-out, no asterisks and without qualifications, the most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years' * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisGuilty or not guilty? Enter the courtroom, hear the evidence, make your judgement.A hijacked plane is heading towards a packed football stadium. Ignoring orders to the contrary, a fighter pilot shoots down the plane killing 164 people to save 70,000.Put on trial and charged with murder, the fate of the pilot is placed in the audience's hands.Ferdinand von Schirach''s Terror, in a translation by David Tushingham, received its UK Premiere at the Lyric Hammersmith, London, in June 2017.

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.We are such stuffAs dreams are made on; and our little lifeIs rounded with a sleep.'Magical and dreamlike in its tone, Shakespeare's The Tempest begins with a storm of epic proportions and a shipwreck. Banished from Italy, Prospero lives on a remote island with his daughter. Using his magic, he vows to seek revenge on the injustice dealt to him by his brother, but in doing so, Shakespeare questions the difficulty of distinguishing men' from monsters', and the realities of justice.

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Book SynopsisFive comedies from Ancient Greece that freely blend satire and slapstickOffering a window into the world of ordinary Athenians, Aristophanes' The Birds and Other Plays is a timeless set of comedies, combining witty satire and raucous slapstick to wonderful effect. The plays in this volume all contain Aristophanes' trademark bawdy comedy and dazzling verbal agility. In The Birds, two cunning Athenians persuade the birds to build the utopian city of 'Much Cuckoo in the Clouds' in the sky, blockading the Olympian gods and installing themselves as new deities. The Knights is a venomous satire on Cleon, a prominent Athenian demagogue, who vies with a humble sausage-seller for the approval of the people; while The Assembly-Women deals with the battle of the sexes as the women of Athens infiltrate the all-male Assembly in disguise. The lengthy conflict with Sparta is the subject of Peace, inspired by the hope of a settlement in 421 BC, and Table of ContentsThe Birds and Other PlaysAbout the Author7Aristophanes in Antiquity9Aristophanes, Comedian and Poet21The Knights29Peace91The Birds147The Assemblywoman215Wealth265Notes313Select Bibliography336

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Book SynopsisThree plays from Aristophanes, the master of Ancient Greek comedyMarrying deft social commentary to a rich, earthy comedy, the three comedies collected in Aristophanes' The Frogs and Other Plays offers a unique insight into one of the most turbulent periods in Ancient Greek history. The master of ancient Greek comic drama, Aristophanes combined slapstick, humour and cheerful vulgarity with acute political observations. In The Frogs, written during the Peloponnesian War, Dionysus descends to the Underworld to bring back a poet who can help Athens in its darkest hour, and stages a great debate to help him decide between the traditional wisdom of Aeschylus and the brilliant modernity of Euripides. The clash of generations and values is also the object of Aristophanes' satire in Wasps, in which an old-fashioned father and his loose-living son come to blows and end up in court. And in Women at the Thesmophoria, the famous Greek tragedian Euripides,

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Book SynopsisThese three dramatic works by Tennessee Williams explore the darker side of human nature and are haunted by a sense of isolation and regret. ''Suddenly Last Summer'' is the starkly told story of Catherine, who seemingly goes insane after her cousin Sebastian dies in grisly circumstances on a trip to Europe. ''The Milk Train Doesn''t Stop Here Anymore'' is a passionate examination of a wealthy old woman as she recounts her memories in the face of death, while in ''Small Craft Warnings'' a motley group of people - including a blowsy beautician, a discredited alcoholic doctor, a vulnerable waif and two gay men - sit around a seedy bar on the Californian coast, each contemplating their own desperate fate.

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Book SynopsisA new volume of the greatest revenge tragedies of the seventeenth-century stageThese four plays, written during the reigns of James I and Charles I, took revenge tragedy in dark and ambiguous new directions. In The Duchess of Malfi and The White Devil, John Webster explores power, sex, and corruption in the Italian court, creating two unforgettable anti-heroines. In The Broken Heart, John Ford questions the value of emotional repression as his characters attempt to subdue their desires and hatreds in ancient Greece. Finally, Ford's masterpiece 'Tis Pity She's a Whore explores the taboo themes of incest and forbidden love in a daring reworking of Romeo and Juliet.For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout historyTrade ReviewRevenge, hatred, villainy, incest, and murder upon murder are their constant themes . . . and they handle these horrors with little or no moral purpose, save that of exciting and amusing the audience . . . We should call him a madman who allowed his daughters or his servants to see such representations -- Charles Kingsley

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Book SynopsisArms and the Man, The Devil's Disciple, Caesar and Cleopatra are some of Shaw's most popular and frequently performed works. They demonstrate the development of Shavian comedy and contain early formulations of his idea of the Superman, an extraordinary individual who catalyzes the evolution of mankind.Table of ContentsIntroduction Select Bibliography Chronology Arms and the Man The Devil's Disciple Caesar and Cleopatra Explanatory Notes

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Book Synopsis2018 marks the twentieth anniversary of V-Day, the radical grassroots movement to end violence against women and girls, inspired by Eve Ensler''s international sensation The Vagina Monologues. This special edition features six never-before-published monologues, a new foreword by National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson, a new introduction by the author, and a new afterword by One Billion Rising director Monique Wilson on the stage phenomenon''s global impact.A landmark work in women''s empowerment, as relevant as ever after a year marked by unprecedented social and political protest in the face of unapologetic racism and misogyny, The Vagina Monologues honours women''s sexuality in all its complexity, mystery and power. Witty and irreverent, compassionate and wise, this award-winning masterpiece gives voice to real women''s deepest fantasies, fears, anger and pleasure, and calls for a world where all women are safe, equal, free and alive in their bodies.Trade ReviewThis play changed the world. Seeing it changed my soul. Performing in it changed my life * Kerry Washington *'Probably the most important piece of political theatre of the last decade' * New York Times *'Filled with generous energy and delight'The Times * The Times *Spellbinding, funny, and almost unbearably moving ... a work of art and an incisive piece of cultural history, a poem and a polemic, a performance and a balm and a benediction * Variety *

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Book SynopsisA farcical look at political violence as it''s played out during the Troubles in Northern Ireland against the drab backdrop of a bare, rustic Irish cottage and unending boredom in an inhospitable environment in which a mutilated cat sets off a murderous cycle of revenge. Wee Thomas was a friendly cat. He would always say hello to you were you to see him sitting on a wall. (Pause.) He won''t be saying hello no more, God bless him. Not with that lump of a brain gone.Who knocked Wee Thomas over on the lonely road on the island of Inishmore, and was it an accident? Mad Padraig will want to know when he gets back from a stint of torture and chip shop bombing in Northern Ireland: he loves that cat more than life itself.Trade Review'Gleeful, gruesome play about political terrorism in rural Ireland, which won the Olivier Award for best comedy...Appallingly entertaining...Enlightening..."Lieutenant" is brazenly and unapologetically a farce. But it is also a severely moral play, translating into dizzy absurdism the self-perpetuating spirals of political violence that now occur throughout the world.' The New York Times 'A cautionary fairy tale for our toxic times. In its horror and hilarity, it works as an act of both revenge and repair, turning the tables on grief and goonery, and forcing the audience to think about the unthinkable.' The New Yorker

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Book SynopsisTeddy, a philosophy professor in an American university, brings his wife Ruth to visit his father, uncle and two brothers at his old London home, after years of estrangement. In the intense conflict that follows, it is Ruth who becomes the focus of their struggle for supremacy.An exultant night a man in total command of his talent.' ObserverThe most intense expression of compressed violence to be found anywhere in Pinter's plays.' The TimesThe Homecoming can be seen as a Freudian play about sons filled with subconscious Oedipal desires. It can equally be seen as an ethological study of a group of human animals fighting over territory. Precisely because Pinter never moralises about or resolves the situation, it is a play that, when impeccably acted, continues to haunt our dreams.' Michael Billington, GuardianThe Homecoming premiered at the Aldwych Theatre, London, 1965.

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Book SynopsisA group of strangers is stranded in a boarding house during a snow storm, one of whom is a murderer. The suspects include the newly married couple who run the house, and the suspicions in their minds nearly wreck their perfect marriage. Others are a spinster with a curious background, an architect who seems better equipped to be a chef, a retired Army major, a strange little man who claims his car has overturned in a drift, and a jurist who makeslife miserable for everyone. Into their midst comes a policeman, traveling on skis. He no sooner arrives, when the jurist is killed. Two down, and one togo. To get to the rationale of the murderer''s pattern, the policeman probes the background of everyone present, and rattles a lot of skeletons. Anotherfamous Agatha Christie switch finish! Chalk up another superb intrigue for the foremost mystery writer of her time.

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Book SynopsisThe most widely staged dramatist after Shakespeare, Chekhov left a deep mark both on the development of Russian literature and world theatre, with plays that were remarkable not just for their dialogue but their atmosphere and the tensions expressed between the lines. Collected in this volume are Chekhov's four most celebrated plays - The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard - in a brand-new translation by Hugh Aplin. In these personal stories of unfulfilled love, failed ambition and existential ennui, set against a background of unsettling social and economical change, the reader can appreciate the groundbreaking qualities of Chekhov's theatrical genius.Trade ReviewWhat writers influenced me as a young man? Chekhov! As a dramatist? Chekhov! As a story writer? Chekhov! -- Tennessee Williams

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Book SynopsisTwo young gentlemen living in 1890's England use imaginary friends to inject some excitement into their seemingly dull lives. Jack Worthing invents a brother, "Ernest," whom he pretends to be in order to visit his beloved Gwendolen in the city. Meanwhile, friend Algy Moncrieff uses the name "Ernest" while visiting Jack's beautiful young ward, Cecily in the country. Much confusion ensues as the two women find out they have been deceived by their "Ernests." Some would call this a society comedy; others, a Victorian farce. Regardless of the term used, this full colour graphic novel captures the era effortlessly. With an intricate attention to detail, wonderful characterisation and dramatically expressive and humorous artwork, this really is a graphic novel to cherish.Table of ContentsDramatis Persona The Importance of Being Earnest Act 1 Act 2 Act 3 Oscar Wilde De Profundis Wilde Timeline The Original Four-Act Play Page Creation

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Book SynopsisThe heroic Greek dramas that have moved theatergoers and readers since the fifth century B.C.Towering over the rest of Greek tragedy, the three plays that tell the story of the fated Theban royal family—Antigone, Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus—are among the most enduring and timeless dramas ever written. Robert Fagles's authoritative and acclaimed translation conveys all of Sophocles's lucidity and power: the cut and thrust of his dialogue, his ironic edge, the surge and majesty of his choruses and, above all, the agonies and triumphs of his characters. This Penguin Classics edition features an introduction and notes by the renowned classicist Bernard Knox.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and dTrade Review“I know of no better modern English version.”—Sir Hugh Lloyd-Jones, Oxford University “A marvel of craftsmanship and intelligence.”—Emily Vermeule, Harvard University “The most impressive verse translations of Sophocles that have been made.”—Stephen SpenderTable of ContentsThe Three Theban Plays - Sophocles Translated by Robert Fagles with Introductions and Notes by Bernard KnoxAcknowledgmentsTranslator's PrefaceGreece and the TheaterSOPHOCLES: THE THREE THEBAN PLAYSIntroduction to AntigoneAntigoneIntroduction to Oedipus the KingOedipus the KingIntroduction to Oedipus at ColonusOedipus at ColonusA Note on the Text of SophoclesTextual VariantsNotes on the Translation: Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at ColonusSelect BibliographyThe Genealogy of OedipusGlossary

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Book SynopsisMasterful versions of Ibsen’s two great verse plays by one of our greatest living poets, Geoffrey Hill   These two masterly and contrasting verse dramas by Ibsen made his reputation as a playwright. The fantastical adventures of the irrepressible Peer Gynt—poet, idler, procrastinator, seducer—draw on Norwegian folklore to conjure up mountains, kidnappings, shipwrecks, and trolls in an exuberant celebration of life; while Brand, an unsparing vision of an idealistic priest who lives by his steely faith, explores free will, sacrifice, and the self. This volume brings together the poet Geoffrey Hill’s acclaimed stage version of Brand with a new poetic rendering of Peer Gynt, published for the first time.   For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best w

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsPart I: THE FABRIC OF INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION. 1. A First Look at Interpersonal Communication. 2. Communication and Personal Identity. 3. Perception and Communication. 4. The World of Words. 5. The World Beyond Words. 6. Mindful Listening. Part II: WEAVING COMMUNICATION INTO RELATIONSHIPS. 7. Emotions and Communication. 8. Communication Climate: The Foundation of Personal Relationships. 9. Managing Conflict in Relationships. 10. Friendships in Our Lives. 11. Committed Romantic Relationships. 12. Communication in Families. Epilogue: Continuing the Conversation. Glossary. References. Index.

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Book SynopsisA reissue of Nobel Prize-winner Dario Fo's play, Accidental Death of an Anarchist - a sharp satire on police corruption. The play concerns the case of an anarchist railway worker who, in 1969, 'fell' to his death from a police headquarters' window.

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Book SynopsisFirst issued by Methuen in 1959, this play was the first title in the Modern plays series aimed at the burgeoning readership of young theatregoer This title and five others are reissued, representing the range and vitality of the list of titles in print .Trade Review'Some of Delaney's themes may feel dated but her writing still glitters dangerously and wittily. A Taste of Honey remains a passionate statement about real people trapped in poverty, deprived of ambition and vulnerable to manipulation by the fickleness of others.' Independent (19 November 2008) 'Brawling, boozing, teenage pregnancy and fractured families: Shelagh Delaney's benchmark drama, first staged by Joan Littlewood in London in 1958, has lost none of its relevance 50 years on... The quirkiness and passion of Delaney's young voice still rings out... It remains passionate and pungent.' The Times (19 November 2008) 'Its raw eloquence, sometimes almost lyrical, its tough, swaggering humour...its frank brutality and unblinking humanity.' Sunday Times (23 November 2008)

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Book SynopsisAt a restaurant party thrown by Marlene of the Top Girls Employment Agency are Isabella Bird, the 19th-century traveller, Lady Nijo, courtesan to a 13th-century Japanese Emperor, Brueghel's Dull Gret, Pope Joan and Patient Griselda, wife of Chaucer's Clerk.Trade Review"Top Girls has a combination of directness and complexity which keeps you both emotionally and intellectually alert. You can smell life, and at the same time feel locked in an argument with an agile and passionate mind." The Sunday Times, John Peter

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Book SynopsisA play which contains an uncompromising depiction of rape, torture and violence in a society at war with itself.Trade Review'Kane wrote simply and starkly about the world she saw around her...a mature and vividly theatrical response to the pain of living' Guardian; 'I do not think I've yet seen a play that can beat Sarah Kane's sustained onslaught on the sensibilities for sheer, unadulterated brutalism' Evening Standard

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Book SynopsisThe gods never move faster than when punishing men with the consequences of their own actions. Desperate to gain control over a city ravaged by civil war, Creon refuses to bury the body of Antigone''s rebellious brother. Outraged, she defies his edict. Creon condemns the young woman, his niece, to be buried alive. The people daren''t object but the prophet Teiresias warns that this tyranny will anger the gods: the rotting corpse is polluting the city. Creon hesitates and his fate is sealed. Sophocles'' great tragic play dramatises the clash between the family and the city and, with high poetry and deep tragedy, presents an irreconcilable but equally balanced conflict. Sophoclean heroine Antigone has become a cultural archetype, the symbol of personal integrity and an icon of political freedom, whilst her coprotagonist Creon can be interpreted as either a civic saviour or a ruthless tyrant. This translation by Don Taylor, accurate yet poetic, was mad

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Book SynopsisWitty and buoyant comedy of manners is brilliantly plotted from its effervescent first act to its hilarious denouement, and filled with some of literature''s most famous epigrams. Widely considered Wilde''s most perfect work, the play is reprinted here from an authoritative early British edition. Note to the Dover Edition.

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Book SynopsisRosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is a play which, as it were, takes place in the wings of Hamlet, and finds both humour and poignancy in the situation of the ill-fated attendant lords. The National Theatre production in April 1967 made Tom Stoppard''s reputation virtually overnight. Its wit, stagecraft and verbal verve remain as exhilarating as they were then and the play has become a contemporary classic.

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Book SynopsisThe action takes place in late August 1833 at a hedge-school in the townland of Baile Beag, an Irish-speaking community in County Donegal. In a nearby field camps a recently arrived detachment of the Royal Engineers, making the first Ordnance Survey. For the purposes of cartography, the local Gaelic place names have to be recorded and rendered into English. In examining the effects of this operation on the lives of a small group, Brian Friel skilfully reveals the far-reaching personal and cultural effects of an action which is at first sight purely administrative.

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Book SynopsisPlaywright and novelist Nigel Williams''s stage adaptation of William Golding''s story was first professionally produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon in July 1995. ''Remarkably true to the novel in spirit . . . the theatre lends itself particularly well to the ritualistic aspects of the story - chanting, dancing, marching, forming a circle round the victim, stamping out a fire . . . You end up feeling you have seen a fable of infinite implications enacted in a little room.'' Sunday TelegraphThis special acting edition, particularly suitable for schools and amateur groups, contains the full playtext as well as notes on staging, a full properties list and lighting and sound cues.

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Book SynopsisTom Stoppard''s masterpiece, with a beautiful new cover. Comparing what we're looking for misses the point. It's wanting to know that makes us matter. Otherwise we're going out the way we came in.Arcadia premiered at the National Theatre, London, 1993, winning the Olivier Award for Best New Play and the Evening Standard Award for Best Play.It is a laugh-filled tragedy about what happens if you take the intoxicants of poetry and science seriously. It is a play where Stoppard turns himself into a clown whose juggling balls are Romanticism, Classicism, and the meaning of life . . . The stale cliché about Stoppard is that he is a brilliant manipulator of ideas, but with no heart. Yet here at the core of his best play is the greatest love story on the British stage for decades. Yes, the characters bond over ideas but some of the most interesting people in life do just that. That would be enough to make Arcadia a masterpiece but it is even more than that. The play stirs the most basic and profound questions humans can ask. How should we live with the knowledge that extinction is certain not just of ourselves, but of our species?' INDEPENDENTI have never left a new play more convinced that I'd witnessed a masterpiece.' DAILY TELEGRAPHA brilliant, brilliant play. A play of ideas, of consummate theatricality, of sophisticated entertainment and of heartache for time never to be regained.' SUNDAY TIMES

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Book SynopsisA dazzling tragicomic tale from the author of modern classic The Unbearable Lightness of Being.Anyone reading Kundera''s books is unlikely to forget them. They have an essential energy, a difference.' New StatesmanKundera is a self-confessed hedonist in a world beset by politics . . . Marvellous.' Salman RushdieKlima, a celebrated jazz trumpeter, learns that a young nurse with whom he spent one brief night at a fertility spa is pregnant - and she has decided he is the father.Thus begins a whirlwind farce as he returns to the spa: an accelerating dance which unfolds over five madcap days, encompassing Klima''s jealous wife, the nurse''s equally jealous boyfriend, a fanatical gynaecologist, a rich American (at once Don Juan and saint) and an elderly political prisoner who is holding a farewell party before emigration.Posing serious philosophical questions with his inimitable blasphemous lightness, Farewell Waltz is

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Book SynopsisAlan Bennett''s beloved, best-known play, with a beautiful typographic cover. The best moments in reading are when you come across something a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things that you'd thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you've never met, maybe even someone long dead.As an unruly bunch of bright, funny sixth-form boys pursue sex, sport and a place at university, adolescent anarchy and staffroom rivalry provoke insistent questions about history and education.The History Boys premiered at the National Theatre, London, 2004, winning Evening Standard, Critics' Circle, Olivier and South Bank Awards. On Broadway, it received numerous awards, including six Tonys.

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Book SynopsisFrom an inauspicious beginning at the tiny Left Bank Theatre de Babylone in 1953, followed by bewilderment among American and British audiences, "Waiting for Godot" has become one of the most important and enigmatic plays of the past fifty years and a cornerstone of twentieth-century drama. As Clive Barnes wrote, "Time catches up with genius. . . . "Waiting for Godot" is one of the masterpieces of the century." The story revolves around two seemingly homeless men waiting for someone--or something--named Godot. Vladimir and Estragon wait near a tree, inhabiting a drama spun of their own consciousness. The result is a comical wordplay of poetry, dreamscapes, and nonsense, which has been interpreted as mankind's inexhaustible search for meaning. Beckett's language pioneered an expressionistic minimalism that captured the existential post- World War II Europe. His play remains one of the most magical and beautiful allegories of our time.

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Book SynopsisThe present volume gathers all of Beckett''s texts for theatre, from 1955 to 1984. It includes both the major dramatic works and the short and more compressed texts for the stage and for radio.''He believes in the cadence, the comma, the bite of word on reality, whatever else he believes; and his devotion to them, he makes clear, is a sufficient focus for the reader''s attention. In the modern history of literature he is a unique moral figure, not a dreamer of rose-gardens but a cultivator of what will grow in the waste land, who can make us see the exhilarating design that thorns and yucca share with whatever will grow anywhere.'' - Hugh KennerContents: Waiting for Godot, Endgame, Happy Days, All That Fall, Acts Without Words, Krapp''s Last Tape, Roughs for the Theatre, Embers, Roughs for the Radio, Words and Music, Cascando, Play, Film, The Old Tune, Come and Go, Eh Joe, Breath, Not I, That Time, Footfalls, Ghost Trio,...but the clouds..., A Piece of Monologue, Rockaby, Ohio Impromptu, Quad, Catastrophe, Nacht und Traume, What Where.

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Book Synopsis''Betrayal is a new departure and a bold one . . . Pinter has found a way of making memory active and dramatic, giving an audience the experience of the mind''s accelerating momentum as it pieces together the past with a combination of curiosity and regret. He shows man betrayed not only by man, but by time - a recurring theme which has found its proper scenic correlative . . . Pinter captures the psyche''s sly manoeuvres for self-respect with a sardonic forgiveness . . . a master craftsman honouring his talent by setting it new, difficult tasks'' New Society''There is hardly a line into which desire, pain, alarm, sorrow, rage or some kind of blend of feelings has not been compressed, like volatile gas in a cylinder less stable than it looks . . . Pinter''s narrative method takes what''s next? out of the spectator''s and replaces it with the rather deeper how? and why? Why did love pass? How did these people cope with the lies, the evasions, the sudden dangers, panic and the contradictory feelings behind their own deftly engineered masks? The play''s subject is not sex, not even adultery, but the politics of betrayal and the damage it inflicts on all involved.'' The TimesFirst staged at the National Theatre in 1978, Betrayal was revived at the Almeida Theatre, London, in 1991. Twenty years after its first showing, it returned to the National in 1998.

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Book SynopsisEveryman is successful, popular and riding high when Death comes calling. Forced to abandon the life he has built, he embarks on a last, frantic search to recruit a friend, anyone, to speak in his defence. But Death is close behind, and time is running out.One of the great primal, spiritual myths, Everyman asks whether it is only in death that we can understand our lives. A cornerstone of English drama since the 15th century, this new adaptation by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy was presented at the National Theatre, London, in April 2015.

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Book SynopsisYou haven''t asked, but yes, you both may stay in our house for the time being. And use our things. I figure it''ll take a war to settle it all.A compelling story of two families - one Palestinian, one Israeli - forced by history into an intimacy they didn''t choose.''[Returning to Haifa] offers a moving confrontation between two sets of displaced people and an utterly unsentimental exploration of the complexities of home, history and parenthood . . . its call for reciprocal awareness and acknowledgement of past injustice seems more necessary than ever.' GuardianIn 1948, Palestinian couple Said and Safiyya fled their home during the Nakba. Now, in the aftermath of the 1967 Six Day War, the borders are open for the first time in twenty years, and they dare to return to their home in Haifa. They are ready to find someone else living where they once did, but nothing can prepare them for the encounter they both desire and dread

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Book Synopsis''One drink. And if you never want to see me again you never have to see me again.''A quantum physicist and a beekeeper meet. They hit it off, or perhaps they don't. They might go home together, they might not.Constellations explores love, free will, and friendship through quantum multiverse theory and honey.Constellations premiered at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London, in 2012, and transferred to the Duke of York's. It opened on Broadway in 2015; and at the Vaudeville Theatre, London, in 2021.Nick Payne's gorgeous two-character drama, may be the most sophisticated date play Broadway has seen.' New York Times

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Book SynopsisWith acid wit, Miriam Battye's play takes a scalpel to modern romance. Strategic Love Play opened at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, in July 2023, produced by Paines Plough, Soho Theatre and Belgrade Theatre, in association with Landmark Theatres.Winner of a Fringe First Award for outstanding new writing.

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Book SynopsisThe people who buy paintings like this aren't just driven by aesthetic desire. People who buy paintings like this want a story. A story that catapults them into the orbit of the Führer.As Nicola and Philipp are clearing out their late father's house, they find an old painting stashed in the attic: a quaint watercolour of a church on a pale summer day, signed A. Hitler'.Nicola wants to sell it. Philipp wants to keep it. Philipp's wife Judith wants to burn it.A jagged satire from one of Germany''s foremost playwrights, Nachtland opened at the Young Vic Theatre, London, in February 2024.

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Book SynopsisHilarious and touching, this play for six women is set in a beauty parlour in Louisiana. Through four scenes spanning three years the staff and customers engage in small-town gossip but we see a deep strength and purposefulness emerge when Shelby - a diabetic - dies following a kidney transplant operation.

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Book SynopsisDrama Characters: 9 male Interior Set This seminal work of the Off-Broadway movement premiered in 1968 and was a long-running hit onstage, later filmed with the original cast. In 2010, the play made a triumphant return to New York City in an highly praised production produced by Drama Desk and Obie Award winning Transport Group. In his upper eastside Manhattan apartment, Michael is throwing a birthday party for Harold, a self-awoved 32 year-old, pock-marked, Jew fairy, complete with surprise gift: Cowboy a street hustler. As the evening wears on, fueled by drugs and alcohol, bitter, unresolved resentments among the guests come to light when a game of Truth goes terribly wrong. A play of real substance, one that deserves to be performed not occasionally but regularly.-The Wall Street Journal ...terrifically thoughtful...The Boys in the Band emerges remarkably universal.-NY1 ...deliriously delicious...-Gay City News The Boys in the Band...goes from wittily bitchy to heartbreakingly brutal...-Out Magazine Witty, bitchy, revelatory and dazzlingly entertaining...the excoriating wit is still there.-New York Post Humor is still on key in this poignant, sparkling revival of a landmark gay play...the star of the evening is the play itself solidly built, still moving and enormously entertaining.-New York Daily News This is a play that takes the homosexual way of life totally for granted and uses this as a valid basis for human experience...the power of the play is the way in which it remorselessly peels away the pretensions of its characters.-The New York Times

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Book SynopsisEuripides (c. 485–406 BCE) has been prized in every age for his emotional and intellectual drama. Eighteen of his ninety or so plays survive complete, including Medea, Hippolytus, and Bacchae, one of the great masterpieces of the tragic genre. Fragments of his lost plays also survive.

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Book SynopsisOne of the great classics of European literature, Faust is Goethe's most complex and profound work. This title tells the story of one man's pact with the Devil in exchange for knowledge and power.Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION xi FAUST: A Tragedy DEDICATION 1 PRELUDE ON THE STAGE 3 PROLOGUE IN HEAVEN 9 PART ONE NIGHT (Faust's Study I: Easter Eve) 13 OUTSIDE THE CITY GATE (Easter-Day Walk) 23 FAUST'S STUDY (II: Easter Night) 32 FAUST'S STUDY (III: Pact and Student Scene) 40 AUERBACHS WINE-CELLAR IN LEIPZIG 53 WITCH'S KITCHEN (Rejuvenation) 60 A STREET (I: Margarete Accosted) 67 EVENING (Margarete's Room I) 69 PROMENADE (Street II: Mephistopheles' Report) 72 THE NEIGHBOR'S HOUSE (The Story of Schwerdtlein) 73 A STREET (III: False Witness) 77 (Martha's) GARDEN (I: Promenading Couples) 79 A SUMMERHOUSE (Martha's Garden II) 82 FOREST AND CAVE (Faust's Conscience) 83 GRETCHEN'S ROOM (II: Margarete at Her Spinning Wheel) 87 MARTHA'S GARDEN (III: Faust's Credo) 88 AT THE WELL (Gretchen and Lieschen) 91 BY THE RAMPARTS (Gretchen's Prayer) 92 NIGHT (Street IV: Valentine's Death) 93 CATHEDRAL (Mass, with Organ and Choir) 97 WALPURGIS NIGHT (Faust on the Brocken) 99 WALPURGIS NIGHT'S DREAM (Intermezzo) 108 AN EXPANSE OF OPEN COUNTRY (Faust's Rage) 112 NIGHT: OPEN FIELDS (The Gibbet) 114 PRISON (Margarete's Death) 114 PART TWO, in Five Acts Act I A PLEASANT LANDSCAPE (Faust's Recovery) 121 AN IMPERIAL PALACE THE THRONE ROOM (Council of State) 124 A GREAT HALL (Masquerade and Faust's Masque) 132 A GARDEN (Benefits of Paper Money) 154 A DARK GALLERY (The Mothers) 158 BRIGHTLY LI T ROOMS (Waiting for Faust) 162 KNIGHTS' HALL (The Rape of Helen) 163 Act II A HIGH-VAULTED, NARROW GOTHIC ROOM (Faust's Study IV) 169 LABORATORY (Creation of Homunculus) 175 CLASSICAL WALPURGIS NIGHT 180 The Pharsalian Fields 180 (Erichtho and the Aeronauts 180 * By the Sphinxes 181 * Peneus and Nymphs 186 * Faust, Chiron, and Manto 187 * Again by the Upper Peneus: Seismos' Mountain 191 * Mephistopheles and the Lamiae 196 * Anaxagoras, Thales, and Homunculus 200 * The Phorcides 202) Rocky Inlets of the Aegean Sea 204 (Nereus 206 * Proteus 209 * Galatea 214 * Homunculus merges with the sea 215) Act III (Helen: Classico-Romantic Phantasmagoria. An Intermezzo) BEFORE MENELAUS' PALACE AT SPARTA (Helen's Flight) 216 INNER COURTYARD OF A CASTLE (The Wooing and Defense of Helen) 231 A SHADED GROVE (The Life and Death of Euphorion) 241 Act IV HIGH MOUNTAINS 254 (Margarete Remembered 254 * Faust's Great Plan 256 * The Emperor in Danger 258 * Mephistopheles' Three Mighty Men 260) ON A FOOTHILL (Defeat of the Anti-Emperor) 261 THE ANTI-EMPEROR'S TENT (Rewards of Victory) 272 Act V A BROAD LANDSCAPE (Baucis and Philemon) 279 FAUST'S PALACE BEFORE THE PALACE 281 (Faust's Discontent 281 * The Destruction of Baucis, Philemon and Their Guest 285) FAUST ON THE BALCONY 286 (Mephistopheles' Report 286 * Four Gray Women in the Courtyard 287) WITHIN THE PALACE (Care, and the Blinding of Faust) 288 THE LARGE OUTER COURTYARD 290 (Faust's Death and Interment 292 * Mephistopheles Defeated 295) MOUNTAIN GORGES (Faust's Vision of Heaven and His Reunion with Margarete) 299 Chronology of the Composition of Faust 306 Goethe's Faust and the Present Translation 307 Bibliographical Note 314 Explanatory Notes 315

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Book SynopsisBased on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne, a new play by Jack Thorne, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage. The play will receive its world premiere in London''s West End on 30th July 2016.It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn''t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband, and father of three school-age children.While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.

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