Plays, playscripts, drama

Book SynopsisToo old to move with the times; too young to let go of their dreams Village school teacher Platonov is a man who is loved by women. Despite his best intentions he is drawn into a series of extra-marital affairs that all hold the promise of escape from the provincial Russian reality where he and his circle of friends are trapped. Consumed by bitterness and disappointment, they attempt to fill the void in their lives with sex and vodka, blaming their fathers for the mess they’ve been left in. Sons Without Fathers is a brand-new version of Chekhov’s remarkable first play. Helena Kaut-Howson's version chooses to focus on just one of the many themes covered in the original text – the predicament of a disaffected generation left adrift in a world without hope. Updated to modern-day Russia, the play intertwines the central story with contemporary political issues.Trade Review"'Helena Kaut-Howson's adaptation is powerful - Well worth catching.' The Public Reviews 'An engaging production not to be missed.' What's On Stage 'This new version, adapted and directed by Helena Kaut-Howson, acknowledges the work's raw energy - filled with behavioural detail, restless movement and brutal candour.' Guardian 'Helena Kaut-Howson's re-working of Chekhov's Platonov - is a worthy attempt to give some shape and structure to a play which has lain on the shelf for far too long.' The Stage"

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Book SynopsisShortlisted for the Brighton Fringe Emerging Talent Award 2013 at the Edinburgh Fringe. Maggie is just in from Sainsbury’s Local to make a quick sandwich for Jamie. He likes his cheese and pickle. With the crusts off. A good heart, that lad. Not like those other boys around here. You know what boys are like. Laws unto themselves once they reach that age. But it’s those other boys, really. Not Jamie. A boy with a Batman lunch box? What harm is he to anybody? Co-written by AJ Taudevin and Kieran Hurley, Chalk Farm explores love, responsibility, and the culture of blame and retribution surrounding the 2011 English riots.Trade ReviewThe writing is brilliant, sharp, poetic, passionate, full of searing insight into the politics of blame, matched with a brilliant eye for the detail of life in divided Britain today. * Joyce McMillan, Scotsman *This deceptively simple two-hander comes courtesy of Kieran Hurley and AJ Taudevin, two of Scotland's rising new writing stars * Guardian *A tender study of the complicated relationship between a single parent and her son - it has a beautiful heart * Time Out *Most effective in making us rethink our knee-jerk assumptions. * Guardian *The end result is a not-to-be missed piece of dynamite that succeeds in making the political personal, and vice-versa - The writing crackles with energy and insight * Herald Scotland *

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Book SynopsisDaisy is sixteen. She was normal. Now she’s just an ill person with a disease no one has heard of. The hospital tells her father Peter that she must travel regularly to London for specialist treatment – but how on earth will he get time off work? There’s one person he could ask for help. Problem is, Daisy’s not going to like it… Responsible Other is a bittersweet comedy which examines the complexities of family life.Trade ReviewMelanie Spencer's debut play has plenty of spark - unexpectedly affecting, and, in the encounters between Daisy and Alice, Spencer demonstrates that she is a playwright of real talent who can bring a smile of recognition to our faces. * Lyn Gardner, The Guardian *Melanie Spencer's exceedingly attractive and accomplished debut play Responsible Other is full of lively wit and sharp observation, as her beautifully acted production brings out - warmly recommended. * Independent *A bold, funny and impressive debut. * Time Out *[A] fierce and compelling debut play from writer/director Melanie Spencer - The way she captures the dynamics of high-pitched youthful female friendship is exquisite. * London Evening Standard *Responsible Other shows much promise: characters are well drawn and differentiated, with strong and likeable personalities. The progression of the various relationships is engaging and dramatic, and Spencer's focus on and approach to Lupus disease is illuminating and insightful * A Younger Theatre *Responsible Other is an astonishingly good debut. So amusing, so moving, so acute emotionally - A remarkably rich first play. * The Times *

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Book SynopsisIn 1994 the Criminal Justice Act effectively outlawed raves, banning public gatherings around amplified music characterised by ‘the emission of a succession of repetitive beats.’Featuring a soundtrack from a live DJ and psychedelic 90s-inspired visuals, Beats tells the story of Johnno McCreadie, a teenager living in a small suburban Scottish town at the time of the Act. Beats is an award-winning new play by Kieran Hurley; a coming-of-age story exploring rebellion, apathy, and the irresistible power of gathered youth. Beats was the winner of Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland, as well as the winner of The Arches Platform 18 Behaviour Award 2012.Trade ReviewA tremendous piece of storytelling that takes us back to 1994 * Guardian *An outstanding show; clever, ruthless, compassionate, full of political insight - with a subtlety, humanity that takes the breath away * The Scotsman *The most exhilarating, urgent response to the events of last summer (2011 UK riots) that I've ever seen. A must. * Independent *Hurley delivers the performance with an eye-popping intensity * Time Out *An original, urgent piece of theatre * Telegraph *Deceptively brilliant * The Herald *Beats is theatre at its most vital and electrifying * Metro *A truly intelligent and magical performance * Edinburgh Evening News *

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Book SynopsisWinner of a Scotsman Fringe First Award 2013. Shortlisted for the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award 2013 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2013. Seamlessly blending the personal and the political, Grounded tells the story of a hot-rod F16 fighter pilot whose unexpected pregnancy ends her career in the sky. Repurposed to flying remote-controlled drones in the Middle East from an air-conditioned trailer near Vegas, the Pilot struggles through surreal twelve-hour shifts far from the battlefield, hunting terrorists by day and being a wife and mother by night. A tour de force play for one actress, Grounded flies from the heights of lyricism to the shallows of workaday existence, targeting our assumptions about war, family, and the power of storytelling. Grounded was the winner of the 2012 Smith Prize.Trade Review"Grounded is a powerful, hallucinogenic experience. What makes it imperative viewing is that, rather than being some sci-fi dystopia, everything in Grounded is an urgent, appalling reality: an ethical minefield about which a great deal more noise needs to be made immediately.' What's on Stage 'It is a searing piece of writing.' Guardian 'Grounded is impossible to take your eyes off, from start to finish [it] is a play that holds you in its palm and grips you tight - The script is layered and interesting.' A Younger Theatre "We're gripped from the first lines of George Brant's snappy, sparky staccato script. Outstanding...' Evening Standard 'George Brant's solo play Grounded, has been named the 2012 winner of the Smith Prize.' Playbill 'It's a fine, thoughtful and empathic piece of writing.' Time Out 'The emotional whiplash from this grippingly intense one-woman play - almost hurts. This show soars across utterly believable territory.' Festmag 'What makes Brant's play exceptional is its driving, white-hot sense of identification with a woman who is not, on the face of it, a sympathetic character.' Scotsman "

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Book SynopsisIf you could lie without flinching, corrupt without caring and succeed at all costs – how far could you go…how much could you make? From the early promise of the '70s through to unrelenting capitalism of the '80s and '90s, follow George on the journey from innocence to savage greed and knotted honesty, as he invents three golden rule for success, whatever the cost. An electrifying dark tale, this new play from award-winning writer Dennis Kelly marks his Royal Court debut.

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Book Synopsis"I spent more than half my life, when I ought to have been enjoying myself, arguing and planning and running around like a maniac, all to sell a lot of things to people I didn't know, so that I could buy a lot of things that I didn't have time to use. Sheer lunacy. And it took nothing less than an atom bomb to blow me out of it.” Following a devastating nuclear war which has seen Britain bombed back into the pre-industrial past, Stephen Dawlish and his family live a quiet rural life. Until their quiet, agrarian existence is disrupted by the appearance of three representatives of the New World Order – an American, a Russian and an Indian – who have devastating plans that will end their new peaceful way of life forever...

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Book SynopsisTanika Gupta returns with a hilarious and touching story of love, attachment and what we mean by home. Bindi and Mansoor might just be the most popular couple on their street, but after 45 years of a loving marriage, Mansoor has vowed to swap the cold streets of Stratford for a sun soaked Delhi. The problem? Bindi’s not convinced and has concocted a last minute plan to lure him back.Trade ReviewGupta’s play is quite a soft-centred piece…Lovely writing. * What's On Stage *...warm-hearted, touching and hilarious * British Theatre Guide *

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Book SynopsisDea Loher is one of the most powerful and individual voices in German theatre today. This volume brings together three of her plays to be performed in English. Olga’s Room Communist. Jew. Revolutionary. Lover. Mother. Olga Benario’s story is a searing tale of survival as alongside her fellow prisoners she struggles to hold onto her disintegrating sense of self. Based on real events of the 1930s-40s, Dea Loher’s gripping first play spans Brazilian revolution and Nazi dictatorship. Innocence A city by the sea. 14 people on the edge. Illegal immigrants afraid of being arrested for a good deed. A philosopher who burns her own books. A woman seeking forgiveness for crimes she didn’t commit. A young married man who finds fulfilment laying out corpses. A blind stripper who spends her life being watched by men she cannot see. Innocence is a darkly comic panorama of urban restlessness. Land Without Words War meets art in this intimate parable. A painter seeks the perfect image, but in K., a Middle Eastern city, she experiences the effects of war, violence and poverty, impossible to depict. Now she is forced to confront her lifelong beliefs in the value of art, and how to deal with her position in the world today.

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Book SynopsisWhen the seemingly perfect Tartuffe ingratiates himself with the wealthy Orgon and his mother Madame Pernelle, he is soon welcomed into their home and into their lives. His combination of charm, respectability and religious authority proves so irresistible that he is eventually promised the hand of Orgon’s daughter in marriage. But the rest of Orgon’s family have grave doubts – is there more to Tartuffe than meets the eye? When the threat of eviction for the family and imprisonment for Orgon become apparent, is it all too late to find out? This hilarious and irreverent whirlwind of lies, religious hypocrisy and family feuds features one of theatre’s most perfect comedy creations, the beguiling Tartuffe.

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Book Synopsis'You’d like that, would you, your most private, pinkest, tenderest – small bird, small bird, small fragile – stolen from you, slammed down onto the slab, the block, poked at and paraded.’ The children swing their legs on the chairs. The student delivers the presentation. The older woman stands with the gun. The young couple arrives at the house. The house is returning to nature. A movie is being made. The truth is being plundered. But the house is still lived in and the spirit to resist is strong. Janet Adler and Margaret Gibb were conceptual artists working in New York at the end of the last century. They were described by art critic Dave Hickey as the ‘most ferociously uncompromising voice of their generation’. With Adler’s death in 2004, however, the compromise began. Adler & Gibb tells the story of a raid – on a house, a life, a reality and a legacy. The play takes Tim Crouch’s fascination with form and marries it to a thrilling story of misappropriation. Also includes what happens to the hope at the end of the evening by Tim Crouch and Andy Smith, a facsimile of the text as used in performance.Trade Review...when one has penetrated the formal barrier, one finds that Crouch is delivering some fascinating propositions: that all art is the product of a particular culture, that today we are more obsessed by the life than the work and that we fetishise anything related to the artist. * Guardian *...a thrilling experiment... This simple story gives Crouch the chance to joyfully satirise academic descriptions of artistic creativity, and to comment on how film-makers, art critics and biographers vampirise the lives of artists. But as well as laughing at the blood suckers who slurp the life out of creativity, Crouch also explores the nature of theatre, and theatrical representation. * Aleks Sierz, Arts Desk *It's ambitious, both theatrically and intellectually, but what these theatre-makers are adept at doing is leaving room for concepts to circulate. The ambling setup of the first half might leave some fidgeting in their seats, but the slow delivery and long silences give priority to the play's groaning raft of ideas. Those ideas are swirling and slippery, taking up fluid residence in the mind. Adler & Gibb picks at notions of artistic value, of the relationship between art and meaning, of the relationship between art and life. * What's On Stage *Crouch's distinctive, seriously mischievous fusing of formal experiment and ethical investigation is taken a stage further in Adler & Gibb... which plays pointed games with the rules of representation while skewering the monstrous presumption of wanting to invade and appropriate another person's reality... Not an easy show, but a memorable and rewarding one. * Independent *Crouch has fun here at the expense of the various kinds of people who live off the creativity of others like parasites. He satirises the opaque judgments of scholars, the tedious ambivalence of critics and the mad devotion of fans... And as in his previous work, Crouch wants us to ask probing questions about the institutions (such as the Royal Court) where we experience art. * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisRoland Schimmelpfennig is the most performed contemporary German playwright. This collection demonstrates the breadth and formal innovation of his writing. The Animal Kingdom depicts the unremitting battle for human survival in a merciless environment: the theatre. Peggy Pickit Sees the Face of God has been likened to a post-colonial Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Here two doctors who have returned from Africa reveal the true cost of their failure to combat a terrible and frightening disease. Idomeneus is a narrative play written for a large chorus which re-tells the classical Idomeneus myth in contemporary terms; a fractured, mythic tidal wave, brought to life with astounding theatricality by an ensemble of storytellers. A small narrative piece, The Four Points of the Compass is an urban fable of crossed destinies and uncanny coincidences and a compelling contemporary tale of lust for life and the fragility of existence.

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Book SynopsisOn a farmhouse at the edge of Salisbury Plain, a family is falling apart. Stephen can’t afford to put his mother into care; Arthur can’t afford to stop working and look after his wife. When a young stranger with blue hair moves in to care for Edie as her mind unravels, the family are forced to ask: are we living the way we wanted? Visitors is a haunting, beautiful look at the way our lives slip past us. Critics Circle Award 2014 for Most Promising Playwright. Winner of the Best New Play Award at the Off West End Theatre Awards 2014. Shortlisted for the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Most Promising Playwright and the Writers Guild of Great Britain 2014 award for Best Play.Trade ReviewInfinitely touching...a mature and tender play. [Norris] is an authentic new voice. * Four stars - Guardian *Barney Norris's first full-length play is astonishingly accomplished. Norris is a perceptive and humane craftsman...he has created an aching love story. He is a talent to watch. * Five stars - Evening Standard *...an absolute beauty, by turns funny, tender and desperately sad. There is great richness and an almost poetic resonance in the writing so that we can almost see the play of light across their fields and apprehend the jolting dislocation of dementia. It is much harder to write interestingly about happiness than it is about misery, but Norris often does just that. * Four stars - Telegraph *It's a hefty subject - the way dementia destroys people's minds and families - but Norris's excellent play deals with it with surprising lightness of touch and humour. * Time Out London *A tender, elegiac, beautifully written and observed play * Mail on Sunday *Remember the name Barney Norris. He’s outstanding. * The Times *Barney Norris’s astonishingly accomplished debut. * Evening Standard *An absolute beauty, by turns funny, tender and desperately sad. * The Telegraph *‘Infinitely touching. The real pleasure lies in discovering an authentic new voice.’ * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisThe recession is biting hard and so Emily and Oliver have decided to downsize and shift their middle-class London lifestyle to a small town in the north of England. They want to live and to work and to raise their two young children in a friendly community, among what Emily terms ‘real people’, away from the cold anonymityof the city. So these left-leaning, well-educated people have invited over two of their new neighbours in an attempt to break the ice. Tonight Alan and Dawn are to be offered olives, anchovies and are to be introduced to Karl Marx and abstract art. As classes and outlooks collide, the scene is set for a meeting which will have consequences as hilarious as they are tragic.Trade Review‘Betts has caught the mood of the times... The only mystery about Torben Betts is why his perceptive social commentaries are not better known.’ -- Michael Billington * Guardian *‘Torben Betts is one of the most exciting theatre writing‘Torben Betts is one of the most exciting theatre writing talents I have come across in many a year.’ -- Alan Ayckbourn‘Torben Betts’s astute new play is both highly entertaining and tense...a vibrant combination of a play of ideas and a comedy of bad manners...startlingly raw.’ -- Kate Bassett * The Times *‘An uncommonly talented playwright... Brilliant and testing.’ * Time Out *

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Book Synopsis‘A story of paralysing passion’ 1860s Paris. In a small dusty haberdasher’s shop near the Seine in the dank, narrow Passage du Pont Neuf, the young and beautiful Thérèse Raquin is trapped into a loveless marriage to her sickly cousin, Camille. While her husband is out all day working, Thérèse spends her days confined behind the counter of a small shop and – every Thursday evening – watching her domineering aunt, Madame Raquin, play dominoes with an eclectic group of ne'er-do-wells. Until the Thursday evening that her husband Camille brings an old friend to the party – the alluring Laurent – and she embarks on an illicit affair that leads Thérèse to abandon all her inhibitions and loyalties as their brutal and overwhelming passion overturns both their lives and has results that nobody could have foreseen... In keeping with the innovative and challenging nature of the original work, this radical new musical adaptation features a company of twelve actor musicians playing the main roles of Thérèse, Laurent, Camille and Madame Raquin, as well as their Thursday night domino playing companions and a watchful and distrustful Chorus.Trade Review[This] adaptation is very well-constructed - The movement Sheppard incorporates complements the score and the plot… * The Arts Desk *This radical adaptation of Zola's dark and shocking masterpiece is brimming with derailed passion, haunting criminality and withering comedy. * Four stars - Everything Theatre *Uncompromisingly dark * The Stage *With stylish book, lyrics and direction by Nona Sheppard. * Evening Standard *The sense that it's at once a moral thriller and a kind of animal experiment comes through powerfully in Nona Sheppard's astute non-naturalistic reworking. * Independent *Zola would approve. * Telegraph *A talented celebration of the classic novel's sharply provocative spirit.. * Younger Theatre *Shepphard's lyrics are some of the most intelligent lyrics ever to grace a musical theatre stage. * Public Reviews *

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Book SynopsisDennis Kelly's plays include Debris (Theatre503/Battersea Arts Centre, 2003), Osama the Hero (Hampstead Theatre, 2004), After the End (Paines Plough/Traverse Theatre/Bush Theatre, 2005), Love and Money (Young Vic/Manchester Royal Exchange, 2006), Taking Care of Baby (Hampstead Theatre/Birmingham Repertory, 2006), DNA (National Theatre, 2008), Orphans (Paines Plough/Traverse Theatre/Soho Theatre/Birmingham Rep, 2009), The Gods Weep (Royal Shakespeare Company, 2010) and The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas (The Royal Court, 2013). His plays have been performed all over the world and have been translated into nearly thirty languages. For Television he co-wrote and created Pulling (Silver River/BBC 3) and has written and created Utopia (Kudos) for Channel Four. He also wrote the book for Matilda the Musical, for which we won a Tony Award.

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Book SynopsisGurpreet Kaur Bhatti has written extensively for stage, screen and radio. Her first play Behsharam (Shameless) broke box office records when it was produced in 2001. Her second play Behzti (Dishonour) won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2005. Behzti rocked the world of theatre when it was cancelled after protestsin Birmingham, forcing the playwright into hiding. The play’s closure sparked an international debate about offence and freedom of expression. In 2014, Khandan(Family) was co-produced by the Birmingham Rep and the Royal Court Theatre. This is her first collected works’ volume. Behsharam (Shameless) Two daughters, two mothers, one father, a cardboard cut-out and a foul-mouthed granny – a household at war and a family which will do anything to protect its secrets. Behzti (Dishonour) Past her prime, Min happily spends her life caring for her frail, vicious mother, Balbir. Today, for the first time in years, they’re heading out to the local Sikh temple. In a community where public honour is paramount, is there any room for the truth? Behud (Beyond Belief) A playwright attempts to make sense of her past by visitingthe darkest corners of her imagination. Inspired by the events surroundingBehzti, Behud is the compelling story of an artist struggling to be heard. Fourteen. 1983. Brainbox Tina’s parents are always shouting, her mum says she’s developing too quickly and her best friend Sharon has a dark secret. Thirty years later, Tina’s life hasn’t turned out quite how it was supposed to... Khandan (Family) Widowed matriarch Jeeto has a strong sense of her past and principles. She’s spent her life working hard and making sacrifices for her children. But eldest son Pal isn’t following in her footsteps. What happens when the legacy of a father collides with the dreams of his son?Trade Review‘an awe-inspiring masterpiece full of wit, grit and wisdom’ * The Stage *

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Book Synopsis“She shares my tent, she shares my bed. Her flesh is mine.” Achilles, the greatest of the Achaean warriors, refuses to fight; angered that King Agamemnon has stolen his captive Trojan slave-girl, Briseis. Drawn from The Iliad, and produced in collaboration with Ashtar Theatre from Palestine, Brian Woolland’s taut and poetic new play for Border Crossings brings together Homer’s Troy and the Middle East of today: worlds shaken by cycles of violence and revenge, by ambition and self-interest masquerading as idealism; worlds struggling towards any possibility of reconciliation.Trade ReviewBrian Woolland's play This Flesh Is Mine brings together Homer's Troy and the contemporary life and politics of the Middle East. Themes of war, death, grief, honour and (a lack of) reconciliation resonate thunderously * Guardian *Taut and poetic * Rich Mix *

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Book SynopsisForeword by Diana Damian Martin Werner Schwab’s final work, also known as a theatre-extinction comedy, is a brutal, irreverent and bizarrely comical piece about what happens when an emerging stage production is sabotaged by outsiders. Following a dispute with the cast, the director replaces all the actors with pensioners from a nearby home for the elderly. At first compliant and polite, the ‘forgotten and dispossessed’ gradually start to question the director’s authority, leading to a ‘coup d’état’ where the theatre’s cleaning lady is selected as the group’s leader. Not everybody survives the new order. Werner Schwab was only thirty-five years old when he was found dead in his room following a New Year’s Eve drinking spree in 1994. He was, at the time, the undisputed star of German speaking theatre who effortlessly rose to fame for his unique talent with language and his darkly humorous, confrontational narratives. In only four years, he completed fifteen plays with Dead at Last, At Last No More Air (Endlich tot, endlich keine luftmehr) being his last.Trade ReviewFrom backstage farces to postmodern deconstruction, theatre has a habit of turning its gaze on itself. This tendency is pushed to breaking point in Werner Shwab's last play...introducing European theatre in translation to British audiences is both exciting and necessary...thrilling. * What's On Stage *Fans of anti-naturalistic, avant garde German meta-theatre would do well to head over to the [theatre]...hats off to Meredith Oakes, who must have had a few nosebleeds while translating this wild and prickly beast. * Londonist *Schwab uses language and humour to offer a contemporary critique of culture and politics, that is hoped will challenge audiences * London Theatre *It abuses and abandons a staggering number of theatre conventions to show us the failure of established theatre to convey meaning to an audience * Everything Theatre *

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Book SynopsisKneehigh Theatre Company presents Dead Dog in a Suitcase written by Carl Grose. What the HELL is the world coming to? Based on The Beggar's Opera, John Gay's classic musical satire, Dead Dog in a suitcase (and other love songs) is busting with wit, wonder and weirdness. An extraordinary Kneehigh cast of actor-musicians shoot, hoot and shimmy their way through this twisted morality tale of our times...by turns SHOCKING, HILARIOUS, HEARTFELT and ABSURD! Mayor Goodman has been assassinated. Contract killer Macheath has just married Pretty Polly Peachum and they plan to escape to a better world – but they aren't going anywhere. Not if pickled pilchard, hair gel and concrete tycoon Les Peachum and his wife have anything to do with it. See, they aren't happy with their daughter marrying Macheath. Not one bit. Before the day is out Macheath will face the hangman's noose and much more besides. All the while, the dogs are howling, the pier is creaking, the babes are crying, the concrete is cracking and the truth won't stay hidden for much longer… This is now, this is it The world is poor and man's a shit The game is rigged, nothing's truer Death's a joke and life a sewer!Trade Review‘A robust and raucous riot’ * The Times *‘The whole thing is just great fun from beginning to end… Grose's script is witty and full of subtle verses and rhymes… A fabulous piece of entertainment’ * British Theatre Guide *‘Dead dog in a suitcase (and other love songs) is bursting with wit, wonder and weirdness… by turns SHOCKING, HILARIOUS, HEARTFELT and ABSURD’ * Everyman Playhouse *‘A loud, nihilistic and outrageously funny commentary on the ills of today’s society… A dazzling piece of theatre’ * The Public Reviews *‘Here's the surest betting: once seen, this show must be seen again... and yet again. It's that good’ * Liverpool Echo *‘Fiendishly clever’ * The Stage *‘Madcap mastery… A timeless, yet very urban, myth... Bright, bold and timeless’ * Guardian *‘One of the most imaginative, chaotic, memorable and quite beautifully absurd final scenes’ * Made Up: On Stage in Liverpool *

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Book SynopsisA volume of four new plays as part of the RSC’s Midsummer Mischief by Alice Birch, E. V. Crowe, Timberlake Wertenbaker and Abi Zakarian. The writers had the famous quote by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, “Well-behaved women seldom make history” as an initial provocation and each writer has responded to this line in a unique and distinctive way. Contents: The Ant and the Cicada by Timberlake Wertenbaker A mysterious investor has set his sights on a prime piece of Greek real estate. Owned by two sisters whose lives and beliefs are at odds, and with debts rising all the time, the property's future is uncertain. In a Greek tragedy, everybody loses. Through the struggle between two very different sisters for control of their family home, Timberlake Wertenbaker's new play explores why we are willing to let the home of art and democracy crumble as the rest of Europe looks on. Revolt. She said. Revolt again. by Alice Birch You are expected to behave… Use the right words Act appropriately Don't break the rules Just behave This play is not well behaved Alice Birch examines the language, behaviour and forces that shape women in the 21st century and asks what's stopping us from doing something truly radical to change them. Winner of the George Devine Award for Most Promising New Playwright 2014 I can hear you by E.V. Crowe Tommy is dead. It's always tragic when they die young. People have posted loads of nice stuff on his Facebook page. His sister Ruth has returned for the funeral and wants to get it just right. Proper cutlery and a good spread. The send-off he deserved, and certainly better than they managed when mum died. The following Sunday Ruth's plans to leave again are interrupted as the doorbell rings and in walks a still very much dead, Tommy. E.V. Crowe's naturalistic supernatural play examines what the possibilities are for the women in Tommy's family, and questions if it's as easy for everyone to reveal what it is they want. This is not an exit by Abi Zakarian You wake up, tied to a radiator. Your hands are bound and there is a bag over your head. You know you should fight, but you don't know how or against whom. But you can't have it all: where would you put it? Abi Zakarian's new play is a funny and ferocious drama about the absurdity at the heart of modern womanhood, and what really stands in the way of fulfilment.

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Book SynopsisDream of Perfect Sleep is the story of an ageing couple, Mary and Gene, and their adult children - recovering-addict Robert and new-ager Melissa. Mary suffers from severe vertigo and just wants to watch her TV show. Gene is busy organizing a very special holiday dinner, but party planning isn’t exactly his strong suit. When the estranged kids come home for the holidays, Gene reveals some unexpected news that threatens to destroy the family’s already strained bonds… A funny, heartwarming and powerful story of hope and loss in the face of dementia and terminal illness as an elderly couple plan their last days on earth. Winner of both the Kernodle New Play and Southwestern Playwriting Awards.Trade ReviewThere is a feeling of raw truth about this play that is constantly absorbing. * What's On Stage *A funny, heartwarming and powerful story of hope and loss - as an elderly couple plan their last days on earth * Broadway World *A play that seeks to tug at your heartstrings and not overburden you with guilt and scenes of familial dysfunction * Everything Theatre *Kautzman has written a perfectly good family play, with palpable echoes of O'Neill. * Michael Billington, The Guardian *Witty, insightful. * Time Out *An original insight into dementia. * Stage *The story is moving and the questions Kautzman asks of death and aging are resounding. * Younger Theatre *[Kautzman] tackles serious themes without ever being heavy-handed or too earnest. * Public Reviews *

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Book SynopsisBigmoutH He who picks his words well can turn the weakest argument into the strongest. Valentijn Dhaenens pays tribute to 2,500 years of oration. Ingeniously weaving together fragments of seminal sermons, declarations of war, farewells, final arguments, victory speeches and eulogies from the Grand Inquisitor and Socrates to Mohammed Ali and Osama Bin Laden, BigmoutH shows that the tricks of rhetoric have hardly changed. SmallWaR When clean souls boil up in the backwash, they will consolidate after the final war, into a peace that shall endure… but not till then. By examining the things cast up in the backwash, we can gauge the progress of humanity. Ellen Newbold-La-Motte, nurse in a field hospital, behind the front lines in 1914. A nurse maintains watchful vigil over patients as fragments of past wars lurk within the shadows. SmallWaR tells the story in the words of those who were there and led the way, and – crucially – those who followed.Trade Review‘Seldom has so much horror been made so tangible through such intimacy.’ * De Standaard (Belguim) on SmallWar *‘Dhaenens's writing is stark and poetic…a sensitive, thoughtful and often beautiful response to the continuing suffering caused by war.’ * Telegraph on SmallWar *‘Unbearably poignant…The piece is as effective in demonstrating what war does with the minds and hearts of those involved, as it is at showing us the devastating physical consequences.’ * Guardian on SmallWar *‘an electrifying and transcendent piece of art.’ * Exeunt on BigmoutH *‘If Dhaenens is new to you… brace yourself for an unnerving, technically risky and thought-provoking show… I would hate to have missed it.’ * The Times on BigmoutH *‘Brilliant… a fascinating experience.’ * Guardian on BigmoutH *

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Book SynopsisThe 2009 winner of the Best Play Award at the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award (Birmingham Rep and UK tour ’08), published for the first time to coincide with the author’s new play Upper Cut. “This is my War. My War for Civilization. My War for Freedom. My Life. My Race. My Place. My Honour. My Home.” Stranded in the battlefields of the Holy Land during the Great War, a battalion of West Indian volunteers fight for the Empire, the King and the Mother Land.Their long search for identity and honour falls apart as the fragile hopes of young lives, both black and white, explode and shatter as betrayal and race take their toll. At the Gates of Gaza is a highly charged, emotional and gripping look at a world in the midst of change.Trade ReviewThose blessed with a strong social conscience should hurry along to see this remarkable new play, which delivers with unerring accuracy a short sharp kick in the guts. * The Stage *If the play's underlying message is one of patriotism betrayed by racism, the overriding impression is more of warmth than wrath - the cast endow these forgotten heroes with personality and martial dignity... this could hardly be a more timely reminder of former valour. * Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisTiny Dynamite: An impossible love story is given a second chance and three scorched characters are about to learn that lightning does strike twice. Splendour: Inside a beautiful state residence on the edge of a city, four women wait. They talk: films, Prada, chilli vodka, anything. Outside civil war looms ever nearer. Tender: In a city of fast talk and chance encounters, how much faith can we put in other people? Abi Morgan’s acerbic play takes a scalpel to modern love and friendship. Lovesong: The story of one couple, told from two different points in their lives – as young lovers in their twenties and as worldly companions looking back on their relationship. 27: Dr Richard Garfield has given Ursula a difficult choice. She is the Mother Superior in waiting of a convent that has been given the opportunity to take part in his revolutionary scientific study. Ursula must weigh up the value of preserving her faith, versus embracing science.

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Book Synopsis‘Wars do not break out, they are not brokered or declared as is always written. They are brought about by those who desire them.’ In June 1914, Europe was enjoying unprecedented peace and prosperity. Little over a month later, the world was at war – and only a handful of people knew it was happening. Inspired by the medieval mystery plays Sommer 14 – A Dance of Death is an epic telling from a German and European perspective of the world's descent into war. Employing the character of Death as a guide, the play uses the classic Danse Macabre structure of a series of searing vignettes to illuminate the people and the events that led up to the outbreak of the First World War.Trade ReviewAmid the welter of shows about the First World War, Rolf Hochhuth's play is something of a rarity: an epic mix of history lesson, expressionist drama and Germanic Oh! What a Lovely War...Hochhuth has lost none of his capacity for controversy - offers a fascinating portrait of the inexorable march towards war. * Michael Billington, The Guardian *The events leading up to the Great War are given an epic treatment in this new play...Part theatre, part historical pageant, this translation offers an intriguing perspective on the nature and nurture of war. * Stage *It is a fascinating exposition of little known material that feels like a verbatim drama dosed with surrealism and presented in a Brechtian manner - Piece by piece Hochhuth assembles the disparate evidence of all those acts that those in control exploited in their determination to go to war and reorder Europe to their own advantage, a fascinating unfolding that gives us privileged access to the reality of history. * British Theatre Guide *

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Book SynopsisAn Edinburgh International Festival production. The lobby of a grand hotel, New Year’s Eve. A snow storm rages. Minetti, a long-forgotten actor, arrives in great spirits to discuss his comeback as King Lear with a theatre director. While he waits patiently in the hotel lobby, Minetti’s obsessive personality reveals itself in a series of strange encounters with other guests. He rails against outrageous fortune and unfulfilled ambitions, often colliding with crowds of young hotel guests who frequently burst in to celebrate New Year’s Eve. As with King Lear, the storm which rages outside reflects his turbulent emotions until he finally finds peace and resolution.Trade ReviewPeter Eyre, performing in a translation he has written with director Tom Cairns, supplies a mordant, tragic and poignant epitaph for an old actor who has truculently passed his sell-by date - Thomas Bernhard is commenting bitterly on the contemporary German theatre's obsession with reclaiming the classics at the cost of local new plays. * Four stars - Michael Coveney, What's On Stage *[Minetti] - offered the real Minetti the comeback he was looking for, and gave the notoriously uncompromising Bernhard a chance to express some of his more trenchant opinions on art, theatre and stultifying provincial mores. * Three stars - Laura Barnett, Telegraph *Gradually, as metaphorically the hours pass and the theatre director doesn't arrive, we become engaged in the agony of this character whose dreams of success have been shattered. * Four stars - Barbara Bryan, Edinburgh Guide *

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Book SynopsisNothing's new Everything's old. I'm exactly the same as ever Only more lazy More aimless More curmudgeonly...' One of the high points of world drama, Chekhov's bittersweet tale of frustrated lives and unrequited loves - by turns witty, playful, nostalgic and tragic - is captured in all its complexity by Bryony Lavery's spirited, sharply-written adaptation, first produced at Birmingham Rep in 2007.Trade Review...a vital and vibrant production that remains highly respectful of its source material... Chekhov would cheer. * Evening Standard *Now The Seagull has been Anglicised and pulled into the 21st century by award-laden wunderkind Anya Reiss * The Independent *

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Book Synopsis1939: fascism spreads across Europe, Franco marches on Barcelona and two German chemists discover the processes of atomic fission. In Berkeley, California, theoretical physicists recognise the horrendous potential of this new science: a weapon that draws its power from the very building blocks of the universe. Struggling to cast off his radical past and thrust into a position of power and authority, the charismatic J Robert Oppenheimer races to win the 'battle of the laboratories' and create a weapon so devastating that it would bring about an end not just to the Second World War but to all war. Tom Morton-Smith's new play takes us into the heart of the Manhattan Project, revealing the personal cost of making history.Trade ReviewTime and again in this triumphantly assured drama - there are phrases that leap out and draw you into the wonder, and the horror, of mankind's journey to a brave new world of potential total annihilation. * 5*s - Telegraph *Where [Arthur] Miller drew a blank, writer Tom Morton-Smith succeeds in presenting the complex character of Oppenheimer * Stratford Observer *An engaging and informative night at the theatre * 5*s - London Theatre 1 *An evening of ebullience with moments of wonder...raw, nimble and devastating. * A Younger Theatre *The dialogue crackles with vicious insight and humour. * Time Out *Morton-Smith’s careful handling gives rise to a lyrical character study of ordinary people burdened by exceptional circumstances. * Guardian *Starkly original ... The seeming simplicity of Morton-Smith’s dialogue belies a rich, poetic meditation on loss, identity and the complexity of care. * Exeunt *

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Book SynopsisA dark, volatile new play that asks if we can ever let go. Reminiscing. Once a year to tell stories. To share little bits of our little lives. A house by the sea. Teddy wants more light. He’s knocked that staircase down. Alison is soaked through. She’s livid. Clarissa’s ready to burst. They can’t keep meeting like this.

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Book SynopsisA new play from acclaimed experimental company Ridiculusmus about MDMA assisted therapy for Post Traumatic Stress. Welcome to the world of war veteran Zach. As the last man standing, Zach has retreated into a tiny dugout under a barrage of hostile fire. His enemies are cunning, using every trick in the book to mess with his mind. Even the landscape is weird: audibly, chemically and most of all physically… it is a cardboard box, in Zach’s kitchen, in Port Talbot. His wife whispers, kindly, that it’s safe to come out. But is it a trap? For if the real enemy is Zach himself then who will win if he loses? Give Me Your Love is the second instalment of Ridiculusmus’s three-pronged investigation into innovative approaches to mental health. Informed by the latest scientific research, it explores the healing potential in altered states of consciousness.

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Book SynopsisA car has exploded. A city has been crippled by fear. Amor wanders around the city, doing his best to blend in. He’s going to exchange a drill head. He’s going to call his brothers. He’s going to stop stalking Valeria and take care of his long-since-dead grandma. Most important of all: he must not attract any suspicious glances. But what is normal behaviour? Who is a potential perpetrator? And how many times can Shavi call in one day? For 24 intense hours we find ourselves in Amor’s head, where the lines between criminal and victim, love and chemistry, and fantasy and reality become more and more blurred.Trade ReviewKhemiri puts his finger firmly on the unspeakable: racism and fear of the Other in a post 9/11 world... With [this play], however, he moves his sights from the societies that generate these fears, in Europe and North America, to the objectified individuals internalizing them. * Exeunt Magazine *Intense and visceral, I Call My Brothers is a portrait of the lasting psychological effects of being subjected to and internalizing racism... it is thought-provoking and asks important questions without giving easy answers. By taking a visceral and emotional approach to a timely topic, I Call My Brothers makes an impression that will stay with you for days. * DCtheatrescene.com *Playwright Jonas Hassen Khemiri has penned a profound piece of theatre, almost poetic in its descriptive nature with vivid language that ensnares the attention early on... Continually blindsiding the audience with the upheaval of circumstances, every time the play gets its footing or the audience gets a clear notion of what exactly they’re witnessing. Is this a story about a terrorist? Is this a story about a terrorizing experience? Is this a story about injustice and racial profiling? Is this a story about struggle? Or perhaps it is all of the above? Khemiri loads a theatrical powder keg with his script; Michael Dove and the four-person cast ignite it into a theatrical explosion of unapologetic cathartic experiences and narratives that seize the audience and throw them headlong into a chasm of chaos. * Theatrebloom.com *

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Book SynopsisHigh summer in Glasgow’s Southside and a heatwave bears down on the residents of Govanhill, driving them off the streets. Tensions are running high and fantasy and reality are becoming blurred. Fighting to reclaim their neighbourhood, the lives of a sleep-deprived new parent and his civic-minded wife begin to unravel. Meanwhile an ambitious Hutchie boy, a pair of young missionaries, a performance artist and her alter ego and an unscrupulous property manager, are forced to confront their monsters. Fever Dream: Southside is a surreal comic thriller and major new production by Glasgow-based writer Douglas Maxwell.

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Book Synopsis‘Happy 17th Birthday Crookshank, how ‘bout a cup of SUCK IT THE F K UP?!’ With over 4 million views on Channel 4 News online and a critically acclaimed run at the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, multi-award nominated Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is based on the true story of ex-Airwoman Crookshank and her time serving in the Royal Air Force protecting the UK Air Defence Region. Charting her journey from basic training to the Falkland Islands. She celebrates friendship, awakens her creativity, and uncovers the dark truths about sexual harassment and bullying in the armed forces. A heart-warming tale of courage and survival. Per ardua ad astra – through adversity to the stars… Warning: Contains strong language, weapons, and penguins.

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Book SynopsisThe new verbatim drama from the pioneering team behind Guantanamo: Honour Bound to Defend Freedom. Over the last twelve months headlines have been dominated by the growth of Islamic State, and terror attacks claimed by IS have spread across the world. What is the entity that calls itself Islamic State? Why are some young Muslim men and women from across Western Europe leaving their homes to answer the call of Jihad? And what should we do about it? This piece of verbatim documentary theatre, written by novelist Gillian Slovo using material from the interviews she conducted and directed by Nicolas Kent, is the result of many months researching Islamic State, meeting people affected by the organization and involved in the fight against it.

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Book SynopsisThe 306: Dawn is a new piece of music theatre from the National Theatre of Scotland. Based on real events, it charts the heart-breaking journey of three of the three hundred and six British soldiers who were executed for cowardice, desertion and mutiny during World War I (1914-18). 'You are a fucking coward and you will go to the trenches. I give fuck all for my life and I give fuck all for yours and I’ll get you fucking well shot' – Sergeant to Harry Farr. Joseph Byers (17) from Glasgow. Too young to enlist, Joe, like so many at the time, has lied about his age to join the other men at the front. However, his dreams of being a solider are quickly destroyed by the brutal realities of trench warfare and he soon finds himself in trouble with the authorities. Private Harry Farr (25) from London. Traumatised by the things he has seen and lived through as a serving soldier, Harry is suffering from shell shock and is now unable to fight. He has subsequently been convicted of cowardice, and as he waits to hear his fate, he dreams of his wife and hopes for a last minute reprieve. Lance-Sergeant Joseph Willie Stones (24) from Durham. Having used his rifle to block the entrance to a trench during fierce fighting, Joseph stands accused of casting away his arms in combat - an offence punishable by death. He thought he was protecting his men, but the top brass want to make an example of him to maintain discipline in the ranks. With a contemporary score performed live by the Red Note Ensemble, the songs explore the vulnerability and devastation of the battlefields, alongside the inner struggles of the men. Poignant and powerful, The 306: Dawn will be performed in a transformed barn in the Perthshire countryside.Trade ReviewBrilliantly interweaves the everyday with the extraordinary * The Times *

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Book SynopsisThe work-room of a Savile Row tailors, 1953. Two master craftsmen at daggers drawn: Polish-born Spijak insists that nothing can beat the excellence of a hand-sewn suit, while Eric uses his machine to work at twice the speed and earn twice the money. Sparks fly as each fights his own corner with biting wit and vicious humour. Into this battleground steps Maurice, a teenager at the very start of his apprenticeship. Will he survive the gruelling training to become a master tailor? Or will he, as Spijak’s daughter urges him to, escape? The Cutting of the Cloth, drawn so much from Hastings’s youthful experience as an apprentice tailor, has lain in a drawer. Now Two’s Company brings it rampaging on to the stage.Trade ReviewThe Cutting of the Cloth is a real drama of feeling... a deep sense of real life being lived is evident and all of the characters are deftly drawn... Yes, this feels like Zen and the art of tailoring - real craft, real quality, no rubbish * The Arts Desk *The real heart of the play lies in its layered exploration of change and craftsmanship... Elegant, detailed premiere * The Stage *

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Book Synopsis‘Ain’t about bein’ no Heavyweight Champion of the White World. It’s about bein’ Champion, period.’ Jay ‘The Sport’ Jackson dreams of being the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. But it’s 1905 and, in the racially segregated world of boxing, his chances are as good as knocked out. When a boxing promoter hatches a plan for the ‘Fight of theCentury’, The Sport might land a place in the ring with the reigning white heavyweight champion, but at what cost? It’s not just a retired champ he’s facing, it’s ‘The Great White Hope’. In daring to realise his dream, is Jay responsible for putting African American lives in the danger zone? Told in six rounds and set in a boxing ring, The Royale is inspired by the often overlooked story of Jack Johnson, a boxer who – at the height of the Jim Crow era – became the most famous and the most notorious black man on Earth.Trade ReviewThe Royale reanimates this breakthrough saga for a new generation! * Los Angeles Times *Bam! The Royale is a real knockout, a relentlessly gripping boxing drama that... is as thrilling as anything you'll see in London at the moment, stage or ring. * Time Out London *This story may be a century old...but Ramirez's 2013 text seems increasingly pertinent in racially fraught America, where resentment spills into violence and even victory may seem another kind of defeat. * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisPicture yourself as a bartender, sipping top-shelf whiskey and watching your customers descend into nightly oblivion. Your heart is broken by the world around you and, leaving the whisky aside, you hatch a devious, unthinkable plan of escape… Award-winning FellSwoop Theatre present Ablutions:a dark, modern drama, adapted from the novel by Man Booker shortlisted author, Patrick deWitt. A grimly funny tale from the sodden depths of the Los Angeles underworld, Ablutions blends a live soundtrack with detailed mime and deWitt’s heart-wrenching humour.Trade ReviewA captivating postcard of intoxicated America. * Exeunt *

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Book SynopsisEldorado: Anton’s got it made: dream house, artistic wife, baby on the way. And, as the smoke rises from another city saved by coalition bombs, there’s a fortune to be made rebuilding the wreckage. So what’s he doing forging his boss’s signature? And why has his wife crushed her hands under the piano lid? Painfully funny scenes of married bliss in meltdown and the insistent presence, on their screens and in their dreams, of the West's far-flung and half-forgotten wars – Eldorado asks what happens when the drive for success carries us past our coping point. Perplexed: Taking inspiration from Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author, as well as the pens of Stoppard, Nietzsche and Beckett, influential writer Marius von Mayenburg has created a fast-paced and very funny piece of contemporary absurdism. The four actors play musical chairs with their characters in an astonishing tumble of scenes. Their characters are patchwork individuals, groping for assurance and security in a constantly disintegrating reality, while slipping on the metaphysical banana peels von Mayenburg throws in their path. A comedy about the capriciousness of reality, one’s own identity, and the theatre itself. The Dog, The Night and the Knife: A nightmarish flight through a city, in which all men and women have striking similarities: policeman and doctor, criminal and lawyer, patient and nurse. And all of them are after M. Just as the night seems done, and dawn is coming, M faces the irrevocable choice between dangerous love with a zombie, and the lonely hunt with a dog.Trade ReviewWhat Mayenburg has to say is urgent and necessary. * Michael Billington, The Guardian *

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Book SynopsisSix months into their relationship, Bryony found out that Tim suffered from severe clinical depression. This was a secret Tim had kept for a very long time. Fake it ‘til you Make it is Edinburgh Fringe First-winner Bryony Kimmings’ new work about clinical depression and men, made in collaboration with her partner Tim, who works in advertising. A wickedly warming, brutally honest and powerfully heartbreaking show about the wonders of the human brain, being in love and what it takes to be a "real man". The book contains articles by Andy Field (Forest Fringe), The Vacuum Cleaner (activist and performer) and Georgie Harman (CEO of Beyond Blue), covering performance, art and mental health.Trade ReviewA warm and illuminating portrait of lives marked by the darkness of mental illness…it could even save lives * Telegraph *Artfully crafted, tightrope-walkingly fragile and really rather beautiful * Herald Scotland *Deeply affecting * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisIn 1915, Mary Barbour led 20,000 women in Glasgow’s Rent Strikes. Mary Barbour’s Army fought against evictions from their homes with bundles of washing, cooking pots and wooden spoons. They won. 100 years on, an old woman sits in a sinking Govan tenement, battling her memories and reaching for an idea of a time which put all of us first. The 2014 Oran Mor production, in association with the Traverse, played to sold-out audiences. This year the play returns to Glasgow to join the city's celebrations of the centenary of the Rent Strikes when the Clydeside blazed with political activism. Contains foreword, essays and reflections from Karine Polwart, Catriona Burness, John Foster and Mary Lockhart.

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Book SynopsisWinner of Best Play for Young Audiences in the Writers’ Guild Awards 2016 The tide was turning – though local governments disagreed, it would soon be illegal to segregate black Americans from white Americans on public buses, in waiting rooms or in restaurants. And yet – in the early 1960s, many states across the south of America kept discriminating against African-Americans… In modern day Britain, four actor-storytellers tell the stories of the Freedom Riders – principled citizens riding buses across Alabama and Mississippi, drawing attention to this illegal discrimination, and facing up to terrifying violence with peaceful resistance. The story of the Freedom Riders is one of ordinary people becoming a civil rights movement, taking on the establishment and changing the world. In a time of Michael Brown, and Trayvon Martin, and Mark Duggan, what does it mean for people to come together and rise up?

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