Plays, playscripts, drama

Book SynopsisIt''s chaotic -- a bit of love, a bit of lust and there you are. We don''t ask for life, we have it thrust upon us. Written by Shelagh Delaney when she was 19, A Taste of Honey is one of the great defining and taboo-breaking plays of the 1950s. When her mother, Helen, runs off with a car salesman, feisty teenager Jo takes up with a black sailor who promises to marry her before he heads for the seas, leaving her pregnant and alone. Art student Geoff moves in and assumes the role of surrogate parent until misguidedly, he sends for Helen and their unconventional setup unravels. A Taste of Honey offers an explosive celebration of the vulnerabilities and strengths of the female spirit in a deprived world. Bursting with energy, this exhilarating and angry depiction of harsh, working-class life in post-war Salford is shot through with love and humour, and infused with jazz. The play was first presented by Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal Stratford, London, on 27Trade ReviewA tough, tenacious play with an emotional bite that proves it is more than raucous comedy * Michael Billington, The Guardian *Miss Delaney brings real people on to her stage, joking and flaring and scuffling and eventually, out of the zest for life she gives them, surviving * Kenneth Tynan, 1958 *Tough, humorous ... exhilarating * The Times, 1958 *A work of complete, exhilarating originality … a real escape from the middlebrow, middle-class vacuum of the West End * Lindsay Anderson, Encore, 1958 *Table of ContentsForeword by Celia Brayfield The Play

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Book SynopsisRe-issue of this 60s classicTrade Review'This is a play that has dated no more than The Importance of Being Earnest.' Benedict Nightingale, The Times, 31.1.09 'Forty-five years after its London premiere, Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr Sloane comes up almost as fresh as a four-leaf clover. If there has been a funnier British comedy since Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, I cannot recall it.' Nicholas de Jongh, Evening Standrad, 2.2.09 'Entertaining Mr Sloane retains its power to provoke and startle. It is a truly amoral piece, wild, witty and utterly heartless.' Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph, 2.2.09 'The play's language, with its sly double entendres and surreal subversiveness, remains distinctive, crying out for liberation from the restrictive social context of its original creation.' Robert Shore, Metro (London), 3.2.09

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Book SynopsisA bleak and brilliant testament to a life of fleeting pleasure and diminished expectations a play of sharp observation, a document of its times. The GuardianBest friends Rita and Sue get a lift home from married Bob after babysitting his kids. When he takes the scenic route and offers them a bit of fun, the three start a fling each of them think they control.Andrea Dunbar''s semi-autobiographical play, written for the Royal Court Theatre in 1982 when she was just 19, is a vivid portrait of girls caught between brutal childhood and an unpromising future, both hungry for adult adventure.Told with wicked humour, startling insight and a great ear for dialogue, Rita Sue and Bob Too offers an unwavering portrait of a world of limitations and urban desolation.Published for the first time in Methuen Drama''s Modern Classics series, featuring a new introduction by Katie Beswick.Trade ReviewDunbar's play is as fresh as a stiff northerly wind off the Pennines. The story is bursting with a gutsy vitality * Evening Standard *If you've ever known a junkie or an alkie, or felt for a second that your own life might spiral out of control, you'll recognise the mix of despair and black humour as the real thing. By the end of it, you just might feel like crying. * Guardian *A brilliant, scabrous comedy * Daily Mail *The voice of writer Andrea Dunbar showcased reality using sharp humour and an even sharper social commentary. * The Mancunion *

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Book SynopsisThe moving account of the life and early death of a young female activist, adapted from her own writings. Why did a 23-year old woman leave her comfortable American life to stand between an Israeli army bulldozer and a Palestinian home in the Gaza strip? Compiled from her letters, diaries and emails by Alan Rickman and Guardian journalist Katharine Viner, My Name is Rachel Corrie recounts, in her own words, her short life and sudden death. My Name is Rachel Corrie was first performed by Megan Dodds at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in April 2005, winning Best New Play at the 2006 WhatsOnStage Awards.Trade Review'Funny, passionate, bristling with idealism and luminously intelligent, Corrie emerges as a bona fide hero for this brutalised world of ours' * Time Out *'A deeply moving personal testimony... Theatre can't change the world. But what it can do, when it's as good as this, is to send us out enriched by other people's passionate concern' * Guardian *'Deeply moving' * Independent *'Extraordinary power' * Time Out *

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Book SynopsisGuilty or not guilty? Enter the courtroom, hear the evidence, make your judgement.A hijacked plane is heading towards a packed football stadium. Ignoring orders to the contrary, a fighter pilot shoots down the plane killing 164 people to save 70,000.Put on trial and charged with murder, the fate of the pilot is placed in the audience's hands.Ferdinand von Schirach''s Terror, in a translation by David Tushingham, received its UK Premiere at the Lyric Hammersmith, London, in June 2017.

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Book SynopsisToni Morrison was a Nobel Prize- and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, editor and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, exquisite language and richly detailed African American characters who are central to their narratives. Among her best-known novels are The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon, Beloved, Jazz, Love and A Mercy. Morrison earned a plethora of book-world accolades and honorary degrees, also receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.

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Book SynopsisMike Bartlett's 'future history play' explores the people beneath the crowns, the unwritten rules of our democracy, and the conscience of Britain's most famous family. Queen Elizabeth II is dead. After a lifetime of waiting, her son ascends the throne. A future of power. But how to rule? Drawing on the style and structure of a Shakespearean history play, King Charles III opened at London's Almeida Theatre, directed by its Artistic Director Rupert Goold, in April 2014, before transferring to the West End. The play went on to win Best New Play at both the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards and the Olivier Awards. It also won the South Bank Sky Arts Theatre Award.Trade Review'Outstanding and provocative… the most spectacular, gripping and wickedly entertaining piece of lèse-majesté that British theatre has ever seen' * Telegraph *'Bold, brilliant and unstoppably entertaining… an intelligent, empathetic, moving look at the power and limitations of the modern monarchy… theatre doesn't get much better than this' * The Times *'Extraordinary… a meaty, hilarious, dizzyingly audacious state of the nation political thriller' * Time Out *'Royally entertaining… raises fascinating questions about the future of the monarchy' * Guardian *'Scintillating and highly ambitious... a brilliant, provocative piece of drama' * Financial Times *'Wonderfully original... Bartlett's brilliant text pulses with Shakespearean resonances... a right royal triumph' * The Stage *'Pitch-perfect… bracingly provocative and outrageously entertaining' * Independent *'Brilliantly ambitious… deliciously smart… [the] script is a witty amalgam of Shakespearean rhythms and sharp modern colloquialisms' * Exeunt Magazine *

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Book Synopsis'I said no one should ever try to recreate this. This is agony in its purest form.' Five women in Northern California lie outside on chaises longues and philosophise. But can you ever communicate what it feels like to be inside your own body? Annie Baker's play Infinite Life is a surprisingly funny inquiry into the complexity of suffering, and what it means to desire in a body that's failing. It was first produced in a co-production between the National Theatre, London, and Atlantic Theater Company, New York, and performed at both theatres in 2023, directed by James Macdonald.Trade Review'A great new play. It peeps at the greatest mysteries of life' * The New York Times *'The peerless Annie Baker's latest play is a mind-bending exploration of sex, pain and bodies... Infinite Life is a lucid fever dream, a trippy vision of profound truth... It is another extraordinary play from a writer seemingly capable of nothing else' * Time Out *'Exquisite and bleakly funny' * The Times *'Superb... Infinite Life is that rarest of things – a comedy about death and pain, written with such precision it seems to expose the workings of the heart... a terrific play, understated yet rich, utterly engrossing' * WhatsOnStage *'Extraordinary... meticulous and mighty... a critique can't capture it: you have to be there' * Observer *'A play like no other... I don't know how Annie Baker does what she does. I only know that she does it brilliantly' * Daily Express *'Quietly riveting and stealthily moving... an absorbing, compassionate meditation on pain, mortality and our relationship with our bodies... Annie Baker's extraordinary plays are as idiosyncratic as they are fascinating and as funny as they are profound' * The Stage *'[Annie Baker] has a knack for seeing people's weird innards and transmuting them into something transcendent… an undeniably important and timely work' * Guardian *'Exquisite new comic drama' * New Yorker *'Intensely humane and minutely observed... Baker's plays are singular creations that march to their own rhythm, and we're fortunate that four of them have now come to the National Theatre' * Evening Standard *'Full of small wonders and subtle moments of quiet awakening' * Independent *'Baker's play feels capacious – ever widening its arms to hold more humanity, more searching spirit… Infinite Life gathers us all in its wide embrace, turning its curious, accepting gaze on our brokenness' * New York Magazine *'A very funny play, and a fine showcase for all its cast members… a work of lyrical beauty, humour, and insight' * New York Sun *'An enigmatically idiosyncratic mediation on human suffering... richly rewarding... Baker truly is a powerful writer' * Broadway World *'Spare but richly satisfying, full of beguiling subtleties and opportunities for dry humour' * Arts Desk *'Baker may be the Pinter of our generation, with exquisite writing displaying true human insight. She may never be mainstream, but she remains a genius whose work is always enlightening' * Broadway Baby *'Slow, searing and profound... Annie Baker is a master at tunnelling into the nucleus of niche, private settings, populating them with a wholly plausible cocktail of characters and enthralling her audience with the early interactions and seminal conversations that take place between them' * Culture Whisper *

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Book SynopsisA coarse actor is...• One who can remember their lines but not the order in which they come• One whose eyebrows are attached to their feet (so every facial expression involves the whole body as well)• One who limps on both legs simultaneously• One who knows everybody else’s lines better than their ownFor 50 years, Michael Green’s The Art of Coarse Acting has been essential reading for anyone with a passion for theatre. It’s an outrageous spoof that punctures pretentiousness, pokes fun at incompetence, revels in disaster and lifts the lid on life backstage.As this special 50th anniversary edition proves, however much the theatre may change, Coarse Actors don’t. Green’s acerbic yet affectionate work remains one of the funniest books about acting ever written.

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Book SynopsisMona is a young woman on the edge. All she sees is the Earth falling apart, but no one really seems to care. Amidst the chaos of competing and contradictory voices, she sets off on a kaleidoscopic journey to find solutions for the planet – and the truth about her family – in the hope that everything might start to make sense again. Lizzie Nunnery's Heavy Weather is a powerful, timely play featuring songs, about one girl's journey through a world teetering on the brink. The play is part of Platform, an initiative from Tonic Theatre in partnership with Nick Hern Books. Aimed at achieving greater gender equality in theatre, Platform comprises big-cast plays with predominantly, or all, female casts, written specifically for performance by young actors.Trade Review'A great choice for GCSE and A level students… for study it offers some engaging monologues and duologues, and the ensemble is really exciting… a play which ticks a lot of boxes' * Drama & Theatre Magazine *'Wonderful… a lovely piece of theatre with great characters for young actors to get their teeth into, familiar issues and situations and lots of humour that still treats the issues very seriously… well worth a look for any teenage youth-theatre group' * British Theatre Guide *'A fascinating challenge, with an intriguing role for the ensemble and lots of scope for a compelling visual translation... a young, brilliant director could do wonders with this' * Broadway World *'Thrums with life and urgency' * BritishTheatre.com *

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Book SynopsisNewsroom, political platform, local hot spot, confession box, preacher-pulpit and football stadium. For generations, African men have gathered in barber shops to discuss the world. These are places where the banter can be barbed and the truth is always telling.Barber Shop Chronicles, which was partly inspired by verbatim recordings, is a heart-warming, hilarious and insightful play that leaps from a barber shop in Peckham to Johannesburg, Harare, Kampala, Lagos and Accra over the course of a single day.It was first produced by the National Theatre, Fuel and Leeds Playhouse in 2017 and is here publishedas a Methuen Drama Student Edition with commentary and notes by Oladipo Agboluaje.Trade ReviewIsn’t this what all playwrights would wish for? To come across in their daily lives a dramatic arena. To find it both immediate and far-reaching. To put on stage lives that have not been seen there before ... [The] chronicles are set in Lagos, Johannesburg, Harare, Accra, Kampala – and south London. They include confessionals, politics, feuding, tales of men away from their homes, men cut off from fathers, men in search of companionship. Common threads – a plot about father and son, a joke about a fly in a drink, a big Barcelona-Chelsea match – weave these episodes together. But it is the stretch of the talk and material that is remarkable: anecdotal and argumentative. -- Susannah Clapp * Observer *Throbs with energy and heat. Full of sadness and great joy. * Daily Telegraph *Rich and exhilarating. A fascinating peek into the barber shop. * The Stage *Life-affirming * Independent *Table of ContentsCHRONOLOGY COMMENTARY PLAYWRIGHT CONTEXT Black British drama (including work of practitioners such as Roy Williams, debbie tucker green and Mojisola Adebayo) THEMES Masculinity (including sport and sexuality) and how it shapes characters and subverts universal and specifically black and African notions of masculinity GENRE Verbatim theatre (use of transcripts to create a work of fiction); comparing to other verbatim plays such as London Road and The Permanent Way SETTING Barbershop as a 'safe space' for black men Diasporic movements - how the play's transnational locations construct a 'black' identity PLAY TEXT FURTHER READING

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Book Synopsis'There were three people in my marriage… Three people and twelve legs.' Professor George Grey is world-renowned for her pioneering research into octopus intelligence. Recently bereaved, her closest relationship these days is with her research subject: Frances, who resides in a large, purpose-built tank in George's campus accommodation. But when ambitious anthropologist Harry enters her life, his breathtaking new theory threatens to tear her world apart in more ways than one… A play for two actors – and one octopus – Octopolis by Marek Horn is a fascinating and funny exploration of love, grief and what makes us human. It premiered at Hampstead Theatre, London, in September 2023, directed by Ed Madden.Trade Review'A grownup campus romcom, with profound and complex ideas about consciousness and intelligence' * Guardian *'A tangled, tentacled tale... unabashedly cerebral' * The Times *'Funny, touching, and surprising... an intimate two-hander that reveals itself to be about vastly expansive ideas... Marek Horn's writing is probing and incisive... manages to express very complex ideas, both academic and interpersonal, with a surprising lucidity, and with moments of unexpected comedy... an intricately intellectual piece of theatre, diving headfirst into questions of sentience, religion, grief, and community from a uniquely smart writer... you could watch or read Octopolis several times over and continue to notice something new... if you go to the theatre to think, to learn something, to do some introspection, its unmissable' * Broadway World *'Fascinating... a game of who's-watching-who as a rapid-fire sparring of wits and intellect dive and propel through the murky waters of grief, spirituality and admiring love' * WhatsOnStage *'Engagingly offbeat... challenging ideas balanced with plenty of humour' * The Stage *'Strikingly original and highly entertaining... smart, slightly surreal and quietly touching. This is a romcom that has legs' * Reviews Hub *'Profound... Horn's writing is not only philosophical; it is also bursting with comic one-liners' * Arts Desk *'A witty two-hander with a playful spark in its fiery humour and a thrilling emotional journey... a theatrical delight' * West End Best Friend *

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Book SynopsisThe most widely staged dramatist after Shakespeare, Chekhov left a deep mark both on the development of Russian literature and world theatre, with plays that were remarkable not just for their dialogue but their atmosphere and the tensions expressed between the lines. Collected in this volume are Chekhov's four most celebrated plays - The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard - in a brand-new translation by Hugh Aplin. In these personal stories of unfulfilled love, failed ambition and existential ennui, set against a background of unsettling social and economical change, the reader can appreciate the groundbreaking qualities of Chekhov's theatrical genius.Trade ReviewWhat writers influenced me as a young man? Chekhov! As a dramatist? Chekhov! As a story writer? Chekhov! -- Tennessee Williams

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Book SynopsisWhy is Justice blind? Is she impartial? Or is she blinkered? Friends Ed and Tim take opposing briefs in a rape case. The key witness is a woman whose life seems a world away from theirs. At home, their own lives begin to unravel as every version of the truth is challenged. Consent, Nina Raine's powerful, painful, funny play, sifts the evidence from every side and puts Justice herself in the dock. It premiered as a co-production between the National Theatre and Out of Joint, directed by Roger Michell at the National Theatre in 2017, and transferred to the West End in 2018. It was shortlisted for the 2018 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.Trade Review'Modern classics don't come along very often. Consent is, without a shadow of a doubt, just that: an intricately constructed philosophical drama that does for love, law and language what Michael Frayn's Copenhagen did for particle physics and Tom Stoppard's Arcadia did with time.' * Variety *'An unforgettably complex, blackly comical and affecting picture of logic and articulacy duking it out with unruly emotions and messy reality... the way Raine tackles hot topics but puts her characters first — with all their slippery, frustrating, deeply human refusal to conform precisely to one idea or another — is what makes this so rivetingly lifelike... jammed with ideas, rich with humanity, Consent is a modern classic' * The Times *'One of Nina Raine's most enjoyable and intelligent plays yet. Unreservedly recommended' * Independent *'A play of fierce moral intelligence… always lively and engrossing… Consent stimulates debate rather than stifles it' * Guardian *'Intricately layered… besides its astute observation of the balancing acts involved in marriage, there’s plenty of finely tuned comedy. There's also an eagerness to address universal concerns — justice, betrayal, revenge and forgiveness. Yet more than anything else Raine is interested in language, which lies at the heart of every legal case and proves so worryingly slippery' * Evening Standard *'A tense, entertaining modern-day tragi-comedy' * Telegraph *'Nina Raine's new play is so emotionally bruising that it feels almost glib to describe it as 'a black comedy'. It is a domestic drama about empathy, justice and – of course – consent that wallops the shit out of you for two-and-a-half hours. It is a play about things we prefer not to talk about; it is like going ten rounds with the elephant in the room, and at the end both of you are crying. There are also some good jokes… playwrights should be talking about this stuff, and Raine doesn't hold back' * Time Out *'A thrilling revenge drama… powerfully written, and both entertaining and thought-provoking' * The Arts Desk *'Funny, pointed and complex… Raine's writing crackles with a sharp-tongued and witty energy. Every line is measured and well-balanced, offering a sure-footed and somewhat galling examination of people, with all their horrendous faults on show' * WhatsOnStage *'Raine is such a fine writer… a bit of a beaut all round' * Financial Times *'Exquisitely devastating… Raine brings her scalpel to the dissection of the human heart when it comes to love, marriage, relationships, fidelity and revenge, flaying every part of it with clinical precision…the lacerating dialogue is leavened with generous lashings of humour. Consent may be exhausting, but it's also darkly, overwhelmingly funny, even at its bleakest points' * Exeunt Magazine *

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Book SynopsisSophocles' Antigone is probably the most widely read and performed of all Greek tragedies, and its themes and conflicts resonate powerfully into the modern era. In this new edition, Mark Griffith combines sophisticated literary and cultural interpretation with close attention to language, metre, and issues of performance, and thus makes the play more fully available to readers of Greek than ever before. The introduction requires no knowledge of Greek and will interest all students of drama and literature.Trade Review'Griffith … it would be fairer to describe him as thorough, undogmatic, and open-minded. He is in most respects the ideal commentator, and this book will be of permanent value to scholars and students at all levels.' HermathenaTable of ContentsIntroduction: 1. Sophocles and Athens; 2. The story of Antigone; 3. Structure, dramatic technique, style; 4. The production; 5. The meaning of the play; 6. The transmission of the text; Antigone; Commentary.

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Book SynopsisSophocles was the dominant Athenian playwright of the fifth century BCE. This translation includes his best-known work, such as the "Oedipus cycle" ("Oedipus the King", "Oedipus at Kolonos", and "Antigone"), "Elektra and the Women of Trakhis" "Philoktetes" and "Aias".Trade Review"Bagg and Scully's renderings strike me as the most performable versions of Sophocles I've ever encountered...if you're looking for the translation that best reflects the emotional force and expressive range of the original plays, you would be hard pressed to do better." -- Philadelphia Inquirer

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Book SynopsisThe Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka has been hailed as `one of the finest poetic playwrights who have ever written in English'' (Martin Esslin) and `a writer of genius'' (Irish Times).The five plays in this collection are linked by their concern with the spiritual and the social, with belief and ritual as integrating forces for social cohesion. A Dance of the Forests (1960), a confrontation between the living and the dead, between history and reality; The Swamp Dwellers (1961), a tale of perilous dependence on the favour of the gods; The Strong Breed (1963), a play of expiation, all take place in Africa. So also does The Road (1965), `a rich and beautiful tragedy'' (Times Literary Supplement) The most recent work, an adaptation of The Bacchae of Euripides (1973), remains set in and around the Thebes of ancient Greece, but draws deeply on Africa and the themes of the earlier plays in this book. In all these plays - whether concerned with the corruption of urban life or the power of superst

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Book SynopsisOne of the most exciting young dramatists to emerge in Britain during the 1990s. His three most important plays in one volumeTable of ContentsThe Beauty Queen of Leenane; A Skull of Connemara; The Lonesome West

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Book SynopsisAn electrifying stage play telling the story of feminist icon Mary Wollstonecraft. Premiered by Hull Truck Theatre and Pilot Theatre in 2025.

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Book SynopsisA refreshing, revitalised adaptation of Chekhov's timeless play about vanity, power and sacrifices made in the name of art. Premiered at the Barbican Theatre, London, in 2025, with an ensemble cast including Cate Blanchett.

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Book SynopsisAnton Chekhov (1860-1904), Russian physician, dramatist and author, is considered to be one of the greatest writers of short stories and modern drama. Born in Taganrog, a port town near the Black Sea, he attended medical school at Moscow University. He began writing to supplement his income, writing short humorous sketches of contemporary Russian life. A successful literary careered followed, before his premature death of TB at the age of 44. He is best-remembered for his four dramatic masterpieces: The Seagull (1896), Uncle Vanya (1899), Three Sisters (1901) and The Cherry Orchard (1904).

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Book SynopsisCharacters: 4 male, 2 female plus children''s chorus (optional)Scenery: Various setsWizzpopping wonder and fruit filled fun abound in this stage adaption of Roald Dahl''s greatest adventure story. James is a lonely young boy who is forced to work like a slave for the most revolting aunts in England. One day a mystical old man gives him a bag of magic. When he accidently spills it near the old peach tree, the most incredible things happen! Pure fun for the whole family. A remarkable theatrical feat!- Northampton Chronicle Move heaven and earth to see this wonderful adaptation!- Sunday Mercury A first class show. If I were a child I''d scream for a ticket.- Birmingham Post

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Book SynopsisJamie New is 16 and lives on a council estate in Sheffield. Jamie doesn?t quite fit in. Jamie is terrified about the future. Jamie is going to be a sensation. Supported by his brilliant, loving mum and surrounded by his friends, Jamie overcomes prejudice, beats the bullies, and steps out of the darkness into the spotlight. Sixteen: the edge of possibility. Time to make your dreams come true. Song List includes: And You Don?t Even Know It, The Wall In My Head, Spotlight, The Legend of Loco Chanelle, If I Met Myself Again, Everybody?s Talking About Jamie, It Means Beautiful, Ugly In This Ugly World, He?s My Boy, and Out of the Darkness

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Book SynopsisA NEW YORK REVIEW BOOKS ORIGINALOne of the delights of Russian literature, a tour de force that has been compared to the best of Nabokov and Bulgakov, Yuri Olesha''s novella Envy brings together cutting social satire, slapstick humor, and a wild visionary streak. Andrei is a model Soviet citizen, a swaggeringly self-satisfied mogul of the food industry who intends to revolutionize modern life with mass-produced sausage. Nikolai is a loser. Finding him drunk in the gutter, Andrei gives him a bed for the night and a job as a gofer. Nikolai takes what he can, but that doesn''t mean he''s grateful. Griping, sulking, grovelingly abject, he despises everything Andrei believes in, even if he envies him his every breath.Producer and sponger, insider and outcast, master and man fight back and forth in the pages of Olesha''s anarchic comedy. It is a contest of wills in which nothing is sure except the incorrigible human heart.Marian Schwartz''s new English translation of Envy brilliantly captures the energy of Olesha''s masterpiece.

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Book SynopsisA ferociously gripping play that tackles the challenging moral issues of contemporary military occupation and its effect on the mental health of serving soldiers with startling insight. Falklands War veteran Major Oscar Hadley is sent to a combat zone to probe allegations of severe misconduct by Eddie Clark, a young squaddie from Burnley and part of a self-styled ‘Bully Boy’ unit of the British Army. As the interrogation develops, Oscar begins to discover that ‘truth’ in a modern insurgency can be a point of view rather than a fact. Written with startling insight by author and broadcaster Sandi Toksvig, Bully Boy was first performed at Nuffield Theatre, Southampton, in 2011.Trade Review'Fine, absorbing and remarkably accomplished… delves, with sensitivity, into an issue of burning relevance' * Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisLucy Kirkwood's delightful version of the classic fairytale, first seen in a production devised and directed by Katie Mitchell at the National Theatre for Christmas 2010. ‘I expect you have been told fairytales before. But you have never really heard a fairytale until you have heard it told by a real fairy.’ The theft of a single rose has monstrous consequences for Beauty and her father. Because this is no ordinary rose...and this is no ordinary fairytale. Narrated by a pair of mischievous fairies, a very helpful Rabbit, and a Thoughtsnatcher machine, this timeless story is sure to surprise, delight and enchant. A wild and twisted tale, full of exciting and intriguing challenges for drama groups wishing to stage their own production. Lucy Kirkwood's Beauty and the Beast was first performed at the National Theatre, London, in December 2010.Trade Review'Chock-full of clever ideas' * Whatsonstage.com *'Clever, fast and endearing, with grand insults and proper jeopardy.' * The Times *'The story is beautifully and touchingly told... a continuously inventive delight' * Telegraph *'This new devised version is blessed with a sassy script by Lucy Kirkwood... Beauty-fully done' * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisA valuable fresco is discovered in a church in war-torn Eastern Europe. As international and local art historians argue over who should claim ownership, the fate of the painting becomes a metaphor for the future of the emergent nations of Eastern Europe. David Edgar's play Pentecost was first performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company at The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, in October 1994. The production transferred to the Young Vic, London, with performances from 31 May 1995. It went on to win the 1995 Evening Standard Award for Best Play. Pentecost is part of David Edgar's trilogy of plays about post-Communist Eastern Europe, which also includes The Prisoner's Dilemma and The Shape of the Table.Trade Review'One of those rare works that makes you want to climb on to roof tops to shout about its merits' * Daily Telegraph *'Dazzlingly ambitious' * Observer *'Edgar's superb play about language, people, art and culture... a richly enjoyable script' * Daily Telegraph *'Plenty to get your teeth into... fascinating' * The Times *

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Book SynopsisThis is the story of the conquest of Peru, the defeat by 167 men of a highly organised, communistic empire of over ten million people. It is also the story of two men, Francisco Pizarro, the embittered, defiant commander of the invading Spanish forces, and Atahuallpa, the young king, Sun god-upon-earth, ruler of a vast empire. Between the two, both illegitimate usurpers, there grows a deep and understanding friendship.

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Book SynopsisAristophanes has been admired since antiquity for his wit, fantasy, language, and satire. Socrates’s “Thinkery” is at the center of Clouds, which spoofs untraditional techniques for educating young men. Wasps satirizes Athenian enthusiasm for jury service. Peace is a rollicking attack on war-makers.Trade ReviewJeffrey Henderson, who may fairly be considered the leading Aristophanic scholar in North America, has…provided us with both a useful text and idiomatic…translation. It is certainly a work that scholars may use with confidence and may recommend to their students for consultation and, yes, for help with translation… [I] found it more accurate for translation purposes than Henderson’s Focus translation or Sommerstein’s Penguin… I found Henderson’s notes uniformly admirable, alerting us with all sorts of necessary information… Henderson has done a very great service in bringing both the text and the antique translations of Rogers up to date. This second volume in the Loeb lives up to the high standards of its predecessor, and we look forward to those to come. -- Richard Hamilton * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *

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Book SynopsisA tale of friendship, love and rivalry over thirty years from award-winning playwright Elinor Cook. Lorna and Grace do everything together. They share crisps, cigarettes and crushes. That's what happens when you're best friends forever. But when Lorna gets a place at university, and Grace gets pregnant, they suddenly find themselves in starkly different worlds. Can anything bridge the gap between them? Elinor Cook's play Out of Love was first produced in 2017 by Paines Plough in their pop-up theatre, Roundabout, in a co-production with Theatr Clywd and the Orange Tree Theatre. It was shortlisted for the 2018 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.Trade Review'An emotional rollercoaster, at times very funny, sometimes devastatingly moving... a beautiful, poignant play about female friendship and the ties that run deep' * British Theatre Guide *'Wickedly vibrant, a gloriously ribald sum of its intimately explored private parts, Out of Love combines shamelessly kitsch and tell kitchen-sink comedy with heart pumping pathos' * The Reviews Hub *'A stinging portrait of intense, mutually dependent female friendship in all its messy, maddening, loving glory' * WhatsOnStage *'A fiery, tender story of female friendship... Elinor Cook's sharp new play about the intensities of bonds forged in childhood is neatly constructed... It's also very good about sex, but not in a giggly, coy way... This may look like a small play, but it is big in scope. It confirms Cook's willingness to write about women's lives with unruly honesty' * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisA slick and violent black comedy set in the Soho clubland of the 1950s. The hit debut play from the author of Jerusalem. In the seedy gangster underworld of the rock'n'roll scene, club owners fight for control of Johnny Silver, the latest young sensation. First premiered at the Royal Court in 1995, Jez Butterworth's play Mojo won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy and earned Butterworth the George Devine Award and Evening Standard Theatre Award for Most Promising Playwright. This edition of Mojo was published alongside the play's 2013 revival in London's West End.Trade Review'The Royal Court's most dazzling main-stage debut in years' * Guardian *'The verbal menance of Harold Pinter [meets] the physical violence of Quentin Tarantino' * The Times *'Mockingly male, highly comic and exhilartingly violent... explosive' * WhatsOnStage *'A fabulous play... original, vibrant, gloriously entertaining' * The Arts Desk *'A hell of a show... witty and claustrophobic' * Exeunt Magazine *'Bristles with masculine energy and menace... a confident, ballsy play which explodes its vision of the perils of hopeless, cocksure, violent, seedy criminality with volcanic power' * The Stage *'Beckett on speed, savagely funny, in fast forward, with no time to wait for Godot' * Observer *'Wickedly funny, incredibly dark... a combination of strong plotting and zinging dialogue [makes] this play addictive and disconcerting' * Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisA passionate, heartfelt play about surviving in a time of civil war, by a leading American dramatist. Winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. A small mining town deep in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In Mama Nadi's bar her rules apply. No arguments, no politics, no guns. When two new girls arrive, tainted with the stigma of their recent past, Mama is forced to reassess her business priorities and personal loyalties. As tales of local atrocities spread and tensions between rebels and government militia rise, the realities of life in civil war provide the ultimate test of the human spirit. Lynn Nottage's play Ruined was first performed at the Goodman Theatre, Chicago, in November 2008. It opened Off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club in February 2009. The play received its UK premiere at the Almeida Theatre, London, in April 2010. This edition includes lyrics and music from the original production.Trade Review'An exceptionally powerful piece of writing' * London Evening Standard *'Overwhelming... could not be more powerful' * Observer *'Essential viewing... horrifying, wondrous - and true' * Time Out *

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Book SynopsisIbsen's provocative play about truth in a society driven by power and money, given a startling contemporary spin in Thomas Ostermeier and Florian Borchmeyer's acclaimed version, here in an English translation by Duncan Macmillan.

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Book SynopsisIn late November 1623, Edward Blount finally took delivery to his bookshop at the sign of the Black Bear near St Paul’s a book that had been long in the making. Master William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies was the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays, appearing some seven years after their author’s death in 1616. There was no fanfare at the book’s arrival. There was nothing of the marketing that marks an important new publication in our own period: no advertising campaign, no reviews, interviews, endorsements or literary prizes. Nevertheless, it is hard to overstate the importance of this literary, cultural and commercial moment. Generously illustrated in colour with key pages from the publication and comparative works, this new edition combines the recent discovery of a hitherto unknown edition of the First Folio at Mount Stuart House on the Isle of Bute with the human, artistic, economic and technical stories of the birth of this landmark publication – and the birth of Shakespeare’s towering reputation.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements vii Prologue viii Introduction 1 Chapter one: The Plays & their Presentation 7 Chapter two: Shakespeare’s Reputation 77 Chapter three: Team Shakespeare: The Backers 114 Chapter four: Printing & Publishing 187 Chapter five: Becoming ‘The First Folio’ 215 Notes 242 Further reading 249 Picture credits 252 Index 254

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Book SynopsisIt's 1671, and the charismatic and unpredictable Colonel Blood is planning the greatest heist of all time: stealing – in plain sight – the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. With an audacious plan and a gang of misfits by his side, can he possibly pull it off? And is King Charles II in any mood to have his crown jewels handled? Based on the scarcely believable true story, Simon Nye's play The Crown Jewels is a riotous and uproarious royal affair. It opened at the Garrick Theatre in London's West End in 2023 before touring, and was directed by Sean Foley with a star-studded cast including Al Murray, Mel Giedroyc, Carrie Hope Fletcher, Aidan McArdle, Neil Morrissey, Joe Thomas and Tanvi Virmani. It will appeal to any amateur theatre company – monarchists and republicans alike – who want to get their hands on a royally funny caper to perform.Trade Review'Genius... had the audience howling with laughter... hilarious' * Daily Express *'An astonishing story... a royally great subject' * London Theatre *'An amazing true story... full of great moments and set pieces' * British Theatre Guide *'A fun and raucous ride' * Manchester Evening News *'Bawdy and exuberant… one not to be missed' * Buzz Magazine *'A regal riot… good old-fashioned fun and frolics at its very best' * Entertainment South Wales *'The witty script interwoven with current themes and topics made for a laugh-a-minute-show that had the entire theatre in stitches' * Kent Live *

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Book Synopsis'You know you act like you're not from here.' Entrenched in her picturesque Devonshire village, Ivy Tiller is preparing to wage a war. Her target: the invasive grey squirrel. Her goal: to oust the invaders and restore the native red squirrels as the 'rightful' inhabitants. Galvanised by her important mission, Ivy's determination swells to uncomfortable heights. Bea Roberts' blackly comic play Ivy Tiller: Vicar's Daughter, Squirrel Killer challenges our assumptions about who belongs and who thrives, and exposes the dark side of the rural idyll. It was first performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company at The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, in October 2022.Trade Review'Clever, pointed writing' * The Times *'Snappy and subversive... horribly plausible... The writing is brisk and lively, and Roberts slips a few moments of real pathos in among a barrage of daft, sometimes pleasingly dark punchlines... challenging, and often very funny' * The Stage *'Echoes of Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem and Simon Stephens' Herons... lands right in the heart of the Zeitgeist' * Broadway World *

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Book Synopsis'I have to write. That's what I am. My sister Meg is beautiful, my sister Beth is good, my sister Amy is, well, she is what she is, but I'm the writer of the family. What shall I do?' Christmas Eve, 1862. With their father away on the frontline of the American Civil War, the four March sisters – Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy – journey into adulthood, each determined to pursue a life on their own terms. But growing up means contending with love and loss, as well as the myriad twists of fortune that shape a life. Published in 1868, Louisa May Alcott's Little Women was an immediate critical and commercial success, and remains one of the best-loved novels of all time. This joyful and spirited adaptation was first produced at Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Watford Palace Theatre in 2022, directed by Brigid Larmour. An earlier version was staged at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, in 2011. It provides rich opportunities for any amateur company looking for an uplifting version of a classic story that's guaranteed to delight audiences.Trade Review'Stylish, humorous and compassionate, this is a lovingly crafted adaptation of an American classic... re-establishes the book's evergreen credentials... a clean, crisp, faithfully episodic adaptation that successfully evokes both the love and the tensions between the four sisters' * Daily Telegraph *'Anne-Marie Casey's adaptation is pacey and full of life, trimming lots of the story's fat and focusing on key characters and incidents so as to keep things moving in only two hours of action' * WhatsOnStage *'A loving staging of the story... both wholesome and exhortatory... Casey bottles the story's magic, which sweeps us from the trials of the Civil War to the buzz of New York... charming' * Daily Mail *'A classic, charming retelling of the novel that doesn't seek to do anything other than celebrate the story... full of gentle humour, humanity and emotion... a bit of traditional charm, great storytelling and the perfect family show' * Reviews Hub *'A boldly traditional adaptation... carefully crafted... thoughtful and multilayered' * The Stage *'Heartbreaking... Anne-Marie Casey's script bounces along briskly, oscillating between quick-fire quips and moments of poignancy... as comforting and filling as Christmas dinner' * The Arts Despatch *'Beautiful... makes us look again at Louisa May Alcott's radical rite of passage classic' * Belfast Times *'A classic retelling of the beloved novel, celebrating the story in a manner which is true to the text... Anne-Marie Casey's adaptation hits all the big moments of the book... a well-presented, highly respectful interpretation of a classic tale... incredibly hard to resist' * No More Workhorse *

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Book Synopsis'There's somethin' about this house. Somethin' here. Somethin' in the walls. Its bones. Like DNA.' A family packs into a small house with a tangled history. Matt is here, yearning to reach someone he's lost. His cousin Jess is here, too; she just wants to feel something. Anything. And Aunt Monica and Jeff are still here, just about. Together, ferocious and funny, they laugh, they scrap, they remember. Tonight these four people, inextricably bound yet so far apart, will finally confront the old decisions that haunt them. How does a family make a future, when everything that holds it together lies in the past? Clive Judd's play Here is a tender, funny and utterly truthful story about family and feeling. It was premiered by Papatango at Southwark Playhouse, London, in November 2022 after winning the Papatango New Writing Prize, whose previous discoveries have gone on to win Olivier, Critics' Circle and OffWestEnd Awards and be performed worldwide.Trade Review'Creepy and captivating... there is something utterly invigorating about Judd's writing: it is funny, delicate, assured, pleasurably circuitous... a truly exciting discovery with what feels like a quietly radical new form of genre-defying theatre' * Guardian *'Engaging, empathetic and spooky, with a beautiful pattern of slow revelation... Papatango has once again identified a talent worth watching' * Evening Standard *'A hauntingly beautiful drama of family secrets... has a strange, captivating power... lyrical and elegiac... Judd deftly uses the uncanny to tell a very human, very flesh-and-blood story... unsettling and rather beautiful' * The Stage *'Full of humour and heart ... [Judd has] a great deal of writing talent' * Reviews Hub *'Excellent... an absorbing and moving play that deals intelligently with ideas of memory, seen and unseen connections, and the difficulties of articulating feelings... highly recommended' * Everything Theatre *

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Book SynopsisWilliam Thornhill arrives in New South Wales a convict from the slums of London. Upon earning his pardon he discovers that this new world offers something he didn't dare dream of: a place to call his own. But as he plants a crop and lays claim to the soil on the banks of the Hawkesbury River, he finds that this land is not his to take. Its ancient custodians are the Dharug people. A deeply moving and unflinching journey into Australia's dark history, Andrew Bovell's adaptation of Kate Grenville's acclaimed novel The Secret River was first performed by the Sydney Theatre Company in 2013. The play had its UK premiere in August 2019, as part of the Edinburgh International Festival, before transferring to the National Theatre, London. This edition includes an introduction by adapter Andrew Bovell, a foreword by historian Henry Reynolds, and music used in the original production. 'The Secret River is a sad book, beautifully written and, at times, almost unbearable with the weight of loss, competing distresses and the impossibility of making amends' Observer on the novel The Secret RiverTrade Review'A compelling historical epic... unforgettable and unmissable' * Telegraph *'Combines masterly storytelling with metaphorical resonance... a mesmerising story... memorably and movingly pinpoints a crucial moment in Australian history' * Guardian *'Flows and thunders, and inescapably sweeps you away... a hugely powerful adaptation' * The Stage *'A ravishing and sobering epic... a huge and impressive piece of theatre, that tells us a story about our own past that we ought to listen to' * Time Out *'A mammoth production that takes a small family story and projects it onto a narrative of nations' * WhatsOnStage *'A sweeping saga with deep currents... an epic story from Australia's brutal past' * The Times *'A powerful confrontation with Australia's colonial past... essential' * Financial Times *'A stunning and shattering piece of theatre' * Sunday Telegraph (Australia) *

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Book SynopsisSmart and scintillating. Red deftly conjures what most plays about artists don''t: The exhilaration of the act. The New YorkerUnder the watchful gaze of his young assistant and the threatening presence of a new generation of artists, Mark Rothko takes on his greatest challenge yet: to create a definitive work for an extraordinary setting.A moving and compelling account of one of the greatest artists of the 20th century whose struggle to accept his growing riches and praise became his ultimate undoing.Nominated for 7 Olivier Awards (2009) and winner of 6 Tony Awards (2010) including Best New Play, Red is published in Methuen Drama''s Modern Classics series, featuring a new introduction by Michael Grandage.Trade ReviewA fresh, exciting portrait of a brilliant mind. * Ben Brantley, The New York Times *Smart and scintillating. Red deftly conjures what most plays about artists don't: The exhilaration of the act. * The New Yorker *Plays about painters are fraught with difficulty. Either the hero preaches about art without practicing it, or the Bohemian lifestyle supersedes the work. But John Logan's play about Mark Rothko overcomes these obstacles with finesse... It's a measure of the play's success that it makes you want to rush out and renew acquaintance with Rothko's work.' * Michael Billington, The Guardian *

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