Plays, playscripts, drama

Book Synopsis‘Because Christmas. Well… That’s when they say people come home.’ Andy loves nostalgic television, pints down the pub, and listening to the whole album from beginning to end. His daughter, Maya, wears good shoes, likes good arguments, and has a secret plan to bring down the government. The trouble is, three years ago Maya left home, and they haven't spoken since. But this Christmas, she might be coming back. Andy knows she's going to stay. Maya knows she's not. Mike Bartlett's play Snowflake is an epic story about generational conflict, fathers and daughters, and whether we're living in the best or worst of times. It premiered at the Old Fire Station, Oxford, in 2018, and was revived at Kiln Theatre, London, in 2019, directed by Clare Lizzimore.Trade Review'A Christmas show that feels simultaneously festive, caustic, refreshingly woke and authentically heartwarming... tremendous fun... a richly enjoyable, thought-provoking play that speaks urgently to the here and now while also taking on broader, timeless truths' * WhatsOnStage *'Bartlett's bittersweet Christmas play smartly explores the generation gap in Brexit Britain' * Time Out *'A winner: warm and funny, but also bracing… Christmas for grown-ups. Excellent stuff' * The Times *'A masterfully written generational clash lies at the heart of this timely story rich in insight, poignancy and optimism… a seasonal show with a heart and mind' * Guardian *'Devastatingly insightful, heartfelt... crackles with timely, utterly believable dialogue, skilfully articulating the assumptions and hypocrisies that underpin many intergenerational conflicts... an astutely written study of emotional fragility' * The Stage *'Terrific, often funny, occasionally heartbreaking' * Theatrecat *

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Book SynopsisAn anthology of seven of the best plays from VAULT Festival 2019, London's biggest and most exciting arts festival. 3 Billion Seconds by Maud Dromgoole is a hilarious, macabre love story about a pregnant couple of activists attempting to offset the carbon footprint of their unborn baby's life. Alcatraz by Nathan Lucky Wood is a thrilling play about family and social care that follows Sandy on her daring, Christmas mission to emulate Clint Eastwood and bust her gran out of lock-up. Collapsible by Margaret Perry is a funny, furious monologue about navigating a world that cares so much about you keeping it together, it doesn't notice you falling apart. Inside Voices by Nabilah Said blends dark comedy and magic realism in its subversive portrayal of three Singaporean Muslim women challenging the bounds of freedom, feminism and faith in a place that isn't home. Open by Christopher Adams and Timothy Allsop is a frank, refreshing romance that draws on interviews, conversation and private correspondence to explore the authors' real-life open marriage. JERICHO by MALAPROP Theatre is an off-kilter, high-energy, form-pushing play about what pro-wrestling and politics have in common. It asks big questions in weird ways, like what can a pop-culture journalist do to stop the world burning down? Thrown by Jodi Gray sees a child-psychologist attempting to record what she's spent her whole life trying to forget, as the memories of former patients collide with her own. 'A major London festival … showcasing new and rising talent' Independent on VAULT Festival

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Book Synopsis‘I just think it’s, you know, important to look at the good things that are happening as well.’ In a cramped, crumbling office, four volunteers spend a few hours every Tuesday night on the phone telling strangers that everything is going to be okay. As the outside world disintegrates, they teeter on the edge of their own personal catastrophes. Their hopes and fears become entangled as they try, desperately, to connect with the callers and with each other. Sam Steiner's You Stupid Darkness! is an urgent play about the struggle for optimism and community amid the chaos of a world falling apart. It was first seen at Theatre Royal Plymouth in February 2019, in a co-production between Paines Plough and Theatre Royal Plymouth.Trade Review'A work of extraordinary observation and overflowing empathy... a brilliantly realised, unflinchingly truthful mid-apocalyptic comedy' * The Stage *'Sam Steiner makes us beam as the world burns... his hilariously bleak show about helpline volunteers has a charming cynicism and compassion' * Guardian *'A funny and compassionate commentary on fear and the indomitable human spirit' * British Theatre Guide *'A play to laugh along to as well as silently weep with... Steiner's play is timeless – it transcends any specific period and paints a picture of a potential apocalypse that seems inevitable in the current political climate' * WhatsOnStage *'Bleakly funny, it wounds even as it makes you smile... it is delicate, crafted work. Necessary too' * Stagedoor *

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Book SynopsisIt's 1955 and the Pallas Players, an all-female theatre company, are putting on a play: Whisky Galore. They transport us back to 1943 on the Scottish islands of Great and Little Todday, where the whisky supply has dried up because of the war, leaving tensions running high. Relief seems to be at hand when a ship carrying 50,000 bottles of whisky is wrecked just offshore. Then it's every thirsty man for himself as the islanders try to rescue as many bottles as possible before stuffy Captain Waggett of the Home Guard can put a stop to their fun. Philip Goulding's stage adaptation of Compton Mackenzie's comedy classic is a tribute to the feisty all-female touring theatre companies of the post-war years. First performed in a touring production by Oldham Coliseum Theatre, Hull Truck Theatre and New Vic Theatre, Whisky Galore combines rollicking physical theatre, panto and farce, with an array of hilarious characters for any female-led theatre company. This edition includes an introduction by Philip Goulding, notes on the characters, and the original music by Alan Edward Williams that accompanied the premiere production.Trade Review'Philip Goulding's adaptation retains the authenticity of Mackenzie's mellifluous prose and wittily divvies up twenty-five characters among a hard-working cast of seven. An enjoyably bright and breezy retelling of a classic comic tale' * The Stage *'Captures the absurdity of Mackenzie's story and retains its joyful sense of mischief' * The Reviews Hub *

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Book SynopsisRobert Holman wrote plays of startling beauty, combining close observation of the way people behave with a thrilling and often fiercely uncompromising mastery of dramatic form. He is the playwright most admired by other playwrights. To Simon Stephens, he was, until Holman's death in 2021, 'My favourite living writer'. Here, in this selection from Holman's first decade of playwriting, a monkey is taken for a French spy by an eighteenth-century fishing community; the inhabitants of a Greek island reside under the shadow of the atom bomb; and a group of lonely people converge on the North Yorkshire moors. With an introduction written for this volume by Holman himself, Robert Holman Plays: One contains The Natural Cause (Cockpit Theatre, London, 1974), Mud (Royal Court Theatre, London, 1974), Other Worlds (Royal Court, 1983), Today (Royal Shakespeare Company, 1984) and The Overgrown Path (Royal Court, 1985). 'Holman's instinct for truth, and an unaffected ability to spot what's poignant in it, is what one remembers: that, and a paradoxical impression of spare richness, astringent abundance' The TimesTrade Review'Holman's instinct for truth, and an unaffected ability to spot what's poignant in it, is what one remembers: that, and a paradoxical impression of spare richness, astringent abundance.' The Times

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Book SynopsisOn a reality television show, six remarkable - and remarkably young - geniuses are competing for the coveted Golden Brain trophy and the title 'Britain's Brainiest Child'. As the contestants battle it out round after round, the pressure mounts, the spotlight gets harsher, and each is faced with questions they were never expecting. Who will win and who will lose - and what exactly does winning mean anyway? Georgia Christou's Bright. Young. Things. is a funny, fast-paced play about identity, truth and the challenge of finding out who you really are. It 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'There is fun to be had in portraying these quirky characters and some amusing situations, plus the flexible staging leaves a lot of staging decisions to the company... an interesting challenge for any youth group' * British Theatre Guide *'[Offers] strikingly different characters and an effective storyline... a young, brilliant director could do wonders with this' * Broadway World *'A clever piece about identity, parental pressure and the media... has much humour and tremendous energy' * BritishTheatre.com *

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Book Synopsis‘We stand on the edge On the threshold of On the entrance to Stepping out from On the cusp…’ Set in and around a swimming pool, Chris Bush's play The Changing Room follows a group of teenagers full of excitement, impatience and uncertainty. They know change is coming, but not what it'll look like. Written specifically for young people, The Changing Room was part of the 2018 National Theatre Connections Festival and was premiered by youth theatres across the UK. It offers opportunities for a large, flexible cast of any size or mix of genders, and incorporates chorus work and music. No swimming pool required. This edition of The Changing Room includes the words and music to Chris Bush's original songs, arranged by Matt Winkworth.

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Book Synopsis‘He is the sickness and you maintain that sickness.’ Idi Amin is the self-declared President of Uganda. When Scottish medic Nicholas Garrigan becomes his personal physician, he is catapulted into Amin's inner circle. A useful asset for the British Secret Service, is Garrigan the man on the inside, or does he have blood on his hands too? Giles Foden's multi-award-winning novel The Last King of Scotland is an electrifying thriller about corruption and complicity. This stage adaptation by Steve Waters premiered at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, in September 2019, directed by Gbolahan Obisesan.Trade Review'A powerful, thought-provoking theatrical adaptation... required viewing for anyone with an interest in international politics' * The Stage *'The plot and list of characters of the novel emerge with vivid life... Waters exercises masterly control of tone, from entertainment to tragedy, from eccentric comedy to the heart of darkness' * WhatsOnStage *'An engaging piece that is both funny and tragic' * Broadway World *

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Book Synopsis‘I’m making him work for it! Got him to buy me a pack of Tangfastics and a can of Lilt before I showed him my tits.’ The problem with love is that it's different for everyone. For Bex, love is a handjob in detention and the promise of a date at a Chinese buffet. She doesn't even like Chinese. Sophie Ellerby's play LIT explores the turbulent teenage years of a Nottingham girl looking for love in all the wrong places. It premiered at the HighTide Festival Aldeburgh, Omnibus Clapham and Nottingham Playhouse in 2019, co-produced by HighTide and Nottingham Playhouse.Trade Review'A blistering debut... full of details, light and dark, about teenagers' initiations to adulthood' * Guardian *'Ellerby has pulled off that rarest of feats - written a wholly contemporary, wholly credible play that speaks of and to the generation born into the perils of social media... an extraordinary debut' * Broadway World *'Meticulously crafted writing... captures what happens to young people across the country today' * Reviews Hub *'Gripping stuff from beginning to end' * LondonTheatre1 *

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Book Synopsis‘I dunno. Like…I think I just wanna do something different, I don’t wanna do things the way everyone else is doing them but I don’t know how and I don’t know what I even mean.’ It's the middle of the night, and Peebs and Epi are the only students left at school over half-term. At the end of their night out, former step-siblings Red and Jazz try to navigate their reunion. With only a couple of hours until morning, Jaffa tries to help Keesh finish an essay. As day breaks, Wolfie is getting up the courage to confess a secret to VJ at a party. Their choices are small yet momentous. The hours are small but feel very, very long. And when the night finally ends, the future is waiting – every last bit of it. Katherine Soper's play The Small Hours was written specifically for young people. It formed part of the 2019 National Theatre Connections Festival and was premiered by youth theatres across the UK. The play offers rich opportunities for a large cast of young performers.

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Book Synopsis‘i think i’m falling in love with you’ Ella is from Yorkshire. Haseeb is from London. They order a pizza. House red for Ella. Hot chocolate for Haseeb. People and playlists. Christmas and Eid. Travelcards and Megabuses. London to Leeds. Love is more than just a game for two. Especially when there's an elephant in the room. Zia Ahmed's I Wanna Be Yours is a tender, funny, lyrical debut play about finding love and holding onto it with everything you've got. It premiered on tour of the UK in 2019, in a co-production between Paines Plough and Tamasha, including a run at the Bush Theatre, London.Trade Review'Urgently topical... the execution is exquisite' * Guardian *'Ahmed has beautifully taken what we know [the rom-com] and used it to explore a far more complex and searing relationship than I have seen onstage in a long time... nothing short of spectacular... both challenging and cosy at once' * A Younger Theatre *'A lyrical journey of connection through inner conflict... a delicious mix of humour, heartbreak and political activism' * Broadway World *'A tender romantic comedy incorporating remarkable insights into multicultural Britain... an eye-opening delight' * The Reviews Hub *'Deliciously visceral writing' * The Stage *

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Book Synopsis‘There are no miracles in this world. Only those we make for ourselves.’ It's 8 a.m. and a revolt is underway. The father is dying. The son is spying. The wife is cheating. The uncle is stealing. The mother is scheming. The dynasty is crumbling. One house. One fortune. One victor. Maxim Gorky's savagely funny play Vassa Zheleznova was first published in 1910. Mike Bartlett's adaptation, Vassa, premiered at the Almeida Theatre, London, in October 2019.Trade Review'Vivid, horribly vital and disgracefully funny' * Independent *'A savage farce about the failure of capitalism' * WhatsOnStage *

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Book Synopsis'I'm not broken. I'm a unique spark of life. We all are.' Jess has a great life: a job she loves, a sharp sense of humour and a close group of friends. When austerity threatens the world she has worked hard to build, Jess makes a stand to protect those she holds most dear. Capturing the humour, sadness and joy of everyday life, Francesca Martinez's play All of Us is a passionate and timely look at the human cost of abandoning those who struggle to fit in. It premiered at the National Theatre, London, in August 2022, in a production directed by Ian Rickson, with an ensemble cast featuring Francesca Martinez in the role of Jess. It was shortlisted for the 2022 George Devine Award.Trade Review'Urgent, funny and intensely moving... this play makes us consider people from every angle... it demands we build a society where we can truly see and value one another. Its insistence on radical empathy shines bright' * Guardian *'Illuminating and rage-filled... alternately entertaining and hard-hitting, with many laugh-out-loud lines... a compelling piece of work, in which a huge and theatrically under-represented sector of the British population takes centre stage' * Evening Standard *'Powerful and poignant... wittily dismantles preconceptions about life with disability... a call to action that fizzes with rage and protest' * The Stage *'Shines a light on the inequality and prejudice that people living with disabilities in our society are facing... the experiences of living with a disability are given great nuance and remarkably intimate detail... breathtakingly poignant' * WhatsOnStage *'Witty and moving, with sparky humour and raw anger' * Telegraph *'Harnesses theatre's unique power to affect the emotions viscerally, to shake the complacency out of us, to upset us and anger us. Martinez's play does that and powerfully so' * Broadway World *'Both gut-wrenchingly serious and hilariously funny... a cry from the heart and a stimulating piece of theatre' * British Theatre Guide *'Immensely moving and emotionally raw... shines a light on the complex, challenging and joy-filled lives of modern disabled people' * Culture Whisper *'Deeply committed and compassionate... gloriously tender and funny' * Arts Desk *'Startling, sparkling, revelatory' * Observer *

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Book Synopsis'My mother seduced a man so successfully that he altered the constitutional history of this country.' Elizabeth I is the only unmarried woman to have ever ruled England. And she reigned for forty-four years. Mastermind. Seductress. Survivor. Created by award-winning writer Ella Hickson and director Natalie Abrahami, Swive [Elizabeth] shines a light on the ways and means by which women in power negotiate patriarchal pressure in order to get their way. It premiered in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare's Globe, London, in December 2019.Trade Review'A potent study of women, power and patriarchy... Hickson writes with her usual mix of wit, intelligence, empathy and a metallic clarity of thought, interlacing history with anachronism to show how the pressure that women face to attach themselves to a man – or else mark themselves as 'other' – remains little changed' * The Stage *'Clever, funny and indignant... shifts between grimly gleeful anachronism and a historical empathy, to expose the nerve endings of another era... hugely stimulating' * Independent *'A murderously intense drama... there is something of Sarah Kane's stark ferocity to this savage play about Elizabeth I's rise to power... a searing 90 minutes that deals with history you'll probably know, from angles you might not' * Time Out *'Draws you in with its irreverent tone and forays into anachronistic dialogue... this sharp and witty play is the boost women desperately need, and is guaranteed to stoke the fire that blazes within' * Broadway World *'A finely constructed piece of theatre and fitting tribute to a monarch who was never openly celebrated in the words of the immortal bard' * BritishTheatre.com *

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Book SynopsisIt's 1975. The Millgarth Incident Room in Leeds is the epicentre of the biggest manhunt in British history, for one of the most notorious serial killers: the Yorkshire Ripper. With public and political pressure mounting, hundreds of officers must work around the clock and resort to increasingly audacious attempts to end one man's campaign of terror. Olivia Hirst and David Byrne's 'beautifully crafted' (Guardian) play goes behind the scenes to investigate the case that nearly broke the British police force. The Incident Room was first performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2019, transferring to New Diorama Theatre, London, in 2020, ahead of an Off-Broadway run.Trade Review'The ingenuity of this piece is that it gives you a pacey, clock-ticking sense of what things were like' * Telegraph *'An utterly compelling, imaginative portrayal of failure and guilt... takes the expectations of the police drama and the true crime genre, and reveals far deeper, more uncomfortable truths within' * The Reviews Hub *'Tense and chilling' * Daily Mail *'A finely tuned script... an engrossing piece of theatre' * British Theatre Guide *'Completely compelling to watch… intelligent, imaginative and, most of all, damn interesting' * The Stage *'An absorbing and emotive play with real heart, and plenty of unexpected humour' * Everything Theatre *'Has the quick, zingy dialogue that you'd expect from a cop show… accentuates the people and the personalities within the police force and the victims' * Broadway World *'A superbly researched play… a fine example of docu-drama' * BritishTheatre.com *

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Book SynopsisAward winning playwright Chris Bush reimagines the Faust myth to explore what we must sacrifice to achieve greatness, and the legacy that we leave behind. Faustus: That Damned Woman is a radical new work in which the iconic character of Faustus becomes a woman who makes the ultimate sacrifice in order to traverse centuries and change the course of history. It is premiered at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in January 2020, in a co production with Headlong and Birmingham Repertory Theatre, prior to a UK tour. An epic, ambitious, gothic, baroque fever dream of a piece that takes a well known classic and inverts it to say something truthful about the contemporary female experience.Trade Review'Original, ambitious and fantastically revisionist' * Guardian *'With a ruggedly lyrical style, the writing echoes and counterpoints Marlowe's original play but Bush takes the story in exciting new directions... lively and engaging, peppered with humour... an entertaining, lucid piece of storytelling which bursts with ideas and speculation' * BritishTheatre.com *'A re-examination of the most famous pact in world literature from a female slant… rich with ideas... Bush's writing abounds with flair and rhythm' * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisTwo thousand years ago, the Roman poet Ovid gave voice to a group of inspirational women – queens, sorcerers, pioneers, poets and politicians – in a series of fictional letters called The Heroines. They were the women left in the wake of those swaggering heroes of classical mythology: Theseus, Hercules, Ulysses, Jason, Achilles… Now, drawing inspiration from Ovid, fifteen leading female and non-binary British playwrights dramatise the lives of these fifteen heroines in a series of new monologues for the twenty-first century. 15 Heroines was commissioned by Jermyn Street Theatre, London, and first performed – online and in three parts – in November 2020, presented in partnership with Digital Theatre. This edition of all fifteen monologues is introduced by directors – Adjoa Andoh, Tom Littler and Cat Robey – and writer, broadcaster and classicist Natalie Haynes. The War tells the untold stories of the Trojan War: Oenone, Hermione, Laodamia, Briseis and Penelope, written by Lettie Precious, Sabrina Mahfouz, Charlotte Jones, Abi Zakarian and Hannah Khalil. The Desert is about women going their own way: Deianaria, Canace, Hypermestra, Dido and Sappho, written by April De Angelis, Isley Lynn, Chinonyerem Odimba, Stella Duffy and Lorna French. The Labyrinth is about the women who encountered Jason and Theseus: Ariadne, Phaedra, Phyllis, Hypsipyle and Medea, written by Bryony Lavery, Timberlake Wertenbaker, Samantha Ellis, Natalie Haynes and Juliet Gilkes Romero.Trade Review'A triumphant re-voicing of famous tales' * Observer *'Compelling... sometimes funny, often moving, this is a phenomenal collection of monologues' * BritishTheatre.com *'Urgent, engaging and beautifully written... it works as individual segments, as themed collections, or as one full project' * Broadway World *'What stands out above all else is the quality of the writing' * Guardian *'Brilliant and hilarious... these heroines are resurrected with wit, imagination and verve' * The Stage *'Revisionist and unapologetic, this new appraisal of Ovid’s work is very timely... it is the psychological insight that makes this so watchable. By taking ownership of their stories, these women speak for themselves' * The Reviews Hub *'Ambitious and artfully entertaining, 15 Heroines refuses to allow these women to be relegated to the footnotes... the pleasure is that we have so seldom heard these versions before' * Lyn Gardner, Stagedoor *

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Book SynopsisWhen an unhappy estate agent sells a house to Alice, a charismatic social media influencer, the two strike up an unlikely friendship. But as her obsession with Alice's seemingly perfect world intensifies, the lines between online and reality become dangerously blurred. A thrilling, twisted and razor-sharp comedy on the corrosive effects of social media and isolation, Phoebe Eclair-Powell's play Harm premiered at the Bush Theatre, London, in May 2021.Trade Review'An edgy psychological drama... shines a light on aspects of what is becoming an increasingly virtual society, especially for those in their 20s and 30s, obsessed with image and success beyond the point of reason' * British Theatre Guide *'Phoebe Eclair-Powell's razor-sharp monologue about social media toxicity and trolling... Tense, heady and full of savage laughter, it is intoxicating from beginning to end. Eclair-Powell's script glints and her barbed wit stings... Harm might be small in scale but it is magnificent in effect' * Guardian *'A devastatingly acute picture both of the loneliness of the narrator's existence – "Sometimes I don't brush my teeth before bed" – and of the glossiness of an online world where events such as cooking, or home decorating, aren't activities but opportunities to create content for an avid group of followers' * Whatsonstage *'This cracking new piece by rising talent Phoebe Eclair-Powell [is] just as effective at summoning entire worlds as any epic musical or drama' * Telegraph *'An arresting, soul-searching monologue' * The Times *'Eclair-Powell tells this terrifying tale with a beautiful blend of sharp observation and knowing humour... wonderfully original in its quirkiness... a smart and sassy study of loneliness and obsession' * Arts Desk *

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Book SynopsisFun for all the family, and fizzing with drama and magic.

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Book SynopsisMonologues are an essential part of every actor’s toolkit. Actors are required to perform monologues regularly throughout their career: preparing for drama school entry, showcasing skills for agents or auditioning for a role. Following on from the bestselling first volume (2008), this book showcases selected monologues from some of the finest modern plays by some of today’s leading contemporary playwrights. These monologues contain a diverse range of quirky and memorable characters that cross cultural and historical boundaries. The pieces are helpfully organised into age-specific groups: ‘Teens’, ‘Twenties’, ‘Thirties’ and ‘Forties plus’.Trade Review'Anyone applying to train, preparing a showcase or auditioning for a job needs a fund of good sparky monologues, and they can be quite difficult to find. So I think many people are going to be grateful to voice coach Catherine Weate who has assembled and edited two further books of modern monologues' The Stage ' - there is sufficient scope here for anyone in search of the piece to impress - I'd highly recommend these books.' Teaching Drama, Summer Term issue 2010 on Modern Monologues for Women and Modern Monologues for Men Volume 1 'The whole of Life's experiences are crafted into these scenes. They give actors an incredible choice of texts... a unique and useful resource.' Word Matters: The Journal of the Society of Teachers of Speech and DramaTable of ContentsPART ONE: TEENS BOY Shadowmouth (Meredith Oakes) 17 TIM The Loss of All Things (Chris Goode) from Sixty-Six Books: 21st-Century Writers Speak to the King James Bible 20 SOLDIER BOY Desert Boy (Mojisola Adebayo) from Mojisola Adebayo: Plays One 23 JAY Mrs Reynolds and The Ruffian (Gary Owen) 26 JORDAN Fit (Rikki Beadle-Blair) 29 MARK DNA (Dennis Kelly) 32 JAKEY Blackberry Trout Face (Laurence Wilson) 35 MOHAMMED What Fatima Did - (Atiha Sen Gupta) 39 JOE Shraddha (Natasha Langridge) 41 PART TWO: TWENTIES ALISTAIR Posh (Laura Wade) 46 DANIEL Spur of the Moment (Anya Reiss) 50 JAMES DEAN JAMES DEAN IS DEAD! (Long Live James Dean) (Jackie Skarvellis) from Hollywood Legends: 'Live' on Stage 52 SID Kurt and Sid (Roy Smiles) 54 FRANCIS One Man, Two Guvnors (Richard Bean) 56 X Untitled (Inua Ellams) 59 RYSIEK Our Class (Tadeusz Slobodzianek / Ryan Craig) 62 1 2 IKE Shalom Baby (Rikki Beadle-Blair) 65 RAY Bea (Mick Gordon) 67 E-Z Lower Ninth (Beau Willimon) 70 SCOTT Love Steals Us From Loneliness (Gary Owen) 73 DANIEL The Dark Things (Ursula Rani Sarma) 76 SAM Beardy (Tom Wells) from Sixty-Six Books: 21st-Century Writers Speak to the King James Bible 79 PART THREE: THIRTIES MECHANIC Middletown (Will Eno) 84 ANDREW In the Pipeline (Gary Owen) 87 Paul Deep Heat (Robin Soans) 90 MAX Chekhov in Hell (Dan Rebellato) 93 CURTIS We're Gonna Make You Whole (Yasmine Van Wilt) 97 DEMISSIE Zero (Chris O'Connell) 100 CHRISTOPHER Up on Roof (Richard Bean) from Bean: Plays Three 104 MICHAEL I Heart Maths (James Ley) from The Ego Plays 109 OZZY The Miracle Man (Douglas Maxwell) 112 THE OTHER I Am the Wind (Jon Fosse / Simon Stephens) 115 POZDYNYSHEV The Kreutzer Sonata (Leo Tolstoy / Nancy Harris) 121 THE COACH Behold the Coach, in a Blazer, Uninsured from Oh, the Humanity and other good intentions (Will Eno) 124 1 3 PART FOUR: FORTIES PLUS PATRICK This Other City (Daragh Carville) 128 SONGWRITER Blue Heart Afternoon (Nigel Gearing) 131 ALI Deep Heat (Robin Soans) 134 MOHAMED HAMMOUDAN The Riots (Gillian Slovo) 137 METWALI The Prophet (Hassan Abdulrazzak) 140 SANCHO Sancho: An Act of Remembrance (Paterson Joseph) 143 SEB Dandy in the Underworld (Tim Fountain) 146 PHILIP Deep Heat (Robin Soans) 149 COLONEL BARCLAY Birdsong (Sebastian Faulks / Rachel Wagstaff) 152 DR MINOR Lullabies of Broadmoor: Wilderness (Steve Hennessy) 154 ALEC Colder Than Here (Laura Wade) 157 ROTHKO Red (John Logan) 161 TONY Muswell Hill (Torben Betts) 164 COLM The Gods Weep (Dennis Kelly) 166 MALVOLIO I, Shakespeare (Tim Crouch) 169 ORSON WELLES Obediently Yours, Orson Welles (Richard France) from Hollywood Legends: 'Live' on Stage 173 GENERAL KALASHNIKOV Kalashnikov: In the Woods by the Lake (Fraser Grace) 177

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Book SynopsisBritain in 1956: the Suez Crisis. Prime Minister Anthony Eden, described by a colleague as ‘half mad baronet and half beautiful woman’, is faced with the terrible possibility of leading his country into war. His health is collapsing. His friends, colleagues and opponents, among them Hugh Gaitskell and Ian Fleming and his wife Ann, are facing crises of their own, crises of conscience and crises of the heart. Hugh Whitemore’s new play is a true epic: a suspenseful thriller, an achingly romantic love story and a fascinating examination of a flashpoint in our history which still resonates today. What is the cost of an ‘illegal’ war?Trade ReviewThis intelligent, well-ordered play stirred some bitter memories * Guardian *[A] sophisticated political thriller * Southern Daily Echo *Whitemore's concentration on the human follies and affections makes a play that will last. * Libby Purves, The Times *

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Book SynopsisUsing Voice and Movement in Therapy is a practical and imaginative guide to the way in which physical movement and the expressive use of the voice can facilitate therapy. Paul Newham examines how massage, manipulation and dance, combined with vocal expression, can alleviate certain emotional, psychosomatic and psychological symptoms. His book provides practical support for non-clinical professionals, working as group leaders and facilitators, who aim to incorporate singing and vocal expression into their working method as a means to initiate social interaction and self-empowerment.The author draws on his own professional experience to describe therapeutic techniques and exercises which he has found to be effective, illustrating these with case studies. In particular, he focuses on the benefits of voicework for use with some of the most frequently occurring emotional, psychological and psychosomatic difficulties experienced by people in expressive therapy.This is the first of three volumes which will rectify the dearth of practical information on the therapeutic use of vocal expression within psychotherapy, arts therapies and group process. The three books will form an exploration of how singing and vocal sound-making can contribute to an artistically orientated psychotherapeutic process, and will be a source of inspiration for practitioners.Trade ReviewBoth books certainly provide a wealth of interesting concepts, structured theoretical frameworks for considering movement and voicework, detailed descriptions of practical exercises and techniques and clear case studies. Readers need to be aware that Newham uses an eclectic mixture of physiological, psychological, mythological and artististic approaches in his work. Personally, I find this blend of scientific and artistic approaches to be innovative, erudite, stimulating and reassuring. Newham is a sincere and enormously able practitioner who has a unique abiliy to connect deeply linked aspects of personality and voice. Newham's books are of value to therapists already interested in the emotional release aspects of voice work with clients, and those beginning to investigate the whole field of psychotherapeutic literature. They fulfill his own goal "to be both theoretically informative and practically inspiring - there are parts of the voice movement methodology which theorists from other orientations can borrow from, adapt and utilise." -- BulletinOver the past 15 years, P. Newham has been developing a systematic methodology for using singing and vocalisation as a theraputic modality. Here he examines how massage, manipulation and dance, combined with vocal expression, can alleviate certain emotional, psychomatic and psychological symptoms. He describes therapeutic techniques and exercises which he has found to be effective, illustrating these with case studies. It's the first of a series of three volumes which concern the practical application of voice movement therapy. -- International Theatre InformationTable of ContentsIntroduction. Voice Movement Therapy - Towards an Integrated Model of Expressive Arts Therapy. 1. Spherical Space, Spherical Sound: Investigating the Environment of Inner and Outer Experience. 2. Convex and Concave: The Architecture and Acoustics of Motion and Emotion. 3. The Voice Tube: The Elementary Physical Principles of the Vocal Instrument. 4. Cycles of Sound and Movement: Structured Voice and Movement Techniques for Exploring the Self Beyond Words. 5. Pedestrian Movement, Pedestrian Sound: The Artistic Qualities Inherent in Natural Patterns of Sound and Movement. 6. The Language of the Breath: The Mechanics of Breathing and their Influence on Mind and Body. 7. Voicing the Troubled Mind: Catharsis, Creativity and Recovery. Notes. Appendix 1. The Voice Movement Therapy System of Vocal Analysis. Appendix 2. Further Information.

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Book SynopsisThese translations of "Oedipus the King", "Antigone", "Acharnians" and "Peace", are here reissued in paperback. They are written to be accessible for use in schools and for performance, and contain no Greek text.

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Book SynopsisThe gruesomely fascinating musical about the 'Demon Barber of Fleet Street', one of Sondheim's greatest hits. From the writing partnership behind A Little Night Music. Victim of a gross injustice that robbed him of his wife and child, Sweeney Todd sets about exacting a terrible revenge on society: slitting the throats of the customers who visit his barbershop. But things are getting complicated – a romance has developed with Mrs Lovett, the lady who runs the pie shop next door, and the disappearances are starting to cause concern. With the bodies piling up, Sweeney Todd hits upon a novel idea, and starts passing on his 'patrons' to his homely neighbour... Meat pie, anyone? Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's musical Sweeney Todd opened on Broadway in 1979 and in the West End in 1980. It won the Tony Award for Best Musical and Olivier Award for Best New Musical. It has since had numerous revivals as well as a film adaptation.Trade Review'A masterpiece, perhaps the last truly great American musical. This is, in short, a blood-drenched love letter you are unlikely to forget in a hurry' * Daily Telegraph *'Sondheim has been inching closer and closer to pure opera, and Sweeney Todd is the closest he's come yet' * Newsweek *

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Book SynopsisDrama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price Aeschylus' great trilogy of Greek tragedies about the end of the curse on the House of Atreus, The Oresteia comprises Agamemnon, Choephori (Libation-Bearers) and Eumenides (The Furies). A fourth play, Proteus, originally formed part of a tetralogy, but has not survived. The trilogy was first performed at the Dionysia festival in Athens in 458 BC, where it won first prize. This English version of The Oresteia, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is translated and introduced by Marianne McDonald and J. Michael Walton.

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Book SynopsisTerence Rattigan’s After the Dance is a brilliant attack on the hedonistic lifestyle of the ‘bright young things’ of the 1920s and 30s. David is a high-living, hard-drinking, successful writer involved with two women: his wife Joan and an earnest-minded younger woman, Helen. When Joan commits suicide, David considers following her, but instead returns to a life of parties and drinking. After the Dance was first produced at the St James’s Theatre, London, in June l939. It signalled a more serious direction in Rattigan's writing after the relative frivolity of the hugely successful French Without Tears. It opened to euphoric reviews, but only a month later the European crisis was darkening the national mood and audiences began to dwindle. The play was pulled in August after only sixty performances. This edition includes an authoritative introduction, biographical sketch and chronology.Trade Review'One of the supreme dramatists of the 20th century' * Guardian *'A harrowing critique of a period of heedless frivolity and a dazzling reminder of the strengths of Rattigan’s writing' * Evening Standard *'A great and wonderful revelation... combines superb social comedy with shafts of powerful emotion' * Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisA smouldering political allegory about a political protest in a country ruled by a military junta. From the author of Death and the Maiden, written in collaboration with Tony Kushner, author of Angels in America. In a war-torn village the men have disappeared. The women – their mothers, wives, daughters – wait by the river, hope and mourn. Their anguish is unspoken until bruised and broken bodies begin being washed up on the banks and the women defy the military in the only form of protest left to them. Ariel Dorfman’s play Widows is based on his 1983 novel of the same name. The play was first presented by the Traverse Theatre Company at the Cambridge Arts Theatre in March 1997. (An earlier version of the play was first performed at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles in July 1991).Trade Review'A remarkable attempt to dramatise in a semi-mythical way the consequences of the recent appalling abuses of human rights' * Independent on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisDrama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price A classic comedy of manners, ridiculing affectation and pretentiousness. Joseph Surface is apparently a model citizen; his brother Charles is a dissolute wastrel. But when the schemings of the scandalmongers go awry, the reverse is shown to be true. Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play The School for Scandal was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre in 1777. This edition, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is edited and introduced by Colin Counsell.

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Book SynopsisDrama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price A rumbustious Elizabethan comedy featuring identity fraud, love triangles and a marriage proposal disguised as a shoe fitting. Thomas Dekker's play The Shoemaker's Holiday was first staged in London in 1599. This edition of the play, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is edited and introduced by Peter J. Smith.

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Book SynopsisSix funny and perceptive monologues about the stresses of modern female life. Meryl Davenport – A mother who tells the story of her non-stop day in a rapid-fire internal monologue. Tiggy Entwhistle – A cactus lover bravely attempting to rise above her relationship crisis. Mary O'Donnell – A feisty teenage schoolgirl competing in a talent quest. Theresa McTerry – An increasingly disillusioned bride on her wedding day. Winsome Webster – A widow with an appetite for the unexpected. Zoe Struthers – An American cabaret singer who's had her fair share of personal problems. Joanna Murray-Smith's play Bombshells was first performed by Caroline O'Connor at the Fairfax Theatre, Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne, Australia, in December 2001. It was revived at the same venue in 2004, transferring to the York Theatre in Sydney in April 2004. A reduced version consisting of four monologues was performed by Caroline O'Connor as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe at the Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh, in 2004. This production – now consisting of all six monologues – transferred to the Arts Theatre in the West End in September 2004.Trade Review'Jaw-droppingly good' * Sunday Times *'A rare combination of comedy, truth and rapture' * Guardian *'Little gems, as observant as anything in Alan Bennett's Talking Heads... Beautifully judged in their mixture of comedy and depression' * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisAn adaptation for the stage of this modern children's classic by the best-selling author and 2005 Children's Laureate. For her history project, Charlie hits on the idea of writing the diary of Lottie, a young Victorian serving girl. When Charlie's mother loses her job as a shop manageress and starts work as a cleaner, Charlie's previously happy and comfortable lifestyle is threatened, and she finds her own hardships and struggles are not so different from Lottie's. First staged at the Polka Children's Theatre in 1999, this adaptation is suitable for young actors as well as young audiences. The adapter, Vicky Ireland, has provided production notes to indicate how the play can be staged even with minimal resources - plus a lot of ingenuity! 'Vicky has adapted a handful of my books for the stage. I hope she works her magic on many more to come!' - Jacqueline WilsonTrade Review'Both thought provoking and very funny, while giving a young audience a real sense of what it feels like to be a Victorian' * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisThe story of a young boy's fantastic adventure after being washed up on a Pacific island – adapted for the stage by acclaimed dramatist Stuart Paterson from the best-selling novel by Children's Laureate Michael Morpurgo. Michael embarks on a round-the-world sailing voyage with his parents, only for their dream to become a nightmare when Michael falls overboard. Washed up on an island in the Pacific populated with orang-utans, Michael soon makes a startling discovery: the island is already home to one extraordinary man, and this is Kensuke's Kingdom... Stuart Paterson's stage adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's Kensuke's Kingdom was first staged by Birmingham Stage Company in 2005.Trade Review'A brilliant touring production... I was still on a high days later' * Times Educational Supplement *'One to treasure... In this adaptation by Stuart Paterson, the story is beautifully told... I've never heard such cheering as there was at the start of the second act' * Birmingham Post *'Paterson is a quite unrivalled talent within the theatre' * Herald *

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Book SynopsisWritten by French playwright Michael Azama and translated by British playwright Nigel Gearing, Crossfire is a heartstopping play about tumbling through the checkpoint of life and death warzones everywhere and at all times.

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Book SynopsisFirst published in 1996 and now updated, this book contains plays by established New Zealand writers that were written for lunchtime theatre. They are informal one-act plays, lasting less than an hour, requiring little in the way of stage equipment and props, and suitable for a wide range of audiences. Their condensed form gave their authors an opportunity to experiment with scripting and characterization. Together, they represent a variety of perspectives and performance styles. The plays offered small "adventures in theatre" for the writer, and continue to do so for directors, performers, audiences and readers.

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Book SynopsisThis is an anthology of seven contemporary Israeli plays, written by established and emerging Israeli playwrights and theatre creators. The collection offers a look into the variety of Israeli drama, theatre, and performance, reflecting central questions of identity in Israeli society. The anthology will include a substantive introduction discussing the theatrical contexts of the plays and some of the major issues that Israeli society deals with nowadays, an overview of the dramatic and theatrical work of the playwrights and an analysis of the plays.Joshua Sobol's "Wanderers" is a reconstruction of the life story of an Israeli double agent who goes through an identity crisis; Hanoch Levin's "Walking in the Dark" is an existentialist play about the Walking Man who takes a late-night walk in the city, unable to decide whether to visit his sick mother or not (the city and the night turn into the endless space of the mind; and, Yossefa Even-Shoshan's "The Maiden of Ludmir" examines the place of women within orthodox texts and social structures.Taher Najib's "In Spitting Distance" tells the story of an actor who lives in the West Bank but holds an Israeli passport and tries to fly from Paris to Tel Aviv one year after 9/11; Tamir Greenberg's "Hebron" depicts the mythic scale of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; Ruth Kanner's "Disgust" is a documentary performance and search into the personal and social concept of 'disgust' and is based on interviews with passersby; and Tamar Raban and Guy Gutman's "Old Wives' Tales" is a performance piece that takes place in a real yet fictional patisserie. Hanoch Levin (d.1999) is one of Israel's most worldly renown and influential playwrights, Joshua Sobol is one of Israel's world-acclaimed and senior playwrights, Tamir Greenberg is a well-known poet, Yossefa Even-Shoshan is an innovative feminist playwright, Taher Najib is an actor and a playwright, Ruth Kanner is one of Israel's leading experimental stage directors, Tamar Raban is leading performance artist and theatre creator, and Guy Gutman is a director and sound and stage designer.Table of ContentsI. Identities In/SidesJoshua Sobol, Wanderers Yossefa Even Shoshan, The Maiden of Ludmir Taher Najib, In Spitting Distance II. Mythic LandscapesHanoch Levin, Walking in the Dark Tamir Greenberg, Hebron III. Inside Out: Performance on the ThresholdRuth Kanner, Disgust Tamar Raban and Guy Gutman, Old Wives' Tales

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Book SynopsisAbridged specifically for all those interested in Shakespeare's plays, especially teachers and students of English and drama, these one-hour performance scripts maintain the arcs of Shakespeare's plots without compromising the integrity of his original language. What remains are manageable performance texts and the essential elements needed for an introduction to three of Shakespeare's most popular plays.Trade Review'Matthew Jenkinson's careful alterations of some of Shakespeare's most important history plays may give us less than 50% of each play's lines, but they convey far more than that percentage of each play's theatrical power. Moreover, they belong 100% to the highest traditions of both teaching and performing Shakespeare's plays.'; Professor Michael Dobson, Director of the Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Professor of Shakespeare Studies, University of Birmingham

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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