Plays, playscripts, drama

Book SynopsisFifteen years ago Una and Ray had a relationship.They haven''t set eyes on each other since.Now, years later, she''s found him again.Blackbird premiered at King''s Theatre as part of the Edinburgh International Festival, in August 2005, and transferred to the Albery Theatre in London''s West End in 2006. The production received the 2007 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play. In 2007, the play opened simultaneously at the Manhattan Theater Club in New York and and at American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco.

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.We are not wholly bad or good, who live our lives under Milk Wood.On a dark moonless night in spring, the seaside town of Llareggub sleeps. Dreams of hope and heartache unfurl, revealing the innermost desires and fears of its inhabitants. But when morning arrives, the chaotic muddle of everyday life begins again: the hardships, the gossip, the quarrels, the moments of tenderness and love, all intertwined in a spectacular chorus of voices.A much loved and celebrated modern classic, Dylan Thomas originally wrote Under Milk Wood as a radio drama and it was first broadcast by the BBC in 1954. Since then, Thomas's masterful and humorous depiction of his characters continues to entertain and resonate with readers today.

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Book SynopsisThis volume contains the complete collection of Sarah Kane's plays, including "Blasted"; "Phaedra's Love"; "Cleansed"; "Crave"; "4.48 Psychosis"; and "Skin".Table of ContentsBlasted; Phaedra's Love; Cleansed; Crave; 4.48 Psychosis; Skin

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Book SynopsisStanley Webber is visited in his boarding house by strangers, Goldberg and McCann. An innocent-seeming birthday party for Stanley turns into a nightmare.The Birthday Party was first performed in 1958 and is now a modern classic, produced and studied throughout the world.

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Book SynopsisSimon Weinberg is dead. And, on a November morning, six people gather at his funeral - brothers and a sister, lovers and in-laws. Mourning allows them a special privilege and, for a few hours, they are isolated in another world under a lingering sun, in the shadow of the deceased.Written by the winner of the award-winning Art, Conversations after a Burial is a savage but richly comic play which explores that ineffable moment of mourning, when the newly deceased is still almost palpable, the moment in which one can maintain the memory of a breath, the intense pause between absence and the return to everyday existence, between loss and life.

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Book SynopsisWhen an invitation to The Ball arrives at the Ash girl''s house, from Prince Amir, she can''t bring herself to believe that she, like her sisters, can go. With her mother dead and her father away, she must learn to fight the monsters that have slithered and insinuated their way into her heart and mind. In this wondrous drama Timberlake Wertenbaker explores the beauty and terror inherent in growing up.The Ash Girl premiered at Birmingham Rep in 2001.

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

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

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Book SynopsisI'm older now. I'm stronger. How do you know I haven't sorted out some natural equilibrium all on my own? Maybe we should try it, just for a bit. Diagnosed with a severe mental illness as a child, Anna was prescribed a cocktail of pills. Now a young adult, in her first serious relationship and about to go to university, she's wondering how life might feel without them. But as she tries to move beyond the labels that have defined her, her mother feels compelled to intervene - threatening the fragile balance they have both fought so hard to maintain. Winner of a Judges' Award at the 2015 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, Kendall Feaver's The Almighty Sometimes premiered at the Royal Exchange, Manchester, in February 2018. The play received the the UK Theatre Award for Best New Play at 2018.

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Book SynopsisThe dramatization of Sir Thomas More's historic conflict with Henry VIII—a compelling portrait of a courageous man who died for his convictions and a modern classic  that challenges the mind, and, in the end, touches the heart (New York Times).Sir Thomas More—the brilliant nobleman, lawyer, humanist, author of such works as Utopia—was a long-time friend and favorite of Henry VIII, ascending to the position of Lord Chancellor in 1529. Yet he was also a staunch Catholic, and when Henry broke with the Church in 1531 after the Pope had refused to grant him a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, More resigned the Chancellorship. In 1534, Parliament passed a bill requiring all subjects to take an oath acknowledging the supremacy of England's king over all foreign sovereigns—including the Pope. More refused, was imprisoned, and finally was executed in 1535.

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Book SynopsisSharp and funny. Gunderson taps into a buoyant spirit ... the touching ''barbaric yawp'' (Whitman''s phrase) of these two deeply engaging kids. The Washington PostHousebound by illness, Caroline hasn't been to school in months. Confined to her room, she has only social media for company. That is until classmate Anthony bursts in uninvited and armed with waffle fries, a scruffy copy of Walt Whitman's poetry and a school project due the next dayCaroline is unimpressed, but an unlikely friendship develops and a seemingly mundane piece of homework starts to reveal the pair's hopes and dreams - as well as a deep and mysterious bond that connects them even further.Finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, 2014. This new Modern Classics edition features an introduction by Julie Felise Dubiner.Trade ReviewSharp and funny. Gunderson taps into a buoyant spirit...the touching 'barbaric yawp' (Whitman's phrase) of these two deeply engaging kids. * Washington Post *The show is suffused not with the bleakness that you might expect, but with a strong sense of potential and promise. * Daily Mail *

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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 SynopsisFrances Ya-Chu Cowhig (author)is an internationally produced playwright whose work has been staged in the United Kingdom at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, Trafalgar Studios 2 [West End] and the Unicorn Theatre. In the United States her work has been staged at venues that include the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Manhattan Theater Club and the Goodman Theatre. Frances' plays have been awarded the Wasserstein Prize, the Yale Drama Series Award (selected by David Hare), an Edinburgh Fringe First Award, the David A. Callichio Award and the Keene Prize for Literature. Her plays include Lidless, The World of Extreme Happiness, Snow in Midsummer, and The King of Hell's Palace.Joshua Chambers-Letson (editor) is Professor of Performance Studies at Northwestern University. He is the author of After the Party: A Manifesto for Queer of Color Life (NYU Press, 2018) and A Race So Different: Law and PeTrade ReviewSome playwrights have a gift to amuse; Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig has a darker gift. Anyone with romantic notions of Chinese culture will be unsettled by the jagged, unsentimental portrait of modern urban China. * Chicago Reader *“Fearless, zippily-paced, and satirical, shining a light on Chinese society's necessary doublethink, be that willful blindness to the political past, or an equally blind belief in an impossibly brilliant future. * Independent (on The King of Hell's Palace) *An expansive, ambitious play about trauma and passion * The Stage (on Snow in Midsummer) *Cowhig speaks bitterness and makes us sit up and listen * Lyn Gardner The Guardian (on The World of Extreme Happiness) *Table of Contents1. Editorial Preface (Chambers-Letson) – A brief preface introducing the volume and its structure. 2. General Introduction (Mok) – An introduction to Cowhig’s work and the process behind the China Plays 3. The World of Extreme Happiness (Cowhig) 4. World Afterword (Chambers-Letson) 5. Snow in Midsummer (Cowhig) 6. Snow Afterword (Chambers-Letson) 7. The King of Hell’s Palace (Cowhig) 8. King Afterword (Chambers-Letson) 9. Transcribed Conversation w/ Cowhig, Chambers-Letson, and Mok

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Book SynopsisThis is the tale of Jonah, Sophie, and a fox called Scruffilitis. It''s a love story. A dysfunctional, voyeuristic and darkly funny love story, but a love story all the same. This new play by the Bruntwood Playwriting Prize winner Phil Porter, is an exciting collaboration between Soho Theatre - London''s most vibrant venue for new writing, comedy and cabaret - and internationally acclaimed Fringe First winners nabokov.Trade ReviewRecommended viewing for those who like their romance served with a twist. * What’s On Stage *A sad, funny and bitter-sweet delight. * The Herald *A clever love story… the mixture of feel good love story and something sadder and more disturbing is neatly handled. * Guardian *Brief, bright, exquisite. * The Scotsman *

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Book SynopsisAlmost 170 years on, Charlotte Brontë's story of the trailblazing Jane is as inspiring as ever. This bold and dynamic production uncovers one woman's fight for freedom and fulfilment on her own terms.From her beginnings as a destitute orphan, Jane Eyre's spirited heroine faces life's obstacles head-on, surviving poverty, injustice and the discovery of bitter betrayal before taking the ultimate decision to follow her heart.This inventive staging of Brontë''s masterpiece was first staged by Bristol Old Vic in 2014, when the story was performed over two evenings. Director Sally Cookson now brings her celebrated production to the National Theatre, presented as a single, exhilarating performance.Trade Review‘Even in what is fast becoming a very strong opening season from Rufus Norris at the National, Sally Cookson's staging of Jane Eyre still stands out.’ * British Theatre Guide *‘The book has been filleted cleverly… Inventive, moving and at times unexpectedly funny, this is an admirable piece of devised theatre.’ * The Express *‘clever, touching, minimalist yet expansive… makes you see entire new possibilities in theatre. I recommend it with a roar’ * Daily Mail ????? *‘Cookson and her company stripped Charlotte Brontë's novel down to its bones; what was left was plot and emotion… the magic, the passion, the raw pain is allowed to remain intact.’ * Culture Whisper *‘Newcomers and Brontë-holics alike will be gripped, amused and moved by a boldly theatrical show.’ * The Times *‘Sally Cookson’s production is full of wit, resource and invention.’ * Michael Billington, Guardian *'This is a production full of intelligent detail... Original, engaging and unexpectedly funny... an adaptation that Charlotte Bronte herself might have approved.' * Telegraph *‘A continually absorbing achievement.’ * Telegraph *‘A remarkable performance of startling modernity and unaffected honesty.’ * Guardian *‘A vivid two-part adaptation that combines powerful drama and unexpected humour.’ * Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisAndrew Gurr is Professor of English at Reading University.

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Book SynopsisMother Courage is usually regarded as Brecht's masterpiece and remains to this day an epic indictment of the brutality of war. This translation by world-famous playwright Tony Kushner is spirited, lively and accessible for a modern audience. National Theatre production September 2009.Trade Review'Tony Kushner's sparky new translation' Michael Billington, Guardian, 27.9.09 'Tony Kushner's bouncy new translation of Brecht's greatest play' Paul Taylor, Independent, 29.9.09 'The translation, by American playwright Tony Kushner, is fast-moving, articulate, and reaches the heart of Brecht's reasonings' Paul Callan, Daily Express, 28.9.09 'Tony Kushner's wry, witty translation' Fiona Mountford, Evening Standard, 28.9.09 'Tony Kushner's translation is zesty' Kate Bassett, Independent on Sunday, 4.10.09

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Book SynopsisThe Methuen Drama Student Edition of Twelve Angry Men is the first critical edition of Reginald Rose's play, providing the play text alongside commentary and notes geared towards student readers.In New York, 1954, a man is dead and the life of another is at stake. A ''guilty'' verdict seems a foregone conclusion, but one member of the jury has the will to probe more deeply into the evidence and the courage to confront the ignorance and prejudice of some of his fellow jurors. The conflict that follows is fierce and passionate, cutting straight to the heart of the issues of civil liberties and social justice. Ideal for the student reader, the accompanying pedagogical notes include elements such as an author chronology; plot summary; suggested further reading; explanatory endnotes; and questions for further study. The introduction discusses in detail the play''s origins as a 1954 American television play, Rose''s re-working of the piece for the stage, and Lumet''s 1957 film versiTrade ReviewIt's not hard to recognise contemporary universal parallels in Rose's play. . . . At the play's heart is a noble belief that truth, justice and the American way are still ideals to aspire to, however much they may sometimes be corrupted. * Herald *Reginald Rose's classic mid-20th-century American drama . . . built around the relentlessly powerful story of a lone juror in a New York murder case * Scotsman *Table of ContentsCHRONOLOGY PLOT COMMENTARY The television play (1954) The stage version (1955) The film version (1957) Genre Characters Social and political context Later productions and critical reception FURTHER READING PLAY TEXT NOTES QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY

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Book Synopsis'I have caused what might soon be a global situation because you've stopped thinking people like me are worth hearing.' Is something incredible happening in Merthyr? Sixteen-year-old Carys claims to have received the stigmata: Christ's wounds from the Cross. Are her wounds a sign from God? Carys thinks so – she wants to tell the world and demands to be heard. Siân, her teacher, is not so sure, and believes silencing Carys will keep her safe. But can she make sense of what is happening to her student? Lisa Parry's play The Merthyr Stigmatist is a fierce and exhilarating exploration of faith and truth, a hymn to community, and a testament to the power of young people. The play was shortlisted for the inaugural Theatre Uncut Political Playwriting Award, and first presented online in 2021, as a co-production between Sherman Theatre, Cardiff, and Theatre Uncut.Trade Review'Lisa Parry’s taut and stirring two-hander about faith and community in Merthyr Tydfil... deeply moving... feels like its own little miracle' * Guardian *'Stylish, tense and taut... a searing two-hander' * The Stage *'A piercing authenticity... a clear-eyed and compelling dissection of where religion meets politics... profoundly moving' * Exeunt Magazine *'An urgent and contemporary voice' * Theatre Weekly *

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Book Synopsis'I'd get freaked out here, alone in the dark. Wondering what's lurking at the bottom of the bed, ready to grab your feet.' Jenny and Sam – and their baby Phoebe – have recently moved into their new home. But something feels frightening and wrong. Very wrong. Over the baby monitor, at 2:22 every night, Jenny hears footsteps around her daughter's cot. Could the house be haunted? When their friends Lauren and Ben come round for a housewarming dinner, they drink wine, relive their pasts, and argue about the existence of ghosts. They decide to stay up until 2:22, to discover the truth. Over one adrenaline-filled night – as the foxes scream outside – secrets will emerge and ghosts may appear… Spine-chilling, funny and scary, Danny Robins' play 2:22 was premiered at the Noël Coward Theatre in London's West End in August 2021, directed by Matthew Dunster, and starring Lily Allen, Julia Chan, Hadley Fraser and Jake Wood. It went on to win Best New Play at the 2022 WhatsOnStage Awards, and was nominated for Best New Play at the Olivier Awards. 2:22 provides rich opportunities for any drama group wanting to make things go bump in the night – and their audiences scream.Trade Review'A contemporary haunted-house chiller that smartly plays with all the old tropes and leaves the room electric with fear' * Guardian *'[A] clever, remorselessly effective supernatural thriller... I kicked myself that I didn't see the final twist coming, but it's brilliantly done. This is a superior, knowing piece of genre drama... A great, spine-tingling night out' * Evening Standard *'The mounting sense of dread is relentless... Robins – the creator of hit podcast The Battersea Poltergeist – is well-versed in what makes scary stories scary, and uses that to brilliant effect here' * Independent *'A cracking dinner party play, alive with wit and tension... the extremely cleverly worked supernatural angle keeps things fresh... a rare and precious example of a Good West End Ghost Play... [it] really does deliver' * Time Out *'A teasingly clever and deservedly lucrative spine-tingler' * Telegraph *'A gripping, clever modern ghost story that gets more intriguing as it goes along (and even after it is over)... witty as well as scary, and delivers a great punch in the final round' * Arts Desk *

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Book SynopsisSummer 1860, an elegant country house, a young boy is found dead in an outside privy. All clues point towards the murderer being a member of the grieving household. Called to the scene is the most celebrated detective of his day, Jonathan Whicher from Scotland Yard. But this case challenges him in ways he's never been challenged before. Over twenty years later, still haunted by the case, Whicher visits the murderer. As they replay the past, they start to question the nature of truth, the desire for certainty and the possibility of redemption. This compelling stage adaptation of Kate Summerscale's gripping bestseller opened at The Watermill Theatre, Newbury, in May 2023. This ensemble piece provides rich opportunities for companies looking to intrigue their audiences with a fresh take on a dark Victorian mystery. Trade Review'A true crime classic turned into a tense drama... ingeniously plotted... Kate Summerscale's Victorian potboiler is deftly condensed in a production that brings out the misogyny and class snobbery of the era' * Guardian *'Taut and magnetic... Alexandra Wood's bold adaptation turns the book's structure on its head... electric' * The Times *'An utterly transporting piece of storytelling that will keep you gripped as it carefully carries you towards its conclusion' * Broadway World *'Powerful... a wonderfully concise retelling and reexamination of the facts... The story unfolds with pleasing clarity' * WhatsOnStage *'Alexandra Wood's dramatisation for the stage intuitively captures the atmosphere of Summerscale's book... keeps the audience on its toes, piecing together fragments of the case and steering toward a remarkable conclusion... exposes the deep-seated, class-ridden misogyny of the Victorian era' * The Stage *

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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 SynopsisLynn Nottage's Intimate Apparel is a multi-award-winning play about the empowerment of a black seamstress in New York City in 1905. Esther sews exquisite lingerie for clients who range from wealthy white patrons to prostitutes. She has saved enough to allow her to dream of one day opening a beauty salon for black women, and at thirty-five years old, longs for a husband and a future. When she begins to receive beautiful letters from a lonesome Caribbean man who is working on the Panama Canal, it looks like life may be about to take a different course. Intimate Apparel was first produced by South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California, and Centerstage in Baltimore, Maryland, in 2003, winning the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play and the American Theatre Critics/Steinberg New Play Award. It received its UK premiere at the Theatre Royal Bath in 2014 before transferring to Park Theatre, London, the same year.Trade Review'Marvellous... quietly subversive, its recovery of lost lives makes this a defining piece of American drama' * Observer *'Finely wrought... [a] play tinged with love, warmth and lightness' * WhatsOnStage *'Tender, illuminating... this warm, rich, complex tale will stay in the memory for a long time to come' * The Times *'An exceptionally gifted playwright' * New York Times *'A thing of beauty' * Los Angeles Times *

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Book SynopsisHis life. In her hands. A shattering play about one woman's unspeakable decision. debbie tucker green's play hang premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in June 2015, in a production directed by the author, and featuring Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Claire Rushbrook and Shane Zaza.Trade Review'Powerfully intense... sits at the sharp end of the capital punishment question' * Guardian *'A stark 60 minutes of staccato poetry… [an] entirely absorbing drama' * Evening Standard *'Stark, probing… poised and poetic, with such pitch-black humour that laughs pop like gasps in reverse' * WhatsOnStage *'A taut, measured piece about the nature of justice and revenge… you find yourself, at the blackout, holding your breath' * The Stage *'Stunning… a fascinating, gripping piece that examines revenge, suffering and human frailties' * Huffington Post *

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Book SynopsisA play about families and particle physics. Alice is a scientist. She lives in Geneva. As the Large Hadron Collider starts up in 2008, she is embarking on the most exciting work of her life, searching for the Higgs Boson particle. Jenny is her sister. She lives in Luton. She spends a lot of time Googling. When tragedy throws them together, the collision threatens them all with chaos. Lucy Kirkwood's play Mosquitoes premiered at the National Theatre, London, in July 2017, in a production featuring Olivia Colman and Olivia Williams, and directed by Rufus Norris.Trade Review'Fascinating… Lucy Kirkwood is a dramatist of dauntless ambition' * Guardian *'This is the kind of play that makes me want to punch the air in celebration - it exudes as much energy as the protons pinging around the Large Hadron Collider… Lucy Kirkwood's real triumph here is to combine the thoughtful enquiry and large themes that marked her previous hit, the award-winning Chimerica, with a portrait of a dysfunctional family that exerts its own gravitational pull. The result is emotionally involving as well as intellectually satisfying… ranges from profoundly funny to deeply moving' * WhatsOnStage *'A fascinating and provocative work which uses science as a way of questioning our humanity… Lucy Kirkwood is a playwright who tackles giant themes with a swaggering showmanship' * Telegraph *'Wildly ambitious, often very funny… a drama of huge ideas – the need for logic and irrationality, faith and science, to co-exist together; the idea of love as a physical bond to the universe' * Time Out *'An idea-stuffed, intelligent play… Kirkwood is a writer of reach, intelligence and ambition. There’s a hunger to her work, an urge to fill her plays to brim. She knows how to spring-load a joke and can write lines of total emotional devastation' * The Stage *'A mighty new play… hugely ambitious, intelligent and affecting, and a refreshing epic powered by two women who contain multitudes' * Broadway World *'Intelligent, impassioned… examines existence through both ends of the telescope, swinging wildly between micro and macro, and injecting huge questions about science and faith, the rational and the emotional into a tough, tender family drama… exhilarating in its ambition' * The Times *

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Book SynopsisSince her debut in 2008, Lucy Kirkwood has firmly established herself as a leading playwright of her generation, the writer of a series of savagely funny, highly intelligent and beautifully observed plays that tackle the pressing issues of our times. This collection, with an introduction by the author, brings together five of her plays, starting with the wild and riotously funny farce, Tinderbox (Bush Theatre, 2008), a disturbing vision of a dystopian future where England is dissolving into the sea, realised with 'off-kilter imaginative flair' (The Times). Written for Clean Break theatre company, it felt empty when the heart went at first but it is alright now (Arcola Theatre, 2009; winner of the John Whiting Award) is a devastating report from the hidden world of Eastern European women trafficked to London to work in the sex industry. The previously unpublished small hours (Hampstead Theatre, 2011), a collaboration with Ed Hime, directed by Katie Mitchell, is an intimate dissection of the claustrophobic world of a new mother struggling to cope on her own. The sharply satirical NSFW (Royal Court, 2012) is a 'richly absorbing and inventive' (Telegraph) look at power games, privacy and gender politics in the media. The volume concludes with Chimerica (Almeida Theatre and West End, 2013), a gripping and provocative examination of the shifting balance of power between East and West. Winner of multiple awards, including the Olivier and Critics' Circle Awards for Best New Play, the Evening Standard Best Play Award and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Chimerica is 'gloriously rich and mind-expanding' (Guardian), and a 'tremendously bold piece of writing' (Evening Standard). 'Kirkwood is the most rewarding dramatist of her generation' Independent

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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 SynopsisFamily, food, music and mourning. Gloria is gravely sick. When her time comes, the celebration begins; the traditional Jamaican Nine Night Wake. But for Gloria's children and grandchildren, marking her death with a party that lasts over a week is a test. Nine nights of music, food, sharing stories - and an endless parade of mourners. Natasha Gordon's debut play Nine Night is a touching and very funny exploration of the rituals of family. It is premiered at the National Theatre in April 2018.Trade Review'A remarkable debut… Gordon has a finely tuned ear for the humour of everyday life… an eloquent vision of what it means to be haunted by the past' Evening Standard; 'Reverberates with authenticity… [has] a great warmth of characterisation' Daily Mail; 'Gordon's intense, moving play pulls the focus tightly on a mourning family, and the mingled strains and comforts that tradition offers... her humour isn't cautious: it's unafraid to poke at racism, colourism, and the insults traded as Jamaica and Britain stare each other down, across centuries of brutal and oppressive history… the play says so much about how we rely on family for validation, for confirmation of our identity, putting a weight of need onto them that they sometimes just can’t fulfil. And it points to the cathartic power of ritual, too, in a culture whose burial rites are miles away from traditional England’s sad, grey funeral teas' Time Out; 'Sharp and snappy… an undeniably important piece that both celebrates and gives a voice to the Windrush generation and its descendants living in Britain today' Broadway World; 'The beauty of Nine Night is in the ordinariness of it. The mainstream delivery of black stories is often – too often – overtly political. Brutalised bodies and violent racism is disturbingly normalised in black British theatre. But what we have here is a pure tale about a regular family, dealing with a regular fact of life. This play is a gift, and you’d do well to go and receive it' The Stage

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Book SynopsisThis edition is the prescribed text for the English Mastery Secondary programme. Hortense yearns for a new life away from rural Jamaica, Gilbert dreams of becoming a lawyer, and Queenie longs to escape her Lincolnshire roots. In these three intimately connected stories, hope and humanity meet stubborn reality, tracing the tangled history of Jamaica and Britain. Andrea Levy's epic novel Small Island, adapted for the stage by Helen Edmundson, journeys from Jamaica to Britain in 1948 – the year that HMT Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury. It premiered at the National Theatre, London, in April 2019, directed by Rufus Norris. 'Honest, skilful, thoughtful and important. This is Andrea Levy's big book' Guardian on Andrea Levy's Small IslandTrade Review'A landmark in the National Theatre's history: a tumultuous epic about first-generation Jamaican immigrants... skilfully adapted... one of the most important plays of the year' * Guardian *'In this inspiring adaptation, which compresses the book into a gripping three-hour state-of-the-nation epic, Small Island has found its ideal home... the show acknowledges struggle and strife on all sides, flies the flag for compassion and achieves a hard-won (and still to be fought for) inclusivity' * Telegraph *'A passionate engagement with the past that's sure to resonate with audiences at a time when the very idea of Britain is under such fierce scrutiny' * Evening Standard *'This is a show that shoots arrows of empathy and engagement out towards its audience and they respond... from a novel dealing with the past [comes] a play for today' * WhatsOnStage *'A moving stage adaptation of the late Andrea Levy's great novel about the Windrush generation... Edmundson does some supreme work compacting a sprawling book into a pacy three-hours-ten-minutes - she has a knack for skilfully distilling story... a ferociously entertaining three hours of theatre' * Time Out *'Beautifully translated to stage by adaptor Helen Edmundson, using thrilling theatrical solutions to honour Levy's epic - and still urgent - tale... a stirring spectacle that never loses sight of the people at its heart' * Broadway World *

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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 Synopsis‘My name is D’Artagnan, musketeer to King Louis the Thirteenth, defender of the Queen’s diamonds, and the man you tried to poison in that bar.’ When the young and naive D'Artagnan sets out on his quest to become a King's musketeer, he immediately encounters the dangerous femme fatale, Milady de Winter. After discovering that the musketeers have been disbanded, he makes it his mission to get them reinstated. But will his feud with Milady thwart him? And who the heck is she? This riotous adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' classic novel by John Nicholson (Hound of the Baskervilles, Peepolykus) was originally performed by physical-comedy theatre company Le Navet Bete on a UK tour in 2019, with four actors playing over thirty characters. It was co-produced by Le Navet Bete and Exeter Northcott Theatre. The Three Musketeers will suit any theatre company or drama group looking for a funny, high-energy adaptation of a universally loved story, which is suitable for audiences of all ages. Swashbuckling and rollicking adventure guaranteed – convincing French accents, not so much.Trade Review'Utterly hilarious and heartfelt' * The Reviews Hub *'A beautifully realised piece of work... enormous fun and full of quirkiness... a joyful, slightly bonkers, artistically clever and accomplished piece of theatre... a visual and aural feast' * ReviewsGate *'An enthusiastic riot of dad jokes, dodgy accents and gleeful gallivanting' * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisA mysterious accident. A dead husband. People are talking. Secrets are resurfacing from the depths. Is the past ever truly dead? Beiv, a celebrated artist, has moved from suburban Dublin to her holiday cottage on an island off the coast of West Cork. But a dark shadow from the past hangs over her. When her estranged son and his new young wife arrive to stay, she is faced with some difficult questions. Nancy Harris's play The Beacon was premiered at the Town Hall Theatre, Galway, in September 2019 before transferring to the Gate Theatre, Dublin, as part of the 2019 Dublin Theatre Festival, in a co-production between Druid and the Gate, directed by Garry Hynes.Trade Review'Teasingly clever... Using elements of a murder mystery, Harris probes into secrets and lies, making acute observations about complex relationships' * Guardian *'Absorbing, intelligent and grimly funny' * Irish Times *'Sharp as a stiletto' * Independent.ie *

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Book SynopsisTwo plays, both set in contemporary inner-city London, showcasing the remarkable poetic and theatrical imagination of writer/performer Arinzé Kene. Little Baby Jesus is a lyrical triptych of three intertwining, colliding monologues about the life-changing moments when three young people 'grew up'. Joanne is dipped in rudeness, rolled in attitude and is fighting to keep her life afloat. Sensitive and mature he may be, yet Kehinde struggles with an obsession for mixed-race girls as he eyes his place on the social ladder. Rugrat is the class clown and playground loudmouth, and just wants to make it past GCSEs. Estate Walls is the story of Obi, a young writer who dreams of leaving his estate, but with bad boys Myles and Cain for best friends, there are bound to be setbacks… Both plays premiered at Ovalhouse Theatre in south London, directed by Ché Walker, with Estate Walls winning Arinzé the Most Promising Playwright at the Offies (Off West End Theatre Awards) in 2011. Little Baby Jesus was revived at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, in 2019, directed by winner of the JMK Young Director Award Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu.Trade Review'An intense, visceral and vivid portrayal of the often-brutal reality of growing up. It feels starkly authentic and cruel, whilst at times is wildly funny and is all the more appealing for it' * Broadway World on Little Baby Jesus *'A huge groundswell of hormones, mistakes, loneliness and searching. You feel, emotionally, like you know the story and care about these three teenagers and that is why Arinzé Kene is brilliant' * Time Out on Little Baby Jesus *'The great joy of the play springs from Kene's sharp-eyed, witty observations and the lyricism of his descriptive writing... moves from hysterically funny to tear-jerkingly moving in an instant, with comedy, harsh reality and allegory fitting together seamlessly... rides the highs and lows of the years of teenage discovery and arrives assuredly at a life affirming destination' * The Reviews Hub on Little Baby Jesus *'Here is a play that will be racing through you, making you laugh and think, long after you've left the theatre... a genre-defying theatrical hybrid – a thrilling combination of performance poetry, standup comedy and good old-fashioned storytelling' * Guardian on Little Baby Jesus *'Skips majestically between the epic and urban in a story that would feel as comfortable set against a Grecian palace as it does the grimy city wall of its title... Kene's eclectic dialogue is a pleasure to listen to, jumping from poetic to pithy and back again with remarkable ease' * Theatre Workbook on Estate Walls *'Witty and intelligent... deftly captures and magnifies the poetry of everyday conversation on an estate' * Soul Culture on Estate Walls *

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Book SynopsisOne life in the hands of 12 women. Rural Suffolk, 1759. As the country waits for Halley's comet, Sally Poppy is sentenced to hang for a heinous murder. When she claims to be pregnant, a jury of 12 matrons are taken from their housework to decide whether she's telling the truth, or simply trying to escape the noose. With only midwife Lizzy Luke prepared to defend the girl, and a mob baying for blood outside, the matrons wrestle with their new authority, and the devil in their midst. The Welkin premiered at the National Theatre, London, in 2020, directed by James Macdonald and featuring Maxine Peake and Ria Zmitrowicz. Lucy Kirkwood's other plays include Mosquitoes, The Children, Chimerica (winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Play, the Evening Standard Best Play Award, the Critics' Circle Best New Play Award, and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize), NSFW and it felt empty when the heart went at first but it is alright now.Trade Review'A superb new history play - a feminist courtroom drama that's equal parts Twelve Angry Men, The Crucible and The Vagina Monologues, plus a dash of searing, up-to-the-minute political and social commentary... a warm, humane and very funny piece, firmly anchored in women's everyday experience' Broadway World; 'Brilliant, brave, bold and intelligent theatre. It is, for all the seriousness of its subject, often very funny yet at the close, profoundly moving' WhatsOnStage; 'A mighty play: magnificent in its scope, depth and intricacy... a wise, funny, richly intelligent and generously ambitious play that asks, as all good history plays do, how far have we really come?' Financial Times; 'Dazzles with its examination of the big, immovable structures that inflict violence on women... there is so much richness in its visual imagination' Guardian 'Ungoverned, furious, larky, layered... sheer, gutsy audacity' Evening Standard

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Book SynopsisThe last work from one of the twentieth century's most significant writers, continuing the semi-autobiographical cycle centring on the Tyrone family started by Long Day's Journey into Night. James 'Jamie' Tyrone Jnr is a hard-drinking Broadway playboy, trying to blot out his painful memories of the past by indulging his craven self-destructive streak. One day he finds that he has wandered to the home of his salty tenant-farmer Phil Hogan; and Hogan's lusty, jaded daughter Josie. Under the Connecticut moon, Jamie and Josie find something in each other they never knew existed – though it is only when he passes out dead drunk that Josie can really touch him. But will he still be there when the moon goes? Eugene O'Neill's play A Moon for the Misbegotten had its world premiere at the Hartman Theatre in Columbus, Ohio, in 1947. It premiered on Broadway in 1957. This edition of the play includes a full introduction, biographical sketch and chronology.Trade Review'Eugene O'Neill is arguably the greatest of American playwrights... this play is a work of shattering genius' * Independent *'A scorching play about the eternal American theme of reality and illusion... that rarest of theatrical treats: an evening of raw, powerful emotion' * Guardian *'Tremendous, often shatteringly powerful... wrenches the heart like few other 20th-century dramas' * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisA brilliant and unsettling play from one of the UK's leading dramatists. At the opening of the play, a young girl is questioning her aunt about having seen her uncle hitting people with an iron bar; by the end, several years later, the whole world is at war - including birds and animals. Caryl Churchill's play Far Away is a howl of anguish at the increasing – and increasingly accepted – levels of inhumanity in a world seemingly perpetually involved in conflict. The play was first performed at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, London, in November 2000.Trade Review'Conjures a devastatingly bleak dystopia... every word, every half sentence paints a picture that would make you laugh if it didn't want to make you cry... a tiny play, but an immense one. Chilling and thought-provoking' * WhatsOnStage *'A dystopia of incomprehensible proportions... a masterclass of spare theatrical writing, encompassing tense family drama, political horror story, romance as well as absurdist comedy' * A Younger Theatre *'Perhaps the ultimate fan favourite out of [Churchill's] kaleidoscopic oeuvre... revered because of how powerfully and pithily it reads on the page... a play to witness Churchill at hurricane force, savage, hilarious, totally unlike anyone else' * Time Out *'A short play, but not a small play: it's global in scope, untethered by time, part fable, part prophecy... interlaces the bucolic, the fantastical and the harrowing, pairing [Churchill's] characteristic economy with wild, imaginative flourishes... dread-filled, disturbing, and prescient' * The Stage *'A twisted fairy tale that demonstrates [Churchill's] matchless gift for merging the apocalyptic and the fantastical... brilliantly absurdist... A sliver of genius' * Independent *'Caryl Churchill was expected to produce something explosive in Far Away, but... she has exceeded the critics' highest expectations' * Observer *'You know you are in the hands of a master' * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisAlan Bennett is the author of Writing Home, The Madness of George III, Talking Heads, The Clothes They Stood Up In and much else besides. Miss Shepherd lived in a Robin Reliant opposite Bennett's house in Camden Town. After a series of attacks on her van, he suggested she move, with her van, to his front drive. Initially reluctant, she agreed - and Bennett landed himself a tenancy that went on for fifteen years. The Lady in the Van is probably Alan Bennett's best-known work of non-fiction, and follows his other little blockbuster The Clothes They Stood Up In.

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Book SynopsisSorcerer is a book in the form of a script/novel/manual about the pleasures of being with others and of being alone. Three friends hang out and share a long and unremarkable conversation about getting dressed, headaches, ticks, compression fantasies, surgery, and their aspirations, among other things. The characters find contentment in each other's company, conversing in the placid, eerie rhythms of a sitcom in which conflict never arises. When two of the friends go home for the night, the remaining one watches TV, dances, and takes apart his face in front of a giant mirror.Trade Review'Atkins and Zultanski's play redesigns the contemporary home as a machine for comedy, sadness, and anxiety. Sorcerer is a unique work of theatre and literature, beautiful and unsettling.' - Dan Fox; 'With Sorcerer, Ed Atkins and Steve Zultanski invite us 'round for an evening of conversational bricolage, word games, and mild social debarment (with grapes). We are privy to the trivial crosscut with the vital; we submit to compression fetish and sulphuric mythology; we ruminate on the merits of facial deconstruction, and most crucially of all, we are reminded once again about the awful sad joy of humanness and what it means to be alone.' - Graham Lambkin; 'Vivid on the page, Sorcerer is a surprising and compelling hallucinatory theatre text for a cast of three. In it a set of hyper-naturalistic micro-conversations are laid out in an unblinking deadpan; crisp dialogues that focus in on the body, mapping the detail of daily actions and experiences from the removal of clothing, to the acquisition of new skills, and the precise interior feeling of headaches. Atkins & Zultanski have made the score for a complex, haunting event.' - Tim Etchells; 'Sorcerer is the emphatic magic of lived-time actions. This is a dialogue between the object body and other objects, so distended and loud as to be near silent. Where each action held might also begin to corrupt, or stain, pulling too hard, tuning in and tearing out. A politics of who we are in how we are, learnt, programmed, actioned and acted.' - Ghislaine Leung; 'In this ingenious work, Zultanski and Atkins innovatively deploy both material and human gesture to paint a sad yet almost comic scenario of contemporaneity. A group of friends conduct inane conversation about subjects like how to take off your pants (with accompanying gestures), yet these people raise serious compassion in us, for they are us. Atkins and Zultanski's brand of drolly underwrought utterance show us once more that innovative device is the sine qua non of really good art.' - Gail Scott

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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