Plays, playscripts, drama

Book SynopsisA startling psychological drama about the darker side of modern parenthood. Behind the shiny door of Hazel Robinson's immaculate London home, things aren't as good as they look. Her plastic surgeon husband, Richard, has embarked on his latest charitable mission to Haiti, leaving the heavily pregnant Hazel to cope with a failing business and a problem son. When a professional nanny arrives unannounced on her doorstep, Hazel finds her home under the shadow of a seemingly perfect stranger, and one who has an agenda of her own. Nancy Harris's play Our New Girl was first performed at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2012. This volume also includes her short play Little Dolls, first performed as part of the Bush Theatre's Broken Space season in 2008.Trade Review'Mercilessly accurate... this fiendish little play is spot-on' * Daily Mail *'Both gripping and deeply unsettling' * Daily Telegraph *'A wonderful sly, sharp humour and thematic subtlety' * Independent *

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Book SynopsisA punchy and provocative new play by the Bruntwood Prize-winning author of Yen. Georgie is thirty with dirty secrets. She drinks in her bedroom and hides from the sun. Leah is fifteen with teenage dreams. She practices her cum face and Veets. A lot. All-meat, all-sex, all-vulnerable, all-powerful. There's a first time for everything... Isn't there? Anna Jordan's play Freak was first produced by Theatre503 and Polly Ingham Productions at Assembly George Square during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2014 and at Theatre503, London, in September 2014.Trade Review'Stunningly well written... funny, raw, honest, deadpan... Jordan is a wonderful voice' * Exeunt Magazine *'Jordan's strong script bubbles with a fierce intelligence... darkly funny' * Time Out *'Jordan's writing is vivid and punchy... a taut, raw but also warm two-hander' * The Stage *'[Has] a tenderness to match [its] dry wit... a frank new play by a fresh young voice' * A Younger Theatre *

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Book SynopsisAn exhilarating and unsentimental exploration of working-class life in Belfast. Development. Hotels, spas, Nando's, boutiques. Belfast is changing, but for some people, progress means new barriers. A group of construction workers is building an extension to the Peace Wall that separates Them-ens from Us-ens. When Polish worker Yuri's daughter starts having serious problems with her boyfriend, they rally round in support. But good intentions can easily go too far… Stacey Gregg's play Shibboleth premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, as part of the 2015 Dublin Theatre Festival. This edition includes an Afterword by the author.

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Book SynopsisNew York. A film studio. A young woman has an urgent story to tell. But here, people are products, movies are money and sex sells. And the rights to your life can be a dangerous commodity to exploit. Martin Crimp's razor-sharp satire, The Treatment, was first seen at the Royal Court Theatre in 1993. It was revived at the Almeida Theatre, London, in 2017, in a production directed by Lyndsey Turner. The Treatment was the joint winner of the 1993 John Whiting Award.Trade Review'A sharp satire... what is striking is how, after nearly a quarter of a century, Crimp's play has acquired new potency' * Guardian *'Disarmingly prescient… Crimp's dialogue has elliptical poetic snap and a canny ear' * Independent *'Troubling, intoxicating and thoroughly entertaining' * The Times *'Both sharply funny and profoundly disturbing… it shimmers with dark brilliance, and insight' * WhatsOnStage *'Darkly entertaining… has a mordant wit, its darker energies underpinned by a strangely screwball quality' * Time Out *'With its echoes of Pinter, this play is a brilliantly written, metaphor-rich, depiction of perversion and desire' * The Arts Desk *'With hauntingly accurate observations of society and a writing style so instinctive and shrewd, it is one of the most ingeniously coined pieces of theatre I have ever seen' * A Younger Theatre *

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Book SynopsisIt's 1979, rubbish is on the streets of Bristol, and it's tricky being Fiz. She's thirteen, she's got no money, her sister's pregnant and her mum thinks she's a waste of space... Rick remembers what it's like to be a teenager. So he thinks it won't take much to get a bunch of kids to help him build a playground out of junk. He's wrong. It takes everything he's got. But when it's finished, it's going to be something. It's going to be everything... Jack Thorne's honest and witty Junkyard, with music by Stephen Warbeck, premiered in 2017 in a co-production between Headlong, Bristol Old Vic, Rose Theatre Kingston and Theatr Clwyd, and directed by Jeremy Herrin.Trade Review'A touching tale… an engagingly ramshackle musical' * The Times *'A rallying cry for the celebration of imagination, and the value of that above all. It is warm and funny, and I can imagine it could be inspiring to young people who need to be reminded that their voice matters' * Exeunt Magazine *'This is not your usual West End musical fare. The songs here flow in and out of the dialogue effortlessly and add subtle depth and warmth to the characters' * The Reviews Hub *'A joyful musical for school misfits... left me smiling throughout as it celebrates the right of children and young people to turn their individual lives into an adventure through physical and imaginative play' * Guardian *'Highly entertaining... [has an] anarchic, playful free-form spirit... Thorne's script is genuinely funny and poignant while composer Stephen Warbeck's score has its pulse on the ska revival of the late '70s populated by those such as Bad Manners and Suggs. It also feels, in its mixing of everyday dialogue to music, akin to the understated beauty of London Road' * WhatsOnStage *'A heartfelt new musical... energetic and fun... like Jacqueline Wilson meets Skins' * The Stage *

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Book SynopsisKeep your enemies close, and your wives closer. As their husbands clash over an international crisis, the first ladies of France and America find themselves alone together in a side room. Friends, or enemies? When the stakes are so high, can they trust each other? Can they trust their husbands? Nancy Harris's play Two Ladies premiered at the Bridge Theatre, London, in 2019, directed by Nicholas Hytner, and featuring Zoë Wanamaker and Zrinka Cvitešić.Trade Review'Provocative... passionately on the side of women who are not in the room where it happens' * Guardian *'A crazy delight' * The Arts Desk *'Tremendous verve... swift, smart, compelling' * Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisA vivid and fast-paced ride through a working-class estate, which fuses Shakespeare-inspired lyricism with Cockney accents. Flesh and Bone premiered at the Etcetera Theatre, London, in December 2016, before going on to win a Fringe First Award at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe. It is published alongside its transfer to Soho Theatre, London. Flesh & Bone won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre, 2019.Trade ReviewBlistering... Flesh and Bone explodes on to the stage as if Shakespeare was alive and well and living in a tower block in east London... the play's elevated language spliced with realism allows the characters to talk about who they are underneath: vital, interesting, multi-dimensional souls who want to live fruitful lives. --Scotsman Barges its way onto the stage and stays there, shouty, gobby and full of heart until the last, painting a portrait of an east London council estate as rollickingly funny as it is punchily poignant... a bunker-busting hotchpotch of monologues and short skits, smashing together an archaic lyricism and a contemporary, expletive-filled vernacular. --The Stage Visceral, high-octane... leaves you with much to think about. --British Theatre Guide Has a glorious, rolling swagger... this lyrical ode to the community of a London council estate is blunt, filthy and ingenious... [the] spittle-flecked gobbets of blank verse shove Shakespeare in between sinewy streams of modern patter. It works beautifully, turning the air blue with its sweary rhythm and pitch. The poetry of it hits like two fingers flicked with a smile. --Fest Mag

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Book SynopsisLate-night taxis, teen discos, home nurses, Jewish launderettes, vigilantes, babies, immigrants, seagulls. Citysong is a play, a poem and a chorus of voices showing three generations of a Dublin family on one day. Intimate and sweeping, joyous and ridiculous, it's modern-day Dublin's Under Milk Wood via Metamorphoses (not the book about the cockroach). It's different things at different times, which makes sense seeing as it's about change. Carys D. Coburn's Citysong was winner of the 2017 Verity Bargate Award, and premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in May 2019, before transferring to Soho Theatre, London. The author was named Most Promising New Playwright at the 2020 Off-West End Theatre Awards for Citysong. This edition also contains the plays Boys and Girls, which won the Fishamble Best New Writing Award at the Dublin Fringe and was nominated for the Stewart Parker Trust Award, and Drawing Crosses on a Dusty Windowpane.Trade Review'Stunning... If you want brave new writing, here is your salvation' * Irish Times on Boys and Girls *'Dublin shimmers in poetic celebration of the cycle of life... linguistically playful and fresh, the play's poetic origin gives it energy and rhythm, creating an impressionistic sweep rather than in-depth characterisations' * Guardian on Citysong *'Entrancing... sumptuous and sinuous writing' * Irish Times on Citysong *'A poetic masterpiece... Citysong weaves a rich human tapestry through times and spaces... its poetry proves to be nothing short of sublime' * The Arts Review on Citysong *'In 90 minutes [Coburn Gray] captures our imagination with dozens of joyous, tender and intimate family interludes... Citysong resembles a symphony, with every element resonating with the living, breathing, buzzing city of Dublin' * Broadway World on Citysong *

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Book SynopsisA brilliant and painfully truthful portrait of Stanley Spencer, the wayward genius of modern British painting. Coming from humble origins, Stanley Spencer never lost his 'rough edges', despite being taken up by the smart set. His stubborn championing of ordinary people and local places as suitable subjects for religious painting was revolutionary. His appetite for life was hugely attractive, though his attitude to women in general and his long-suffering wife in particular was deeply selfish: 'Why can't I have two wives if that's what I need?' Pam Gems' play Stanley was first performed at the National Theatre, London, in February 1996, directed by John Caird and featuring Antony Sher as Stanley. The play won Best Play at the 1996 Evening Standard Awards, and Best New Play at the 1997 Olivier Awards. Trade Review'Highly plausible, deeply moving' * Guardian *'Very funny and affecting' * Independent *

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Book SynopsisDrama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price The classic story of the learned Doctor Faustus who sells his soul to the devil. This edition of Christopher Marlowe's play contains two self-contained versions, known as the A-text and the B-text, allowing readers to compare the available versions, and performers to choose the version that suits them best. It also contains a full introduction, notes on further reading, a chronology and a glossary of difficult words. Edited by D. Bevington & E. Rasmussen, and introduced by Simon Trussler.

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Book SynopsisEdwin Morgan returns to the stage with an examination of the life of Jesus as a man among men. Jesus is portrayed as a human figure in an inhuman time. A declaration of love from his closest disciple, John, described in his own Gospel as the "Disciple who Jesus loved", comes to the fore in Morgan's efforts to explore the character of the real man.

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