Plays, playscripts, drama

Book SynopsisA powerful study of infidelity and interwoven lives, filmed as the award-winning Lantana. A woman disappears. Four marriages become entangled in a web of love, deceit, sex and death. Who will survive? Nine parallel lives – interlocked by four infidelities, one missing person and a mysterious stiletto – are woven through a fragmented series of confessionals and interrogations that gradually reveal a darker side of human nature. Andrew Bovell's play Speaking in Tongues was first performed in August 1996 in a production by Griffin Theatre Company at The Stables, Sydney, Australia. It was later adapted by Bovell into the screenplay for the feature film Lantana (2001). The play was first performed in the UK at Hampstead Theatre, London, in June 2000, and was revived at the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End in September 2009.Trade Review'Bovell explores love, marriage, strangeness, intimacy, trust, betrayal, obsession, self-punishment and detachment with generous emotional intelligence' * Observer *'Clever, provocative, elliptically resonant' * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisBased on the award-winning memoir by Timothy Conigrave, and adapted for the stage by acclaimed playwright Tommy Murphy, Holding the Man tells a remarkable true-life love story that speaks across generations, sexualities and cultures. The course of teenage love rarely runs smooth, but it is a white-water adventure if you are secretly gay in an all-male school in 1970s Melbourne with a crush on the captain of the football team. Against the odds, Tim and John develop a relationship that, for fifteen years, survives everything life throws at it – the separations, the discriminations, the temptations, the jealousies and the losses – until the only problem that love can't solve turns up to part them. Tommy Murphy's play Holding the Man was first performed in Sydney, Australia, in 2006. It had its UK premiere at the Trafalgar Studios in the West End in 2010. ‘Tommy Murphy is a bewitching playwright of startling originality’ - Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton, Artistic Directors of Sydney Theatre Company Trade Review'Fresh, frank and funny... a wrenchingly moving love story I defy anyone with a pulse not to relate to' * Evening Standard *'Compelling, wrenching… unflinching, devastating, moving and funny’ * Sydney Morning Herald *

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Book SynopsisAn exhilarating coming-of-age drama for a solo performer. Scorching heat. A fight. A car chase. A siege. When her boyfriend is attacked on the street, feisty eighteen-year-old Katie is thrust on a white-knuckle ride through one extraordinary evening. Amidst the baying for blood and the longing for love, Katie is forced to decide her future. Jack Thorne's play Bunny was first performed at the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, in a production by nabokov and Escalator East to Edinburgh in association with Watford Palace Theatre and Mercury Theatre, Colchester. It was awarded a Fringe First, and subsequently toured the UK from June 2011 before a run at Soho Theatre, London, in October 2011.Trade Review'Thorne's intoxicating text takes the audience on a journey into uncertainty' * Herald, Scotland *'A powerful voice for Britain's youth' * Independent *'Electrifying combination of streetwise earthiness and heartbreaking vulnerability... terrific' * Scotsman *

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Book Synopsis'Do you know what it’s like to be the person who’s actually sticking the knife in here? Or here? You stick a knife in close to an artery, boy do you know it. Then you’re in tiger country.' Nina Raine's Tiger Country is a hospital play that follows a tangle of doctors and nurses in a busy London hospital. Professionalism and prejudice, turbulent staff romances, ambition and failure collide in this swirling, action-packed drama about an overburdened health service that we all depend on and the dedicated individuals that keep it going. 'Tiger country' is where animal instinct stirs and an irrefutable eye opens. Where we make eye contact with the unknown. Tiger Country was premiered at Hampstead Theatre in 2011 and, following its sell-out run, was revived there in 2014.Trade Review'A meticulously researched and totally absorbing work play' * Whatsonstage.com *'Pacy, action-packed and, in places, touching. The sheer spectacle of the thing is so much more impressive than on the small screen' * Daily Mail *'A witty, highly intelligent, PC-scourging sensibility' * Independent *

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Book SynopsisThe first eight astonishing plays by Enda Walsh, 'one of the most dazzling wordsmiths of contemporary theatre' (Guardian). Bursting onto the theatre scene in 1996 with Disco Pigs, Enda Walsh has delivered a sustained fusillade of strikingly original plays ever since. This volume, with a Foreword by the author, contains: The Ginger Ale Boy (1995), Walsh's very first, previously unpublished play, a Cork cabaret about a ventriloquist who loses control. Disco Pigs (1996), his breakthrough play, winner of the 1997 George Devine and Stewart Parker Awards, a play that 'does for Irish kids what Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting did for young Scots' (Daily Telegraph). Misterman (1999, revised in 2012), in which we meet Thomas Magill on his obsessive mission to bring God to the townsfolk of Inishfree. bedbound (2000), his Fringe First Award-winning play, in which a father and daughter are trapped in their own compulsive and claustrophobic story. The Small Things (2005), a 'harrowingly precise and poetic' (Guardian) exploration of language and our need for words to survive. Chatroom (2005), a chilling tale of teenage manipulation that was written for the National Theatre's 2005 Connections season. Also included are two previously unpublished short plays, How These Desperate Men Talk (2004) and Lynndie's Gotta Gun (2005), written during Walsh's time working with European theatremakers.Trade Review'Walsh's work is unique for stark brutality, painful honesty and complex and beautiful language... this collection is a joy. It is like discovering a box of forgotten, unknown or half remembered treasures.' * Youth Drama Ireland *Table of ContentsContains: The Ginger Ale Boy (1995), Disco Pigs (1996, George Devine and Steward Parker Awards), misterman (1999), bedbound (2000, Edinburgh Fringe Festival First), The Small Things (2005) and Chatroom (2005). Plus two short plays, previously unpublished: How These Desperate Men Talk (2004) and Lynndie's Gotta Gun (2005).

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Book SynopsisDrama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price A classic Italian comedy that remains blisteringly hilarious and relevant, over two hundred and fifty years after it was written. Disguising herself as her dead brother, Beatrice travels to Venice to find Florindo, the man responsible for his death. However, her servant, Truffaldino, enters into the pay of Florindo, and struggles to keep his two lives and masters separate. Carlo Goldoni's play The Servant of Two Masters (Il servitore di due padroni) was written in the 1740s, though later revised by its author. It draws on the tradition of Italian commedia dell'arte. This English version in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series is translated by Stephen Mulrine.

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Book SynopsisVictor Frankenstein, a brilliant and ambitious young student, discovers the secret of creating life from the remains of the dead. But elation at his triumph is replaced by horror when he sees his monstrous creation. Abandoned by the one who made him, Frankenstein's Creature is left to a world that fears and rejects him, and soon his innocence turns to misery - and a murderous desire for revenge... Every word in Patrick Sandford's 'vigorous adaptation' (The Times) is lifted directly from Mary Shelley's classic gothic novel. One of the greatest horror stories of all time, and one that still grips readers today almost two hundred years after its first publication. Patrick Sandford's adaptation of Frankenstein was first performed at Nuffield Theatre, Southampton, in 2004. All the more successful for staying faithful to the dark spirit of the original book, this adaptation includes notes on the first production and can be performed with a minimum of set and props, making it well suited for staging by schools and amateur theatre groups, as well as by professional companies.Trade Review'Atmospheric… haunting… with splendid Gothic horror touches… a truly impressive theatrical experience' * ReviewsGate.com *

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Book SynopsisThis volume of Conor McPherson's collected plays, covering a decade of writing, celebrates a fascination with the uncanny which has led him to be described as 'quite possibly the finest playwright of his generation' (New York Times). In Shining City, a man seeks help from a counsellor, claiming to have seen the ghost of his dead wife. The play, premiered at the Royal Court, London, is 'up there with The Weir, moving, compassionate, ingenious and absolutely gripping' (Daily Telegraph). The Seafarer, premiered at the National Theatre before going on to become a Tony Award-winning Broadway hit, tells the story of an extended Christmas Eve card game, but one played for the highest stakes possible. 'McPherson proves yet again he is both a born yarn-spinner and an acute analyst of the melancholy Irish manhood' (Guardian) Set in 'the big house' in 1820s rural Ireland, The Veil is McPherson's first period play. Seventeen-year-old Hannah is to be married off in order to settle the debts of the crumbling estate. But when Reverend Berkeley arrives, determined to orchestrate a séance, chaos is unleased. 'A cracking fireside tale of haunting and decay' (The Times) The Birds, hauntingly adapted from the short story by Daphne du Maurier, is 'deliciously chilling, claustrophobic, questioning, frightening; and with a twist' (Irish Independent). It is published here for the first time, as is The Dance of Death, a new version of Strindberg's classic, which premiered at the Trafalgar Studios in London. 'A spectacularly bleak yet curiously bracing drama that often makes you laugh out loud' (Daily Telegraph). Completing the volume is a Foreword by the author.

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Book SynopsisIt's finals day for the Class of 2011. Benny, Mack, Timp and Cam are due out of their five bedroom flat tomorrow morning; five bedrooms, five chairs, four boys - and one hell of a party. Stepping into a world that doesn't want them, these boys start to wonder whether there's any point in getting any older. How will they find the fight to make it as adults? Tonight marks the end of an era. It's hot. And there'll be girls. Predict a riot. This is a world premiere presented by Headlong theatre company - touring the UK 2012. From award-winning playwright Ella Hickson, whose debut "Eight" won an Edinburgh Fringe First Award and the Carol Tambor 'Best of Edinburgh' Award in 2008.Trade Review'Marvellous... a play that both powerfully captures the mood of a generation and addresses permanent truths with exhilarating flair' Independent; 'Will leave you with laughter lines' Time Out; 'Ella Hickson is one of the hottest young writers around and in Boys shows flashes of brilliance' British Theatre Guide; 'Heartfelt directness of writing that taps into a generation torn between action and inertia' GuardianTable of ContentsEdinburgh Fringe First Award 2008 Carol Tambor 'Best of Edinburgh' Award

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Book SynopsisA virtuosic study of one man's descent into religious mania in small-town Ireland. Inishfree might seem like a quaint Irish town, but fierce evangelist Thomas Magill knows better. He knows that jovial Dwain Flynn is a miserable drunk, that Timmy O'Leary enslaves his lovely mother, and that sweet Mrs Cleary is a blasphemous flirt. It is down to Thomas, with God on his shoulder, to save this sinful place. But the townsfolk are not listening, an angel is misbehaving and a barking dog will not be silenced. Just how far will Thomas go in his quest for salvation? Enda Walsh's Misterman was first performed by the author in a Corcadorca Theatre Company production at the Granary Theatre in Cork in April 1999, directed by Pat Kiernan. A revised version was produced by Landmark Productions and Galway Arts Festival, and performed at the Black Box Theatre, Galway, as part of the Galway Arts Festival, in July 2011. This edition of the revised play was published alongside the production at the National Theatre, London, in 2012, directed by the playwright, starring Cillian Murphy.Trade Review'A fantastic, whirring monologue of small town life and flickering faith... a ninety-minute rollercoaster, kaleidoscopic in mood and construction, a perfectly realised stage poem' * Whatsonstage.com *'A terrific study of religious mania, loneliness and longing. It really rocks' * Arts Desk *

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Book SynopsisA gripping drama about Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain. A divorcee with a young child to care for, Ruth works in the kind of nightclubs where there’s more than just a drink on offer. The girls work hard, play hard and dream of a movie-star life. Then she meets the wealthy, womanising David, a racing driver with whom she becomes obsessed. Fame comes - but not in the way she imagines. Why does their relationship end in murder? Why does she plead not guilty but offer no defence? Why does she show no remorse? And who is she trying to protect? Amanda Whittington's play The Thrill of Love dramatises the true story of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain, and takes a fresh look at the woman behind the headlines. The Thrill of Love was first staged at the New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme, in 2013.Trade Review'Terrific' * Guardian *'Absorbing... the writing is playful and pin-sharp' * Telegraph *'Tense and engaging throughout... a triumph' * The Stage *

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Book SynopsisA witty and heartfelt look at a family falling apart – and pulling together – when life doesn’t turn out quite the way they imagined. Joint Winner of the Critics' Circle Most Promising Playwright Award, 2013. It's Andy Griffith's twenty-first birthday. Not that he's counting. But his mother Carol is. Counting the minutes until he arrives, counting the unexpected guests, counting the times that something like this has happened before. Rory Kinnear's first play, The Herd was first performed at the Bush Theatre, London, in September 2013.Trade Review'Remarkable... all the roles represent gifts for actors' * Telegraph *'An accomplished debut... a vivid and unsentimental portrait of domestic life, flecked with wry humour' * Evening Standard *'Grips like a vice' * Whatsonstage.com *'Witty, agonising and eye-opening... a weave of painful insights and playful humour' * Independent *

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Book SynopsisA powerful, inventive play that mixes real testimonials alongside existing and original music to explore one of the most important social concerns of today: homelessness amongst young people. Bullet doesn't want to call a hostel home. Eritrean Girl was smuggled here in a lorry. Singing Boy dreams of seeing his name in lights and Garden Boy just wants to feel safe. In 2013, homelessness amongst young people in the UK is at a record high, so when the big society doesn't work ― where do you go? An inner city high rise hostel, Target East, offers a roof. Nadia Fall's play Home brings to life the unheard voices of the young residents and staff who live and work behind the anonymous concrete walls. A bold verbatim play that asks what it really means to call somewhere home, it is offers ideal material for youth theatres and young performers. Home was first staged at The Shed, National Theatre, London, in 2013.Trade Review'Raises timely political questions in a fresh and streetwise style' * Evening Standard *'Filled with a fierce eloquence... a boldly theatrical piece' * Guardian *'Extraordinary... leaves you not just moved, but awed and uplifted' * Metro *'Powerful... an honest and reflective piece of theatre' * The Stage *

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Book SynopsisThe powerful debut play from Alexi Kaye Campbell, winner of an Olivier Award, the Critics' Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright, and the John Whiting Award for Best New Play. Alternating between 1958 and 2008, The Pride examines changing attitudes to sexuality, looking at intimacy, identity and the courage it takes to be who you really are. The 1958 Philip is in love with Oliver, but married to Sylvia. The 2008 Oliver is addicted to sex with strangers. Sylvia loves them both. The Pride was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs in November 2008. This edition of the play was published alongside its revival at the Trafalgar Studios in the West End in 2013.Trade Review'Marvellous, sad and blisteringly funny... a brave and rewarding drama that speaks to us all' * Guardian *'Ingenious and imaginative' * Evening Standard *'A remarkable debut from a daring dramatist' * Telegraph *'Stylish, zippy and surprisingly funny... a probing, troubled and often brilliant play' * Time Out *'A powerful and satisfying play about the human heart' * The Arts Desk *

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Book SynopsisA vivid telling of the chaotic story of the partition that shaped the modern world. London, 1947. Summoned by the Prime Minister from the court where he is presiding judge, Cyril Radcliffe is given an unlikely mission. He is to travel to India, a country he has never visited, and, with limited survey information, no expert support and no knowledge of cartography, he is to draw the border which will divide the Indian sub-continent into two new Sovereign Dominions. To make matters even more challenging, he has only six weeks to complete the task. Wholly unsuited to his role, Radcliffe is unprepared for the dangerous whirlpool of political intrigue and passion into which he is plunged – untold consequences may even result from the illicit liaison between the Leader of the Congress Party and the Viceroy's wife… As he begins to break under the pressure he comes to realise that he holds in his hands the fate of millions of people. Howard Brenton's play Drawing the Line was premiered at Hampstead Theatre, London, in December 2013.Trade Review'Powerful... a fascinating play which views colonial culpability from an unexpected and singularly revealing angle' * Independent *'Brenton is a masterly storyteller... the play expertly draws you into the maelstrom' * Financial Times *'Brenton knows how to make history manifest... gives a vivid picture of the pressures of the time' * Guardian *'Fleet and fascinating' * WhatsOnStage *'Crisp, elegant and revelatory... a fascinating story of mixed intentions and rushed folly' * The Stage *

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Book SynopsisA touching, funny play about what happens when you hate your best friend.

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Book SynopsisA gut-wrenchingly funny, achingly sad play featuring jaw-dropping moments of physical comedy. The lives of two men unravel over the course of ninety minutes. Where are they? Who are they? What room is this, and what might be beyond the walls? Enda Walsh's play Ballyturk premiered at Galway International Arts Festival in 2014. It subsequently toured Ireland before opening at the National Theatre, London.Trade Review'A complete blast' * WhatsOnStage *'Wild, fast, often hilarious and sometimes melancholy... Enda Walsh retains his ability to unsettle, to place side by side daft slapstick, playful theatricality and sublime poetry' * The Arts Desk *'A richly theatrical experience… combines manic physical comedy with a meditation on the brevity of our earthly existence… imagine Under Milk Wood interpreted by Buster Keaton and you get the picture' * Guardian *'Ferocious physical slapstick comedy is interspersed with heartbreakingly tender and delicately poetic explorations of the soul... it throbs with searing poignancy at times, is riotously funny at others… a remarkable achievement' * Irish Independent *'Delirious and captivating… this is thrilling theatre, visceral and cerebral, hilarious and sad' * Irish Examiner *

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Book SynopsisThe second collection of plays from the multi-award-winning Irish playwright, Enda Walsh. This volume of remarkable plays charts the development of one of the most strikingly original playwrights in contemporary theatre. It collects together four full-length plays – three of which were produced by Galway’s Druid Theatre Company, three of which were performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, and two of which transferred to London’s National Theatre – along with two fascinating short plays and a Foreword by the author. The Walworth Farce (2006) is a madcap yet tender play about what can happen when we become stuck in the stories we tell about our lives. The New Electric Ballroom (2008) is a dark, glitter-dusted fable of the emotionally stultifying effects of small-town life. In a savage and riveting take on the classic Greek myth of Odysseus’s wife, Penelope (2010) sees four ridiculous men facing their inevitable deaths, and playing for an unwinnable love. Ballyturk (2014) saw Walsh reuniting with actor Cillian Murphy after Disco Pigs and Misterman for a jaw-droppingly physical play in which the lives of two men unravel over the course of ninety minutes. Also included in this volume are two short plays, My Friend Duplicity (2010), which went on to inspire Ballyturk, and Room 303 (2011). ‘One of the most fiercely individual voices in the theatre today’ New York Times ‘Enda Walsh makes his own distinctive stage music in the fury of his writing talent and the irresistible surge of his blatant theatricality’ Independent

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Book SynopsisThis second volume of plays from award-winning playwright Fin Kennedy features three ensemble plays for large casts of young people aged thirteen to nineteen, each developed via a long-term, collaborative process with the target age group. In The Dream Collector, a school group on a Media Studies field trip to the isolated country house of a black-and-white movie pioneer enter a sinister dreamworld when they go exploring after dark. Once they step through the movie screen, each of the young friends meets their dream double, the sinister Neverborn… In Fast, a twenty-four-hour school fundraiser in a semi-rural town takes on a new urgency when farmer’s daughter Cara refuses to eat again until the supermarkets she holds responsible for her father’s suicide agree to her demands. In The Domino Effect – a five-star hit at the 2014 Edinburgh Festival Fringe – a silent girl finds her voice, and her mother, when a mysterious East End antiques dealer teaches her how small actions lead to big effects, and how to master the law of unintended consequences. With their flexible, mixed casts, the plays are particularly suited to performance by young people’s groups, who will enjoy the demands and challenges of playing roles specifically created for teenage actors.Trade Review'A cracking classroom text... the language is achingly good, the roles varied, meaty and attractive' * Teaching Drama on The Domino Effect *

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Book SynopsisEveryone creates their own coping strategies or rules for living. But what happens when an extended family gathers in the kitchen for a traditional Christmas and they each follow those rules, rigidly? As long-held mechanisms for survival are laid bare, even Mum, who's been preparing this lunch since last January, becomes embroiled. Time-honoured rivalries and resentments will out. Accusations fly, relationships deconstruct, the rules take over. In Sam Holcroft's theatrically playful, dark comedy the instructions are there for all to see, audience included - so there's really no place to hide. Rules for Living premiered at the National Theatre, London, in March 2015.Trade Review'[Rules for Living] revels in the conventions of traditional domestic comedy, but then ups the ante ingeniously by playfully showing us the rules by which each of the characters live and their destructive patterns of behaviour' * Guardian *'Bitingly funny and sharply observed' * Exeunt Magazine *'Anarchically effective' * The Stage *'Horribly funny' * The Times *

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Book SynopsisMr and Mrs Twit are not very nice. In fact they're extremely nasty. They're nasty to each other, and they're VILE to everyone else. They hold a family of monkeys hostage in a cage and force them to stand on their heads. ALL THE TIME. We told you they weren't very nice. Can the monkeys find a way to show those vicious Twits what for? Mischievously adapted from Roald Dahl's story, acclaimed playwright Enda Walsh has turned The Twits upside down. This revolting revolution was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in April 2015.Trade Review'Exceptionally fun... a complete raucous delight' * Time Out *'Sharply satirical, beautifully bizarre and extravagantly entertaining' * The Arts Desk *'Faithful to the anarchic spirit of Dahl's original... dark and strange, sometimes cruel and often very silly' * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisA bold reimagining of Hans Christian Andersen's tale of love, loss and desire, transported to a contemporary setting. Beneath the ocean's waves there is no death or pain or separation. Above, the modern world is beset with war, poverty and desire. On her sixteenth birthday, a mermaid rises up to the surface, leaving her childhood behind for ever when she falls in love with a mortal prince. She knows that she can no longer live at the bottom of the ocean - but must she destroy herself in order to be loved? Polly Teale's Mermaid was first performed by Shared Experience and Nottingham Playhouse on a UK tour in 2015.Trade Review'A beautiful, stylistic and intelligent adaptation' * Teaching Drama *'Wonderfully atmospheric' * WhatsOnStage *'An enchanting fairy story brought splashing into present-day, superbly woven around a highly descriptive text' * The Public Reviews *

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Book Synopsis‘Off you go then and best of luck It’s bound to be different this time though some of it might seem familiar The big questions, we mean The beginnings, middles, endings, et cetera Still, not to worry, it’s all a work-in-progress’ You're born a girl. You grow up. You grow old. You die. But who is in control of your life story? Can you actually choose your destiny? And how do you forge your own identity along the way? Second Person Narrative by Jemma Kennedy is part of Platform, an initiative from Tonic Theatre in partnership with Nick Hern Books aimed at addressing gender imbalance and inequality in theatre. Platform comprises big-cast plays with predominantly or all-female casts, written specifically for performance by school, college and youth-theatre groups. ‘Drama is an important tool for building confidence and empowering young people. Platform will give girls opportunity to access these benefits as much as their male counterparts.’ - Moira Buffini

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Book Synopsis‘Do you love what you do? Because I loved making the photographs. I loved the feeling of taking charge. Putting things in the frame, taking them out again. Writing with my eyes.’ During the First World War, seventeen-year-old Elsie Wright fools the world into believing she has photographed fairies in her garden. An ambitious young reporter seeks to expose Elsie as a fraud. But as she looks at the facts, she begins to think there's more to Elsie's story than a simple hoax. Inspired by the true story of the Cottingley Fairies, The Light Burns Blue by Silva Semerciyan is part of Platform, an initiative from Tonic Theatre in partnership with Nick Hern Books aimed at addressing gender imbalance and inequality in theatre. Platform comprises big-cast plays with predominantly or all-female casts, written specifically for performance by school, college and youth-theatre groups. ‘Drama is an important tool for building confidence and empowering young people. Platform will give girls opportunity to access these benefits as much as their male counterparts.’ - Moira Buffini

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Book SynopsisThis collection features four urgent and explosive plays by award-winning playwright Evan Placey, each tackling issues facing young people today. They provide ideal material for teenagers to read, study and perform. Girls Like That explores the pressures caused by technology when a schoolgirl’s naked photograph goes viral. Commissioned in 2013 by Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Theatre Royal Plymouth and West Yorkshire Playhouse, it has subsequently been performed by school and youth-theatre groups across the UK, at the Unicorn Theatre, London, and in the Houses of Parliament. It won the Writers’ Guild Award for Best Play for Young Audiences. Banana Boys, published here for the first time, is about the challenges of being on the school football team – and secretly gay. It was commissioned and produced by Hampstead Theatre’s heat&light company in 2010. In Holloway Jones, Holloway dreams of being a world-class BMXer, but she is held back by the tough reality of a parent in prison. Also making its debut in print here, the play was commissioned by Synergy Theatre Project, toured schools and the Unicorn Theatre in 2011, and won the 2012 Brian Way Award for Best Play for Young People. Finally, Pronoun is a love story about two childhood sweethearts dealing with the fact that one of them, Isabella, has now become a boy. As one of the plays in the 2014 National Theatre Connections Festival it proved enormously popular with youth theatres and college companies. 'Maybe change starts with plays like this' Lyn Gardner, Guardian, on Girls Like ThatTrade Review'Evan Placey treats his themes with a raw honesty and no attempt to censor the less savoury aspects of them… an interesting collection of plays that will challenge both teenagers and adults' * Word Matters (Journal of the Society of Teachers of Speech & Drama) *'Four of [Evan Placey's] best plays assembled in a single volume. Youth theatres, schools, drama schools and the like will find plenty of gritty material to work on here' * The Stage *'This collection of plays for teenagers is a must... The subject material is often challenging but absolutely vital and handled with the right mixture of sensitivity and courage. Sexuality, family and friends lie at the heart of the four plays contained here and all are highly accesible and would work with a range of acting styles and cast sizes. Placey's characters are totally believable and the dialogue crackles with wit and insight' * Teaching Drama *

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Book SynopsisIn the overcrowded city, nature is getting out of control. The mice are scratching between walls, the pigeons are diseased and the foxes are beginning to rule the streets. The problem is growing. It's contagious. It has to be stopped, before it's too late. Stef Smith's play Human Animals premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in May 2016, in a production directed by Hamish Pirie.Trade Review'Impressive… a chilling vision of dystopian London' * Guardian *'[A] superbly written, wildly imaginative and thought-provoking play' * The Arts Desk *'An attractive blend of black humour and genuinely disturbing ideas... vivid and resonant' * The Stage *'A dark, surrealist parable with shades of JG Ballard' * WhatsOnStage *'The disturbing and the dotty, queasiness and quirkiness mingle arrestingly… an impressive Royal Court debut' * Independent *

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Book SynopsisAn epic dramatic trilogy set during the American Civil War, by one of America's leading playwrights. America, 1862, during the Civil War. Hero, a slave, is promised his freedom if he joins his master in the ranks of the Confederacy against the Union. In a nation at war with itself, he must fight against those striving to abolish slavery. The family he leaves behind debates whether to escape or await his return, and they fear that, for Hero, freedom is an empty promise that may come at a great cost. Suzan-Lori Parks' Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) received its UK premiere in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2016, directed by Jo Bonney. The trilogy premiered at The Public Theater, New York, in 2014, was a finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and won the Edward M Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History.Trade Review'Has the sharp quality of a fable that will never cease to be timely' * Independent *'Mischievous, mighty and moving... a restlessly intelligent, compelling work that expresses, with inspired dramatic invention, the way that the brutal past pervades the present' * Financial Times *'Epic in every sense... totally compelling... captures the complexity of a civil war where black Americans found themselves fighting on opposing sides and where, although freedom was the ultimate goal, its achievement was fraught with hazards that continue to this day.' * Guardian *'Thrillingly leads the charge for a new kind of "historical" drama' * Telegraph *'Ambitious and assured… the writing is poetic and richly textured, full of echoes and asides, moving deftly between registers… Parks is a writer of ambition, skill and soul, repurposing old forms in new ways and engaging with the ripples of history, telling a story that has yet to end' * The Stage *'A rich, complicated, unsentimental play with an awful lot to say… fantastically imaginative' * Time Out *'Thrilling. A masterpiece' * New York Magazine *'One of the top plays of the year... A richly textured mix of Brechtian allegory and Homeric epic, finding new meaning in an essential American tragedy' * Time *'By turns philosophical and playful, lyrical and earthy, Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) swoops, leaps, dives and soars, reimagining a turbulent turning point in American history through a cockeyed contemporary lens... The wonder of Ms. Parks’s achievement is how smoothly she blends the high and the low, the serious and the humorous, the melodramatic and the grittily realistic... the best new play I’ve seen all year' * New York Times *'The best new play of the year... It is bold, hugely entertaining, moving and thrillingly ambitious. Suzan-Lori Parks bids fair to create a sprawling multi-part epic to plant alongside August Wilson’s monumental Century Cycle, one of the great achievements in theater history. Parts 4 through 9 (or more?) can’t come fast enough' * Huffington Post *

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Book SynopsisAnna Jordan's Bruntwood Prize-winning play, Yen explores a childhood lived without boundaries and the consequences of being forced to grow up on your own. Hench is sixteen, Bobbie is thirteen. They’re home alone in Feltham with their dog Taliban; playing PlayStation, streaming porn, watching the world go by. Sometimes their mum Maggie visits, usually with empty pockets and empty promises. Then Jenny shows up. Anna Jordan's play Yen won the 2013 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting and was first performed at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, before transferring to the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2016. This edition of Yen was published alongside the Royal Court Theatre production in January 2016.Trade Review'To say that Yen is absorbing would be an understatement... what's most remarkable about Anna Jordan's writing is the taut mixture of incipient violence and utter, heart-wrenching tenderness' * Exeunt Magazine *'[A] terrifying, witty, and compassionate study of the awful penalties of growing up alone and without boundaries' * Independent *'A savage study of two teenage boys abandoned by society… leaves a lump in the throat that won't go down' * Time Out *'[A] brutal but tender study of brotherhood... the dynamic range of Jordan's writing is extraordinary... achieves the uncommon feat of being difficult to watch yet easy to love' * Guardian *'Very impressive... [Jordan] has a great ear for dialogue' * British Theatre Guide *

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Book SynopsisIn 1969 Loren McIntyre, a National Geographic photographer, found himself lost among the people of the remote Javari Valley in Brazil. It was an encounter that was to change his life, bringing the limits of human consciousness into startling focus. Inspired by the book Amazon Beaming by Petru Popescu, The Encounter traces McIntyre’s journey into the depths of the Amazon rainforest, incorporating innovative technology into a solo performance to build a shifting world of sound. The Encounter opened at the Edinburgh International Festival in August 2015 performed by Simon McBurney, and received its London premiere at the Barbican in February 2016 before embarking on a world tour.Trade Review'A brilliant piece of theatre… a marvellously luminous and engaging show that teaches us, entertains us and finally transports us' * The Arts Desk *'Blindingly ingenious… a stunning mix of communal and personal epiphany that’s the hi-tech equivalent of chomping on a hallucinogenic cane toad' * Time Out *'This is, in every sense, an adventure… both an extraordinary yarn and an expedition into theatrical possibility' * The Times *'Astonishing... a hypnotic, almost religious experience that warrants those two much-abused terms, "immersive" and "unmissable"' * Evening Standard *'Masterful storytelling from a man and a company who are incapable of remaining within known theatrical boundaries' * Independent *'The stuff of a twisting, turning, thoroughly engrossing fairytale... McBurney captures the metaphysical spirit - as well as the pulse-quickening heart - of the experience with this head-turning, spellbinding show' * Telegraph *'The effect is a soundcloud of a process, in which fact and fiction, past and present, research and production intermingle, spinning a story out of the air' * Variety *'Astonishing… the power of this story is enough to knock you flat' * WhatsOnStage *'In a solo performance made with many people... [McBurney] pulls the thread of a story from out of the noise of contemporary western life and the sounds of the jungle to create a meditation on interconnectedness, perception and time' * Guardian *'The Encounter is a tour de force that shows contemporary theatre at its most immersive and thought-provoking' * Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisInside every adolescent brain, 86 billion neurons connect and collide to produce the most frustrating, chaotic, and exhilarating changes that will ever happen to us. The play is designed to be created and performed by a company of teenagers, drawing directly on their personal experiences. This edition contains a series of exercises, resources and activities to help create your own Brainstorm.Trade Review'Sharply contemporary… gives a voice to a portion of society all too often overlooked' WhatsOnStage; 'This is everything youth theatre could hope to be… deep honesty matched by artistry' The Times; 'A fantastic piece of community theatre… Brainstorm has the ability to transcend generational barriers. Whilst truly celebrating what it means to be young in today’s social climate, it asks the audience to see individuals, regardless of their age' A Younger Theatre; 'A theatrical MRI scan, which offers as much of the why as the what… witty, considered and vital… this is fresh work, important work, built with honesty and, above all, a willingness to listen' The Stage; 'This is a very cunningly put-together piece, drawing with unflinching honesty on material excavated from the young people's own lives... and capturing the hormonal rush and wild mood swings of teenage existence... The real beauty of this memorable show is that it's not just all about them – it's definitely about us too'

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Book Synopsis‘The point is: we’re losers. Nobodies. Carry on like this, we’re losers forever. And we don’t have to be. Fresh start, two months to completely one hundred per cent reinvent ourselves. And I know exactly how we can do that.’ Megan, Holly and Ben are definitely not the cool kids. But Megan has a plan. One long summer holiday to change their lives. One sure path to coolness. One amazing transformation, through the power of song. Holed up in Megan’s garden shed, three old friends try to change their fortunes in a beautiful, heart-warming, laugh-out-loud coming-of-age story for our times. Rock on. Tom Wells' play Broken Biscuits was first performed at Live Theatre, Newcastle, in 2016, in a co-production between Live Theatre and Paines Plough, before a UK tour.Trade Review'The dialogue feels authentic while the lyrics feel like Victoria Wood for a new generation… a bittersweet new play' * The Stage *'It's funny. It's engaging, even heart-warming, but most of all, it's perceptive about the characters' concerns and insecurities... writer Tom Wells clearly understands teenagers, so we really do believe what we are seeing' * British Theatre Guide *'A sweet meditation on the fierce, fragile alliances formed on the cusp of adulthood... treads a perfect line between gauche charm and whimsy' * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisThe Bronze Age. The Iron Age. The Age of Oil. The Stone Age didn't end for want of stones. Oil follows the lives of one woman and her daughter in an epic, hurtling collision of empire, history and family. Ella Hickson's explosive play drills deep into the world's relationship with this finite resource. It is 'the single most gloriously audacious piece of playwriting of the last few years' Evening Standard. Oil premiered at the Almeida Theatre, London, in October 2016, in a production directed by Carrie Cracknell and starring Anne-Marie Duff.Trade Review'Hugely imaginative… I can't get it out of my mind' * Independent *'Domestic drama written on the largest canvas… sharp, witty, incisive writing... the dialectics Hickson crams into simple, domestic settings and relatable, human characters is utterly gripping; arguments about justice, colonialism, capitalism and the human condition are wielded with deftness and articulacy' * Exeunt Magazine *'Highly intelligent and bursting with predictions of the path we are leading each other down' * A Younger Theatre *'Bold, playful and scorchingly ambitious... Hickson suspends the normal rules of realism to pursue big ideas... a remarkable play that... contains one of the best theatrical mother-daughter relationships of recent years' * Guardian *'An audacious epic… a huge, ambitious study of co-dependency: mother and daughter, man and machine, east and west, Britain and empire' * Time Out *'An audacious and craftily self-referential piece, which mixes prickly humour with a mischievous intelligence' * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisA touching and provocative story of first love though the eyes of a gender-curious teen, Scorch was inspired by recent UK cases of 'gender fraud'. For those who feel they're not living the right life, online is a place to be yourself. 'More real than real life. I'm honest on there. I'm being honest. That's important.' Out in the real world, though, things can be very different. Stacey Gregg's play for a solo performer premiered at the Outburst Queer Arts Festival, Belfast, in 2015, co-produced by Prime Cut, MAC and Outburst. It won the Irish Times Theatre Award for Best New Play and the Writers Guild of Ireland ZeBBie Award for Best Theatre Script. It was presented in Paines Plough's Roundabout at the 2016 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it won a Fringe First Award. It then toured Ireland.Trade Review'Gregg writes with huge understanding for her protagonist, capturing the enormity of teenage emotions, the tumult of emerging identities and the mixed messages sent out by society' * Fest Mag *'[A] startling monologue… refreshing, complex… forces us to listen to a voice rarely given the chance to be heard' * WhatsOnStage *'Cleverly plays on teenage confusions and allows for wavering sympathies... a thoughtful play that constantly questions who we are, and how we represent ourselves to the world and to each other' * Guardian *'A compelling look at teenage identity… The real life issue takes on heightened dramatic resonance, fractured and splintered by Gregg's syncopated prose style' * Irish Times *

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Book SynopsisA hilarious new spin on the Hollywood romcom featuring two proposals, two weddings, an elopement and a cast of unforgettable characters. Kate likes her men tall, dark and smouldering. She has a fatal attraction to bad men. Then she meets Steve… Steve is a feminist. Can Kate overcome her love of lipstick, cupcakes and Heathcliff? Can Steve forgo the ethical confetti and learn to be a little bit more ravishing in bed? Can the two of them reinvent romance for the twenty-first century? Samantha Ellis's play How to Date a Feminist premiered at the Arcola Theatre, London, in 2016, ahead of a UK tour.Trade Review'Wonderfully funny... does more to provoke a change in our understanding of the other than 1,000 doctoral theses' * Exeunt *'Sprightly written with some whizz-crack lines… frequently laugh out loud funny... Ellis' writing captures the finer, quotidian detail of modern relationships and there are moments of lovely intimacy' * WhatsOnStage *

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Book Synopsis‘I know you want what everyone else wants. A family. A home. But you’ll never have it. Cos of what’s inside you.’ Joanne and Lisa were like sisters. Then Lisa left. Now they’re back together for one last birthday party by the railway tracks. But can they salvage their friendship, or will ghosts of the past haunt them forever? Poignant, moving and darkly funny, All the Little Lights is the searing story of young girls slipping through the cracks in society, desperately searching for friendship, family and themselves. In a world where nobody wants you, what would you do to survive? Jane Upton's All the Little Lights was joint winner of the 2016 George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright, and was nominated for Best Play at the 2017 Writers’ Guild Awards. Produced by Fifth Word, and written with support from charity Safe & Sound, the play toured the UK in 2017, following a successful run in 2015.Trade Review'Terrifically realistic and darkly funny... truly extraordinary and moving theatre' * Nottingham Post *'Couldn't be more timely or more important… laced with humour and full of characters to care about' * The Stage *'Deeply affecting work on an urgent subject… cultivates empathy without sanitising or over-determining the characters' * Exeunt Magazine *

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Book Synopsis'It's not always all about you.' Three couples. What might be. What once was. What could have been. debbie tucker green’s play premiered in February 2017 at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, in a production directed by the playwright.Trade Review'A lean, intimate triptych about language and love… in debbie tucker green's hands the stop-start patterns of everyday speech, interrupted thoughts and broken sentences, hesitations and repetitions, becomes a kind of poetry… a play about listening as much as it is talking, about speaking and not being heard; it’s a play about love, but also about bodies, the pleasures they can bring and the ways they can fail' * The Stage *'debbie tucker green's words spool from the characters' mouths like inflected lines of the most patterned poetry, at once heightened and yet utterly true to the rhythms of normal speech. But as the words flow over 80 minutes, the piece comes together with audacious clarity… it is haunted by a deep emotional tug. Its lengthy title perfectly describes what happens in front of our eyes. It is very moving and very fine' * WhatsOnStage *'Beautifully dark and recognisable... an insightful observation of how we dissect our relationships, how we talk about talking, and what 'silence' means between lovers' * Independent *'The most eloquent play about men and women I've seen for years… debbie tucker green's latest piece not only suggests a maturing talent, but also the depth that comes with experience' * Telegraph *'Oblique yet compassionate… debbie tucker green uses language as deftly as a composer might use notes' * Financial Times *'debbie tucker green's text is visceral. No one captures the pattern of fractured speech quite like her… a writer digging deeper than most to reach something profound about what it means to love one another' * Exeunt Magazine *

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Book Synopsis'What you gonna do once you free? You just gonna walk up in somebody house and be like,"Hey. I'm a slave. Help me?"' Judge Peyton is dead, and his plantation Terrebonne is in financial ruins. Peyton's handsome nephew George arrives as heir apparent, and quickly falls in love with Zoe, a beautiful 'octoroon'. But the dastardly M'Closky has other plans – for both Terrebonne and Zoe. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' exhilarating play, An Octoroon, draws on Dion Boucicault's 1859 melodrama The Octoroon to explore issues about race and identity in America today. The play won an OBIE Award when it was first seen in New York in 2014, and had its European premiere at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, in 2017. It transferred to the National Theatre, London, in 2018. An Octoroon won Branden Jacobs-Jenkins the Most Promising Playwright Award at the Evening Standard Awards in 2017. He was also named Most Promising Playwright at the Critics' Circle Awards in 2018 for his plays Gloria and An Octoroon.Trade Review'Coruscating comedy of unresolved history… this decade's most eloquent theatrical statement on race in America today' -- Ben Brantley * New York Times *'A giddy mix of the angry and the absurd… Jacobs-Jenkins is considering important issues about race and representation and making something playful and provocative from them… inspired, invigorating' * The Times *'Bizarrely brilliant… a work that is both infinitely playful and deeply serious and which dazzlingly questions the nature of theatrical illusion' * Guardian *'Half of the fun – and there is a hell of a lot of fun – in watching An Octoroon is witnessing people squirm with discomfort, unsure if to laugh, when to laugh or if they are even allowed to laugh… Jacobs-Jenkins is like one of those magicians who shows you how the trick works and still leaves you agog with wonder' * The Upcoming *'A dazzlingly playful and sharply provocative look at ideas of race, representation and the nature of theatre itself' * Evening Standard *'A dazzling deconstruction of racial representation… deeply shocking, but darkly hilarious; satire at its most scornful… with a savage and sophisticated sense of irony, Jacobs-Jenkins sinks his teeth into the relationship between representations and reality' * WhatsOnStage *'A major work of new American drama… borrowing [from original play The Octoroon] is a stroke of inspiration in itself – melodrama being a self-referential genre, the satiric contexts of then and now contrast very nicely – but it's the richness of Jacobs-Jenkins's own imagination that really sets this show soaring... make no mistake about it, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is a playwright to watch' * The Arts Desk *'How do you deal with slavery as a black American playwright? Take someone else's play, and play with it. Problematise it. Take the piss out of it. Take the piss out of the idea, too, of a 'black playwright' being constantly expected to confront race issues. But don't forget to still punch the audience in the guts. That's what Branden Jacobs-Jenkins does in An Octoroon… the play keeps you on your toes. It's bold, fearless playwrighting: laughing in the face of racism as well as allowing the horror of history to spell itself out' * Time Out *'Totally, totally bonkers… Jacob-Jenkins' text has a madcap mania and a rich vein of absurdist humour… An Octoroon is a play that refuses to kowtow to the audience's preconceptions, that dances with stereotypes and teases relentlessly with sly race politics' * The Stage *'A fresh and thought-provoking examination of the uniquely American experience of race and colour… forces the audience to confront uncomfortable issues and yet remains funny and incredibly engaging' * Broadway World *'So energetic, funny, and entertainingly demented, you can't look away' * New York Post *'The play uses the plot of the Irish playwright Dion Boucicault's 1859 melodrama The Octoroon... as the starting point for a bigger, wilder, more hilarious play about the tremendous, often tragic difficulties of identity, and life, for us all' * New Yorker *'A wildly imaginative new work' * Village Voice *

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Book SynopsisA fiercely funny play by the Tony Award-winning author of The Humans. Three misfit teenagers are brought together by a sex scandal in their school, with nobody taking them seriously until they speak out – with hilarious consequences. Living in a social media minefield, where peers are judgmental and adults are dictatorial and condescending, Howie, Solomon and Diwata grapple with homophobia, online privacy and how to get the lead in the school play. Stephen Karam's Speech & Debate was first performed Off-Broadway at Roundabout Underground in 2007. It received its European premiere at the Trafalgar Studios, London, in 2017, produced by Defibrillator.Trade Review'The pace is nigh-on perfect… Stephen Karam has a talent for making serious things seriously funny' * The Times *'Comically unfolds the mysteries and peculiarities of today’s youth' * Telegraph *'A triumph...hilarious, cliché-free, and immensely entertaining' * New York Times *'Bristling with vitality, wicked humour, terrific dialogue and a direct pipeline into the zeitgeist of contemporary youth' * Variety *'A bright, lively comedy' * Guardian *'Very funny... Karam has an excellent ear for the earnestness of teenagers – and for the absurdity within such earnestness' * WhatsOnStage *'A coming-of-age drama that looks at the difficulties of coming out but also self-expression and self-regard in those tricky teen years when individuals are desperately attempting to find themselves… some cracking jokes and intriguing situations' * British Theatre Guide *

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Book Synopsis‘Maybe she just doesn’t wanna be found, maybe that last day she felt freedom was when she ran, and she just didn’t stop, maybe that was it.’ When her best friend Jay goes missing, Dee withdraws into a twilight world of fragmented memories and conversations, shattered by her grief. Where should she look for Jay? What did she miss? What did Jay say? And what couldn’t she say? Somalia Seaton’s Red is an unflinching and bold exploration of the internal lives of young women. It is part of Platform, an initiative from Tonic Theatre in partnership with Nick Hern Books, aimed at addressing gender imbalance in theatre. Platform comprises big-cast plays with predominantly or all-female casts, written specifically for performance by young actors.Trade Review'A fantastic resource… the dialogue is quick, punchy and easily accessible, the characters easy to identify with… Red is a blank slate, offering opportunities for the use of a variety of theatrical styles. For this reason I would strongly recommend this play. It is versatile, well-written, and in-tune with the needs of drama teachers and students in modern Britain' * Drama Magazine *'Has a subtle, yet accessible writing style that provides ample opportunities for a young ensemble to explore, ask questions, and push their performance skills… the action is lively and energetic, the dialogue well-paced – jumping between characters with a refreshing, playful energy' * Teaching Drama *'Complex, topical and rich in emotion… Seaton's writing fizzes off the page. Her characters are strong, complex and vibrant, her themes solid and resonant and she has delivered a foundation on which girls can finally flourish' * Ink Pellet *

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Book SynopsisNew York. A city that runs on ambition – and coffee. In the offices of a notorious Manhattan magazine, ruthless editorial assistants vie for their bosses' jobs and a book deal before they're thirty. But bestselling memoir fodder is thin on the ground, and climbing the career ladder is hard when you're trapped between Starbucks runs, jaded gossip and endless encircling cubicle walls... Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's Gloria is a razor-sharp comic drama about ambition, office warfare and hierarchies, where the only thing that matters is selling out to the highest bidder. The play was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2016, and had its UK premiere at Hampstead Theatre, London, in 2017. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins was named Most Promising Playwright at the Critics' Circle Awards in 2018 for his plays Gloria and An Octoroon.Trade Review'Confounds expectation to a heady and exhilarating degree… Gloria is pretty glorious' * The Arts Desk *'Brilliantly nuts and fresh… Jacobs-Jenkins is a seriously savvy playwright. He wears his smarts lightly' * Exeunt Magazine *'Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is one of America's boldest young playwrights… some especially sharp satire… if the stinging office comedy that Jacobs-Jenkins dishes up early on calls to mind David Mamet, there's more than a touch of the structural ingenuity of Caryl Churchill in what follows' * Evening Standard *'A shocking, unsettling and intelligent office dramedy from the sizzlingly in-vogue Branden Jacobs-Jenkins… on a sixpence, the play transforms from a farcical office satire - and a hilarious one, too - into an unsettling examination of contemporary employment culture, of unseen societal hierarchies, and of the distasteful rat race of grief that inevitably accompanies tragedy… the second invigorating UK debut in as many months from an insightful, intelligent, impish and hugely welcome transatlantic voice' * The Stage *'Another goodie from the super-smart Branden Jacobs-Jenkins… crisply funny in its relentless skewering of the pettiness and pretentions of a bunch of journalists, as well as offering a more profound look at the way traumatic experiences may be packaged up and sold to the highest bidder… sharply entertaining' * Time Out *'Clever and angry… it is fascinating and timely, and sometimes horribly funny' * TheatreCat *'Sharp, witty and inventive… the longer the play goes on and the deeper Jacobs-Jenkins digs, it becomes clear what he is writing about: not just the memory of a lost golden age that haunts American journalism, but the soullessness of the present in which any crisis is open to instant exploitation... a merciless modern satire' * Guardian *'Abounds with the sort of brutal straight-talk, honed by the illusion-dissolving acid of wage-slave experience, that’s calculated to make job-seeking millennials violently shudder even as they laugh… in less capable hands, this sort of thing could swiftly devolve into a water-cooler whinge writ large. But Jacobs-Jenkins has intelligent fun with the sense of entitlement of these gossips, back-stabbers and literary titans manqué… the evening’s essential thrill is unmistakable: the sighting of a major new talent' * Telegraph *'A whip-smart satire... A sharp-toothed comic drama with a whole lot to say' * New York Times *'Provocative, sharply observant and playfully theatrical' * Hollywood Reporter *

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Book SynopsisAn adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic one of the best-loved stories ever written that rediscovers the social conscience of the timeless tale.

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Book Synopsis'I used to be scared of them. They seemed so different. They don't scare me any more. They're just children, aren't they? Just children.' January 1941. A terrible crime is taking place in a clinic for disabled children. The perpetrators argue that it will help struggling parents and lift the financial burden on the mighty German state. One brave voice is raised in objection. But will the doctor listen? A moving examination of a terrifying moral dilemma, and a powerful story that shows what it takes for humanity and decency to be restored in a world that has abandoned them. First produced by Tara Finney Productions, Stephen Unwin's debut play All Our Children premiered at Jermyn Street Theatre, London, in 2017.Trade Review'A brave and challenging play' * The Arts Desk *'Incredibly effective… you will be hooked from start to finish' * A Younger Theatre *'A gripping battle of words... what makes the play engrossing is Unwin’s ability to explore both internal doubt and external conflict' * Guardian *'Unwin masterfully brings to light an often forgotten part of history, with vivid characterisation and gracefully authentic dialogue. He explores this dark story with profundity, while simultaneously managing to keep it relatable and real… a deeply thought-provoking piece of theatre' * Broadway World *'A passionate drama… the anger and arguments at the heart of this protest piece are strong' * Time Out *'Unwin's potent script creates a vivid picture of the social and moral landscape of Germany at the height of the Second World War... rich with argument and raw with emotion' * The Stage *'Packs an emotional punch… haunting and hard-hitting' * LondonTheatre1 *'Fascinating… it’s a magnificent, brilliantly written piece of theatre which draws the audience in to an emotional state of turmoil' * TheatreWeekly *'This play is very special… a moral and ethical debate of the highest quality... Stephen Unwin must already be a hot tip to be 2017’s best new playwright' * British Theatre Guide *

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Book SynopsisA darkly funny political thriller, winner of the 2017 Tony Award for Best Play. In 1993, in front of the world’s press, the leaders of Israel and Palestine shook hands on the lawn of the White House. Few watching would have guessed that the negotiations leading up to this iconic moment started secretly in a grand manor house in the middle of a forest outside Oslo. J.T. Rogers' play Oslo tells the true story of two maverick Norwegian diplomats who coordinated top-secret talks and inspired seemingly impossible friendships. Their quiet heroics helped lead to the groundbreaking Oslo Accords. The play had a sell-out run in New York in 2016, and received its UK premiere at the National Theatre, London, in September 2017, prior to a West End transfer.Trade Review'A serious, and seriously good, play… when the interval came, I felt deprived, like you do when you are reading a great book and have to put it down even though all you want to do is to go on reading' * The Times *'An extraordinary achievement, hands down the best new play of the season. Creating riveting drama out of the intransigence of implacable enemies is no modest trick, but darned if J.T. Rogers doesn't pull it off, and grandly... a dramatist of generous spirit writing with persuasive compassion about his characters' * Washington Post *'A tremendous piece of theatre… witty, gripping, Shakespearean in scope… what is most heartening about it is the way it quietly celebrates the peacemakers and their resolute belief in a common humanity. At a moment when acts of violence are never long out of the news, this is timely and immensely moving' * Financial Times *'A deft combination of research, fictional intuition and dramatic compression… watch, learn and marvel' * Telegraph *'This weighty subject, full of labyrinthine complexity, is lucidly distilled by JT Rogers's dramatisation of events, turning the process of negotiation and diplomacy into a gripping drama … it is a rollercoaster, with moments of great hilarity switching suddenly to high tension, along with deeply moving reminders of the horrors and sadness behind the talks' * BritishTheatre.com *'A proper political thriller… Rogers [has] a real eye for the human side of history... keeps the tension dead taut throughout' * WhatsOnStage *'Rogers' scrupulously researched work has a remarkable lightness of touch. It's witty, nimble and full of pleasing detail… works both as a piece of documentary theatre, unpacking a historical moment, and – in a time of what feels like increasing social division – a valuable reminder of just what can be achieved if people are wiling to put aside their own agendas and work towards a common good' * The Stage *'Unequivocally fascinating... Rogers' clever dialogue is very witty. You get the facts, but you get them delivered with intelligence and humor' * Variety *'As expansive and ambitious a play as any in recent Broadway history... [has an] urgent behind-the-scenes intimacy at its fast-beating heart... [Rogers' script] is a marvel of both expository efficiency and exciting showmanship, by which a big picture is revealed to be a composite shot of precisely defined, imperfect individuals. Oslo features a vast cast of characters, of widely varied temperaments and ideological stripes. Yet somehow, by the end, you feel you have come to know every single one of them' * New York Times *'Bracing and absorbing... the balance of passion, discipline, and suspense is organically, thrillingly theatrical' * Entertainment Weekly *

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Book SynopsisA young soldier returning from the trenches of the First World War recollects a love that dare not speak its name. Almost one hundred years later, a groom-to-be prepares for his gay wedding. Queers celebrates a century of evolving social attitudes and political milestones in British gay history, as seen through the eyes of eight individuals. Poignant and personal, funny, tragic and riotous, these eight monologues for male and female performers cover major events – such as the Wolfenden Report of 1957, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the debate over the age of consent – through deeply affecting and personal rites-of-passage stories. Curated by Mark Gatiss, the monologues were commissioned to mark the anniversary of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act, which decriminalised homosexual acts in private between two men over the age of twenty-one. They were broadcast on BBC Four in 2017, directed and produced by Gatiss, and starring Alan Cumming, Rebecca Front, Ian Gelder, Kadiff Kirwan, Russell Tovey, Gemma Whelan, Ben Whishaw and Fionn Whitehead. They were also staged at The Old Vic in London. This volume includes: The Man on the Platform by Mark Gatiss The Perfect Gentleman by Jackie Clune Safest Spot in Town by Keith Jarrett Missing Alice by Jon Bradfield I Miss the War by Matthew Baldwin More Anger by Brian Fillis A Grand Day Out by Michael Dennis Something Borrowed by Gareth McLean Trade Review'Sits triumphantly in the tradition of Alan Bennett's Talking Heads: funny, poignant and closely observed' * The Times *'An unbeatable series of monologues – funny, filthy, mournful, celebratory, predatory, bathetic, heroic – of the travails and, yes, fun had in the days before this particular love could speak its name' * Guardian *

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Book Synopsis‘We’re... A man and a woman Who’ve lost a child Who first lost a child And then... each other Or maybe I should say: Who first lost a child, then themselves and then each other’ An extraordinary play that asks a simple question: is it ever possible to move on? Poison by Dutch writer Lot Vekemans, in this English translation by Rina Vergano, had a critically acclaimed run in New York in 2016, and was premiered in the UK at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, in November 2017, directed by Paul Miller. The original Dutch-language version of the play, Gif, was first performed at NT Gent/NL in December 2009.Trade Review'Almost unbearably tense, delicate yet tough… Vekemans's writing is unflinching, its sparse language and aching silences charged with scarcely articulated pain... profoundly rewarding' * The Times *'A delicate and compassionate study of grief' * Financial Times *'Uncomfortable but compelling viewing… this is obviously a play about how we react to bereavement and is based on acute psychological observation. But, on a wider level, this is also a play about marriage and the way separation or divorce can never erase remembered intimacies' * Guardian *'An absorbing dance around the truth, in which tenderness and starkness alternate and the awkward cadences of debate are chasteningly authentic… considers the effects of grief, but instead of making pain appear poetic it portrays with sober precision the essential ordinariness of its two characters' * Evening Standard *'Painful, powerful… a minutely realistic look at the oddly colourless nature of grieving, and the grim concrete structures that 21st-century secular society builds around it' * Time Out *'Quietly unflinching… an almost forensic exploration of the hard, sharp edges of grief and loss… [has a] bruising truthfulness' * The Stage *'Searing... a tear-jerker' * New York Times *'Truly astounding' * Broadway World *

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Book SynopsisVery few playwrights can be identified from a single line of dialogue – debbie tucker green is one of them. This collection of her first six plays, together with a short introduction by the author, shows a dramatic artist in full control of her craft. born bad (Hampstead Theatre, 2003; winner of the Olivier Award for Best Newcomer) dives headlong into the heart of a conflicted family, unleashing wit, ferocity and verbal dexterity on the way. 'One of the most assured and extraordinary new voices we’ve heard in a long while. Electrifying' Independent on Sunday dirty butterfly (Soho Theatre, 2003) is a mesmerising study of voyeurism, power and guilt. 'There is a sly, controlled power in this writing… And now I cannot get it out of my head' Guardian generations (National Theatre Platform performance, 2005; Young Vic, 2007) follows three generations of a Black South African family comparing cooking skills – but food isn’t the only topic and the family numbers are declining. 'Devastating… will last you a lifetime' Guardian stoning mary (Royal Court Theatre, 2005) confronts the reality of global conflicts, transposing them to the West. 'The words fly around the theatre piercing the dark like gleaming shards of shrapnel' The Stage trade (Royal Shakespeare Company, 2005) shines a light on the world of female sex tourism. 'Poetry laced with shards of broken glass' Guardian random (Royal Court Theatre, 2008) is set over one day, following one family and the effects of one random act of violence. 'The writing seems to penetrate the very heart of grief' Telegraph 'debbie tucker green uses language as deftly as a composer might use notes.' Financial Times

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Book Synopsis‘I want to return to my home.’ A Northern British coastal town. Three young men are coming home from war. Their stories, set at different times over a hundred years, are beautifully interwoven in Anna Jordan's The Unreturning, a play that explores the profound effect that war has on young people’s lives, and asks – what does coming home really mean? What is home? And when experience has shattered you into a million pieces, will home help to put you together again, or treat you as an ugly truth it does not want to confront? The Unreturning was premiered at Theatre Royal Plymouth in September 2018, in a co-production between Frantic Assembly and Theatre Royal Plymouth, before touring the UK.Trade Review'A moving meditation on war and masculinity... Jordan paints a complex picture of masculinity, its crises, its toxicity and its deepest feelings... the writing is sensitive' * The Arts Desk *'A feverishly intense drama... visceral and insightful' * Time Out *'An incredibly moving show, full of beautifully interwoven stories which are sensitively told, hard-hitting and immensely poignant at the same time... there is so much for students to choose from for a scripted exam performance, and there are beautiful monologues from each character to explore' * Drama & Theatre Magazine *'Brutally and beautifully honest' * Broadway World *'Anna Jordan's poetic piece interweaves three stories, flicking back and forth in history as timeless threads are followed, linked and knotted' * British Theatre Guide *'An absorbing, thought-provoking piece of new writing... [Jordan] creates dialogue and especially soliloquies of shuddering power' * The Reviews Hub *

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