Plays, playscripts, drama

Book SynopsisA Schools Edition of The Slab Boys by Scottish playwright John Byrne, a popular set text for SQA Higher English.A semi-autobiographical work, The Slab Boys is set in the slab room of A.F. Stobo & Co Carpet Manufacturers in Paisley and the action takes place on one day in 1957. It explores themes such as rebellion and conformity, social class and social mobility, youth, deception, and frustrated ambition and achievement.This edition includes:- An introduction by John Byrne, who was a 'slab boy' himself before becoming a playwright and artist- The full playscript- Notes, quotations and questions to improve students' understanding of the play and support study/revision- Tasks and activities that build the skills of analysis and evaluation that students must demonstrate in the exam- Assessment advice for the Critical Reading question paperThis is the only single-volume version of The Slab Boys, taken from The Slab Boys Trilogy.

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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 SynopsisA group of teenagers do something bad, really bad, then panic and cover the whole thing up. But when they find that the cover-up unites them and brings harmony to their otherwise fractious lives, where's the incentive to put things right? DNA is a poignant and, sometimes, hilarious tale with a very dark heart.A contemporary play for younger people,DNA opened at the National Theatre in February 2008Trade ReviewTension so gripping you could almost taste it. Highly recommended. FOUR STARS * What's On Stage *A taut, compelling thriller and a modern-day spin on Lord of the Flies, exploring group behaviour and moral equivocation. * Financial Times *Dennis Kelly's short, sharp shocker of a play cleverly piles on the twists... [his] sharp, reflective writing gets inside the characters’ heads. FOUR STARS * The Guardian *Dennis Kelly's cruel teaser of a play; Anthony Banks's snappy production sets the temperature at chilling. FOUR STARS * The Sunday Times *

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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 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 SynopsisOne four-letter word is about to rock 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. When the President unwittingly spins a PR nightmare into a global crisis, the seven brilliant and beleaguered women he relies upon most risk life, liberty, and the pursuit of sanity to keep the commander-in-chief out of trouble.Selina Fillinger''s brilliant, all-female farce took Broadway by storm in a star-studded production that earned three 2022 Tony nominations.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review`Luke has done us all - including, if one may say so, Goethe - a potently good turn. We should take advantage of it.' D.J. Enright, Observer`a translation "for our time" without signs of strain.' D. J. Enright, The Observer`At last! A translation of Goethe's masterpiece which reads like a masterpiece in English. David Luke conveys the meaning, intellectual passion and Byronic raciness of the original. This is a poet's as well as a scholar's version, for David Luke has written original poems of great distinction.' Stephen Spender, Spectator'scrupulous and well-informed, backed up by scholarly clarification of the text's difficult history ... one of the most spirited efforts to capture the great poetic drama' Independent'a translation of really poetic quality, preceded by an informative introduction and a most useful synopsis of the various stages of composition of the drama ... This reissue is most welcome: for over and above having available for the non-Germanist an English version of this novel.' The Classical Era'signs of struggle are remarkably few ... The price he pays for rhyming is never too high, and the profits are immense. Michael Hamburger once noted that while Faust had been translated again and again, no single version had established itself as a standard text for the English-speaking world. With his Parts One and Two, both in Oxford University Press World's Classics, Luke has provided us with exactly that.' Times Literary Supplement

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Book SynopsisAn accessible prose translation that is accompanied by a general introduction and individual prefaces to each play.Table of ContentsMedea and Other PlaysGeneral IntroductionNote on the TextChronological TableTranslator's NotePreface to AlcestisAlcestisPreface to MedeaMedeaPreface to The Children of HeracleaThe Children of HeraclesPreface to HippolytusHippolytusNotesBibliographyGlossary of Mythological and Geographical Names

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Book SynopsisEdward Albee was born on 12th March 1928. He was adopted by Reed and Frances Albee at the age of eighteen days. Reed Albee was the heir to a vaudeville empire. In 1949 he moved to Greenwich Village and became involved in the artistic scene there. He has received three Pulitzer prizes for drama and in 2005 received a special Tony Lifetime Achievement Award.Trade ReviewAn intensity, a demoniac misery, a ferocious humour...no one can remain indifferent to its power, its resilience of ideas and its range of language * Sunday Times *Deliciously toxic, acidly funny * Washington Post *There is a great sense of danger in Edward's work, and you never quite know what's going to happen next... I think what is one of the most pronounced ingredients in his work is mischief -- Harold PinterScorching and exhilarating * New York Post *The verbal sparring and violence of Albee's early masterpiece remain astonishing, even frightening, yet bitterly, horribly funny...a classic play * The Times *

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Book SynopsisAn extraordinary collision of ancient fairytale and fractured urban England. In a broken world, two girls meet an extraordinary creature. The Skriker is a shapeshifter and death portent. She can be an old woman, a child, a young man. She is a faerie come from the Underworld to pursue and entrap them, through time and space, through this world and her own. Caryl Churchill's play The Skriker was originally produced at the National Theatre, London, in 1994.Trade Review'Unwholesome, hypnotic and born in the dark... spellbinding' * Independent on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisA raucously funny and romantic family drama by Beth Steel (The House of Shades, Wonderland).NOMINATED FOR THE OLIVIER AWARD FOR BEST NEW PLAY.''It seems spun in gold.'' Guardian It's Sylvia and Marek's wedding. Over the course of a hot summer''s day, a family gathers to welcome a newcomer into their midst. But as the vodka flows and the guests hit the dancefloor, passions boil over and the limits of love are tested.Beth Steel''s heartbreaking, hilarious portrayal of a larger-than-life family struggling to come to terms with a changing world opened at the National Theatre, London, in January 2024.

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Book Synopsis'I'd get freaked out here, alone in the dark. Wondering what's lurking at the bottom of the bed, ready to grab your feet.' Jenny and Sam – and their baby Phoebe – have recently moved into their new home. But something feels frightening and wrong. Very wrong. Over the baby monitor, at 2:22 every night, Jenny hears footsteps around her daughter's cot. Could the house be haunted? When their friends Lauren and Ben come round for a housewarming dinner, they drink wine, relive their pasts, and argue about the existence of ghosts. They decide to stay up until 2:22, to discover the truth. Over one adrenaline-filled night – as the foxes scream outside – secrets will emerge and ghosts may appear… Spine-chilling, funny and scary, Danny Robins' play 2:22 was premiered at the Noël Coward Theatre in London's West End in August 2021, directed by Matthew Dunster, and starring Lily Allen, Julia Chan, Hadley Fraser and Jake Wood. It went on to win Best New Play at the 2022 WhatsOnStage Awards, and was nominated for Best New Play at the Olivier Awards. 2:22 provides rich opportunities for any drama group wanting to make things go bump in the night – and their audiences scream.Trade Review'A contemporary haunted-house chiller that smartly plays with all the old tropes and leaves the room electric with fear' * Guardian *'[A] clever, remorselessly effective supernatural thriller... I kicked myself that I didn't see the final twist coming, but it's brilliantly done. This is a superior, knowing piece of genre drama... A great, spine-tingling night out' * Evening Standard *'The mounting sense of dread is relentless... Robins – the creator of hit podcast The Battersea Poltergeist – is well-versed in what makes scary stories scary, and uses that to brilliant effect here' * Independent *'A cracking dinner party play, alive with wit and tension... the extremely cleverly worked supernatural angle keeps things fresh... a rare and precious example of a Good West End Ghost Play... [it] really does deliver' * Time Out *'A teasingly clever and deservedly lucrative spine-tingler' * Telegraph *'A gripping, clever modern ghost story that gets more intriguing as it goes along (and even after it is over)... witty as well as scary, and delivers a great punch in the final round' * Arts Desk *

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Book SynopsisLorraine Hansberry was born in 1930 in South Side, Chicago. Her first play, A Raisin in the Sun, opened in March 1959 and made history as the first production written by a female Black author to be staged on Broadway. Hansberry was the youngest and the first Black recipient of the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award. She committed her life to the Black struggle for equality and human rights until her early death in 1965 at the age of 34.Trade ReviewA Raisin in the Sun was a revelation to me. It's still fresh. It is still relevant. Lorraine Hansberry was a visionary. * Spike Lee *

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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 *

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Book SynopsisA sinister night.Evil and edge in the air.What are they celebrating?Clytemnestra's world is torn apart when Agamemnon sacrifices their daughter for the sake of war. Ten years later, the couple are reunited. What follows is a dangerous battle fuelled by love, grief and power.Marina Carr's adaptation of the infamous Greek myth brings Clytemnestra's story to the fore and asks if it is possible to forgive the unforgivable.He turns to me in hall one evening, wine on him, sentimental. There is nothing I would not do to have your good opinion again, he says.Girl on an Altar opened at the Kiln Theatre, London, in May 2022. The production transferred to the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in July 2023. ''Mesmerisingly compelling . . . Carr''s words are a delight to hear, even at their most bleak. Bracingly good.'' Evening Standard''Cool and deadly . . . Homeric in its vivid detail and oral splendour.'' <

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Book SynopsisSlowly I learnt the ways of humans: how to ruin, how to hate, how to debase, how to humiliate. And at the feet of my master I learnt the highest of human skills, the skill no other creature owns: I finally learnt how to lie.Childlike in his innocence but grotesque in form, Frankenstein''s bewildered creature is cast out into a hostile universe by his horror-struck maker. Meeting with cruelty wherever he goes, the friendless Creature, increasingly desperate and vengeful, determines to track down his creator and strike a terrifying deal.Urgent concerns of scientific responsibility, parental neglect, cognitive development and the nature of good and evil are embedded within this thrilling and deeply disturbing classic gothic tale.Frankenstein, based on the novel by Mary Shelley, premiered at the National Theatre, London, in February 2011.

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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 *

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Book SynopsisThe fabulously wealthy Victorian gentleman Phileas Fogg wagers his life's fortune that he can circumnavigate the globe in just eighty days. Along with his hapless valet Passepartout, he sets out on a dazzling escapade that takes him from the misty alleys of London to the exotic subcontinent and on to the Wild West as they race against the clock on a dizzying succession of trains, steamers, a wind-propelled sledge and an elephant. Laura Eason's celebrated adaptation of Jules Verne's classic novel was seen at the New Vic Theatre, Stoke, and Manchester's Royal Exchange before receiving its London premiere at the St. James Theatre in 2015. Packing in more than fifty unforgettable characters, this imaginative version of Around the World in 80 Days was written for an ensemble cast of eight, but can be performed by a much larger cast – making it perfect for any theatre company or drama group looking for a high-spirited adventure.Trade Review'A lot of fun... Laura Eason's script runs with clockwork precision... bursting with imagination, this exuberant whistle-stop tour through Verne is a trip worth making' * The Stage *'An eccentric treat… fun and imaginative' * Time Out *

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Book SynopsisAt the beginning of the twentieth century, Leopoldstadt was the old, crowded Jewish quarter of Vienna. But Hermann Merz, a manufacturer and baptised Jew married to Catholic Gretl, has moved up in the world. Gathered in the Merz apartment in a fashionable part of the city, Hermann's extended family are at the heart of Tom Stoppard's epic yet intimate drama. By the time we have taken leave of them, Austria has passed through the convulsions of war, revolution, impoverishment, annexation by Nazi Germany and - for Austrian Jews - the Holocaust in which 65,000 of them were murdered. It is for the survivors to pass on a story which hasn't ended yet.Tom Stoppard's Leopoldstadt was first performed at Wyndham's Theatre, London, in January 2020.WINNER: OLIVIER AWARD FOR BEST NEW PLAY, 2020WINNER: TONY AWARD FOR BEST PLAY, 2023Winner of the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play; the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign

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Book SynopsisTrade Review'this translation seems to me a major advance on any previous one' Brian Fallon, The Irish Times'ample and lucid introduction and annotations, which contain some useful maps ... By publishing both Luke's translations and Boyle's critical masterpiece, OUP has performed an inestimable service to Anglo-German cultural understanding.' Times Literary Supplement'Oxford, in its superb World's Classics series, is offering us David Luke's version of Faust Part Two.' Albert Manguel, Observer

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Book SynopsisFast-moving and highly entertaining, Teechers evokes life at a modern school. Using the format of an end-of-term play, the new drama teacher''s progress through two terms of recalcitrant classes, synical colleagues and obstructive caretakers is reviewed. Disillutioned, he departs for a safer private school.

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Book SynopsisMe jumping out of the van, was the beginning of a very bad day for me. I just didn't know it, but I was going to know it, in about four minutes, I was going to know, fer trut.2020. Delroy is arrested on his way to the hospital.Filled with anger and grief, he recalls the moments and relationships that gave him hope before his life was irrevocably changed.Written in response to their play Death of England, Death of England: Delroy is a new standalone work by Clint Dyer and Roy Williams, which follows a Black working-class man searching for truth and confronting his relationship withWhite Britain.This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere of Death of England: Delroy, at the National Theatre in 2020. The production was the first play to reopen the theatre following the Coronavirus pandemic.Trade ReviewImpassioned and insightful * The Stage *A blazing performance snuffed out too soon * Telegraph *In this furious, funny shout of a play, one black Londoner explores the racism encoded both in British institutions and in his relationships with his white best friend and girlfriend. It’s an urgent, timely solo work, performed with firecracker energy and a blend of charm and rage * Evening Standard *A commanding physical performance * Times *Dyer and Williams have delivered a play we urgently need, and one we’ll likely be talking about for years to come, when the closure of London’s theatres will be a distant memory * Time Out *The writing glitters ... brash and brilliant theatre * Guardian *

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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 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 *

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Book SynopsisFour plays which exemplify his interest in flawed, characters who defy the expectations of Greek society The four tragedies collected in this volume all focus on a central character, once powerful, brought down by betrayal, jealousy, guilt and hatred. The first playwright to depict suffering without reference to the gods, Euripides made his characters speak in human terms and face the consequences of their actions. In Medea, a woman rejected by her lover takes hideous revenge by murdering the children they both love, and Hecabe depicts the former queen of Troy, driven mad by the prospect of her daughter's sacrifice to Achilles. Electra portrays a young woman planning to avenge the brutal death of her father at the hands of her mother, while in Heracles the hero seeks vengeance against the evil king who has caused bloodshed in his family. Philip Vellacott's lucid translation is accompanied by an introduction, which discusses the literary background of Classical Athens aTable of ContentsMedea and Other PlaysIntroductionMedeaHecabeElectraHeraclesNotes

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Book SynopsisMarlene thinks the eighties are going to be stupendous. Her sister Joyce has her doubts. Her daughter Angie is just frightened. Since its premiere in 1982, Top Girls has become a seminal play of the modern theatre. Set during a period of British politics dominated by the presence of the newly elected Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Churchill's play prompts us to question our notions of women''s success and solidarity. Its sharp look at the society and politics of the 1980s is combined with a timeless examination of women''s choices and restrictions regarding career and family.This new Student Edition features an introduction by Sophie Bush, Senior Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, UK prepared with the contemporary student in mind. METHUEN DRAMA STUDENT EDITIONS are expertly annotated texts of a wide range of plays from the modern and classic repertoires. A well as the complete text of the play itself, this volume contains: A chronology of the play and the playwTrade ReviewTop 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. -- John Peter * Sunday Times *The work builds to a superb emotion-draining climax that sent me out of the theatre convinced that this is the best British play ever from a woman dramatist -- Michael Billington * Guardian *[Churchill's] play is brilliantly conceived with considerable wit to illuminate the underlying deep human seriousness of her theme -- Bryan Robertson * Spectator *Table of ContentsChronology (Churchill's life and work, alongside significant political, social and cultural events) Contexts * Historical contexts (women’s rights/advancement; Thatcher’s Britain) * Theatrical contexts (The Royal Court; Max Stafford Clark; production history; critical responses) * The play today (an interview with David Shirley, director of the play in 2014) Themes * Women and work * Female Genealogy: Mothers and daughters (killing your mother; giving up your daughter); sisters (and sisterhood); 'Herstory'/re-finding women's histories * Women’s ability/freedom to occupy multiple/conflicting roles * Women aping masculine behaviour/dress/passing as men * 'Getting away'/freedom/travel/social mobility * Class (individualism vs socialism; economic/social mobility; materialism vs human compassion; 'successful' women ignoring the plight of less fortunate women) Dramatic Technique * Language * Structure * Characterisation/multi-roling Academic Debate (including suggestions for further reading) Related Work Play Text (with on-page glossing/notes) Glossary of Dramatic Terms

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Book SynopsisThe third edition of Hamlet offers a completely new introduction to this rich, mysterious play, examining Shakespeare''s transformation of an ancient Nordic legend into a drama whose philosophical, psychological, political, and spiritual complexities have captivated audiences world-wide for over 400 years. Focusing on the ways in which Shakespeare re-imagined the revenge plot and its capacity to investigate the human experiences of love, grief, obligation, and memory, Heather Hirschfeld explores the play''s cultural and theatrical contexts, its intricate textual issues, its vibrant critical traditions and controversies, and its history of performance and adaptation by celebrated directors, actors, and authors. Supplemented by an updated reading list, extensive illustrationsand helpful appendices, this editionalso features revised commentary notes explicitly designed for the student reader, offering the verybest in contemporary criticism of this great tragedy.Table of ContentsIntroduction; Note on the text; List of characters; The play; Reading list; Appendices.

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Book SynopsisThe Importance of Being Earnest is perhaps Oscar Wilde’s most popular play – since its first performance in 1895, it has seen countless productions and three film adaptations, and, in the words of the journalist Mark Lawson, is ‘the second most known and quoted play in English after Hamlet’. Brimming with the counter-intuitive wit with which Wilde’s name is synonymous, the play follows two young men, Algernon and Jack, as they come to grips with one another’s ‘Bunburying’ – deceits involving invented identities and escaping unwanted socialising – which spiral out of control. Culminating in a hauntingly brilliant scene with a cast of characters dripping with satire, an unpublished manuscript and an unforgettable handbag, The Importance of Being Earnest lambasts the Victorian yearning for morality and meaning, and leaves the reader aching for an encore.Trade Review'A deliciously witty play about dual identities, Victorian mores and an unforgettable handbag.' (The Guardian) 'An extraordinarily illuminating intellect.' (William Rothenstein) 'If I craved for entertaining conversation by a first-class raconteur, I should choose Oscar Wilde.' (George Bernard Shaw)Table of ContentsThe Importance of Being Earnest, Note on the Text, Notes, Extra Material: A Brief Introduction to Oscar Wilde, More Information about Oscar Wilde

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Book SynopsisThe crowning plays of one of Ireland's most heralded artistsOscar Wilde was at once a family man and a homosexual outsider, a socialite, socialist, and Irish nationalist. His contradictions inspired him to ponder the roles and masks donned in conventional society, and his acute and wry insights are wonderfully displayed in this collection of his essential plays. Known not only for his brilliant, epigrammatic language, but also for his sense of theatrical design, color, and staging, Wilde created an enduring body of finely crafted works, whose delights and ironies still speak to modern audiences. In addition to Lady Windermere's Fan, Salomé, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, A Florentine Tragedy, and The Importance of Being Earnest, this edition contains an introduction, notes and commentaries, and an excised scene from The Importance of Being Earnest.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 disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

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Book SynopsisDrama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price J.M. Synge's extraordinary play about a young man on the run, and his unexpected elevation to folk hero. A stranger, Christy Mahon, arrives in a village bar in County Mayo in the West of Ireland, claiming to have killed his father. The locals are impressed – some can even directly relate to the deed – and Christy is lauded as a folk hero. He can't believe his luck, and confidently pursues the affections of the barmaid Pegeen, until the arrival of his not-so-dead father takes the winds out of Christy's sails... The Playboy of the Western World was first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in January 1907, causing riots across the city. This edition of the play, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is introduced by Margaret Llewllyn Jones.

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Book SynopsisA collection of some of Edward Albee''s earliest and most acclaimed works.

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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 *

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Book SynopsisThis special edition of the international hit play Prima Facie features the definitive version of the award-winning script, together with colour photos and exclusive additional content, giving you a fascinating behind-the-scenes insight into the making of the production and the issues it explores. In the play, Tessa is a young, brilliant barrister who has worked her way up from working-class origins to the top of her game: defending, cross-examining and winning. But when an unexpected event forces her to confront the patriarchal power of the law – where the burden of proof and morality diverge – she finds herself in a world where emotion and integrity are in conflict with the rules of the game. After acclaimed productions in Australia and winning the Australian Writers' Guild Award for Drama, Prima Facie received its European premiere in a sold-out run at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London's West End in 2022 starring Jodie Comer in her West End debut. It was named Best New Play at both the 2023 Olivier and WhatsOnStage Awards. A filmed version, released in 2022, went on to become the highest-grossing event cinema release ever in the UK. This edition, published alongside Prima Facie's Broadway transfer in 2023, includes contributions from writer Suzie Miller, actor Jodie Comer, director Justin Martin, producer James Bierman and other key members of the creative team, letting you go deeper into the world of the play. There are also essays on the legal context and how the play has become a vehicle for change in attitudes towards the treatment of female victims of sexual assault.Trade Review'A play that roars... urgent and powerful' * Guardian *'A searing, intense indictment of the ways the legal system perpetuates the patriarchal order that has created it in the first place… The relevance of this unsettling drama for our present moment of #MeToo is obvious… joins the ranks of such works as Michaela Coel's I May Destroy You and Nina Raine's Consent… What we come to know is certainly disturbing, but, as in all great theatre, it strikes one as a true privilege to have made the journey' * Arts Desk *'An unforgettable moment of theatre' * WhatsOnStage *'An outstanding piece of theatre that has a phenomenal impact' * Reviews Hub *'A damning portrait of justice denied women… teems with rich nuance, testing sympathies… like a punch to the guts' * Telegraph *'Suzie Miller's script is shrewd and economical in its analysis of how the system treats assault survivors... timely and timeless' * Evening Standard *'A striking drama... Suzie Miller's text is pacy and punchy' * Independent *'An impassioned play about an important subject... blazing' * Time Out (London) *'A polemical monologue which makes its point in style… the cumulative effect is quite something' * The Times *'Hugely succesful and hard-hitting... What makes this play especially astonishing is how lived-in its writing feels. Miller's background as a lawyer shines in every line of dialogue... an urgent and compelling work' * Time Out (Sydney) *'A relevant and deeply disturbing indictment of how our legal system routinely fails sexual assault victims... A seriously important work' * Arts Hub (Australia) *

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Book SynopsisThe most important American play of the century. Daily TelegraphInspired by E. M. Forster's novel Howards End, and set in New York three decades after the height of the AIDS epidemic, The Inheritance wrestles with what it means to be a gay man today, exploring relationships and connections across age and social class and asking what one generation's responsibilities may be to the next.Matthew Lopez's The Inheritance premiered at the Young Vic Theatre, London, in 2018, before transferring to the West End's Noel Coward Theatre. It premiered on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in 2019.This edition includes revisions made for the Broadway production.

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Book SynopsisTwo young people and their dæmons, with everything at stake, find themselves at the centre of a terrifying manhunt. In their care is a tiny child called Lyra Belacqua, and in that child lies the fate of the future. As the waters rise around them, powerful adversaries conspire for mastery of Dust: salvation to some, the source of infinite corruption to others. Philip Pullman's The Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage is set twelve years before the epic His Dark Materials trilogy. Bryony Lavery's stage adaptation was first performed at the Bridge Theatre, London, in December 2021, directed by Nicholas Hytner, whose groundbreaking production of His Dark Materials was a critical and commercial success at the National Theatre. 'Once in a lifetime a children's author emerges who is so extraordinary that the imagination of generations is altered' New Statesman on Philip Pullman 'High-octane adventure accompanies ingenious plotting during Lyra's extended journey in a canoe down a dangerously flooded Thames' The Times on Philip Pullman's novel 'An imaginative adaptation which keeps alive the wit and excitement of the book' Guardian on Bryony Lavery's version of Treasure IslandTrade Review'A theatrical marvel... Bryony Lavery's adaptation is lean without short-changing us on the story... The central, ideological battle between scientists and the sinister forces of the Magisterium is captured with a clean economy... The stage is action-filled with one dangerous turn after another... keeps closely to Pullman's earth-bound and realistic brand of fantasy... the ultimate Christmas show – with sacrilegious twists' * Guardian *'A galloping adventure full of wonder and confusion... Bryony Lavery has streamlined, clarified and occasionally improved the story' * Evening Standard *'A rollicking adaptation... Lavery carefully pares the story back to its essence: the relationship between innkeeper's son Malcolm and pot washer Alice. She also brings a key ingredient, entirely missing from the books: humour' * The Stage *'A terrific piece of story-telling, confident and enthralling, a dark Christmas treat' * Whatsonstage *'Ingenious and beguiling... a compelling narrative for our times... It's a testament to Lavery's adaptation that we always sense [Pullman's] conceptual complexity at the same time as being able to enjoy La Belle Sauvage as a fly-by-the-seat of your pants adventure... a narrative that richly reflects our rapidly changing world. There's a lot of great theatre playing in London right now, but this is where to head for if you're looking for something with as much intelligence and provocation as fleet-footed fun' * The Arts Desk *'Truly extraordinary... playwright Bryony Lavery and director Nicholas Hytner attach jumper cables to the audience's imagination... The triumph of Lavery's deft adaptation is that scenes never feel schematic... Characterization of even the tiniest roles is instantly vivid... But it's Lavery's notable use of humor that helps keep everything buoyant... Her adaptation is a textbook example of skilled translation for the stage. It's not just a condensation; she adds characters and rethinks moments to keep a foot firmly on the accelerator... redolent of the best classic work built around young characters: it's as satisfying for parents as it is for children' * Variety *'Is Bryony Lavery Philip Pullman's daemon? Her adaptation goes to the heart of Pullman's book and, daemon-like, expresses its essence. Clear and swift, it brings an extra bounce of humour to the tangle of speculation and saltiness that makes the novel at once provoking and compelling' * Observer *

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Book SynopsisSive is a young and beautiful orphan who lives with her uncle Mike, his wife Mena and his mother Nanna. A local matchmaker, Thomasheen Seán Rua, wants Sive to marry an old man called Sean Dóta. Thomasheen convinces Mike and Mena to organise the marriage. They will receive a sum of two hundred pounds as soon as she marries him. However, Sive is in love with a young man, Liam Scuab. But Liam is not suitable and is refused permission to marry Sive. Sive is distraught but is forced to do the will of her uncle and his bitter wife. Faced with an unthinkable future she takes the only choice left to her. Set against the harsh poverty and difficult times of 1950s Ireland, Sive caused considerable controversy on its debut in February 1959. Since then it has become an established part of Ireland's theatrical canon.

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

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Book SynopsisKrapp''s Last Tape was first performed by Patrick Magee at the Royal Court Theatre in October 1958, and described as ''a solo, if that is the word, for one voice and two organs: one human, one mechanical. It fills few pages. It is perhaps the most original and important play of its length ever written.'' (Roy Walker)The present volume brings together Krapp''s Last Tape and Beckett''s other shorter works or ''dramaticules'' written for the stage. It will be complemented by a forthcoming Faber edition of dramatic works written for radio and screen. Arranged in chronological order of composition, these shorter plays exhibit the laconic means and compassionate ends of Beckett''s dramatic vision. KRAPP ''Here I end this reel. Box - [Pause.] - three, spool - [Pause.] - five. [Pause.] Perhaps my best years have gone. When there was a chance of happiness. But I wouldn''t want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I w

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Book SynopsisOthello has long been recognised as one of the most powerful of Shakespeare's tragedies. This is an intense drama of love, deception, jealousy and destruction. Desdemona's love for Othello, the Moor, transcends racial prejudice; but the envious Iago conspires to devastate their lives. In its vivid rendering of racism, sexism, contested identities, and the savagery lurking within civilisation, Othello is arguably the most topical and accessible tragedy from Shakespeare's major phase as a dramatist. Productions on stage and screen regularly renew its power to engross, impress and trouble the imagination.

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Book SynopsisDepicting one woman's struggle to be treated as a rational human being, and not merely a wife, mother or fragile doll, this play changed the course of theatrical history and sparked debates worldwide about the roles of men and women in society.

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