Plays, playscripts, drama

Book SynopsisTwo early plays from the acclaimed Irish writer Enda Walsh. bedbound is a ferocious two-hander about a father-daughter relationship gone horribly and terrifyingly wrong. bedbound was first performed at The New Theatre, Dublin, as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival 2000. It received its UK premiere at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, during the 2001 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and was revived at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London, in January 2002. misterman is a strange and haunting monologue about a missionary who'll stop at nothing. misterman was first performed by Enda Walsh in a Corcadorca Theatre Company production at the Granary Theatre in Cork in April 1999, directed by Pat Kiernan. A later 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. Trade Review'A play unlike any other I have seen. Enda Walsh's vision of wounded humanity... has a precision that is entirely his own... an uncomfortable, unforgettable tour-de-force' * Daily Telegraph on 'bedbound' *'A work that enjoys delving into the nastier zones of human behaviour with a wild and mischievous exuberance' * Irish Theatre Magazine on 'misterman' *

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Book SynopsisDrama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price Should the truth be pursued, whatever the cost? The idealistic son of a wealthy businessman seeks to expose his father's duplicity and to free his childhood friend from the lies on which his happy home life is based. Henrik Ibsen's play The Wild Duck, considered a masterpiece of modern tragicomedy, was premiered in January 1885 at Den Nationale Scene, Bergen, Norway. This English translation by Stephen Mulrine is published in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, with a full introduction.

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Book SynopsisA moving portrait of the young Vincent van Gogh - a hit in the West End and on Broadway. Winner of the 2003 Olivier Award for Best New Play. Brixton, 1873. A brash young Dutchman rents a room in the house of an English widow. Three years later he returns to Europe on the first step of a journey which will end in breakdown, death and immortality. Nicholas Wright's play Vincent in Brixton was first performed at the National Theatre, London, in the Cottesloe auditorium, in April 2002, directed by Richard Eyre. The production transferred to Wyndhams Theatre in the West End in August 2002.Trade Review'One of the best new plays ever presented by the National Theatre' * Sunday Times *'A brilliant portrait of the artist as a young man' * Guardian *'Nicholas Wright has convincingly imagined himself into the life of the 20-year-old Vincent van Gogh... superlative... An evening to savour' * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisThe third in David Edgar's post-Cold War trilogy, which also includes Pentecost and The Shape of the Table. An urgently topical account of a bloody conflict on Europe's Eastern borders. Beginning in early 1989 and spanning some twelve years, the play follows a team of peace negotiators attempting to resolve an ethnic conflict occurring within a fictional former Soviet republic. The Prisoner's Dilemma was first performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company at The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, in July 2001, transferring to the Pit Theatre, Barbican, London, in January 2002.Trade Review'The greatest virtue of David Edgar's enthralling new play is that it confronts the kind of intractable ethnic conflict that has blown up in the wake of the Soviet Union's demise. Edgar's erudition and appetite for major subject-matter have paid off. This must be seen' * Daily Telegraph *'David Edgar is one of our few surviving writers of public plays, and The Prisoner's Dilemma continues his exploration of the reconfiguration of global politics since the fall of the Berlin Wall... Engrossing' * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisA hard-hitting and original family drama, winner of the 2004 Olivier Award for Most Promising Newcomer. 'the bits don't make the bulk and the bulk don't mek the whole and the all a your bits together don't make your versions true.' A blood-related black family. A Dad, a Mum, a Daughter, two Sisters, a Brother. A family argument. A skeleton in the closet... debbie tucker green's play born bad dives headlong into the powerful heart of this family, unleashing wit, ferocity and verbal dexterity on the way. It was premiered at Hampstead Theatre, London, in 2003.Trade Review'debbie tucker green is one of the most assured and extraordinary new voices we've heard in a long while. Electrifying' * Independent on Sunday *'60 minutes of thrillingly high-impact theatre. If tucker green can continue in this rich vein, her future looks assured' * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisA mesmerising and startling play about voyeurism, power and guilt. 'You ever woken up of a morning wondering if this one was gonna be your last – you ever got that feelin in your stomach as you lay there wonderin that? Like butterflies gone ballistic. Like butterflies gone bad.' Listening through their thin walls, Amelia and Jason are drawn into the dark and compelling world of their mutual neighbour Jo. debbie tucker green's play dirty butterfly was first performed at Soho Theatre, London, in February 2003.Trade Review'There is a sly, controlled power in this writing and it is given full rein in Rufus Norris' exquisitely acted production. And now I cannot get it out of my head' * Guardian *'A play about real people with real issues' * Time Out *'The writing is startlingly assured... The understated horror is devastating' * Independent on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisThe classic tale of Sleeping Beauty's curse – as seen through the eyes of the fairy who curses her. Written by acclaimed director Rufus Norris for the Young Vic Theatre, London. Once upon a time there was a beautiful Princess who was loved by everyone. Well... almost everyone. Cursed by a wicked fairy, she pricks her finger and falls into a deep sleep. One hundred years later, a Prince wakes her with a kiss. But the Prince isn't as brave as he should be – and his mother's a bit of an ogress... Based on Perrault's 17th-century classic, Rufus Norris's Sleeping Beauty goes beyond the kiss into a perilous world of beastly shadows, nasty smells and a forest full of enchanted trouble. It was first performed at the Young Vic Theatre, London, in December 2002.Trade Review'Outstanding... mixes the mythic and the macabre... What makes the show so dazzling is Norris' ability to appeal to children and adults alike. Kids around me seemed entranced, as I was, by the unfolding narrative' * Guardian *'Weird and wonderful... Rufus Norris' darkly and drolly imaginative version... Both direct and sophisticated, primal and glintingly allusive, this Sleeping Beauty continues the Young Vic's proud tradition of mounting the best Yuletide show in London' * Independent *

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Book SynopsisA brilliant, haunting play from the multi-award winning author of The Weir. Ian has left the priesthood to become a therapist. John is one of his first clients. John's wife has been killed in a car accident, and he keeps receiving visits from her ghost. John, with Ian's help, starts to recover. But what begins as an unusual encounter becomes a desperate struggle between the living and the dead – a struggle which will shape and define both of them for the rest of their lives. Conor McPherson's play Shining City was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in June 2004.Trade Review'The finest dramatist of his generation... McPherson is back in business, writing magnificently' * Daily Telegraph *'Quiet, haunting and absolutely glorious... Shining City is as close to perfection as contemporary playwriting gets' * New York Times *'Moving, compassionate, ingenious and absolutely gripping ... scenes that provoke great, generous gales of laughter, others that send a shiver of fear down the spine ... riveting' * Telegraph *'Compulsively gripping... McPherson brilliantly reconciles the mundane and the metaphysical' * Guardian *'McPherson at his best, laying bare the soul in all its pathetic, flawed ordinariness' * Evening Standard *'Writing at its most riveting' * The Times *'At his best Conor McPherson is a writer who combines great character comedy with a real sense of pathos. And Shining City is Conor McPherson at his very best... Guilt, sex and therapy with a script from acting heaven' * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisA battle of wits between Cromwell and John Milton, by the well-known actor Jack Shepherd. 1656. Two revolutionaries meet in the woods at Hampton Court: the blind poet, John Milton, and his long-term comrade, Oliver Cromwell. But after the bitter ravages of revolution, regicide and civil war, freedom is hard to come to terms with. Jack Shepherd's play Through a Cloud was first staged at the Drum Theatre, Plymouth, in 2004.Trade Review'Manages to find not only humanity but also humour in two of the most important yet inscrutable figures in English history... maintains a grip on both the head and the heart' * Metro *'Orchestrates a fascinating clash between two types of revolutionary' * Independent *'Intriguing insight into life in England several years after the end of the bloody civil war... outstanding' * Evening Mail *

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Book Synopsis‘One no more owes one’s beauty to a lover, than one’s wit to an echo.’ With the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the republican ban on organised theatre was lifted – and plays exploded back onto the public stage with newfound relish. The arrival of actresses for the first time encouraged a great sense of release, which expressed itself in the form of sophisticated comedies exploring the sexual behaviour and moralities of society. This volume features three of the most popular Restoration Comedies: The Country Wife by William Wycherley - a supremely bawdy comedy in which the aptly named Horner pretends to be a eunuch in order to seduce women under the noses of their husbands. The Way of the World by William Congreve - a brilliant comedy of manners, complete with dashing suitor, rich heiress and vengeful aunt. The Rover by Aphra Behn - the classic Restoration comedy by one of the earliest and most celebrated female playwrights. There is also a full introduction about the plays, playwrights and the period, and a glossary of unfamiliar words. The Drama Classic Collections bring together the most popular plays from a single author or a particular period. They offer students, actors and theatregoers a series of uncluttered, accessible editions, accompanied by comprehensive introductions.

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Book Synopsis‘She wanted spontaneity, adventure… I said I can be spontaneous… I just need a little bit of time to plan.’ Peta is new in town and ready for whatever London has to throw at her. She's looking for romance, for friendship, for exciting people to lead her on big adventures. But being an independent woman in the new millennium isn't easy, especially when there's a constant reminder of the life you're trying to escape. With each new encounter, Peta flirts with what might have been, but has the journey to London put enough distance between her and her past? Chloë Moss's play How Love Is Spelt is a fascinating and funny play, which premiered at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2004. It was revived by Brickdust and Project One at Southwark Playhouse in 2019.Trade Review'The finest and most assured writing to be found outside the National Theatre this year... a moving and mature study of love, loneliness and the need to define one's identity... One of the year's undoubted highlights' * Evening Standard *'Moss's writing evokes these nocturnal collisions beautifully, using silence as powerfully as words, and brittle comedy as deftly as tremendous sadness' * Guardian *'A remarkably assured new talent. I can't remember a play in recent years that so adroitly captured the difficulty of being young and alone in the capital or did so with such refreshing humour...There's nothing loud or brash about this drama of youthful disillusion, but it's well worth shouting about' * Daily Telegraph *

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Book Synopsis'You were supposed to love me. You said it in front of sixty of our friends and family. Even my father cried.' A satirical comedy of modern manners set in contemporary Dublin. Neil is a maverick TV reporter struggling to re-integrate into domesticity. Back from Darfur with a head full of nightmares, he takes a hammer to his life – and his fifteen years of marriage. But is his extra-curricular relationship with Sarah going to mend anything – or is it just that she's new? Stella Feehily's play O go my Man (the title is an anagram of 'monogamy') was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2006 in a production by Out of Joint Theatre Company. It was the joint winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for 2006-07.Trade Review'Savvy, smart and witty... refreshingly ambitious' * The Times *'Brash, buzzy, fast, messy - a dazzling experience' * Daily Mail *'Combines a sharp look at the chaos of contemporary sexual mores with a wild surreal humour: imagine Closer with a touch of Lewis Carroll and you get the picture... a remarkable play' * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisA revered modern classic about life in the closing days of World War II. Set in 1945 during the days between victory in Europe and victory in Japan, Touched follows the fortunes of a group of women in a working-class suburb of Nottingham. Stephen Lowe's play was first staged at Nottingham Playhouse in 1977 in a production directed by Richard Eyre. It transferred to the Royal Court, London, in 1981 in a new production by William Gaskill.Trade Review'Touched is truly identified with working people and a radical vision, unlike many contemporary plays for which the same claim is made' * Time Out *'Triumphantly repays a second viewing. It is a beautifully written piece effortlessly linking the private and public worlds' * Guardian *

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Book Synopsis'I like London. I like the pavements. I like to walk out my door and not sink up to my tits in primordial sludge.' A comedy thriller from the author of the Olivier Award-winning Jerusalem. West waits in a burnt-out farmhouse, on Dartmoor, in the depths of winter, for two associates from the city. The wine has been poured and the revolver loaded. But who is waiting upstairs? Jez Butterworth's play The Winterling was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2006.Trade Review'Characteristically moreish thanks to its high-definition misfits and clash of casual domesticity and menace' * Time Out *'Dazzling' * Guardian *'A gobsmacking verve that is sadly rare in today's British theatre... written with all of Butterworth's characteristically high-octane flair, the text flashes with jokes, shines with images and oozes menacing bonhomie... it really rocks' * Tribune *

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Book SynopsisA spiky play about the clash between suburban and itinerant ways of life in present-day Liverpool. Bobby, Paul and Ange. Three people, four walls: the basic recipe for family life. Down the road in Curzon Park there are no walls, just wheels, and a fierce sense of belonging that has nothing to do with place. Two ways of life: yards apart and yet worlds apart. But when Bobby starts skipping school to hang out with Danny, their friendship forces both families to look beyond the walls that divide them. Chloë Moss's play The Way Home was first performed at the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, in October 2006.Trade Review'Moss has produced a quietly impressive string of tender, slender coming-of-age dramas' * Guardian *'Her dialogue crackles with authenticity' * Time Out *'A genius for catching the currents - and undercurrents - of everyday conversation' * The Times *'An observant, sensitive and sad play, never preaching, always generous' * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisDrama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price A delightfully lewd city comedy written in 1613 by the co-author of The Changeling. Thomas Middleton's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside is an intricately plotted play about unscrupulous people in search of wealth, marriage, or sex - and sometimes all three. Unpublished until 1630 and long-neglected afterwards, it is now considered among the best and most characteristic Jacobean comedies. This edition of the play in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series is edited and introduced by Emma French.

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Book SynopsisAn acclaimed dramatisation of Dickens' well-loved Christmas story - more faithful to the original than any other published version, and making skilful use of traditional carols to underscore the action. Karen Louise Hebden's stage adaptation of A Christmas Carol was first staged at Derby Playhouse in 2003, directed by Stephen Edwards with Ben Roberts as Scrooge, breaking box office records with 98% paid attendance. Hebden's version was staged at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, in December 2005, and was revived at Derby Playhouse in 2006. It has subsequently enjoyed over fifty amateur productions nationally as well as being the inaugural Christmas production at The Rose, Kingston, in December 2008.Trade Review'A show that's as warming as a glass of mulled wine on a winter's day. Could there be higher praise than that?' * Daily Mail *'Karen Louise Hebden doesn't just bring Dickens's story alive, she visualises episodes with clarity and faithfulness to the original' * Independent *'It's interesting, moving and disturbingly timely to see Dickens's great cry for humanity treated with such moral and artistic seriousness' * Scotsman *'The kind of thrilling, uplifting theatre that really lodges in the heart and mind' * Herald, Scotland *

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Book SynopsisReformed womaniser Nick is approaching thirty and has fallen head over heels with the girl he wants to marry and have kids with. But then a dark little fling he'd rather forget comes back to threaten everything. For the first time he understands that a picture-perfect, middle-class life might not be a given. How far will he go to keep himself in the game that everyone else seems to be playing?

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Book SynopsisA remarkable play about what can happen when we become stuck in the stories we tell about our lives. Visceral and tender, The Walworth Farce combines hilarious moments with shocking realism. It's 11 o'clock in the morning in a council flat on the Walworth Road in London. In two hours' time, as is normal, three Irish men will have consumed six cans of Harp, fifteen crackers with spreadable cheese, ten pink biscuit wafers and one oven-cooked chicken with a strange blue sauce. In two hours' time, as is normal, five people will have been killed. Enda Walsh's play The Walworth Farce was first performed by Druid Theatre Company at the Town Hall Theatre, Galway, in March 2006, before touring to Cork and Dublin. It was revived at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, in August 2007 as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, winning a Fringe First Award, and received its London premiere at the National Theatre in September 2008.Trade Review'An unsettling but exhilarating blend of the hilarious with the horrifying' * Irish Times *'Walsh has outdone himself with a new play more complex, dark and emotionally rich than any of his previous efforts... a theatrical experience that claws at the imagination for days afterwards' * Variety *'If there is a bleaker, funnier or more desperate play in Edinburgh this year, I'll eat my hat' * Guardian *'Brilliant and savage... a mind-blowing combination of Marx Brothers madness and exploded Irish cliché' * Scotsman *'Enda Walsh makes his own distinctive stage music in the fury of his writing talent and the irresistible surge of his blatant theatricality' * Independent *'Fast and furious... Enda Walsh's queasy thriller is masterpiece of virtuoso tale-telling' * Arts Desk *'Genius... a first-rate farce concealed in a tragedy of Shakespearian proportions... an astoundingly clever piece of writing... as hilarious as it is heartbreaking' * Theatre Weekly *'A fascinating mixture of trauma, fantasy and jet black comedy... testosterone-fuelled, no holds barred mayhem... a macabre delight' * WhatsOnStage *'A twisted classic... disturbing and violent... The play's black humour twists and yawns into darker depths... an affecting allegory for the damage that families do' * Time Out *'A special piece of theatre... challenging and uncomfortable, but also a pure delight' * British Theatre Guide *

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Book SynopsisBreden shifts the focus of academic study away from product and towards process, demonstrating how an understanding of process assists in the reading of the theatrical product. The rehearsal processes of theatre companies are an oft-neglected area of research in Drama and Performance Studies. This work on the Catalan devising collective Els Joglars and the Madrid producing venue Teatro de la Abadía seeksto redress the balance with a close analysis of methodologies employed in rehearsal. In effect, both companies have created distinctive rehearsal processes by applying ideas and techniques from a wider European context to a Spanish theatre scene which had been seen to follow rather than develop trends and techniques visible in theatre across France, Italy and Germany. Critically, their hybrid rehearsal processes generate heightened theatrical results forthe audience. Thus the book shifts the focus of academic study away from product and towards process, demonstrating how an understanding of process assists in the reading of the theatrical product. Simon David Breden obtained a PhD in Drama & Hispanic Studies from Queen Mary, University of London. He has worked as a professional director and expert in Spanish theatre in London and Madrid.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Part I: Els Joglars Chapter 1: Introduction and History Chapter 2: Theory and Practice Chapter 3: Development and Improvisation Chapter 4: Experiential Performance Part II: Teatro de la Abadía Chapter 5: Introduction and History Chapter 6: Rehearsal Room Ethos Chapter 7: Theory and Practice Chapter 8: Holy Theatre Conclusion Bibliography

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Book SynopsisLa edición que aquí se presenta se basa en el estudio cuidadoso de los dos únicos ejemplares que quedan del impreso de 1514. Va acompañada de una introducción novedosa, de numerosas notas a pie de página, imprescindibles hoyla comprensión del texto, de un importante glosario y de una bibliografía al día. This edition is based on a careful comparison of the two only surviving texts of the 1514 printed edition.Trade Review[U]na magnífica aportación de la bibliografía de Lucas Fernández y de nuestro primer teatro clásico. * CALÍOPE *Table of ContentsParte I: Introducción Parte II: Las Farsas y Églogas Glosario Bibliografía

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Book SynopsisTwo very different women meet during a long wait to buy subsidized rice and discover they have more in common than their poverty; an old man and child share a last, loving waltz; a cynical, disabled gangster learns humanity from a committed social worker; and a young girl finds her missing father and her role in the political struggle. This colleciton of three plays and one cine poem captures the essence of Zakes Mda's method as a dramatist. In most of the works, the chartacters have no names: they come onto the stage with no identity - except perhaps for the kind of clothes they wear - and slowly reveal themselves. What the reader experiences is a slow but intimate process of revelation (on the part of the characters) and discovery (on the part of the audience or readers).Table of ContentsZakes Mda - a director's view, Teresa Devant; and the girls in their Sunday dresses (a play); the final dance (a script for a cine poem); banned (a play for radio); joys of war (a play).

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Book Synopsis'Why bother to rob a bank, when you can own a bank?' asked Bertold Brecht. The question is reiterated in the very Brechtian Love, Crime and Johannesburg, the story of Jimmy 'Long Legs' Mangane, a people's poet involved in the struggle, who is accused of robbing a bank. He passionately asserts his innocence, claiming to work for the 'secret secret service'. Lewis, his old friend and comrade from the struggle, now owns a bank. How did this happen? The man of the struggle is now a man of accounts. A man of the nineties. Part of the cellphone generation. Added to the mix is an old-style gangster, two girlfriends, a Jewish father and a very unusual Chief of Police. Described as one of the first genuine post-apartheid plays, Love, Crime and Johannesburg is a witty, light-hearted account of life in the City of Gold at the turn of the millennium. A must for all students of South African theatre. Winner of the 2000 Vita Award for best script of a new South African Play.

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Book SynopsisMy Life is based on the diaries of five South African girls who were growing into womanhood in 1994. The perspective of each young woman on her country and her people is conveyed with a mixture of naivety, exuberance, warmth and humour. A small Karoo town provides the setting for Valley Song, which explores the theme of youth in search of itself, and provides a lyrical metaphor for the new South Africa in which it was set, and has been termed one of Fugard's most endearing plays.

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Book SynopsisNothing but the Truth is a story of two brothers, of sibling rivalry, of exile, of memory and reconciliation, of perplexities of freedom.

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Book SynopsisSomewhere on the Border was written by Anthony Akerman while in exile more than two decades ago. The play was intercepted in the post and banned as a publication by the apartheid censors because the language was considered ‘offensive’ and the portrayal of the South African Armed Forces ‘prejudicial to the safety of the state’. This publication of a one-act version of the play brings the South African Border War back into public discourse and pierces through the armour of silence, secrecy and shame that still surrounds it. The script is complemented by an author’s preface and an afterword by historian Gary Baines, as well as photographs of its 2011 production.Table of ContentsPreface by Anthony Akerman Somewhere on the Border Afterword by Gary Baines

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Book SynopsisThrough five colourful characters, three of them living out their very individual lives in an unnamed public park in Johannesburg, Zakes Mda explores the plight of women and children in a patriarchal and male-dominated twenty-first century world.Lord Stewart mourns his virginal companion (and regrets he didn’t try a little harder to change her state). He turns to another virgin, the eponymous Lady of Benoni, to help him find his lost love. Professor mourns the loss of his wife, Thabisile, humiliated and driven out of her community because she was believed not to have been a virgin before her marriage. MaDlomo mourns the fate of her child, raped as a three-month-old by a man seeking a cure for his HIV-positive state. And running in the background is the court case of a spiritual leader accused of rape and defended by the indomitable MaDlomo because of his support for the reintroduction of virginity testing.Stylistically adventurous and unafraid to deviate from conventionally accepted norms, Mda is iconoclastic in his handling of the ways in which attitudes to power, superstition, ethics and sex are constructed. The discourse of patriarchy and its ‘regime of truths’ that define female sexuality, its obligations and its custodianship, are the focus of the play.Zakes Mda’s satire is a kaleidoscopic display of the extremes to which men (and by implication women) are prepared to go in terms of valuing what is ‘virginal’. Mda presents us with the consequences of transgression: that which is seen as polluted and judged to be dangerous to the good health and purity of a group, a society, a culture. Taboos, superstition, customs and moral ethics become the subjects of inquiry and are, at times, subjected to ribald satire. This play cuts into a virtuoso style of theatre that can in no way be confused with the objectives and methods of conventional realism. Mda establishes a unique style and tone that is innovative, entertaining and challenging. It fuses satirical elements derived from classical poetry with a modernist sensibility that synthesises Brechtian and Absurdist features of theatricality, using characters as types and montage. Above all, in this work there is a profound exploration of what it means to operate in the politically charged landscape that defines post-apartheid South Africa with its cultural pluralities and differentials in access to resources and agency. Stylistically adventurous and unafraid to deviate from conventionally accepted norms, Mda is iconoclastic in his handling of the ways in which attitudes to power, superstition, ethics and sex are constructed. The cultural discourse of patriarchy and the ‘regime of truths’ regarding ideals and taboos defining female sexuality, its obligations, and its custodianship are the focus of this play.Written with ribald wit and trenchant satire, Our Lady of Benoni is suffused with laughter and pathos, leaving readers with much to ponder.Table of ContentsInterview with Pat Tucker; introduction by Sarah Roberts; glossary of terms; our Lady of Benoni (two acts).

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Book SynopsisOn a ""cold and starless night"" a young pregnant widow, Nandi, arrives in Tin Town, a bleak, drought-stricken place ruled by silence and fear. Little do the inhabitants know that Nandi is carrying the baby who will, in time, change all that. Taken in by Umkhulu (grandfather), whose father established the tin bucket factory that gave the town its name, Nandi gives birth to Nomvula, the Little Drummer Girl. Umkhulu remembers a past when 'people were free to sing and dance', when the rain came and the townsfolk held up their tin buckets to catch the precious, life-giving drops. And then came the Silent Sir and his spokesman, the Censor, and the town went silent. As the singing and dancing and drumming dried up, so did the rain. The tin bucket factory closed, taking with it the life and purpose of Tin Town's inhabitants. Only the Little Drummer Girl can bring back that life, but at enormous personal cost. In Tin Bucket Drum, Neil Coppen achieves a small miracle. Through his lyrical script and the creative use of lighting and sound, one woman, the Narrator, succeeds in evoking a host of characters as this allegorical tale of oppression and liberation plays itself out. It is a story that offers a host of lessons for many places and many times.

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Book SynopsisAlthough widely known as the Afrikaner Communist who saved Nelson Mandela from the gallows, very little is known about Bram Fischer the man. Fischer was a respected Senior Advocate at the Johannesburg Bar who chose to side with the oppressed and went underground to join the armed struggle. He was arrested on 5 November 1965 after almost 10 months on the run. ""I owed it to the political prisoners, to the banished, to the silenced and to those under house arrest not to remain a spectator, but to act."" These words spoken by Bram Fischer in his statement from the dock during his treason trial were followed by a life sentence. Scion of a proudly Afrikaner family that included a prime minister and a judge president of the Orange Free State, he would seem to be an unlikely hero of the liberation movement. Uncompromising in his political beliefs and driven by an unshakeable integrity and a commitment to the dream of a non-racial democracy, Fischer was also humorous, fun-loving and a family man, devoted to his wife and children. The many facets of this remarkable man are refl ected in The Bram Fischer Waltz, Harry Kalmer's lyrical tribute. A brief and intense work, with the protagonist as narrator, this one person play takes the audience through a roller coaster of emotions as it tells Fischer's story. The play won The Standard Bank Silver Ovation Award when it premiered in English at 2013 the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown and was awarded the Adelaide Tambo Award for Human Rights in the Arts in 2014 . The text is supplemented by a foreword by Adv George Bizos and an introduction by the playwright, reflecting on the path that led him to write the play, and an afterword by Yvonne Malan, entitled The Power of Moral Courage.Table of ContentsContents: Foreword: Who was Bram Fischer? by Adv George Bizos; Looking for Bram Fischer by Harry Kalmer; Timeline; Play script; Afterword: Bram Fischer-The Power of Moral Courage by Yvonne Malan.

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Book SynopsisIn an important and unique contribution to the study of noh, this volume includes, for the first time, essays on the subject of one noh play written by scholars from both sides of the Pacific Ocean in their own language, Japanese or English (with a summary of each contribution translated into the other language also included). The essays show some of the breadth and depth that is available for the study of Japanese literature and drama both in Japan and abroad. Japanese scholars Amano Fumio, Nishino Haruo, Takemoto Mikio, and Wakita Haruko join with actor Uzawa Hisa and American scholars Monica Bethe, Steven Brown, Susan Klein, William LaFleur, Susan Matisoff, Carolyn Morley, Mae Smethurst, and Arthur Thornhill, to interpret the noh Ominameshi, all from the vantage point of their own analytical approaches. The intent is to provide the reader with more than just an introduction to the variety of ways of studying noh in general by focusing on one particular play and analyzing it closely and from many directions.The volume includes a preface and introduction plus 19 color and 4 black-and-white illustrations; one less literal and one more literal translation of the noh accompanied by the Japanese texts; and contributions interpreting Ominameshi in the light of medieval commentaries, the ai-kyōgen, new historicism, gender studies, legends surrounding the history of the play's setting, the etiology of the graves of the two principal characters, poetic usage, other plays on the subject of ominameshi, the religious background and meaning, authorship, structure, performance, costumes and masks. The volume concludes with reflections on the performance of the play by Uzawa Hisa in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during the conference out of which the book developed.

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Book SynopsisIn Hot Thespian Action! Robin Whittaker argues that newplays can thrive in amateur theatres, which have freedoms unavailableto professionalized companies. And he proves it with 10 relevant,engaging playscripts originally produced by one of Canada’slongest-running theatres, Edmonton’s acclaimed Walterdale TheatreAssociates. This collection challenges notions that amateur theatre is solely aphenomenon of the pre-professional past. Whittaker makes an importantcontribution to Canadian theatre studies with the first North Americananthology in 80 years to collect plays first produced by anonprofessionalized theatre company.Table of ContentsGeneral Introduction The Plays The Canadian Fact (1967) / Wilfred Watson Chief Shaking Spear Rides Again or The Taming of the Sioux(1974) / Warren Graves Mutants (1981) / Brad Fraser Swipe (1981) / Gordon Pengilly The Tenth Negative Pig (1983) / Barbara Sapergia andGeoffrey Ursell The Three Sillies (1983) / Mary Glenfield Just (1999) / Trevor Schmidt The Beaver Effect (2002) / Mark Stubbings [ice land] (2003) / Jonathan Seinen The Trial of Salomé (2007) / Scott Sharplin Appendix I: New Plays Premiered by Walterdale Theatre Associates Appendix II: Music Notes Bibliography

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Book SynopsisFirst modern edition of a highly provocative Scottish drama. Written at the very end of the seventeenth century, The Phanaticks (previously known as The Assembly) satirises in dramatic form contemporary political and religious affairs, presenting some well-known figures in thethinnest of disguises. Overtly a comedy about two young women opposed by such forces as the Governer of Edinburgh Castle (Lord Huffy), it is an excoriating attack on the hypocrisy and political chicanery of Scottish religious sects, alongside its romance and sexual innuendo. The author, Archibald Pitcairne, was a celebrated physician and wit; this work demonstrates his talent for controversy (he was ejected from the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, an institution which he helped to found, after a dispute about his theoretical approaches to medicine). Indeed, so provocative was it deemed that despite being printed in 1722 and 1752, there is no record of any contemporary performance. This first modern edition is based on an early manuscript, with corrections possibly in Pitcairne's own hand; it is presented with full contextual and historical notes. John MacQueen is Emeritus Professor of English, University of Edinburgh.Trade Review[T]his fine edition will prompt scholars to ask new-albeit potentially insoluble-questions about Pitcairne and Scottish culture in the 1690s. * SCRIBLERIAN *[A] richly erudite edition. . A landmark volume of such rigour, ingenuity and thoroughness...this is virtuoso scholarship. * JOURNAL OF SCOTTISH HISTORICAL STUDIES *Table of ContentsForeword Introduction Bibliography The Phanaticks [The Assembly] Commentary Appendix I, The Preface Appendix II

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Book SynopsisFeatures 17 essays considering the text, interpretation and cultural context of Greek tragedy. This book includes studies of single plays, of major themes in each of the three tragedians, of modern approaches to tragic text and interpretation, and of the genre's social, political and religious background.

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Book SynopsisIt’s all in a day’s work for high-flying literary agent Alexander; manuscripts to read, deals to be done, celebrity clients to be taken out to lunch… but first there is an author to deal with whose latest book the agent thinks is, frankly, not up to scratch. However he hadn't counted on the author's resourcefulness...

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Book SynopsisSet in 1792, amongst the merchant princes and cut-throat backstreets of Liverpool, in the Palace of Westminster in London and aboard the Blackamoor Jenny - a guineaman making its sixth "African voyage" to stock its foetid hold with human beings - Gabriel Gbadamosi's play Abolition unfolds a dark, inglorious undercurrent of 'Enlightenment' Britain. Arresting and deeply troubling, Abolition gives us the voices of people caught up in the original sin of slavery and fighting to survive it, profit from it, ignore it, or end it. Underpinned by impeccable research and uncanny fidelity to the language of its time, the play depicts a society both conflicted and very comfortable with the trade in African bodies. In Parliament, there is debate over moral hygiene and economic turbulence in the ship of state, whilst at sea the Blackamoor Jenny struggles with storms and depraved acts, driven on by the ever-urgent imperatives of money.Trade Review"A powerful, complex play that doesn't make any compromises with the reader ... The setting, politics and especially the language are utterly convincing." - Prof. Nigel Leask, University of Glasgow; "Haunting, poetic and brilliantly researched." - S. I. Martin; "A voyage of the damned, burning with fiery poetry." - Jack Shepherd

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Book SynopsisAs a phenomenon of history with social, political, cultural implications, the entire 'negotiated' experience makes the South African situation unique in both the African and global context. As this phenomenon unfolds, many fascinating new artistic influences are being explored to capture the diverse cultural depths and questions of identity unleashed by the demise of apartheid. This collection of plays reflects certain key trends in both subject matter and aesthetics prevalent in South Africa at this crucial moment in history. An introductory essay for the anthology will provide the reader with the artistic, cultural, and political background to the plays. Mpumelelo Paul Grootboom and Presley Chweneyagae's "Relativity: Township Stories" is about a serial killer on the loose and has been widely performed in South Africa and the UK. Martin Koboekae's "The Bush Tale" exposes the mistrust between two people from extremely different cultural backgrounds who meet through circumstance.Yael Farber's "Molora" explores the rage and pain of generations shattered by the Apartheid [A world tour of Molora will begin at the Barbican Theatre, London in April 2008]. Norman Mxosolisa's "Hallelujah!" is about the murderous, random violence engulfing the country. David Peimer's "Armed Response" is about a young German photographer who arrives to do her first assignment in Johannesburg. Presley Chweneyagae achieved international recognition for his title role in the Oscar-winning film "Tsotsi" and Mpumelelo Paul Grootboom received the National Standard Bank 'Young Artist Award' for theatre in 2005. Martin Koboekae is an award-winning playwright, novelist and director.Yael Farber is an acclaimed writer and director. Norman Mxosolisa is a playwright, composer, TV writer and director and teaches at Wits University, Johannesburg and won the Schreiner South African Young Artist Award in 2002 for "Hallelujah!". David Peimer is an award-winning playwright and director and a Professor of Theatre at New York University (Prague Division).

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Book SynopsisYasmine Beverly Rana's "The War Zone Is My Bed and Other Plays" follows journeys of spiritual destruction and redemption from the banks of the Mississippi River and the fallen levees of New Orleans to the conflict-ravaged streets of Sarajevo and Kabul. The characters in Rana's politically charged and moving plays attempt to seek and sustain love in violent circumstances. In the title play, "The War Zone Is My Bed", a prostitute from Kabul and a journalist from Bosnia stumble through a maze of brutality to find solace within each other. In "Blood Sky" a traumatic event is triggered by a mysterious, animalistic call. Also collected here are Returning, in which a photographer from Sarajevo is torn between his role as an artist and victim of war, and Paradise, where, as the Mississippi River rises, two lovers, who are also illegal immigrants, debate whether they should stay in New Orleans and risk their lives or flee - and thereby reveal their illegal status. This stunning collection presents the topical and intense plays of one of the most interesting new voices in American theater.

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Book SynopsisBased on real events happening on two days in Ireland and London a hundred years ago, "Shall Roger Casement Hang?" is the story of an interrogation. It is a confrontation between two men that asks fundamental questions about history, the British State, and personal and national identity. For both of them, the stakes get higher and more personal as violent events elsewhere and the revelation of Casement's sexuality change the rules of their struggle. When this conversation is over, one of them will be condemned to death, while the Empire that both men served will never be the same again.In one and the same moment, two sisters with one face, identical twins Isobel and Morag each have a story to tell about family, money, sex, truth and happiness - and about each other. It should be the same story about the same people, but the sisters are as divided from each other as two people can be. The play explores the ways in which they inhabit the world. By giving two very different but connected sides of the same coin, through humour and vitriol, the sisters show us how we think of ourselves and the world around us, and the shapes we get ourselves into in order to survive that world, asking fundamental questions about what matters to us and why.Trade Review'There's so much wickedly pointed humour in Peter Arnott's writing that we're constantly lured into politically incorrect laughter - a story steeped in love, loyalty, money and family dysfunction. Can't wait! Back-to-back these monologues would be a grand double bill - fingers crossed!' - The Herald; '...two faces, two attitudes to life ... profound and moving ... plumbs the depths of a complex relationship which is occasionally fond and affectionate, but for the most part lived as jealousy, rivalry, resentment, bitterness and even outright aversion. ... These are mighty plays, raising huge, disquieting questions, humorous in part but never whimsical, inducing in an audience that sombre, meditative silence which is a sign of respect.' - Scottish Review of Books

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Book SynopsisSatyric is the most thinly attested genre of Greek drama, but it appears to have been the oldest and according to Aristotle formative for tragedy. By the 5th Century BC at Athens it shared most of its compositional elements with tragedy, to which it became an adjunct; for at the annual great dramatic festivals, it was performed only together with, and after, the three tragedies which each poet was required to present in competition. It was in contrast with them, aesthetically and emotionally, its plays being considerably shorter and simpler; coarse and half-way to comedy, it burlesqued heroic and tragic myth, frequently that just dramatised and performed in the tragedies. Euripides'Cyclops is the only satyr-play which survives complete. It is generally held to be the poet's late work, but its companion tragedies are not identifiable. Its title alone signals its content, Odysseus' escape from the one-eyed, man-eating monster, familiar from Book 9 of Homer's Odyssey. Because of its uniqueness, Cyclops could afford only a limited idea of satyric drama's range, which the many but brief quotations from other authors and plays barely coloured. Our knowledge and appreciation of the genre have been greatly enlarged, however, by recovery since the early 20th Century of considerable fragments of Aeschylus, Euripides' predecessor, and of Sophocles, his contemporary - but not, so far, of Euripides himself. This volume provides English readers for the first time with all the most important texts of satyric drama, with facing-page translation, substantial introduction and detailed commentary. It includes not only the major papyri, but very many shorter fragments of importance, both on papyrus and in quotation, from the 5th to the 3rd Centuries; there are also one or two texts whose interest lies in their problematic ascription to the genre at all. The intention is to illustrate it as fully as practicable.Trade Review'This volume, in short, will be game-changing, … [it] marks a formidable work of scholarship in its own right, an accessible compilation of the genre’s remains and a spectacular addition to the teacher’s toolbox.' Journal of Hellenic StudiesTable of ContentsGeneral Introduction General Bibliography Euripides’Cyclops Critical Apparatus ΚΥΚΛΩΨ/ CYCLOPS Commentary MAJOR FRAGMENTS OF GREEK SATYRIC DRAMA Introductory Note Bibliography and Abbreviations Advice to Readers Bibliographical Guidance Pratinas 4 F 3: Hyporchema Aeschylus Glaucus the Sea-god (Glaucus Marinus) Net-Fishers (Dictyulci) Sacred Delegates or Isthmian Contestants (Theori or Isthmiastae) Prometheus the Fire-Kindler (Prometheus Pyrkaeus) Sisyphus the Runaway and/or Stone-Roller (Sisyphus Drapetes or Petrokulistes) F 281a, b, *451n: from a‘Justice’ play Sophocles Lovers of Achilles (Achillis Amatores) Inachus Trackers (Ichneutae) Oeneus, F **1130 Euripides Autolycus A and B Eurystheus Sciron Syleus Ion of Chios 19 F 17a–33a, *59: Omphale Achaeus I Selected shorter fragments, from The Games (Ludi, 20 F 3–4), Aethon (F 6–11), Alcmeon (F 12–14), Hephaestus (F 17), Linus (F 26), The Fates (Fata, F 27–8), Omphale (F 33–4) Critias (?) 43 F 19: from a‘Sisyphus’ play Python 91 F 1: Agen Sositheus 99 F 2–3: Daphnis or Lityerses Lycophron 100 F 2–4: Menedemus Anonymous Adespota F 646a Adespota F 655: from an‘Atlas’ play Adespota F 667a: from a‘Medea’ play A new (2007) adespoton: satyric (?) Appendix: summary details of some other satyr-plays, by Pratinas, Aeschylus, Aristias, Sophocles, Euripides, Astydamas II and Chaeremon Index of Motifs and Characters General Index

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Book SynopsisThese three plays, composed between 1994 and 2004 are linked by the theme of war: actual, remembered or threatened. They are all tragicomic and each written for a strong female lead.

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Book Synopsis

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