Plays, playscripts, drama

Book SynopsisNow in paperback.Euripides, the last of the three great tragedians of ancient Athens, reached the height of his renown during the disastrous Peloponnesian War, when democratic Athens was brought down by its own outsized ambitions. “Euripides,” the classicist Bernard Knox has written, “was born never to live in peace with himself and to prevent the rest of mankind from doing so.” His plays were shockers: he unmasked heroes, revealing them as foolish and savage, and he wrote about the powerless-women and children, slaves and barbarians-for whom tragedy was not so much exceptional as unending. Euripides’ plays rarely won first prize in the great democratic competitions of ancient Athens, but their combustible mixture of realism and extremism fascinated audiences throughout the Greek world. In the last days of the Peloponnesian War, Athenian prisoners held captive in far-off Sicily were said to have won their freedom by reciting snatches of Euripides’ latest tragedies.Four of those tragedies are presented here in new translations by the contemporary poet and classicist Anne Carson. They are Herakles, in which the hero swaggers home to destroy his own family; Hekabe, set after the Trojan War, in which Hektor’s widow takes vengeance on her Greek captors; Hippolytos, about love and the horror of love; and the strange tragic-comedy fable Alkestis, which tells of a husband who arranges for his wife to die in his place. The volume also contains brief introductions by Carson to each of the plays along with two remarkable framing essays: “Tragedy: A Curious Art Form” and “Why I Wrote Two Plays About Phaidra.”

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Book SynopsisPygmalion, Heartbreak House, and Saint Joan are widely considered to be three of the most important in the canon of modern British theatreTable of ContentsIntroduction Select Bibliography Chronology Pygmalion Heartbreak House Saint Joan Explanatory Notes

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Book SynopsisAll cats are alike in the dark. At the height of the Cold War, disillusioned British spy Alec Leamas is persuaded to stay out in the cold' for one last risky operation against the powerful leader of the East German Secret Service. But Leamas has committed a cardinal error: he's fallen in love. After a lifetime of deception and betrayal, can there be room for humanity in the ruthlessly manipulative world of international espionage?The first ever John le Carré novel to be adapted for the stage, this award-winning 1963 thriller has been hailed as a modern masterpiece. Leading playwright David Eldridge creates this gripping theatrical version. This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at Chichester Festival Theatre in August 2024.

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Book SynopsisA modern classic by one of Ireland''s greatest contemporary playwrights, reissued in a beautiful typographic jacket.I was born on the Bog of Cats and on the Bog of Cats I'll end me days. I've as much right to this place as any of yees, more, for it holds me to it in ways it has never held yees.As Hester Swane embarks on a terrible journey of vengeance through the mysterious, mythic landscape of the bogs of rural Ireland, the dark secrets of her tangled history are slowly revealed.By the Bog of Cats . . . premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 1998.Carr has an extraordinary ability to move between the mythic and the real.' GUARDIANA great play . . . a great work of poetry.' INDEPENDENTSwane's irrepressible personality is the play's driving force, a firestorm of contradictory emotions breaking across the stage in waves of love and fear. Her fierce attachment to her home, to her family and to her way of life comes up hard against the desires and prejudices of her community. As dark as the play is, it is also tender and funny in its attempts to represent a spectrum of human experience much broader than its characters' accents.' IRISH TIMES

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Book SynopsisA disastrous family reunion is the occasion for a sharp and perceptive look at what has happened to 60s idealists and their children. Kristin Miller is an eminent and successful art historian. As a young mother she followed her politics and vocation, storming Parisian barricades and moving to Florence. Her birthday should be a time for celebration but, when her two sons deliver their versions of the past, everyone must confront the cost of Kristin‘s commitment to her passions. Alexi Kaye Campbell's play Apologia premiered at The Bush Theatre, London, in 2009. It was revived at the Trafalgar Studios, London, in 2017, directed by Jamie Lloyd.Trade Review'A fascinating play that tackles, head on, the subject of women, ageing and motherhood… eviscerating and funny' * The Times *'Raw and very funny... confirms Campbell's standing as a fresh and sensitive voice' * Evening Standard *'Sharp, funny, wise and humane, Alexi Kaye Campbell is a writer to cherish' * Telegraph *

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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 SynopsisA play which contains an uncompromising depiction of rape, torture and violence in a society at war with itself.Trade Review'Kane wrote simply and starkly about the world she saw around her...a mature and vividly theatrical response to the pain of living' Guardian; 'I do not think I've yet seen a play that can beat Sarah Kane's sustained onslaught on the sensibilities for sheer, unadulterated brutalism' Evening Standard

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Book SynopsisWritten in the aftermath of hostile criticism of Ghosts, Ibsen''s three plays all deal with the moral courage needed to tell the truth. They are peopled not by symbolic figures and abstract concepts, but by complex individuals pitted against, or part of, a society that Ibsen felt was morally abhorrent and claustrophobically provincial. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Table of ContentsAn Enemy of the People ; The Wild Duck ; Rosmersholm

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Book SynopsisFed up with the dreary round of life in Ballybeg, with his uncommunicative father and the humiliating job in his father''s grocery shop, with his frustrated love for Kathy Doogan who married a richer, more successful young man and with the total absence of prospect and opportunity in his life at home, Gareth O''Donnell has accepted his aunt''s invitation to come to Philadelphia. Now, on the eve of his departure, he is not happy to be leaving Ballybeg.With this play Brian Friel made his reputation and it is now an acknowledged classic of modern drama.

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Book SynopsisWhat happens when two sets of parents meet up to deal with the unruly behaviour of their children? A calm and rational debate between grown-ups about the need to teach ids how to behave properly? Or a hysterical night of name-calling, tantrums and tears before bedtime?Boys will be boys, but the adults are usually worse - much worse.Christopher Hampton''s translation of Yasmina Reza''s sharp-edged play God of Carnage premiered at the Gielgud Theatre, London, in March 2008. Christopher Hampton has translated five plays by Yasmina Reza: ''Art'', The Unexpected Man, Conversations after a Burial, Life x 3 and God of Carnage.Winner of three 2009 Tony Awards, including Best Play.Winner of the 2009 Olivier Award for Best Comedy.Trade Review"Reza holds the mirror up to bourgeois hypocrisy withthe savage indignation of a born satirist", Guardian. "A triumph! Brilliantly translated by Christopher Hampton", Daily Express.

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Book SynopsisThe Fleabag bites back. A rip-roaring account of some sort of female living her sort of life. Phoebe Waller-Bridge's debut play is an outrageously funny monologue for a female performer. It premiered at the 2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, performed by Phoebe herself, before transferring to Soho Theatre, London, for several successful runs, followed by a UK tour. It won a Fringe First Award in Edinburgh, the Most Promising New Playwright and Best Female Performance at the Off West End Theatre Awards, The Stage Award for Best Solo Performer and the Critics' Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright. It received a Special Commendation in the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and was nominated for the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre. In 2016 it was turned into a wildly successful and 'utterly riveting' (Guardian) BBC television series. This edition also features an introduction by the author.Trade Review'A remarkable portrait of a modern woman who shamelessly bares her soul' Guardian; 'Believe the hype, Waller-Bridge's raw writing... really is as good as everyone says' The Stage; 'Sucker-punch funny... I've never seen a play quite like it' Scotsman; 'Frank and sometimes brutally funny... devastatingly good' The Times; 'Blessed with a rare and compelling life force... deliciously dirty and scabrously funny' Evening Standard; 'Very funny... penetrating, pitch-black and nastily brilliant' Metro; 'Unbelievably rude, jaw-droppingly filthy... extremely funny' Time Out; 'A sharp-edged gem of a solo show' WhatsOnStage 'Bitingly funny and genuinely moving... clever and tender and true' A Younger Theatre

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Book SynopsisGloriously raucous rites-of-passage drama set in Romford Market ''You''ve got to talk to them son. Listen to them. Look for a way in. You''re a handsome bloke - they''ll love you. Give me a year and I''ll teach you everything I know.'' There''s an art to selling stilettos and you''d better grasp it. Learn a good wind-up, learn the pull of cash, learn drugs, learn sex, and run wild with the market monkeys. Stay sharp in the ruthless world of Essex traders. Romford Market, 1985. This boy has everything to learn. A spectacular, savage, gorgeous yarn which brings a market jungle to the vast Olivier stage; a tale about the time Mrs Thatcher said we should embrace the marketplace; a story about losing your innocence. And your cherry. Following the critical success of his new version of Ibsen''s The Wild Duck (Donmar Warehouse 2005), David Eldridge''s Market Boy premieres on the National Theatre''s Olivier stage on 25 May 2006. Trade Review"'A young dramatist with few peers when it comes to presenting deep emotion' Daily Telegraph"

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Book SynopsisShelagh Delaney (1938 - 2011) was born in Salford, Lancashire, in 1938. She is most well-known for A Taste of Honey (1958), for which she won the Foyle's New Play Award and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award. She wrote the screenplay for the film version with Tony Richardson and received the British Film Academy Award and the Robert Flaherty Award. Her other screenplays include The White Bus and Charley Bubbles, for which she won the Writers' Guild Award. She also wrote for television and radio and published a collection of short stories. She died in 2011.Hannah Simpson is Lecturer in Drama and Performance in the English Faculty at the University of Edinburgh, UK. She is the author of Samuel Beckett and the Theatre of the Witness: Pain in Post-War Francophone Drama (2022) and Samuel Beckett and Disability Performance (2022). She has edited special issues for Twentieth Century Literature, Medical Humanities and the Journal of War and Culture Studies, and is co-editor of the Palgrave Studies in Theatre and Disability book series.

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Book SynopsisA new sparkling and witty version by Roger McGough of Molière''s comedy published as a programme text to accompany the premiere at the Liverpool Everyman on 9 May 2008. Tartuffe is a beacon of piety and in the home of wealthy merchant Orgon he has his feet firmly under the table. But all is not as it seems and as Orgon becomes more enraptured with his new companion the whole city is chattering. Is he a friend, a fraud, a miracle or a hypocrite? The family smell a rat and amidst the frills and frivolity of seventeenth century society they hatch a cunning plan to outwit the wily deceiver before he brings their house crashing down. Molière wrote Tartuffe in 1664 but the play was banned following its first production in Paris; it wasn''t until 1669 that it was revived and became one of his greatest successes.Trade Review"McGough's adaptation is anarchic, irreverent and hysterically funny." Clare Brennan, Observer, 18.05.08 "McGough demonstrates a finely tuned ear for the rhythms of dialogue and the flavour of patois...and jargon. The result is tart but never tough...In their zest and wit, McGough's lines, sometimes deliciously set up, at other times sprung on us with a mischievous artlessness, set a cracking pace." Lynne Walker, Independent, 20.05.08

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

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Book Synopsis‘That is what marriage gives – the right to destroy years and years of life.’ Venice, Easter 1895. In the cafes around St Mark’s Square, all the gossip among the English ex-pat community is about two mysterious arrivals in the city. Agnes Ebbsmith is a young widow with a scandalous past. Travelling with her is Lucas Cleeve, an up-and-coming Tory MP who has abandoned his wife in London. Defying convention, Agnes and Lucas are refusing to marry, and living in a ‘compact’ together. But before long their peace is shattered by the arrival of Lucas’s aristocratic family from London. The Notorious Mrs Ebbsmith is a dramatic, entertaining,and utterly enthralling play by one of the greatest Victorian dramatists. This playtext, slightly adapted from the original,was prepared for its first ever revival, presented by Primavera at Jermyn Street Theatre in 2014. The Notorious Mrs Ebbsmith was last performed by Mrs Patrick Campbell in the West End in 1895. With an introduction to the play and its historical context by Dr Sos Eltis.Trade ReviewGripping and provocative, the work tackled the theme of social radicalism and questioned accepted conventions, posing questions that are as searching today as they were then. * Broadway World *Arthur Pinero's use of the "fallen woman" plot is an unusual one, with implications for the 1890s "New Women's" agenda that have continuing relevance today. * Women & Performance: a Journal of Feminist Theory *Shrewd and polished. * Michael Billington, The Guardian *The Notorious Mrs Ebbsmith can't have the same impact it had more than a century ago. But it still has something to say about marriage, even in the twenty-first century. * Four stars - What's on Stage *Written in 1895 and boasting a fiery female protagonist, The Notorious Mrs Ebbsmith is as radical as any contemporary feminist play. * Stage *The play has a lot to say - and it says it a lot. * Public Reviews *

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Book Synopsis'It's kind of a ritual, we speak the truth. Then, let go and cook.' In the bustling kitchen of a run-down Pennsylvania truck stop, the formerly incarcerated staff have been given a second chance. Under the tyrannical eye of their boss Clyde, this unlikely team strives to create the perfect sandwich, as they dream of leaving their past mistakes behind for a better life. Lynn Nottage's hilarious and hopeful play Clyde's premiered in 2021 at the Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, becoming the most-produced play in the United States the following year. It received its European premiere at the Donmar Warehouse, London, in 2023, directed by Lynette Linton, who also directed the British premiere of Nottage's play Sweat at the Donmar. 'Lynn Nottage is remarkable and uniquely exhilarating' Washington Post 'Is there a better living American playwright than Lynn Nottage?' The Wall Street JournalTrade Review'A glorious, humane and penetrating comedy... uproarious fun with a serious undertow... like cult TV hit The Bear, but better' * Evening Standard *'Sublime... Lynn Nottage's mouthwatering play is a dish to be savoured' * Guardian *'Gritty but gorgeous... a vivid, life-enhancing play, full of heart, hope and humour... There are few finer writers working in contemporary American theatre than Lynn Nottage' * WhatsOnStage *'A laugh-out-loud comedy that has much to say about life beyond prison and the class circumstances that led to incarceration in the first place' * The Stage *'A mouthwatering kitchen drama from one of America's finest... Lynn Nottage's blisteringly funny play will leave you drooling' * Telegraph *'A great play... blue collar grit meets sitcom humour... a joyful feast' * The Times *'Stirs the soul with heart-wrenching intimacy' * Broadway World *'Riotously funny, peopled by characters you come to deeply care for, and skilfully constructed to keep you hooked' * Culture Whisper *'A little gem... a wonderful evocation of human hope, endeavour and creativity' * TheatreCat *

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Book SynopsisJ M Synge was one of the key dramatists in the flourishing world of Irish literature at the turn of the century. This volume offers all of Synge''s plays, which range from racy comedy to stark tragedy, all sharing a memorable lyricism. The introduction sets Synge''s work in the context of the Irish literary movement, with special attention to his role as one of the founders of the Abbey Theatre and his work alongside W. B. Yeats and Lady Gregory. Includes: Riders to the Sea; The Shadow of the Glen; The Tinker''s Wedding; The Well of the Saints; The Play of the Western World; Deirdre of the Sorrows ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Table of ContentsRiders to the Sea ; The Shadow of the Glen ; The Tinker's Wedding ; The Well of the Saints ; The Playboy of the Western World ; Deirdre of the Sorrows

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Book SynopsisWith acid wit, Miriam Battye's play takes a scalpel to modern romance. Strategic Love Play opened at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, in July 2023, produced by Paines Plough, Soho Theatre and Belgrade Theatre, in association with Landmark Theatres.Winner of a Fringe First Award for outstanding new writing.

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Book SynopsisA true modern classic from one of the twentieth century's most significant writers, Long Day's Journey into Night is an intensely autobiographical, magnificently tragic portrait of the author's own family - a play so acutely personal that he insisted it was not published until after his death. One single day in the Tyrones' Connecticut home. James Tyrone Snr is a miser, a talented actor who even squanders his talent in an undemanding role; eldest son Jamie is an affable, whoremongering alcoholic and confirmed ne'er-do well; youngest son Edmund is poetic, sensitive, suffering from a respiratory condition and deep-seated disillusionment; and their mother Mary, living in a haze of self-delusion and morphine addiction. Existing together under this roof, and the profound weight of the past, they subtly tear one another apart, shred by shred. 'Set in 1912, the year of O'Neill's own attempted suicide, it is an attempt to understand himself and those to whom he was irrevocably tied by fate and by love. It is the finest and most powerful play to have come out of America' Christopher Bigsby Eugene O'Neill's play Long Day's Journey into Night was written in 1939-41, and first published in 1956 (after O'Neill's death in 1953). It was first performed at the Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm, in February 1956, and had its first American production at Helen Hayes Theater, New York, in November that year. It won the Tony Award for Best Play, and O'Neill was posthumously awarded the 1957 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. This edition includes a full introduction, biographical sketch and chronology.Trade Review'A piercingly autobiographical vision of a family bent on self-destruction' * Evening Standard *'Eugene O'Neill's masterpiece' * The Times *'What never ceases to astonish is the dizzying emotional contradiction of O'Neill's characters. Within a tight classical structure, they bounce around like pinballs between reality and illusion... leaves you emotionally pulverised' * Guardian *'A semi-autobiographical masterpiece... [has] an emotional truth that is utterly devastating' * WhatsOnStage *'Eugene O'Neill's greatest play... [has a] horribly uncomfortable power. The family's arguments suck you in, forcing you to become a fifth member whose loyalties are endlessly called on in a shifting game of 'Who ruined whose life?'' * Time Out London *

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Book SynopsisMacmillan doesn't shy away from difficult questions about addiction and recovery and, rightly, doesn't answer them ... this is a bold, timely and searching play - Financial TimesEmma was having the time of her life. Now she's in rehab. Her first step is to admit that she has a problem. But the problem isn't with Emma, it's with everything else. She needs to tell the truth. But she's smart enough to know that there's no such thing. When intoxication feels like the only way to survive the modern world, how can she ever sober up?People, Places & Things premiered at the National Theatre in 2015 before transferring to London's West End and St. Ann's Warehouse in New York. This edition is published to coincide with the return to the West End in June, 2024

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Book SynopsisA profound, harrowing excavation of the past that stands amongst Brian Friel''s masterpieces.Faith healer faith healing. A craft without an apprenticeship, a ministry without responsibility, a vocation without a ministry.Frank Hardy, a travelling healer, offers the promise of redemption to the sick. But his is an unreliable gift, a dangerous calling, bringing him into conflict with his wife, Grace, and his manager, Teddy.Faith Healer premiered at the Longacre Theatre, New York, 1979.The night of Faith Healer is one that still blazes in recollection for me, as religious experiences of art do. And it became a sort of touchstone for me . . . for defining the elusiveness of great art and the pain of the artist who creates it.' BEN BRANTLEY, NEW YORK TIMESThe writing is beautiful, supple, rhythmical, charged with the slow, sure throb of despair and enchantment . . . Brian Friel is the most pr

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsIvanov ; The Seagull ; Uncle Vanya ; Three Sisters ; The Cherry Orchard

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Book SynopsisFive masterful dramatic works from one of the world's best-loved playwrights, including The Seagull—now a major motion picture starring Saoirse Ronan, Elizabeth Moss, and Annette BeningAt a time when the Russian theatre was dominated by formulaic melodramas and farces, Chekhov created a new sort of drama that laid bare the everyday lives, loves and yearnings of ordinary people. Ivanov depicts a man stifled by inactivity and lost idealism, and The Seagull contrasts a young man's selfish romanticism with the stoicism of a woman cruelly abandoned by her lover. With 'the scenes from country life' of Uncle Vanya, his first fully mature play, Chekhov developed his own unique dramatic world, neither tragedy nor comedy. In Three Sisters the Prozorov sisters endlessly dream of going to Moscow to escape the monotony of provincial life, while his comedy The Cherry Orchard portrays characters futilely clinging to the past as Table of ContentsPlaysIntroductionFurther ReadingChronologyTranslator's NoteGlossaryIvanovThe SeagullUncle VanyaThree SistersThe Cherry OrchardNotes

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsA Doll's House ; Ghosts ; Hedda Gabler ; The Master Builder

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA prolific and successful playwright who confines his themes to African American culture... August Wilson widened the space for African American theatre and controlled it for some twenty-fve years. The level of his achievement is high. This comes powerfully into view when the play is read, an activity for me that is equal to, and in some ways more fruitful than, seeing its stage production. -- Toni MorrisonAugust Wilson has established himself as the richest theatrical voice to emerge in the U.S. since Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller * Time *Wilson is a major writer, combining a poet's ear for vernacular with a robust sense of humor, a sure sense for crackling dramatic incident, and a passionate commitment to a great subject * New York Times *The strongest, most passionate American dramatic writing since Tennessee Williams * New York Post *Wilson is a consummate storyteller * Los Angeles Times *A genuine work of art * New Yorker on 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' *A blockbuster piece of theater, a major American play * New York Daily News on 'Fences' *A moving story line and a hero almost Shakespearean in contour * Wall Street Journal on 'Fences' *In his work, August Wilson depicted the struggles of black Americans with uncommon lyrical richness, theatrical density and emotional heft, in plays that give vivid voices to people on the frayed margins of life * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisBonfire night 2019, Sheila, Denise, Julie, and Fay are Team C in Pennine Mineral Water Ltd.''s annual outward bound team-building weekend. Somehow, Sheila has been nominated team leader, and, using her cryptic crossword solving skills, has unwittingly stranded her team on an island in the Lake District.Our intrepid heroines fi nd themselves manufacturing weapons from cable ties and spatulas, and create a rescue fl ag with plastic plates and a toasting fork.Questions are asked; truths are told; dirty washing is aired.Is it possible to build an adequate night shelter with a prom dress and a sleeveless jumper? What is Julie''s husband really up to in Aldi? And why are they on this bloody team building exercise when they could be at a spa?

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Book SynopsisWritten in response to Much Ado About Nothing and performed by Dominic Cooke''s Pericles and The Winter''s Tale Company, Roy Williams'' Days of Significance is set in market-town England and the deserts of Iraq. Two young soldiers join their friends to binge drink the night before they leave for active service. Their complex love lives and mortal fears directly impact on their tour of duty. Roy Williams looks at how the naive and malformed moral codes of these young men have catastrophic reverberations for the West''s moral authority.Trade Review'Williams has a remarkable talent for engineering unforced, truthful-seeming collisions between tragic emotion and irrelevant or blithely disreputable comedy' Independent - Paul Taylor 'Days of Significance is a frankly terrifying and utterly compelling examination of the morality of sending young men to fight a war when they are ill-equipped to do so in every way' Guardian - Michael Billington 'Brace yourself: this is tough, important stuff, alarmingly well done' Mail on Sunday - Georgina Brown 'Williams, while he does not exonerate the behaviour of the soldiers, draws an immensely compassionate portrait of people propelled into hell' Financial Times - Sarah Hemming 'Here is a state-of-the-nation play in which Williams leaves his comfort zone of writing about the black community and stretches himself imaginatively with terrific results' Tribune - Aleks Sierz

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Book SynopsisBrecht was never inclined to see any of his plays as completely finished, and this volume collects some of the most important theatrical projects and fragments that were always to remain works in progress'. Offering an invaluable insight into the writer's working methods and practices, the collection features the famous Fatzer as well as The Bread Store and Judith of Shimoda, along with other texts that have never before been available in English.Alongside the familiar, completed' plays, Brecht worked on many ideas and plans which he never managed to work up even once for print or stage. In pieces like Fleischhacker, Garbe/Büsching and Jacob Trotalong we see how such projects were abandoned or interrupted or became proving grounds for ideas and techniques. The works collated here span over thirty years and allow the reader to follow Brecht's creative process as he constantly revised his work to engage with new contexts.This treasure-trovTrade ReviewCertainly unique ... While this is undoubtedly a tome published with academics and Brechtian completists in mind, the plays themselves are insightful and readable. As such, general readers and students also have a chance to get a further insight into the brain of a unique genius and, who knows, perhaps at some point a reader might be inspired to produce one or more of these plays? * British Theatre Guide *Table of ContentsIntroduction, explaining the status and appearance of the various projects and setting them in the context, both of Brecht’s literary development and of German social and political history. Fleischhacker (1924-27) edited and translated by Phoebe von Held and Matthias Rothe Fatzer: Downfall of an Egoist (1926-30) edited and translated by Tom Kuhn: The Downfall of Johann Fatzer The Bread Store (1929-30) edited and translated by Marc Silberman Jacob Trotalong (mid to late 1930s) Edited and translated by Charlotte Ryland The Judith of Shimoda (1940) edited and translated by Markus Wessendorf Büsching (1950s) edited and translated by Marc Silberman

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Book SynopsisNot In My Name, written and directed by Alice Bartlett, is a newly commissioned theatre production performed by young people. It explores the aftermath of a terror attack in a small northern town.Seventy-five per cent of the text is the actual words spoken by young people and community figures in the research phaseof the project which made for real and cutting edge theatre. Performed by young people, Muslim and non-Muslim, the play explores the impact on the local community honing in on the stories of people at the scene, the authorities and the family and friends of the attacker.This play has attracted much interest from Lancashire Police, and other forces look like they will adopt the play too. There will be a big launch for the play in London in November.Trade ReviewNot in My Name has been well received by all the pupils and teaching staff throughout the county… This play will be a powerful resource for schools and community groups in the years to come. * Superintendent Andrew Pratt, Prevent Lead, Lancashire Constabulary *

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Book Synopsis‘When that bell rings, your life is entirely in your hands.’ London, 1869. Four very different Victorian women are drawn into the dark underground world of female boxing by the eccentric Professor Sharp. Controlled by men and constrained by corsets, each finds an unexpected freedom in the boxing ring. As their lives begin to intertwine, their journey takes us through grand drawing rooms, bustling theatres and rowdy Southwark pubs, where the women fight inequality as well as each other. But with the final showdown approaching, only one can become the Lady Boxing Champion of the World… Joy Wilkinson's play The Sweet Science of Bruising is an epic tale of passion, politics and pugilism. It premiered at Southwark Playhouse, London, in October 2018, in a production by Troupe.Trade Review'A fascinating, full-blooded play... takes a well-aimed swing at the politics of sex and class, putting female characters in the ring... the stage, and the story, belong to the women: a knockout' * The Times *'An unsettling mix of self-discovery and violence, which challenges traditional ideas about what women should be and what they should do... this account of female empowerment is as timely as it is original' * The Arts Desk *'A startling, visceral account of early feminist struggles' * The Reviews Hub *

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Book SynopsisA two-play dramatisation of Philip Pullman's extraordinary award-winning fantasy trilogy, first seen at the National Theatre. His Dark Materials takes us on a thrilling journey through worlds familiar and unknown. For Lyra and Will, its two central characters, it's a coming of age and a transforming spiritual experience. Their great quest demands a savage struggle against the most dangerous of enemies. They encounter fantastical creatures in parallel worlds – rebellious angels, soul-eating spectres, child-catching Gobblers and the armoured bears and witch-clans of the Arctic. Finally, before reaching, perhaps, the republic of heaven, they must visit the land of the dead. This adaptation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, by Nicholas Wright, was first performed at the National Theatre in London in 2003.Trade Review'Nicholas Wright... has risen to the challenge with brilliance' * Mail on Sunday *'"Unstageable" was the first reaction of the National Theatre's artistic director, Nicholas Hytner, to the idea of dramatising His Dark Materials. But last night's opening has triumphantly proved him wrong' * Sunday Times *'Children's theatre of an uncommon maturity and ambition... dazzling in just the right way... moments of heart-stopping simplicity' * Independent *'The hottest ticket in town long before press day... Book to see it next Christmas' * Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisMaurice Maeterlinck, a Belgian dramatist, and poet wrote The Blue Bird. In order to discover the elusive bluebird of happiness, two kids named Tyltyl and Mytyl are set on a magical journey. A distinct stage of their trip is represented by each of the play's six acts. The fairy Bérylune pays the kids a visit in Act I and assigns them the task of locating the bluebird of happiness. They go on their trip with their dog in Act II, stopping in the Land of Memory along the way to get a glimpse of their history. They visit the Land of the Future in Act III, where they may glimpse what their futures could hold. They meet their departed grandparents as they go to the Realm of the Dead in Act IV. They are led to the Palace of Night in Act V, where they encounter the blue bird's soul. The children come home with the bluebird in Act VI's concluding scene, which they find out has been with them the whole time. The symbolist drama examines issues of human nature, happiness, and the unanswered questions of life and death.

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Book Synopsis'Everyone lived like we did! Well maybe not everyone, everyone. But… I wasn't any worse than anyone else.' The near future. The climate emergency is gathering pace, and our generation is being judged. The jurors are children. But are they delivering justice – or just taking revenge? Dawn King's searing play The Trials was first performed at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus in January 2022, and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. It received its British premiere at the Donmar Warehouse, London, in August 2022, directed by Natalie Abrahami. The Trials offers an exciting opportunity for theatre companies to address the climate emergency and intergenerational conflict, as the jury of 12 to 17-year-olds hold the stage alongside three adult defendants.Trade Review'A gripping climate dystopia... compelling and fascinating... a parable about the near future that's also an unsettling window into the vertiginous chaos of revolution' * Time Out *'Chillingly compelling... convincing and urgent... a really distinct sense of fury that gives this drama its emotional fuel... haunting and thought-provoking — this is the best play about our climate emergency' * The Arts Desk *'Bold, uncomfortable, urgent viewing... King cleverly nails not just the dystopian vision, but the evasions and lack of commitment to green living that have caused it' * WhatsOnStage *'Exhilarating and engrossing' * Reviews Hub *'Compelling... combines the spirit of Margaret Atwood's speculative fictions with shades of Lord of the Flies... it holds us in its grip... a play that demands self-reflection and soul-searching beyond the auditorium' * Guardian *'Gripping... A timely and troubling speculative drama [that] imagines the grim repercussions of our current climate emergency' * The Stage *

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Book SynopsisYou haven''t asked, but yes, you both may stay in our house for the time being. And use our things. I figure it''ll take a war to settle it all.A compelling story of two families - one Palestinian, one Israeli - forced by history into an intimacy they didn''t choose.''[Returning to Haifa] offers a moving confrontation between two sets of displaced people and an utterly unsentimental exploration of the complexities of home, history and parenthood . . . its call for reciprocal awareness and acknowledgement of past injustice seems more necessary than ever.' GuardianIn 1948, Palestinian couple Said and Safiyya fled their home during the Nakba. Now, in the aftermath of the 1967 Six Day War, the borders are open for the first time in twenty years, and they dare to return to their home in Haifa. They are ready to find someone else living where they once did, but nothing can prepare them for the encounter they both desire and dread

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Book SynopsisAndrew Gurr is Professor of English at Reading University.

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Book SynopsisAttempts on her Life 17 scenarios for the theatre by Martin Crimp Attempts to describe her? Attempts to destroy her? Or attempts to destroy herself? Is Anne the object of violence? Or its terrifying practitioner? Martin Crimps 17 scenarios for the theatre, shocking and hilarious by turn, are a rollercoaster of late 20th-century obsessions. From pornography and ethnic violence, to terrorism and unprotected sex, its strange array of nameless characters attempt to invent the perfect story to encapsulate our time. Since its premiere 10 years ago, Attempts on her Life has been translated into more than 20 languages. This is its first major UK revival. Attempts on her Life 17 scenarios for the theatre by Martin Crimp

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Book SynopsisThis volume contains Harold Pinter''s first six plays, including The Birthday Party.The Birthday PartyStanley Webber is visited in his boarding house by two strangers, Goldberg and McCann. An innocent-seeming birthday party for Stanley turns into a nightmare.''Mr Pinter''s terrifying blend of pathos and hatred fuses unforgettably into the stuff of art.'' Sunday TimesThe Room and The Dumb WaiterIn these two early one-act plays, Harold Pinter reveals himself as already in full control of his unique ability to make dramatic poetry of the banalities of everyday speech and the precision with which it defines character.''Harold Pinter is the most original writer to have emerged from the new wave of dramatists who gave fresh life to the British theatre in the fifties and early sixties.'' The TimesThe HothouseThe Hothouse was first produced in 1980, though Harold Pinter wrote the play

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Book SynopsisOne wintry morning academic Prudencia Hart sets off to a conference in the Scottish Borders. Stranded there by snow, she is swept off on a dream-like journey of self discovery, complete with magical moments, devilish encounters and wittily wild music.Inspired by the Border ballads, The National Theatre of Scotland''s production of The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart by David Greig has toured throughout Scotland and the world since 2011. In 2013 the Royal Court Theatre presented the London premiere of this production as part of their Theatre Local strand of site specific productions. ''You shouldn''t miss this for the world . . . Rambunctiously life-affirming and touchingly beautiful.'' Herald''More vibrantly alive than any piece of theatre I''ve seen in Scotland for years.'' Scotsman

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Book SynopsisAs portrayed in Homer''s Odyssey, Penelope - wife of Odysseus and cousin of the beautiful Helen of Troy - has become a symbol of wifely duty and devotion, enduring twenty years of waiting when her husband goes to fight in the Trojan War. As she fends off the attentions of a hundred greedy suitors, travelling minstrels regale her with news of Odysseus'' epic adventures around the Mediterranean - slaying monsters and grappling with amorous goddesses. When Odysseus finally comes home, he kills her suitors and then, in an act that served as little more than a footnote in Homer''s original story, inexplicably hangs Penelope''s twelve maids.Now, Penelope and her chorus of wronged maids tell their side of the story in a new stage version by Margaret Atwood, adapted from her own wry, witty and wise novel.The Penelopiad premiered with the Royal Shakespeare Company in association with Canada''s National Arts Centre at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, in Jul

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Book SynopsisChristopher Marlowe (1564-1593), a man of extreme passions and a playwright of immense talent, is the most important of Shakespeare''s contempories. This edition offers his five major plays, which show the radicalism and vitality of his writing in the few years before his violent death.Tamburlaine Part One and Part Two deal with the rise to world prominence of the great Scythian shepherd-robber; The Jew of Malta is a drama of villainy and revenge; Edward II was to influence Shakespeare''s Richard II. Doctor Faustus, perhaps the first drama taken from the medieval legend of a man who sells his soul to the devil, is here in both its A- and its B- text, showing the enormous and fascinating differences between the two.Under the General Editorship of Dr Michael Cordner of the University of York, the texts of the plays have been newly edited and are presented with modernized spelling and punctuation. In addition, there is a scholarly introduction and detailed annotation. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Table of ContentsTamburlaine, Part I ; Tamburlaine, Part II ; Doctor Faustus, A-Text ; Doctor Faustus, B-Text ; The Jew of Malta ; Edward II

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