Plays, playscripts, drama

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisA dazzling tragicomic tale from the author of modern classic The Unbearable Lightness of Being.Anyone reading Kundera''s books is unlikely to forget them. They have an essential energy, a difference.' New StatesmanKundera is a self-confessed hedonist in a world beset by politics . . . Marvellous.' Salman RushdieKlima, a celebrated jazz trumpeter, learns that a young nurse with whom he spent one brief night at a fertility spa is pregnant - and she has decided he is the father.Thus begins a whirlwind farce as he returns to the spa: an accelerating dance which unfolds over five madcap days, encompassing Klima''s jealous wife, the nurse''s equally jealous boyfriend, a fanatical gynaecologist, a rich American (at once Don Juan and saint) and an elderly political prisoner who is holding a farewell party before emigration.Posing serious philosophical questions with his inimitable blasphemous lightness, Farewell Waltz is

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Book SynopsisPeter Shaffer was born in Liverpool in 1926. Among his plays, The Salt Land (1954), Equus (1973) which won Shaffer the 1975 Tony Award for Best Play as well as the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, Amadeus (1979) which won the Evening Standard Drama Award and the Theatre Critics Award for the London production.

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Book SynopsisThe Acharnians/The Clouds/Lysistrata''We women have the salvation of Greece in our hands''Writing at a time of political and social crisis in Athens, the ancient Greek comic playwright Aristophanes was an eloquent, yet bawdy, challenger to the demagogue and the sophist. In Lysistrata and The Acharnians, two pleas for an end to the long war between Athens and Sparta, a band of women on a sex strike and a lone peasant respectively defeat the political establishment. The darker comedy of The Clouds satirizes Athenian philosophers, Socrates in particular, and reflects the uncertainties of a generation in which all traditional religious and ethical beliefs were being challenged. Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Alan H. SommersteinTable of ContentsLysistrata and Other PlaysChronologyIntroductionFurther ReadingTranslator's NoteNote on the TextPreface to The AcharniansTHE ACHARNIANSPreface to The CloudsTHE CLOUDSPreface to LysistrataLYSISTRATANotes

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Book Synopsis2018 marks the twentieth anniversary of V-Day, the radical grassroots movement to end violence against women and girls, inspired by Eve Ensler''s international sensation The Vagina Monologues. This special edition features six never-before-published monologues, a new foreword by National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson, a new introduction by the author, and a new afterword by One Billion Rising director Monique Wilson on the stage phenomenon''s global impact.A landmark work in women''s empowerment, as relevant as ever after a year marked by unprecedented social and political protest in the face of unapologetic racism and misogyny, The Vagina Monologues honours women''s sexuality in all its complexity, mystery and power. Witty and irreverent, compassionate and wise, this award-winning masterpiece gives voice to real women''s deepest fantasies, fears, anger and pleasure, and calls for a world where all women are safe, equal, free and alive in their bodies.Trade ReviewThis play changed the world. Seeing it changed my soul. Performing in it changed my life * Kerry Washington *'Probably the most important piece of political theatre of the last decade' * New York Times *'Filled with generous energy and delight'The Times * The Times *Spellbinding, funny, and almost unbearably moving ... a work of art and an incisive piece of cultural history, a poem and a polemic, a performance and a balm and a benediction * Variety *

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Book SynopsisRetells the tale of King Solomon and a child claimed by two mothers.

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Book SynopsisIn The Visit (original title Der Besuch der alten Dame), Claire Zachanassian, now a multimillion heiress and an older woman, returns to the impoverished town of her youth with a dreadful bargain: in exchange for returning the town to prosperity through her vast wealth, she wants the townspeople to kill the man who jilted her. From its subtle exploration of parochial politics to its horrific climax, The Visit shows a population willing to sacrifice loyalty and scruples in the pursuit of riches. It is a drama of the absurd that reduces human nature to its most ridiculous depths.Dürrenmatt was one of the most important figures of modern European drama and The Visit remains both a powerful critique of twentieth century civilisation and an outstanding piece of experimental theatre.

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Book SynopsisEvery Good Boy Deserves FavourA dissident is locked up in an asylum. If he accepts that he was ill and has been cured, he will be released. He refuses. Sharing his cell is a real lunatic who believes himself to be surrounded by an orchestra. As the dissident''s son begs his father to free himself with a lie, Tom Stoppard''s darkly funny and provocative play asks if denying the truth is a price worth paying for liberty.Every Good Boy premiered at the Festival Hall, London, in July 1977. It was revived at the National Theatre, London, in January 2009.Professional Foul''Professor Anderson, a somewhat devious academic, went to Prague to deliver a lecture on Ethical Facts in Ethical Fiction and to see a football match. Politics intruded when a former pupil of Anderson begged him to smuggle out a thesis arguing that the ethics of the State can only be the ethics of the individual writ large . . . Mr Stoppard''s BBC television debut was sheer de

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Book SynopsisA collection of three plays including "Rhinoceros", "The Chairs" , and "The Lesson".

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Book SynopsisFeaturing four new plays written and devised in collaboration with groups of secondary school children, this collection examines immigration to and emigration from the UK. A theatre-in-education project coordinated by Tamasha theatre company and The Migration Museum, children worked on exercises designed to develop their understanding of, and feelings about, migration. Their reactions were then incorporated into a piece of theatre by a professional playwright that the students then performed. This collection brings together these plays along with the unique exercises that inspired them. The plays include: Nothing to Declare by Sharmila Chauhan follows three precious keepsakes and the stories attached to them as their owners are stopped at a hostile border. Potato Moon by Satinder Chohan focuses on the potatoes buried in a share allotment. They become people's memories in a magical realist Southall and so when they start to go missing, schoolgirl Mira set out to find outTrade ReviewAn excellent resource for teachers. The four plays in themselves are short, zippy and dynamic, providing lots of flexibility for small and large cohorts of students to perform whilst exploring both microcosmic and macrocosmic issues related to the theme. In addition, the inclusion of the exercises employed by the directors and playwrights to devise the subject matter, is essential in making this book a compact resource for creating schemes of work around the topic of migration. * Drama Magazine *Table of ContentsIntroduction by Fin Kennedy, Tamasha Foreword by Emily Miller of the Migration Museum Author’s note from Sharmila Chauhan Nothing To Declare by Sharmila Chauhan Author’s note by Satinder Chohan Potato Moon by Satinder Chohan Author’s note from Asif Khan Wilkommen by Asif Khan Author’s note from Sumerah Srivastav Jigsaw by Sumerah Srivastav Exercises

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Book SynopsisAs a punishment, failed wizard Rincewind is given the task of guiding and safeguarding the Disc’s first tourist, Twoflower (with his magical luggage on legs). As they travel the city and beyond, they meet the world’s oldest hero, Cohen the Barbarian. With him, and with Bethan (a qualified sacrificial victim), they encounter druids, trolls, adventurers, a hairdresser and a power-crazed wizard. Oh, and Death. But not fatally. Did we mention that Rincewind also has to save the world from destruction by a huge red star that will collide with the Discworld at Hogswatch? The Rince Cycle is mostly based on The Light Fantastic, with bits of The Colour of Magic and Sourcery added for good measure.

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Book Synopsis“I’m walking down the street and there’s a door in the fence open and inside there are three women I’ve seen before.” Three old friends and a neighbour. A summer of afternoons in the back yard. Tea and catastrophe. Caryl Churchill's play Escaped Alone premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2016, in a production directed by James Macdonald. It was named Best Play at the 2017 Writers' Guild Awards.Trade Review'A light-on-its-feet, elliptical view of apocalypse… this is fantasy intricately wired into current politics. It is intimate and vast. Domestic and wild' * Observer *'Packs a formidable charge: Churchill has now perfected an elliptical style as individual and as powerful as that of Samuel Beckett… created and conveyed with mastery' * Financial Times *'A menacing, joyous, brilliant return... it's hard to imagine you'll come across a more brilliant play this year' * Time Out *'A magnificent show which demands repeated viewing to reveal its full richness' * The Arts Desk *'Packs an amazing amount into a modest frame… this is Churchill at her best' * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisKing Oedipus/Oedipus at Colonus/AntigoneThree towering works of Greek tragedy depicting the inexorable downfall of a doomed royal dynastyThe legends surrounding the house of Thebes inspired Sophocles to create this powerful trilogy about humanity''s struggle against fate. King Oedipus is the devastating portrayal of a ruler who brings pestilence to Thebes for crimes he does not realize he has committed and then inflicts a brutal punishment upon himself. Oedipus at Colonus provides a fitting conclusion to the life of the aged and blinded king, while Antigone depicts the fall of the next generation, through the conflict between a young woman ruled by her conscience and a king too confident of his own authority.Translated with an Introduction by E. F. WATLINGTrade Review“[Oedipus the King] is Sophocles’ most famous play and the most celebrated play of Greek drama . . . Aristotle cites it as the best model for a tragic plot . . . Freud recognized the play’s power to dramatize the process by which we uncover hidden truths about ourselves . . . Sophocles is more interested in how Oedipus pieces together the isolated fragments of his past to discover who and what he is and in tracing the hero’s response to this new vision of himself.”—from the Introduction by Charles SegalTable of ContentsThe Theban legend; "King Oedipus"; the legend continued; "Oedipus at Colonus"; the legend continued; "Antigone"; notes to "King Oedipus"; notes to "Oedipus at Colonus"; notes to "Antigone".

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Book SynopsisWritten when Polly Stenham was nineteen years old, That Face is a savagely funny dissection of the lives of the rich, reissued in Faber Drama''s elegant new series design.You're shaking. It's too much, isn't it? You only like good clean torture.Mia is at boarding school. She has access to drugs. They are Martha's. Henry is preparing for art college. He has access to alcohol. From Martha. Martha controls their lives. Martha is their mother.That Face premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, 2007, winning the TMA Award for Best New Play. Polly Stenham won the Charles Wintour Award and the Critics' Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright.''One of the most astonishing debuts I have seen in more than thirty years.'' DAILY TELEGRAPH''Polly Stenham is a modern successor to Tennessee Williams or Edward Albee . . . an intensely moving, skilfully crafted piece.'' DAILY EXPRESS''Stenham's god-given gift i

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Book SynopsisI choose to take back my life.My life.Medea is a wife and a mother. For the sake of her husband, Jason, she''s left her home and borne two sons in exile. But when he abandons his family for a new life, Medea faces banishment and separation from her children. Cornered, she begs for one day''s grace. It''s time enough. She exacts an appalling revenge and destroys everything she holds dear.Ben Power''s version of Euripides'' tragedy Medea premiered at the National Theatre, London, in July 2014.

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Book SynopsisThe new and updated edition of ''Tom Stoppard''s extraordinary, epic drama of politics, persecution and protest in twentieth-century Czechoslovakia'' (Evening Standard).Rock ''n'' Roll spans the years from 1968 to 1990 from the double perspective of Prague, where a rock ''n'' roll band comes to symbolise resistance to the Communist regime, and of Cambridge, where the verities of love and death are shaping the lives of three generations in the family of a Marxist philosopher.Rock ''n'' Roll premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in June 2006. It was revived at Hampstead Theatre, London, in December 2023. This edition includes an introduction by the author.''The remarkable thing about the play is that it touches on so many themes, registers its lament at the erosion of freedom in our society and yet leaves you cheered by its wit, buoyancy and belief in the human spirit.'' Guardian''Stunning.'' The Time

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Book SynopsisThis portrait of the interweaving relationships and fortunes of a desperately charming, if eccentric, aristocratic family and their influences upon Charles Ryder has been faithfully adapted for the stage, preserving all the''sharp wit and candid social commentary of Waugh''s narrative.Large flexible cast

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Book SynopsisAustralia 1789. A young married lieutenant is directing rehearsals of the first play ever to be staged in that country. With only two copies of the text, a cast of convicts, and one leading lady who may be about to be hanged, conditions are hardly ideal...Winner of the Laurence Olivier Play of the Year Award in 1988, and many other major awards, Our Country''s Good premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 1988 and opened on Broadway in 1991. ''Rarely has the redemptive, transcendental power of theatre been argued with such eloquence and passion.'' Georgina Brown, Independent It is published here in a new Student Edition, alongside commentary and notes by Sophie Bush.The commentary includes a chronology of the play and the playwright's life and work as well as discussion of the social, political, cultural and economic context in which the play was originally conceived and created.Trade ReviewWertenbaker has searched history and found in it a humanistic lesson for hard modern times: rough, sombre, undogmatic and warm * The Sunday Times *Highly theatrical, often funny and at times dark and disturbing, it sets an infant civilization on the stage with clarity, economy and insight. -- Charles Spencer * Daily Telegraph *Wertenbaker's play remains terrifyingly relevant … Wertenbaker scarcely puts a foot wrong. She … expands the argument about the practical wisdom of putting on a play into a wider debate about crime and punishment and, when an actor-convict on the eve of hanging breaks her self-incriminating vow of silence, movingly demonstrates the power of drama to change minds. -- Michael Billington * Guardian *Table of ContentsCommentary Chronology: ­ A timeline of Wertenbaker’s life and works, set alongside key theatrical, social and political events of the period. Contexts: - The 1780s: Attitudes to Crime and Punishment; The First Fleet and the Penal Colony of New South Wales; Theatrical Styles and Conventions; The Recruiting Officer - The 1980s: Attitudes to Crime and Punishment; Theatre Funding; The Royal Court, Max Stafford-Clark and the ‘Joint Stock Method’; The Playmaker - Timberlake Wertenbaker Themes: - Guilt and Innocence; Punishment, Rehabilitation and Redemption; The Value of Theatre; Language, Silence and Voice; Colonialism Dramatic Devices: - Language(s): Regional Dialects; Articulacy and Inarticulacy; The Aborigine - Episodic Structure - Theatrical Style: Multi-roling and Cross-casting; Brechtian Aesthetic - Options for Design Production History - A Timeline Critical Reception - Critical response, recognition and influence - The Play Today Academic Debate: ­ A brief discussion of academic responses to the play Further Study: A bibliography of texts for further study - A discussion of Comparative Literature (by Wertenbaker and others) PLAY TEXT - OUR COUNTRY'S GOOD

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Book SynopsisTanika Gupta has written for theatre, radio, film and television. Aside from the works published by Oberon, her stage plays include Voices On The Wind (NT Studio), Skeleton (Soho Theatre), On The Couch With Enoch (Red Room - BAC) and The Waiting Room (NT) which won the John Whiting Award. She has also translated Brecht's The Good Woman of Setzuan for the National Theatre Education Touring and written plays for Theatre Royal Stratford East's Young Actor's Company Brood and Squid. Tanika is an Honorary Fellow at Rose Bruford College and was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2008 for Services to Drama.Trade ReviewMeera's brilliant novel is a wonderful coming of age story. It's an engaging and funny tale set in a tight knit community about a young girl trying to decide her cultural identity and I look forward immensely to realising it on stage. * Roxana Silbert, Artistic Director of Birmingham Repertory Theatre. *

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Book SynopsisThe first duty of a storyteller is to tell a story.' Or was it The only duty of a storyteller is to tell a story'?A writer in a totalitarian state is interrogated about the gruesome content of his short stories and their similarities to a number of child-murders that are happening in his town.''Sometimes you don''t even know what you''ve been craving until the real thing comes along.'' New York Times''McDonagh is more than just a very clever theatrical stylist. His tricks and turns have a purpose. They are bridges over a deep pit of sympathy and sorrow, illuminated by a tragic vision of stunted and frustrated lives.'' Fintan O''Toole, Irish TimesMartin McDonagh''s searingly brilliant play premiered at the National Theatre, London in November 2003. It was revived at the Duke of York's Theatre, London, in June 2023.

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Book SynopsisThe plays in this collection reveal in combination the ''frivolous'' and ''serious'' aspects of Tom Stoppard''s talent: his sense of fun, his sense of theatre, his sense of the absurd, and his gifts for parody and satire. The author rounds off his brief introduction, giving the genesis of each piece, with the comment: ''The role of the theatre is much debated (by almost nobody, of course), but the thing defines itself in practice first and foremost as a recreation. This seems satisfactory''.Leading off is The Real Inspector Hound, the ultimate country-house whodunnit; Dirty Linen moves a Whitehall farce to Parliament Square; Dogg''s Hamlet, Cahoot''s Macbeth subverts Shakespeare; and After Magritte explains the inexplicable.

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Book SynopsisThe Wizarding World journey continues . . .The powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald was captured in New York with the help of Newt Scamander. But, making good on his threat, Grindelwald escapes custody and sets about gathering followers, most of whom are unsuspecting of his true agenda: to raise pure-blood wizards up to rule over all non-magical beings.In an effort to thwart Grindelwald''s plans, Albus Dumbledore enlists Newt, his former Hogwarts student, who agrees to help once again, unaware of the dangers that lie ahead. Lines are drawn as love and loyalty are tested, even among the truest friends and family, in an increasingly divided wizarding world.Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is the second screenplay in a five-film series to be written by J.K. Rowling, author of the internationally bestselling Harry Potter books. Set in 1927, a few months after the events of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, and moving from New York to London, Paris and even back to Hogwarts, this story of mystery and magic reveals an extraordinary new chapter in the wizarding world. Illustrated with stunning line art from MinaLima with some surprising nods to the Harry Potter stories that will delight fans of both the books and films.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis''I think I''m a human being before anything else. I don''t care what other people say. I don''t care what people write in books. I need to think for myself.'' Henrik Ibsen''s A Doll''s House premiered in 1879 in Copenhagen, the second in a series of realist plays by Ibsen, and immediately provoked controversy with its apparently feminist message and exposure of the hypocrisy of Victorian middle-class marriage. In Ibsen''s play, Nora Helmer has secretly (and deceptively) borrowed a large sum of money to pay for her husband, Torvald, to recover from illness on a sabbatical in Italy. Torvald''s perception of Nora is of a silly, naive spendthrift, so it is only when the truth begins to emerge, and Torvald appreciates the initiative behind his wife, that unmendable cracks appear in their marriage. This compelling new version of Ibsen''s masterpiece by playwright Simon Stephens premiered at the Young Vic Theatre, London, on 29 June 2012. It was updated with minor changes in Trade ReviewSimon Stephens's agile new version [is] . . . quick and clear and full of subtle touches * Susannah Clapp, Guardian *A sensible, sensitive and spirited version . . . that chimes with the debt-laden times we’re trapped in and poses still-pressing questions * Dominic Cavendish, Telegraph *The supple new version of the text by Simon Stephens is [a] great plus point . . . in this definitive take on a classic -- Fiona Mountford * Evening Standard *An astute, often savagely funny version by Simon Stephens . . . And as the doll at the play's heart and hearth cracks like porcelain and the woman emerges, it's with a force that's shattering. -- Sam Marlowe * Metro *Simon Stephens's new English-language version of the text . . . makes the characters' anxieties feel contemporary despite the period dress. "Feminism" may not have been in Ibsen's vocabulary, but he was undoubtedly concerned with the roles we all play and why. * Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.We are such stuffAs dreams are made on; and our little lifeIs rounded with a sleep.'Magical and dreamlike in its tone, Shakespeare's The Tempest begins with a storm of epic proportions and a shipwreck. Banished from Italy, Prospero lives on a remote island with his daughter. Using his magic, he vows to seek revenge on the injustice dealt to him by his brother, but in doing so, Shakespeare questions the difficulty of distinguishing men' from monsters', and the realities of justice.

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Book SynopsisA thrilling large-cast play for young actors exploring the psychology of survival and an urgent allegory for our times. Plus a series of interactive games specially created by award-winning games designer Tassos Stevens, to facilitate a deeper exploration of the play's themes.

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Book SynopsisThe complete plays of Christopher Marlowe, in which the lure of dark forces drives the shifting balances between weak and strong, sacred and profaneMarlowe's seven plays dramatise the fatal lure of potent forces, whether religious, occult or erotic. In the victories of Tamburlaine, Faustus's encounters with the demonic, the irreverence of Barabas in The Jew of Malta, and the humiliation of Edward II in his fall from power and influence, Marlowe explores the shifting balance between power and helplessness, the sacred and its desecration.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as wTable of ContentsThe Complete PlaysPreface Chronology Introduction "The Baines Note" Further Reading A Note on the Texts Dido, Queen of Carthage Tamburlaine the Great, Part One Tamburlaine the Great, Part Two The Jew of Malta Doctor Faustus Edward the Second The Massacre at ParisAppendix: The Massacre at Paris, Scene 19 Notes Glossary List of Mythological, Historical and Geographical Names

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Book SynopsisFinding the theatre of the 1920s lacking in bite and conviction, Thornton Wilder set out to bring back realism and to celebrate the innocent, simple and religious. Yet he also tried to endow individual experience with cosmic significance and Our Town is both an affectionate portrait of American life and ''an attempt to find a value above all price for the smallest events in our daily life''. The Skin of our Teeth deals with human survival in a ''comic strip'' way, and The Matchmaker is a hilarious farce which urges rebellion against all the constraints that deny a rich, full life.

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Book SynopsisThe Coast of Utopia is an epic but also intimate drama of romantics and revolutionaries in an age of emperors. The three sequential, self-contained plays, Voyage, Shipwreck and Salvage, span the lives and loves of a group of Russian friends at home and abroad in the tumultuous years between 1833 and 1866. This new fully revised edition of the trilogy contains an introduction by the author.Trade Review"'A major work of theatrical craftsmanship.' New York Times"

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Book SynopsisThe West End edition, significantly revised and updated, of this breathless political thriller by the writers of The Jungle.BEST NEW PLAY: OLIVIER AWARD NOMINEE 2025This isn''t a negotiation. It's hand to hand combat.11 December 1997.The Kyoto Conference Centre, 5 a.m.The nations of the world are in deadlock. Eleven hours have passed since the UN's landmark climate conference should have ended. Time is running out. And agreement feels a world away.Their prize: the world's first legally binding emissions targets. Their obstacle: American oil lobbyist and master strategist, Don Pearlman.Kyoto is the urgent tale of a moment when, finally, the impossible seemed possible. It opened at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, in June 2024, in a co-production between Good Chance and the RSC, and transferred to @sohoplace, London, in January 2025.

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Book SynopsisTen new short plays by African women tackling taboo topics on identity, gender, sexualities, family relations and power. Following the international success of Contemporary Plays by African Women, this new collection is the next step in the African Women Playwright Network (AWPN) both showcasing and encouraging the development of new work. Consisting of the ten winners of the AWPN''s international writing competition, this collection is centered around the theme of ''Tackling Taboo Topics in African Female Writing'', originally performed as staged readings at the AWPN Festival hosted by the University of Ghana in 2022. Selected from 75 submissions from nine African countries, these plays speak to contemporary and pressing issues, illuminating lived experiences of African women that are common but seldom discussed. An important resource for schools and universities looking to diversify and decolonise curricula and engage with short works for practical classes, pTable of ContentsIntroduction - by ‘Tosin Kooshima Tume, Ekua Ekumah and Yvette Hutchison Plays – with playwright biographies Yanci by Rukayat Nihinlola Banjo (Nigeria) The Arrangement by Gisemba Ursula (Kenya) A woman has Two Mouthsby Chioniso Tsikisayi (Zimbabwe) Who is in my Garden ?by Irene Isoken Agunloye (Nigeria) The Taste of Justice by Martina Omorodion (Nigeria) Desperanza by Kaulana Williams (South Africa) Oh! by Miliswa Mbandazayo (South Africa) In Her Silence by Faustina Brew (Ghana) Horny&…by Philisiwe Twijnstra (South Africa) Gnash by Katlego K Kolanyane-Kesupile (Botswana) Interview with Dr Sarah Dorgbadzi by Ekua Ekumah, AWPN-Ghana festival 2022, University of Ghana, 1-4 September. Suggested Further Reading

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Book SynopsisAn urgent and explosive play that explores of the pressures on young people today in the wake of advancing technology. When a naked photograph of Scarlett goes viral, she becomes the centre of attention for all the wrong reasons. But while rumours run wild and everyone forms an opinion, Scarlett just stays silent... With roles for up to twenty-four young female actors (though it can also be performed by a smaller cast), the play is perfect for any schools, youth theatres or drama groups looking to tackle a contemporary subject in a theatrically exciting way. Specially commissioned by Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Theatre Royal Plymouth and West Yorkshire Playhouse, Evan Placey's play Girls Like That was developed through work with young people from the three theatres and first performed by their youth theatre companies in 2013. It was revived at the Unicorn Theatre, London, in November 2014. Girls Like That was named Best Play for Young Audiences at the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards 2015.Trade Review'Placey's eye-opening, often uncomfortably honest play... deserves to be widely seen by teenage audiences. And by their parents too' * Guardian *'[Tackles] strong, relevant issues... a well-written, immaculately crafted and brave piece of energetic theatre' * A Younger Theatre *'An urgent, powerful and haunting examination... I can see this play becoming a very popular resource for 16+ groups and that will be no bad thing' * National Drama - Drama magazine *

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Book SynopsisCelebrate the incredible journey of Phoebe Waller-Bridge's outrageously funny, blazingly forthright Fleabag, from fringe theatre hit to international cultural phenomenon, in this special edition – featuring the original playscript, never-before-seen colour photos, and exclusive bonus content by Phoebe, director Vicky Jones and key members of the creative team. In 2013, Fleabag made its debut as a one-woman show in sixty-seater venue the Big Belly, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe's Underbelly. It was an immediate hit, going on to enjoy two runs at London's Soho Theatre, national and international tours, whilst picking up prizes including Critics' Circle, The Stage, Fringe First and two Off West End Theatre Awards, plus an Olivier Award nomination. The 2016 TV adaptation propelled Fleabag and Phoebe to worldwide fame, earning critical acclaim and further accolades including Writers' Guild, Royal Television Society and BAFTA Television Awards. A second series followed in 2019, winning an amazing six Emmy Awards (including Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series), along with a sold-out run of the original play in New York. This special edition of the play is released alongside Fleabag's first West End run at Wyndham's Theatre, London. It is introduced by Deborah Frances-White, stand-up comedian, writer and host of The Guilty Feminist podcast.Trade Review'Throbs with a concentrated, combustible vitality… Fleabag keeps all contradictory shards and shades of feeling in play at the same time. That's why it's so gloriously disruptive' * New York Times *'Never has being a modern woman seemed so painfully funny, brutal, and hopeless all at once' * The Atlantic *'Filthily funny… the character is a fascinatingly complex creation' * Guardian *'Sucker-punch funny... I've never seen a play quite like it' * Scotsman *'It has the pinpoint observational comedy of great standup, the fearless honesty and shamelessness of a raw confessional and the subtlety to draw you in… both gut-bustingly funny and gut-wrenchingly sad' * Hollywood Reporter *'Filthy, funny, snarky and touching' * Telegraph *'A legitimately hilarious show' * The New Yorker *'Frank and sometimes brutally funny... devastatingly good' * The Times *'Phoebe Waller-Bridge's one-woman show Fleabag is unbelievably rude, astoundingly filthy and she's almost certainly going to go to hell for it' * Time Out *'Penetrating, pitch-black and nastily brilliant' * Metro *'Funny, vibrant, and blunt as a hammerhead' * New York Magazine *

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Book SynopsisPresents the conflict between sexual and social position. This work belongs to the series of plays, notably The Father and Creditors, in which sex and marriage are treated with frank realism.Trade Review'August Strinberg's blistering 1888 drama.' Elisabeth Mahoney, Guardian, 19.06.10

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Book SynopsisThis fifth collection of Tom Stoppard''s plays brings together five classic plays by one of the most celebrated dramatists writing in the English language.The collection includes The Real Thing, Night & Day, Hapgood, Indian Ink and Arcadia, about which the reviewer for the Daily Telegraph said ''I have never left a new play more convinced that I''d just witnessed a masterpiece''.

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Book SynopsisIt is the Jubilee! Queen Victoria''s Golden Jubilee, 1887. At Tilbury Docks, Rani and Abdul step ashore after the long voyage from India. One has to battle a society who deems her a second class citizen, the other forges an astonishing entanglement with the ageing Queen who finds herself enchanted by stories of an India she rules but has never seen.The Empress uncovers remarkable unknown stories of 19th century Britain, the growth of Indian nationalism and the romantic proclivities of one of our most surprising monarchs.

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Book SynopsisAn eye for an eye. It's very simple. You choose your homeland like a hyena picking and choosing where he steals his next meal from. Scavenger. Yes you grovel to the feet of Mengistu and when his people spit at you and kick you from the bowl you scuttle across the border. Scavenger.As a violent civil war rages back home, teenager Alem and his father are in a B&B in Berkshire. It''s his best holiday ever. The next morning his father is gone and has left a note explaining that he and his mother want to protect Alem from the war. This strange grey country of England is now his home. On his own, and in the hands of the social services and the Refugee Council, he lives from letter to letter, waiting to hear something from his father. Then Alem meets car-obsessed Mustapha, the lovely ''out of your league'' Ruth and dangerous Sweeney three unexpected allies who spur him on as Alem fights to be seen as more than just the Refugee Boy. Based on the novel by Benjamin Zephaniah, Refugee Trade ReviewThe playful, obstinate and courageously humorous tone of Zephaniah's writing shines through . . . Hilarious and later heartbreaking. -- Alfred Hickling * Guardian *Fine and humane play... Sissay weaves in poetry, laughter... moments of awe * The Times *Although tragic, this play is funny. The writers provide barrow-loads of sharp lines and exchanges. -- Ray Brown * British Theatre Guide *Lemn Sissay’s script reflects [Alem's] fears but also has its moments of pure poetry ... it’s also funny, not least in the cultural differences of teen-speak -- Will Ramsey * Stage *Sweet, funny, highly inventive * Yorkshire Post *Humour and innocence are both to the fore as is a sweetness of tone ... more street than poetic, and personal yet universal, Refugee Boy is well told by impassioned writer -- Charles Hutchinson * York Press *

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Book SynopsisA bitingly comic, strikingly timely satire for the stage, which asks if we can ever break free from the people we used to be.

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Book SynopsisThe spellbinding, beautifully observed hit from the master of suspenseful realism. A bar in a remote part of Ireland. The local lads are swapping spooky stories to impress a young woman recently moved to the area from Dublin. As the drink flows and the stories become increasingly frightening, it's clear that Valerie has something on her mind. She has a tale to tell that'll stop them all dead in their tracks. Conor McPherson's play The Weir combines superbly chilling tales of the supernatural with the hilarious banter of a small community in the heart of rural Ireland. The Weir was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs at the Ambassadors Theatre on West Street, London, in July 1997. It transferred to the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End in February 1998, where it played for two years. The play went on to win the Olivier Award for Best New Play in 1999. McPherson also won the Evening Standard and Critics' Circle Awards for Most Promising Playwright. The Weir has since been performed very widely, including on Broadway in 1999. It received a major West End revival at the Donmar Warehouse in 2013, and transferred to the West End once again. It was voted one of the hundred most significant plays of the twentieth century in a poll conducted by the National Theatre in 2000. 'The play of the decade... a modern masterpiece' - Express 'I am convinced that this is the best new play I've seen in years' - Sunday Telegraph 'There is a depth in the characterisation... that puts one in mind of an Irish Chekhov. I have rarely been so convinced that I have just seen a modern classic' - Daily Telegraph 'A beautifully crafted and compassionate piece, dealing with love, loss and loneliness. It works because one believes so intensely in the characters that one shares the experiences they talk of, because it contains at its heart a shattering event and because it demonstrates the healing potential of storytelling... a fine piece of writing' - Financial Times Best New Play, Olivier AwardsTrade Review'The play of the decade... a modern masterpiece' * Express *'I am convinced that this is the best new play I've seen in years' * Sunday Telegraph *'There is a depth in the characterisation... that puts one in mind of an Irish Chekhov. I have rarely been so convinced that I have just seen a modern classic' * Daily Telegraph *'A beautifully crafted and compassionate piece, dealing with love, loss and loneliness. It works because one believes so intensely in the characters that one shares the experiences they talk of, because it contains at its heart a shattering event and because it demonstrates the healing potential of storytelling... a fine piece of writing' * Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisAct Normal includes 31 contemporary monologues from Too Much Punch For Judy, Hard To Swallow, Missing Dan Nolan, I Love You, Mum - I Promise I Won’t Die, Game Over … and many more of Mark’s plays and musicals. Written with young performers in mind and available for classroom or audition use, they offer a range of characters and topics – both comic and serious - along with acting notes for each monologue. Many of the monologues are verbatim, providing a unique opportunity for actors and directors to explore this exciting form. Act Normal is the first exclusive collection of Mark’s monologue work. ‘Surprise your teacher, your friends, your family, your audience and last but not least, yourselves!’ – Mark Wheeller Monologue topics: True stories and verbatim pieces British World War II evacuee experience Testimony of world champion blind athlete Graham Salmon Account of sisters involved in a drink-driving accident Story of a woman’s battle with anorexia A young woman’s struggles breaking into the football world Two pieces on the life-changing consequences of a car accident Recounting of a prison assault Dan Nolan’s 2002 disappearance Grooming and human trafficking Students excluded from the mainstream education system Accidental drug overdose Young people and self-harm Online predators Fiction Absurdist, allegorical tale about a fantasy King Unplanned teenage pregnancy Fandom and mourning an idol (reference to David Bowie) Theatre in Education piece on road safety Featured plays, with character options and ages (NB: all are suitable for performers of any age and gender) Blackout - Operation Pied Piper - Jean, aged 9 Graham – World’s Fastest Blind Runner – Junie, pre-teen/ Graham, adult Too Much Punch For Judy – Judy, young adult/ Duncan, adult Hard to Swallow – Anna, young adult/ John, adult Sweet (W)FA / Lethal In The Box – Miss Vallas, adult/ Spanner, adult Chicken! – Nut-Job, teenager/ Chris, teenager Legal Weapon 2 – Andy, young adult Wacky Soap – Storyteller, adult Missing Dan Nolan – Pauline, adult / Sarah, young teenager/ Andy, adult One Million to Stop The Traffik – Mary, adult Kids Who Look Out of the Window – Tonisha, teenager Chequered Flags to Chequered Futures – Jane, adult/ Driver, adult I Love You, Mum – I Promise I Won’t Die – Jack, teenager Scratching the Surface – Louise, adult This Is For You – Susan, adult Can You Hear Me Major Tom? – Mark, adult/ Jasmine, adult Game Over – Lorin, adult

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Book SynopsisSubtitled â??A tragicomedy in two actsâ??, and famously described by the Irish critic Vivien Mercier as a play in which â??nothinghappens, twiceâ??, En attendant Godot was first performed at the Th_Ãtre de Babylone in Paris in 1953. It was translated into English by Samuel Beckett, and opened as Waiting for Godot at the Arts Theatre in London in 1955.â??I told [Ralph] Richardson that if by Godot I had meant God I would have said God, and not Godot.This seemed to disappoint him greatly.â??-- Samuel Beckett to Barney Rosset, 18 October 1954All the dead voices.They make a noise like wings.Like leaves.Like sand.Like leaves.[Silence.]They all speak together. Each one to itself.[Silence.]Rather they whisper.They rustle.They murmur. They rustle.[Silence.] What do they say?They talk about their lives.To have lived is not enough for them.They have to talk about it.To be dead is not enough for them.It is not sufficient.[Silence.]They make a noise like feathers.Like leaves.Like ashes.Like leaves.

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