Plays, playscripts, drama
Samuel French Ltd The Wipers Times
Book Synopsis
£11.99
Samuel French Ltd Steel Magnolias A Play
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.
£12.80
Samuel French Inc Boys in the Band
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
£12.99
Samuel French Ltd Hadestown
Book SynopsisThis intriguing and beautiful folk opera delivers a deeply resonant and defiantly hopeful theatrical experience. Following two intertwining love stories - that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice and of immortal King Hades and Lady Persephone - Hadestown invites audiences on a hell-raising journey to the underworld and back. Inspired by traditions of classic American folk music and vintage New Orleans jazz Mitchell's beguiling sung-through musical pits industry against nature doubt against faith and fear against love.
£11.99
Harvard University Press Fragments
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.
£23.70
Princeton University Press Faust I II Volume 2
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
£14.24
Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd MaratSade
Book Synopsis
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group Harry Potter and The Cursed Child Parts One and
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.
£18.70
Random House USA Inc The Greek Plays Sixteen Plays by Aeschylus
Book Synopsis
£17.85
Currency Press Pty Ltd The Dreamers
Book SynopsisWith humane irony, Jack Davis gives a painful insight into the process of colonisation and the transformation of his people. The Dreamers is the story of a country-town family and old Uncle Worru, who in his dying days, recedes from urban hopelessness to the life and language of the Nyoongah spirit in him, which has survived ''civilisation''.
£20.57
Hackett Publishing Co, Inc Bacchae
Book SynopsisThis translation with notes is primarily for classroom use. It aims to be true to the basic meaning of the text and tries to bring across some of the beauty of the poetry as well as the rhetorical power of the dialogue and speeches.Trade ReviewThis is a very useful edition, excellent for classroom purposes. The translation is clear and lively, and several students commented on how much they enjoyed it. The introduction provides an excellent overview of the issues in the play, as well as of earlier scholarship, making it a good resource for more advanced classes. The cover photo is an added bonus and provided the starting point for stimulating class discussion. --James B. Rives, York UniversityAn excellent translation which captures Bacchae's combination of colloquial and lyric language. The Notes and Introduction are also very helpful. --Mary-Kay Gamel, University of California, Santa Cruz
£11.39
Hackett Publishing Co, Inc Oedipus Tyrannus
Book SynopsisPeter Meineck and Paul Woodruff's collaboration on this new translation combines the strengths that have recently distinguished both as translators of Greek tragedy: expert knowledge of the Greek and of the needs of the teaching classicist, intimate knowledge of theatre, and an excellent ear for the spoken word. Their Oedipus Tyrannus features foot-of-the-page notes, an Introduction, stage directions and a translation characterized by its clarity, accuracy, and power.Trade ReviewA clear, vigorous, spare, actable translation, and with it, excellent apparatus (Intro., notes, bibliography); all in a slim and affordable volume. I will use when I next teach Oedipus. Hackett is an invaluable resource!--Rachel Hadas, Rutgers UniversityI have enjoyed all of the recent Hackett editions of translations of Greek literature and "Oedipus Tyrannus” is certainly no exception. Meineck and Woodruff got things just right, from employing "Tyrannus” instead of "Rex” in the title (as has become traditional, though it lends an erroneous sense to the play from the outset) to Woodruff’s very fine and accessible Introduction to the suspenseful, poetic and powerful rendering of the play itself. Meineck’s theatrical sensibility and knowledge are evident, yet the text never becomes too "stagey” nor wanders far from the Greek. I will definitely use this text along with other terrific Hackett editions in my courses.--Lisa Rengs George, Arizona State UniversityAn excellent translation. . . . Paul Woodruff’s Introduction, written for a general audience, is clear and well-informed.--Herman Van Looy, L'Antiquité Classique
£10.44
Hackett Publishing Co, Inc Theban Plays
Book SynopsisThis volume offers the fruits of Peter Meineck and Paul Woodruff''s dynamic collaboration on the plays of Sophocles'' Theban cycle, presenting the translators'' Oedipus Tyrannus (2000) along with Woodruff''s Antigone (2001) and a muscular new Oedipus at Colonus by Meineck. Grippingly readable, all three translations combine fidelity to the Greek with concision, clarity, and powerful, hard-edged speech. Each play features foot-of-the-page notes, stage directions, and line numbers to the Greek. Woodruff''s Introduction discusses the playwright, Athenian theatre and performance, the composition of the plays, and the plots and characters of each; it also offers thoughtful reflections on major critical interpretations of these plays.
£13.49
Hackett Publishing Co, Inc Alcestis Medea Hippolytus
Book SynopsisOffers economical, metrical translations that convey the range of effects of the playwright's verse, from the idiomatic speech of its dialogue to the high formality of its choral odes.Trade ReviewDiane Arnson Svarlien's body of work means a quantum leap forward in the vibrancy and immediacy of classical verse drama. I first learned of her work when I was searching, madly, for a translation of Medea for a production I had been hired to direct. I sought out every published version. I tried to track down any unpublished ones rumored to exist. All the others were wanting; her translation was revelatory. Merely read her translation of the play, then read another. You will sense the difference. This is particularly true if you are a practitioner of theatre. --Patrick Wang, Director of Diane Arnson Svarlien's Medea in its world premiere at the Stella Adler Studio, and of the feature film In the Family, nominated for a Best First Feature Independent Spirit Award.The excellent Introduction by Robin Mitchell-Boyask displays an admirable command of up-to-date scholarship and judiciously leaves controversial matters open to one's own interpretation. Arnson Svarlien's verse translation has both elegance and power--it reads well, not just to the eye, but (happily for the director and actors) also to the ear. --Ian Storey, Department of Classics, Trent UniversityMitchell-Boyask's Introduction gives the reader a lively and accessible overview of Euripides' life, the circumstances of the original performances, and critical debate on the three plays. Footnotes to the translations provide students with useful background without over-burdening the text. The translations themselves are lively, vigorous, colorful, and direct, while remaining very close to the Greek; I laughed out loud more than once when I realized that, yes, this was exactly what Euripides had said. Arnson Svarlien has also taken care with the meter. Iambic trimeter, the 'spoken' meter of Greek, has been represented with iambic pentameter in English; but even in the lyric passages, whose meters do not translate into English, responsion within odes has been preserved. Yet all of this attention to such details of meter and accuracy sacrifices nothing in clarity or pace. Arnson Svarlien's translations are an ideal introduction to Euripides for students with no Greek and little knowledge of the ancient world. They remind me of why I love Euripides. --Laurel Bowman, Department of Classics, University of VictoriaTable of ContentsIntroduction; Translator's Preface; Maps; Alcestis; Medea; Hippolytus.
£12.34
Focus Publishing/R Pullins & Co Lysistrata
Book Synopsis
£11.39
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Comedy About a Bank Robbery Modern Plays
Book SynopsisI'm really looking forward to robbing this bank!Mischief's smash-and-grab hit The Comedy About A Bank Robbery is a fast, fabulous comedy caper and the funniest show in the West End! Summer 1958. Minneapolis City Bank has been entrusted with a priceless diamond. An escaped convict is dead set on pocketing the gem with the help of his screwball sidekick, trickster girlfriend and the maintenance man. With mistaken identities, love triangles and hidden agendas, even the most reputable can't be trusted. In a town where everyone's a crook, who will end up bagging the jewel?Written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, the creators of the Olivier Award-winning Best New Comedy The Play That Goes Wrong and Peter Pan Goes Wrong, The Comedy About A Bank Robbery opened at the Criterion Theatre in London's West End in April 2016.The best new comedy to open straight into the West End in decades'Time OutThrilling and daringly inveTrade Review‘This is the funniest show in town’ * The Telegraph *Fast and fabulous comedy caper is a joyful night out * The Times *The team behind ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ hit the funnybone again...The best new comedy to open straight into the West End in decades * Time Out *Thrilling and daringly inventive...This lung-bustingly funny play is just what the therapist ordered * The Guardian *
£10.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC X Modern Classics
Book Synopsis McDowall masterfully plants ideas that grow until they explode into extraordinary shapes. Filthy humour breaks down into a cracked algorithm of letters and loss a play that will gnaw away at you. It's sci-fi and theatre at its best. The StageBillions of miles from home, the lone research base on Pluto has lost contact with Earth. Unable to leave or send for help, the skeleton crew sit waiting.Waiting.Waiting long enough for time to start eating away at them.To lose all sense of it.To start seeing things in the dark outside.X premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2016. This new Modern Classics edition features an introduction by Dr Cristina Delgado-García.Trade ReviewAlistair McDowall is, I think, the most exciting playwright to emerge out of English theatre in the past five years...He makes me want to try harder. He makes me want to be better. * Simon Stephens, UK, Playwright *Alistair McDowall is one of the most highly regarded young playwrights writing today * Guardian *
£10.44
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC A Streetcar Named Desire
Book SynopsisThis revised Student Edition includes an introduction by Bess Rowen, Visiting Assistant Professor at Villanova University, US, which looks in particular at the play''s treatment of rape, vulnerable people, mental institutions (especially in connection to Williams''s own family), sexuality and sexual desire.A Streetcar Named Desire shows a turbulent confrontation between traditional values in the American South - an old-world graciousness and beauty running decoratively to seed - set against the rough-edged, aggressive materialism of the new world. Through the vividly characterised figures of Southern belle Blanche Dubois, seeking refuge from physical ugliness in decayed gentility, and her brutal brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski, Tennessee Williams dramatises his sense of the South''s past as still active and often destructive in modern America.METHUEN DRAMA STUDENT EDITIONS are expertly annotated texts of a wide range of plays from the modern and classic repertoires. A well as thTable of ContentsChronology Introduction Cultural Context: The United States in the 1940s The Glass Menagerie and the Beginning of an Era Williams and the Writing Process Realism, Naturalism, and Expressionism Method Acting and Elia Kazan Depicting Rape and Vulnerability Sex and Sexuality Production History and Adaptations Further Reading A Streetcar Named Desire Notes
£9.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Anatomy of a Suicide
Book SynopsisAlice Birch's new play is scored like a piece of music ... It is an extraordinary echoing text, full of pain and strange beauty. The three stories play out simultaneously on stage, the dialogue from one scene overlapping with the other two in a manner that borders on the choral ... Birch has provided a text that explores these ideas in a formally invigorating way. The StageThree generations of women. For each, the chaos of what has come before brings with it a painful legacy.A powerful, unflinching look at a family afflicted with severe depression and mental illness. Presented as a triptych of plays performed side by side, this groundbreaking play reverberates with audiences and readers. Published for the first time in Methuen Drama''s Modern Classics series, this edition features a brand new introduction by Ava Davies.Trade ReviewWhat determines our character? Nature or nurture? Genetic inheritance or social environment? It is an age-old debate, and Alice Birch now adds to it with this startling theatrical triptych about three generations of mothers and daughters... Birch’s progress as a writer has been fascinating to watch... On the evidence so far, I would say Birch has a gift for radical experiment in the style of Caryl Churchill and Sarah Kane. In her new play we are confronted by three women, Carol, Anna and Bonnie, who we learn are mother, daughter and granddaughter. They exist in three different time zones but the story of their lives is told simultaneously. As Birch herself says, the text has been scored and can be read, or viewed, horizontally... I can, in fact, think of few exact parallels to this play. * Michael Billington, The Guardian *The way conversations overlap, intersect, even chime exactly, as if words are echoing down the decades, is a compositional marvel... [any] vague misgivings pale beside the essential bravery and daring of it all: anyone who has experienced the nightmare of handed-on familial sadness, let alone the horror of suicide, will surely find in this a therapeutic-cathartic release. * Telegraph *What a fiercely uncompromising, clinically emotional two hours this is Alice Birch, darling of the film world after her stark and powerful script for Lady Macbeth, returns in triumph to her home ground of the theatre for an unflinching examination of three generations of women in one family... an intricately interwoven work in which three separate scenes often play out simultaneously. * Evening Standard *
£11.69
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Crucible
Book SynopsisBecause it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!In a small tight-knit community, gossip and rumour spread like wildfire, inflaming personal grievances until no-one is safe from accusation and vengeance. The Crucible is Arthur Miller''s classic dramatisation of the witch-hunt and trials that besieged the Puritan community of Salem in 1692. Seen as a chilling parallel to the McCarthyism and repressive culture of fear that gripped America in the 1950s, the play''s timeless relevance and appeal remains as strong as when the play opened on Broadway in 1953.This new edition includes an introduction by Soyica Diggs Colbert, that explores the play''s production history as well as the dramatic, thematic, and academic debates that surround it; a must-have resource for any student exploring <Trade Review[The book has] extensive but not daunting information under headings such as Historical and Social Context, Genres and Themes and Performance History, among other aspects. It’s clearly and accessibly written. * Ink Pellet: The Arts Magazine for Teachers *Table of ContentsChronology Introduction Historical, Social and Cultural Contexts Genre and Themes Play as Performance Production History Academic Debate Behind the scenes – Interview with Set Designer Soutra Gilmore on The Old Vic production of The Crucible, directed by Yaël Farber Further Study The Crucible Notes
£8.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC 1984
Book SynopsisApril, 1984. Winston Smith thinks a thought, starts a diary, and falls in love. But Big Brother is watching him, and the door to Room 101 can swing open in the blink of an eye.Its ideas have become our ideas, and Orwell's fiction is often said to be our reality. The definitive book of the 20th century is re-examined in a radical new adaptation exploring why Orwell's vision of the future is as relevant as ever.
£11.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Chewing Gum Dreams
Book SynopsisTracey Gordon, the 67 bus, friendship, sex, UK garage, school, music, teachers, friendship, periods, emergency contraceptive, arse and tits, friendship, raves, tampons, white boys, God, money. Friendship. Aaron, Candice, sex and Connor Jones. Chewing Gum Dreams is a one-woman play that recalls those last days of innocence before adulthood.Written and performed by Michaela Coel who spent her childhood in Hackney, London, Chewing Gum Dreams won the 2012 Alfred Fagon Award.Trade ReviewCoel is by turns casually cruel, hilariously funny, naive, wise and vulnerable. Her play tackles some difficult themes, including sexual assault, violence, and underachievement across generations - a serious new talent. * Londonist *An engrossing, engaging and compelling one-woman show... nothing short of virtuosic. * What's On Stage *A promising, resilient artist. * Che Walker *
£12.34
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Every Brilliant Thing
Book SynopsisYou're six years old. Mum's in hospital. Dad says she's done something stupid'. She finds it hard to be happy.So you start to make a list of everything that's brilliant about the world. Everything that's worth living for.1. Ice Cream2. Kung Fu Movies3. Burning Things4. Laughing so hard you shoot milk out your nose5. Construction cranes6. MeYou leave it on her pillow. You know she's read it because she's corrected your spelling. Soon, the list will take on a life of its own.A new play about depression and the lengths we will go to for those we love.Trade ReviewFilled to the brim with joy... beautiful, heart wrenching and very funny * Time Out London *Extraordinary piece of inclusive, participative theatre * The Stage *Deeply personal. I defy anyone not to laugh and cry * WhatsOnStage *Genuinely wonderful and life affirming. It is impossible not to love * A Younger Theatre *It's the funniest play you're ever likely to see about depression, and also the most moving * British Theatre Guide *Both devastatingly sad and incredibly uplifting * BroadwayBaby *There are lines that flash out at you in their perception... Every Brilliant Thing deserves a place as a show that will raise a smile through any gloom. A lovely warm glow of a work * Thepublicreviews.com *Heart-wrenching, hilarious... possibly one of the funniest plays you'll ever see, full stop * The Guardian *Funny, clever, and surprisingly uplifting * The Telegraph *Dual interest in joy and sorrow... a perfect balance * The Independent *Absurdly cherishable...fantastically likeable * The Sunday Times *A piece that demonstrates why life is worth living... you'll leave feeling elated * The Scotsman *Immensely likeable...with great sensitivity behind the abundant laughs * Evening Standard *
£15.15
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Desdemona
Book SynopsisToni Morrison was a Nobel Prize- and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, editor and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, exquisite language and richly detailed African American characters who are central to their narratives. Among her best-known novels are The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon, Beloved, Jazz, Love and A Mercy. Morrison earned a plethora of book-world accolades and honorary degrees, also receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.
£10.44
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Vanya
Book SynopsisWinner of Best Revival at the Olivier Awards 2024Winner of Best Play Revival at the WhatsOnStage Awards 2024Can you imagine if it was possible to completely change the way you live your life? To look at your life and ask yourself what you would do if it died. If your old life died. It ended. And then take what's left of your real life and live it properly. How can I do that, Michael? Where do I start?Chekhov's classic tale of love, art, sex, and attempted murder in a fresh adaptation by Simon Stephens, written to be performed by a solo actor.Comedic and tragic, Chekhov's examination of our shared humanity our hopes, dreams, regrets is thrust into sharp focus in Vanya. This fresh adaptation explores the kaleidoscope of human emotions, harnessing the power of the intimate bond between actor and audience to delve deeper into the human psyche.This edition was published to coincide with the West End premiere starring Andrew Scott in September 2023.
£10.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC A Raisin In The Sun
Book SynopsisLorraine Hansberry was born in 1930 in Southside, Chicago. Her first play, A Raisin in the Sun, opened in March 1959 and made history by being the first play written by a female Black author to be staged on Broadway and won the New York Critics' Circle Award. Her career was cut short by her death when she was only 34.Trade ReviewCome to A Raisin in the Sun as you would to any classic. It speaks to us today as it did almost half a century ago. * Bonnie Greer *A Raisin in the Sun was a revelation to me. It's still fresh. It is still relevant. Lorraine Hansberry was a visionary. * Spike Lee *
£10.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Hamlet
Book SynopsisThis Arden edition of Hamlet, arguably Shakespeare''s greatest tragedy, presents an authoritative, modernized text based on the Second Quarto text with a new introductory essay covering key productions and criticism in the decade since its first publication. A timely up-date in the 400th anniversary year of Shakespeare''s death which will ensure the Arden edition continues to offer students a comprehensive and current critical account of the play, alongside the most reliable and fully-annotated text available.Trade Review[Thompson and Taylor] give us a text quite different from the edited versions that shaped debate for much of the past 400 years ... There is intellectual consistency to [their] position. * Times Literary Supplement *The editors’ 168 pages of introduction and 103 pages worth of appendices provide an unprecedented level of contextualization on matters cultural, textual, and theatrical. * Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 *The scholarship … remains at the high standard expected from the Arden Series … Probably one of the most ambitious scholarly editions of the play to be published in the past century or so, if only for its attempt to present the textual complexities of the relationships between quartos and folio by printing all three early authoritative versions. * Sixteenth Century Journal *Table of ContentsIntroduction to the Revised Edition Introduction Hamlet Appendices Index
£10.63
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Effect
Book SynopsisI can tell the difference between who I am and a side effect.The Effect is a clinical romance. Two young volunteers, Tristan and Connie, agree to take part in a clinical drug trial. Succumbing to the gravitational pull of attraction and love, however, Tristan and Connie manage to throw the trial off-course, much to the frustration of the clinicians involved. This funny, moving and perhaps surprisingly human play explores questions of sanity, neurology and the limits of medicine, alongside ideas of fate, loyalty and the inevitability of physical attraction.Following on from the critical and commercial success of Enron, The Effect offers a vibrant theatrical exploration into the human brain via the heart. It received its world premiere at the National Theatre''s Cottesloe Theatre in November 2012, starring Billie Piper and Jonjo O''Neill. It is published here in the Modern Classics series alongside an introduction by Miriam Gillinson.Trade ReviewLucy Prebble is a playwright blessed with an exceptionally fine mind . . . the play struck me as being both wise and sane, raising more questions than it answers, to be sure, but that seems a sign of integrity in a work dealing with such a complex subject. But what makes The Effect so special, is that as well as being a play of ideas, it is also deeply moving, both in its depiction of the giddy wonder of love, and also in its account of the terrifying wasteland of depression itself . . . The Effect is an astonishingly rich and rewarding play, as intelligent as it is deeply felt. * Daily Telegraph *Lucy Prebble’s follow-up to Enron is a scintillating exploration of the clash between scientific advance and human impulse … it demonstrates the same vivid, provocative intelligence * Financial Times *This four-hander brings the author's agile wit, intellectual penetration and a fresh, deeply affecting empathy to bear on a fundamentally much more complex topic than finance: brain chemistry and what it can – and cannot – tell us about the causes of severe depression and the experience of being in love … This is a provocative and challenging play … it ends in edgy gesture of good sense that made me feel like cheering. * Independent *After her hit with Enron, Lucy Prebble turns to medicine and the mind - to great effect ... The Effect is a four-hander that hopscotches confidently across themes of neurology, psychopharmacology, depression, love and guilt . . . The Effect moves you to thought, sometimes to strong feeling. * Sunday Times *Prebble has written a profound and stirring play. The material is complex but always accessible, the drama serious and informative yet deeply human, with the odd jolt of piercing humour. The Effect confirms her as one of the most intelligent voices in British theatre. * Evening Standard *Incisive dialogue . . . Prebble really researches and the range of her subjects suggests she will have a long theatrical life * Observer *The Effect is a headlong delve into the mysteries of the human brain. And Prebble pulls it off with assurance, tickling our cerebellums in the first half, before tugging on our heartstrings in the second . . . heartbreaking . . . [it has] a heart as well as a brain. * Time Out *Lucy Prebble's absorbing drama, a hit . . . Taut, intelligent * The Times *This is a knotty drama, dealing with scientific objectivity, guilt, the mysteries of the human heart and brain and what makes us who we are, wrapped up in a deceptively simple and constantly entertaining package. * Guardian *
£10.44
Theatre Communications Group Inc.,U.S. Prodigal Son
Book Synopsis
£14.99
Playwrights Canada Press,Canada Paradise Lost
Book Synopsis
£19.54
Profile Books Ltd The Lady in the Van
Book SynopsisIn 1974, the homeless Miss Shepherd moved her broken down van into Alan Bennett's garden. Deeply eccentric and stubborn to her bones, Miss Shepherd was not an easy tenant. And Bennett, despite inviting her in the first place, was a reluctant landlord. And yet she lived there for fifteen years. This account of those years was first published in 1989 in the London Review of Books. The play premiered in 1999, directed by Nicholas Hytner and starring Dame Maggie Smith, who reprise their roles in this new film adaptation. Shot on location at Bennett's house, Alex Jennings plays the author, alongside household names including Frances de la Tour, Jim Broadbent and Dominic Cooper.Trade ReviewPraise for Alan Bennett: 'Has you laughing as well as mopping your eyes. Utter genius * Daily Mail *Clear-eyed, touching, occasionally waspish ... ever honest * The Times *Alan Bennett continues to surprise and delight -- John Banville * Daily Telegraph *A perfect stocking filler for just about anyone -- Monica Ali * Guardian *
£6.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Hetty Feather
Book SynopsisTREMBLE as she faces Matron Stinking Bottomly. THRILL as she discovers the squirrel house and Tanglefield’s Travelling Circus. GASP as she endures a night locked in the attic. QUAKE as she braves the scary streets of Victorian London and CHEER as she overcomes all in the search to find her real mother and a true family of her own. From bestselling author Jacqueline Wilson, the tale of plucky Hetty Feather is brought thrillingly to life on stage by award-winning script writer Emma Reeves (CBBC’s The Story of Tracy Beaker) and the Olivier Award-Nominated director Sally Cookson whose many five-star productions include Peter Pan, We’re Going on a Bearhunt and Stick Man. With a huge heart, Hetty Feather is a terrific adventure story! ‘The play sticks to my basic story, but with many inventive touches that constantly took me by surprise… [it] was a magical experience.’ Jacqueline WilsonTrade ReviewThis transformation of Jacqueline Wilson's children's book is a real treat. And not just for ardent, existing fans: we're all won over by Hetty Feather. * Five stars - Holly Williams, Independent *
£8.99
Nick Hern Books After Life
Book SynopsisIf you could spend eternity with just one precious memory, what would it be? A group of strangers grapple with this impossible question as they find themselves in a bureaucratic waiting room between life and death. Encouraged by enigmatic officials, they must sift through their past lives to choose their forever. Adapted from Hirokazu Kore-eda's award-winning film, After Life is a surreal and powerfully human look at the way we view our lives, and a haunting meditation on what it is to live – and to die. Written by Jack Thorne from a concept by Bunny Christie, Jeremy Herrin and Thorne, After Life was first performed at the National Theatre, London, in June 2021. It was directed by Herrin, in a co-production with Headlong, by special arrangement with Buena Vista Theatrical.Trade Review'A compelling vision of eternity' * The Times *'A powerful show with subtlety and tenderness' * The i *'A great idea, charmingly done... Although After Life is based on a film, its best parts are pure theatre' * Guardian *'Miraculous... an absolutely superb play... I was incredibly moved by it... a properly transcendent piece of theatre' * Time Out *
£9.89
Nick Hern Books Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of)
Book Synopsis'Love's irrelevant – we're talking about marriage.' This unique take on Jane Austen's beloved novel is an adaptation like no other, drawing on over two hundred years of romantic pop history, and featuring five young women with a story to tell. You might have seen them before, emptying the chamber pots and sweeping ash from the grate; the overlooked and the undervalued making sure those above stairs find their happy ending. Of course, these women have always been running the show – after all, 'You can't have a whirlwind romance without clean bedding' – but now the servants are also playing every part. Let the ruthless match-making begin! Isobel McArthur's acclaimed Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) was first produced in 2018 by theatre company Blood of the Young at the Tron Theatre, Glasgow, before a UK tour the following year, produced by the two companies and the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh. It transferred to the Criterion Theatre in London's West End in October 2021, and won Best Entertainment or Comedy Play at the 2022 Olivier Awards, with its author winning the Emerging Talent Award at the 2022 Evening Standard Theatre Awards. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that an amateur company in want of an irreverent all-female adaptation of a literary classic to perform, need look no further.Trade Review'Frankly sensational... the shocking truth of Isobel McArthur's smart, riotously funny five-woman adaptation is how faithful it is to Austen while being gloriously entertaining' * Variety *'This sweary, anarchic reboot of Pride and Prejudice, in which an all-female cast of five play all of the characters, pretty much nails it. It's a joy whether you're a paid-up Janeite or not... brilliantly blunt and wears its feminism on its sleeve. And… it's got KARAOKE, employed to excellent effect as a modern twist on Austen's social commentary... a deep affection for the source material is never in doubt... Teachers will go down in history for taking their students to see this... It's the kind of warm, big-hearted show the West End needs' * Evening Standard *'An awful lot of fun, a naughty-but-nice celebration of Austen's classic' * Time Out *'Isobel McArthur's roistering all-female pop musical adaptation remains unexpectedly true to the novel's familiar twin themes of hidden passions and economic hardships... There are laughs aplenty, both period and modern, as the cast exchange roles and genders at break-neck speed... It would have won the approval of Austen herself' * The Stage *'A raucous and transgressive, yet surprisingly faithful, adaptation... the gags are plentiful' * Guardian *'A total blast of hilarity from start to finish... sticks faithfully to Austen's brilliant story while opening it up into a riot of fun, colour and mischief-making. It is dramatic re-invention at its most enjoyable and if Austen aficionados don't enjoy it just as much as Austen virgins, I'll eat my pink Regency bonnet' * WhatsOnStage *'Unfettered joy from start to finish' * Herald *'Laugh out-loud funny, with sudden bursts of un-lady-like swearing too; Austen's foible-alert wit and emotionally astute reading of her characters are at once counterpointed and impeccably served... I doubt Jane Austen is turning in her grave. In fact I suspect she'd wish that she were there' * Daily Telegraph *'Clever, funny, feminist, and not even shy, in the end, of a few powerful moments of true romance' * Scotsman *
£9.89
Nick Hern Books Prima Facie (NHB Modern Plays)
Book SynopsisTessa is a young, brilliant barrister. She has worked her way up from working-class origins to the top of her game: defending, cross-examining and winning. But an unexpected event forces her to confront the patriarchal power of the law, where the burden of proof and morality diverge. Prima Facie by Suzie Miller is an award-winning play for a solo actor, taking us deep into a world where emotion and integrity are in conflict with the rules of the game. After several acclaimed productions in Australia and winning the Australian Writers' Guild Award for Drama, the play received its European premiere at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London's West End in April 2022. It starred Jodie Comer, the Emmy and Bafta Award-winning star of TV's Killing Eve, making her West End debut.Trade ReviewA damning portrait of justice denied women… teems with rich nuance, testing sympathies… like a punch to the guts. --Telegraph; Suzie Miller's play is an outstanding piece of theatre that has a phenomenal impact. --Reviews Hub; An impassioned play about an important subject... blazing. --Time Out; 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; A polemical monologue that makes its point in style.... the cumulative effect is quite something. --The Times; 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 --The Arts Desk
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Jane Eyre
Book Synopsis'I must have action! And if I cannot find it, I will make it.' Jane Eyre may be poor, obscure, plain and little, but she has heart and soul – and plenty of it. Chris Bush's witty and fleet-footed adaptation lays bare the beating heart of Charlotte Brontë's classic novel, whilst staying true to its revolutionary spirit. With actor-musicians, playful doubling, and a plethora of nineteenth-century pop hits, it was first produced at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, and the New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme, in 2022, directed by Zoë Waterman. 'One of the UK’s most exciting young playwrights' The Stage 'A writer of great wit and empathy' The TimesTrade Review'An original approach to adapting the novel... deals wittily with the entire book, but concentrates on the most telling scenes, linking the whole thing up with song and dance... the final scene is as moving as you could wish for' * Reviews Hub *'Gripping and lucid... light on its feet... a brooding study of morality and desire' * Guardian *'Admirable and impressive' * The Stage *'Fluid, fast-paced and gripping... Does a fine job of preserving the key plot elements of Charlotte Brontë's original novel... Bush is particularly good at conveying the deep affection (and erotic charge) that exists between Jane and Rochester' * British Theatre Guide *
£9.89
Nick Hern Books The Trials
Book Synopsis'Everyone lived like we did! Well maybe not everyone, everyone. But… I wasn't any worse than anyone else.' The near future. The climate emergency is gathering pace, and our generation is being judged. The jurors are children. But are they delivering justice – or just taking revenge? Dawn King's searing play The Trials was first performed at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus in January 2022, and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. It received its British premiere at the Donmar Warehouse, London, in August 2022, directed by Natalie Abrahami. The Trials offers an exciting opportunity for theatre companies to address the climate emergency and intergenerational conflict, as the jury of 12 to 17-year-olds hold the stage alongside three adult defendants.Trade Review'A gripping climate dystopia... compelling and fascinating... a parable about the near future that's also an unsettling window into the vertiginous chaos of revolution' * Time Out *'Chillingly compelling... convincing and urgent... a really distinct sense of fury that gives this drama its emotional fuel... haunting and thought-provoking — this is the best play about our climate emergency' * The Arts Desk *'Bold, uncomfortable, urgent viewing... King cleverly nails not just the dystopian vision, but the evasions and lack of commitment to green living that have caused it' * WhatsOnStage *'Exhilarating and engrossing' * Reviews Hub *'Compelling... combines the spirit of Margaret Atwood's speculative fictions with shades of Lord of the Flies... it holds us in its grip... a play that demands self-reflection and soul-searching beyond the auditorium' * Guardian *'Gripping... A timely and troubling speculative drama [that] imagines the grim repercussions of our current climate emergency' * The Stage *
£9.89
Nick Hern Books Prima Facie: Special Edition
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) *
£11.69
Nick Hern Books Infinite Life
Book Synopsis'I said no one should ever try to recreate this. This is agony in its purest form.' Five women in Northern California lie outside on chaises longues and philosophise. But can you ever communicate what it feels like to be inside your own body? Annie Baker's play Infinite Life is a surprisingly funny inquiry into the complexity of suffering, and what it means to desire in a body that's failing. It was first produced in a co-production between the National Theatre, London, and Atlantic Theater Company, New York, and performed at both theatres in 2023, directed by James Macdonald.Trade Review'A great new play. It peeps at the greatest mysteries of life' * The New York Times *'The peerless Annie Baker's latest play is a mind-bending exploration of sex, pain and bodies... Infinite Life is a lucid fever dream, a trippy vision of profound truth... It is another extraordinary play from a writer seemingly capable of nothing else' * Time Out *'Exquisite and bleakly funny' * The Times *'Superb... Infinite Life is that rarest of things – a comedy about death and pain, written with such precision it seems to expose the workings of the heart... a terrific play, understated yet rich, utterly engrossing' * WhatsOnStage *'Extraordinary... meticulous and mighty... a critique can't capture it: you have to be there' * Observer *'A play like no other... I don't know how Annie Baker does what she does. I only know that she does it brilliantly' * Daily Express *'Quietly riveting and stealthily moving... an absorbing, compassionate meditation on pain, mortality and our relationship with our bodies... Annie Baker's extraordinary plays are as idiosyncratic as they are fascinating and as funny as they are profound' * The Stage *'[Annie Baker] has a knack for seeing people's weird innards and transmuting them into something transcendent… an undeniably important and timely work' * Guardian *'Exquisite new comic drama' * New Yorker *'Intensely humane and minutely observed... Baker's plays are singular creations that march to their own rhythm, and we're fortunate that four of them have now come to the National Theatre' * Evening Standard *'Full of small wonders and subtle moments of quiet awakening' * Independent *'Baker's play feels capacious – ever widening its arms to hold more humanity, more searching spirit… Infinite Life gathers us all in its wide embrace, turning its curious, accepting gaze on our brokenness' * New York Magazine *'A very funny play, and a fine showcase for all its cast members… a work of lyrical beauty, humour, and insight' * New York Sun *'An enigmatically idiosyncratic mediation on human suffering... richly rewarding... Baker truly is a powerful writer' * Broadway World *'Spare but richly satisfying, full of beguiling subtleties and opportunities for dry humour' * Arts Desk *'Baker may be the Pinter of our generation, with exquisite writing displaying true human insight. She may never be mainstream, but she remains a genius whose work is always enlightening' * Broadway Baby *'Slow, searing and profound... Annie Baker is a master at tunnelling into the nucleus of niche, private settings, populating them with a wholly plausible cocktail of characters and enthralling her audience with the early interactions and seminal conversations that take place between them' * Culture Whisper *
£9.89
Nick Hern Books Macbeth
Book Synopsis'O, full of scorpions is my mind.' The spellbinding story of love and murder, power and paranoia, and the internal struggles of a married couple as they try to control their destiny, and one another… This official tie-in edition to the Donmar Warehouse's hotly anticipated 2023 revival of Shakespeare's extraordinary psychological drama features rich and revealing behind-the-scenes material exploring how the production was conceived and developed. Starring David Tennant and Cush Jumbo, and directed by Donmar Associate Director Max Webster, this bracingly fresh version used binaural sound technology to place the audience inside the minds of the Macbeths, asking us: are we are ever really responsible for our actions? In addition to the version of Shakespeare's text performed, this volume also includes a fascinating rehearsal diary, colour photos, and interviews with its leading cast and creative team: Tennant, Jumbo and Webster, plus designer Rosanna Vize, sound designer Gareth Fry and composer and musical director Alasdair Macrae.Trade Review'Magical and revelatory... Max Webster's production is so chilling and exhilarating that watching it is like discovering the play for the first time' * Telegraph *'Cool, cocky and utterly arresting... there is an intensely focused vision behind [this production]. Superbly directed by Webster, it is full of wolfish imagination and alarming surprise. The action takes place at under two hours' traffic yet it is not a classically fevered Macbeth but coolly creepy, and horrifying' * Guardian *'An ingenious and uncanny production full of shards of darkly glittering ingenuity... a sensory, helter-skelter plummet into horror, paranoia and psychological disintegration... a production of galvanising flair and originality, with two absorbing, highly charged and intricate performances at its centre. It's a murky psychodrama in which minds, bodies and body politic are shattered, and where nothing, thrillingly, is quite what it seems' * The Stage *'A Macbeth for the digital age... stylish and evocative... never for a moment can you tear your attention away... richly imaginative... The sense of mystery and of evil is all-encompassing... Macbeth has only to whisper his darkest thoughts and we are there, with his vaulting ambition, inside his head' * WhatsOnStage *'Astonishing... one of the most powerful and interesting takes on the play I've ever seen' * Sardines Magazine *'A radically inventive production that gives Shakespeare's tragedy a new lease of life' * Theatre Weekly *'The unique concept of this particular rendition propels the audience into 11th-century Scotland, and deeper into Macbeth's downfall than ever before... the technological risk pays off in big ways; witches whisper in your ears, ravens swoop from the skies and above all, the characters' innermost thoughts are spoken as if to you' * West End Best Friend *
£10.44
Nick Hern Books The Motive and the Cue
Book Synopsis1964: Richard Burton, the firebrand Welsh actor, newly married to movie star Elizabeth Taylor, is to play the title role in an experimental new production of Hamlet under the exacting direction of John Gielgud. But as rehearsals progress, the collaboration between actor and director soon threatens to unravel. One of them is the most famous movie star in the world; the other, a patrician from an earlier age of theatre. The stage is set for two titans to collide. Jack Thorne's The Motive and the Cue is a fierce, funny play which offers a glimpse into the politics of a rehearsal room and the relationship between art and celebrity. This edition was published alongside the West End transfer in 2023, following its world premiere at the National Theatre, London, earlier that year. Originally commissioned and co-produced by Neal Street Productions, it was directed by Sam Mendes, and starred Johnny Flynn as Burton, Mark Gatiss as Gielgud and Tuppence Middleton as Taylor. It was named Best Play at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards in 2023.Trade Review'Marvellous... a quite wonderful new play... full of compassion, funny, witty and utterly compelling... This play is Thorne and Mendes's own love letter to the stage, full of both intellect and passion, clever and profoundly moving' * WhatsOnStage *'Enjoyable and hugely adroit' * Evening Standard *'Witty, deft, and touching... a palpable hit' * Telegraph *'Magical... deeply affecting... not just a heartfelt plea for the power of theatre, but a moving, often very funny, story about two generations teasing and provoking one another' * Independent *'Fascinating... a dual of egos in which not just the play, but the two men's sense of their selves is at stake' * The Stage *'A riotous peek behind the scenes... sensational' * Time Out *'Thrilling... an undeniably magnificent tour de force. Theatre should thank its lucky stars for Thorne. He has reminded us all why we went to the theatre and why we continue to go' * Broadway World *'Blazingly triumphant... a story about humanity, vulnerability, reconciliation' * TheatreCat *'Beautifully written... Jack Thorne's dramatisation of the events is powerful and entertaining in equal measure' * The Upcoming *'Stunning... Thorne's gloriously rich script subtly dissects the various relationships of the players, and it's magical to see it all unfold... a brilliant piece of theatre' * Theatre Weekly *'Part mischievous comedy and part docu-drama... a funny and affectionate love letter from theatre to itself' * Reviews Hub *'Magic... breathtaking in its simplicity and beauty' * LondonTheatre1 *
£9.89
Nick Hern Books The Hills of California
Book Synopsis'This house. It's called "Sea View". It's just I've looked out of every window, and you can't. You can't see the sea.' Blackpool, 1976. The driest summer in two hundred years. The beaches are packed. The hotels are heaving. In the sweltering backstreets, far from the choc ices and donkey rides, the Webb Sisters are returning to their mother's run-down guest house, as she lies dying upstairs. Jez Butterworth's play The Hills of California was first performed at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London's West End in 2024, directed by Sam Mendes, and produced by Sonia Friedman Productions and Neal Street.Trade Review'Magnificent, moving and quietly furious… a rich, funny, brilliantly layered drama about lost dreams, trampled hopes, parenting and letting go' * Financial Times *'A remarkable play... unfurls with the richness and depth of a well-crafted novel... Butterworth remains a one-off, a man who can write plays about ordinary people that carry the charge of the great tragedies' * Time Out *'A strange and enthralling family saga, packed with warmth, hurt and rich texture... on a par with Butterworth's Jerusalem and The Ferryman – a trio of flawed masterpieces' * Evening Standard *'Exquisite... Devastatingly moving, bitterly funny, tender, cruel and wise' * The Stage *'Rich, vivid and compelling... the West End is infinitely the richer for its presence' * iNews *'Beautifully well-written... Filled with believable, colourful characters... expertly engineered... a rich text, full of nuance and glorious dialogue' * Express *'Intelligent, witty and studded with good lines, fine performances, resonances, echoes and a lingering sense of loss' * Sunday Times *'Epic and ambitious... The writing is closely observed, humorous, but with ripples of anger beneath the surface' * WhatsOnStage *'Bittersweet and bitingly funny... Butterworth's poetic verbosity is in full evidence, along with savage humour, painful pathos and simmering rage... thought-provoking, heartbreaking and multi-layered' * Broadway World *'It's smart, ambitious fare, and the dialogue displays Butterworth's usual élan' * Telegraph *'Perfect... mournfully entertaining, dramatically intense... a majestic evening, often funny but full and satisfying' * TheatreCat *'A masterclass... a play that taps right into the heart of the grieving process and gives you raw, unabashed truths about how families treat one another' * Radio Times *'A new masterpiece' * London Theatre *'Astute and compelling... an imperfect masterpiece... Butterworth reminds us of his singular ability to take us deep inside a seemingly mundane microcosm, and make shatteringly astute observations about family dynamics, unreliable memories, sexual politics and then some... undoubtedly one of the most brilliant works you'll see on stage this year' * Culture Whisper *'A major event in theatre... Butterworth's dialogue merges the lyrical and the earthy, threaded together by strong, dark humour' * Reviews Hub *
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Jerusalem
Book SynopsisJez Butterworth's hugely acclaimed, prize-winning play - a comic, contemporary vision of life in England's green and pleasant land. On St George's Day, the morning of the local country fair, Johnny 'Rooster' Byron, local waster and Lord of Misrule, is a wanted man. The council officials want to serve him an eviction notice, his son wants to be taken to the fair, a vengeful father wants to give him a serious kicking, and a motley crew of mates wants his ample supply of drugs and alcohol. Jerusalem premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in July 2009 in a production directed by Ian Rickson and starring Mark Rylance. It transferred to the Apollo Theatre in the West End in January 2010, and played on Broadway in 2011. Jez Butterworth's play won the Evening Standard Best Play Award and the Critics Circle and Whatsonstage.com awards for Best New Play.Trade Review'Unarguably one of the best dramas of the twenty-first century' * Guardian *'Tender, touching, and blessed with both a ribald humour and a haunting sense of the mystery of things... one of the must-see events of the summer' * Telegraph *'Jez Butterworth's gorgeous, expansive new play keeps coming at its audience in unpredictable gusts, rolling from comic to furious, from winsome to bawdy' * Observer *'Storming... restores one's faith in the power of theatre' * Independent *'Show of the year' * Time Out *'Arguably the best play of the 21st century so far, a work whose importance and resonance has only increased since its premiere in 2009' * Whatsonstage (in January 2022) *
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Vernon God Little
Book SynopsisA darkly riotous, superbly fast-talking adventure, adapted from the Booker Prize-winning novel. Vernon Little is fifteen years old and lives with his mother in Martirio, a flea-bitten Texan town. His best friend just massacred sixteen of their classmates before killing himself. The town wants vengeance and turns its sights on Vernon, who is arrested at the start of the story. Tanya Ronder's stage adaptation of DBC Pierre's Booker Prizewinning novel Vernon God Little was first performed at the Young Vic, London, in 2007, when it was nominated for the Olivier Award for Best New Play. Rufus Norris's production was revived in 2011, in this revised version, as the centrepiece of the Young Vic's celebratory fortieth anniversary season.Trade Review'Tanya Ronder's clever, fluent, and highly enjoyable theatrical adaptation' * Independent *'Exuberant, inventive, edgy, excitable, original' * Mail on Sunday *
£9.89
Nick Hern Books Love and Information
Book SynopsisSomeone sneezes. Someone can't get a signal. Someone shares a secret. Someone won't answer the door. Someone put an elephant on the stairs. Someone's not ready to talk. Someone is her brother's mother. Someone hates irrational numbers. Someone told the police. Someone got a message from the traffic light. Someone's never felt like this before. In this fast moving kaleidoscope, more than a hundred characters try to make sense of what they know. Caryl Churchill's play Love and Information was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in September 2012.Trade Review'This exhilarating theatrical kaleidoscope... What is extraordinary about Churchill is her capacity as a dramatist to go on reinventing the wheel' * Guardian *'A myriad of short scenes, a plethora of ideas, a large cast, a script of unallocated lines (with an appendix of "random" alternatives), a comedy of communication, a drama of depression, a modern manual of sex, memory and schizophrenia. I'm not quite sure how it happens, but every time Caryl Churchill writes a play, she breaks the mould' * Whatsonstage.com *'In the fast-moving traffic of life there are still quiet moments of beauty, heart wrenching sorrow, joy, and profound epiphanies... (The) succinct and thought-provoking script... speaks volumes about the fast turnover of modern life. Five Stars' * Huffington Post *'A wonderful web of complex emotions, memories, secrets and facts' * A Younger Theatre *'The wit, invention and structural ingenuity of Churchill's work are remarkable...she never does anything twice' * Telegraph *
£9.89
Nick Hern Books Chimerica
Book SynopsisA powerful, provocative play about international relations and the shifting balance of power between East and West. Winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Play (2014), the Evening Standard Best Play Award (2013), the Critics' Circle Best New Play Award (2014), and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Tiananmen Square, 1989. As tanks roll through Beijing and soldiers hammer on his hotel door, Joe – a young American photojournalist – captures a piece of history. New York, 2012. Joe is covering a presidential election, marred by debate over cheap labour and the outsourcing of American jobs to Chinese factories. When a cryptic message is left in a Beijing newspaper, Joe is driven to discover the truth behind the unknown hero he captured on film. Who was he? What happened to him? And could he still be alive? A gripping political examination and an engaging personal drama, Chimerica examines the changing fortunes of two countries whose futures will shape the whole world. Lucy Kirkwood's play Chimerica was first performed at the Almeida Theatre, London, in 2013 before transferring to the Harold Pinter Theatre in the West End.Trade Review'Gloriously rich, mind-expanding... if we see a better new play this year, we'll be extremely lucky' * Guardian *'Hurtles along with a mixture of humour, dramatic tension and terrific visual ingenuity... a hugely entertaining and at times deeply affecting play... I cannot recommend it too highly' * Telegraph *'A gripping, multilayered and meticulously researched thriller... like an expansive HBO mini-series expertly compacted into an evening at the theatre... Kirkwood's sharp, incisive dialogue is splendid' * Time Out *'A tremendously bold piece of writing... topical without being gimmicky and well-informed without being showily so... a landmark production' * Evening Standard *'Ambitious, sprawling, morally fascinating, as gripping as a good novel' * The Times *'A taut, complex and nuanced thriller with [an] exhilaratingly ambitious scope' * Exeunt Magazine *'Rich, riveting and theatrically ambitious... fizzing with wit and intelligent ideas... a work of real brilliance' * The Arts Desk *'Absolutely riveting... an important, far-reaching drama' * The Stage *
£9.89
Nick Hern Books Pronoun (NHB Modern Plays)
Book SynopsisA love story about transition, testosterone, and James Dean. Josh and Isabella are childhood sweethearts. They were meant to spend their gap year together, they were meant to be together forever. But Isabella has now become a boy. Pronoun was commissioned as part of the 2014 National Theatre Connections Festival and premiered by youth theatres across the UK. Especially written for young actors, the play can be performed by a cast of seven, with some doubling of roles, or a much larger cast.Trade Review'Honest, touching and relevant… as thought-provoking as it is engaging' A Younger Theatre
£9.89
Nick Hern Books Burying Your Brother in the Pavement
Book SynopsisA play about grief and looking at someone that little bit more closely. Tom's brother Luke is dead. This has upset a lot of people but it hasn't upset Tom. Or, rather, it has upset him, but in ways he can't explain and other people can't understand. You see, Tom and Luke were never friends. In fact, Tom didn't really like Luke at all. So it's an odd decision - to try and bury Luke in the pavement of the Tunstall Estate where he was killed. But to Tom, it sort of makes sense, in a stupid-weird kind of way. As he sleeps out on the pavement, he comes across planning officials, tramps, undertakers, police officers, sisters, mothers, estate agents, ghosts, pavement elephants, sky dragons and a strange lad called Tight who wants to sell him a Travelcard. Written specifically for young people, Burying Your Brother in the Pavement was part of the 2008 National Theatre Connections Festival and was premiered by youth theatres across the UK.Trade Review'Holds a central place within the canon of challenging plays for young people... full of fantastic, carefully crafted characters... challenges the audience to rethink their relationships with those closest to them' * Drama & Theatre Magazine *
£11.39
