Plays, playscripts, drama
Nick Hern Books Picnic at Hanging Rock
Book Synopsis‘I know you’re there… Miranda? Miranda!’ On a summer’s day in 1900, three Australian schoolgirls on a picnic expedition to the remote Hanging Rock abscond from their group. They are last seen heading towards the beckoning Rock… In Tom Wright’s chilling adaptation of Joan Lindsay’s classic novel, five performers struggle to solve the mystery of the missing girls and their teacher. Euphoria and terror reverberate throughout the community, as the potential for history to repeat itself becomes nightmarishly real. This adaptation of Picnic at Hanging Rock was first co-produced by Malthouse Theatre and Black Swan State Theatre Company, Perth, and first performed at Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne, in 2016. The play received its European premiere at the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, in 2017.Trade Review'An explosion of theatrical power as fierce as it is contemplative, and so original that no-one who sees it is likely to forget it… Wright's adaptation gives fierce attention to the novel’s sense of the sheer arrogance and inadequacy of imperial British culture, as it tried to "tame" a land so ancient, implacable, and strange. Yet it is brilliant, too, on the infinitely mutable energy of youth, the huge suppressed erotic power and pressure, in these young women, that feels as if it could literally move mountains, and tear its way through a gap in time' * Scotsman *'Emotion, violence and meaning bubble up like magma… mythic in its scope and magical in its appearance... an evocative adaptation that finds horror not in nature, but in the civilising class' * The Stage *'A potently poetic, enigmatic pschyco-drama… Tom Wright's adaptation of Joan Lindsay's novel [has] an authentic, snarling economy of polite and prim, petticoat savaged menace… as compelling, visceral and insistent as that wasp in your otherwise perfect picnic jam pot. Unmissable' * The Edinburgh Reporter *'This retelling of the Joan Lindsay cult classic proves the book's theme remains relevant – and will terrify the pants off you' * Guardian *
£10.79
Currency Press Pty Ltd Transparency
Book Synopsis
£14.24
Currency Press Pty Ltd Zeal Theatre Collection Three plays
Book Synopsis
£20.89
Hackett Publishing Co, Inc The Jew of Malta with Related Texts
Book SynopsisFeatures a modernised text of Marlowe's play with annotation on the page, a comprehensive Introduction, and related texts, including selections from Machiavelli's "Prince", Gentillet's "Anti-Machiavel", and Bacon's "The Advancement of Learning".Trade ReviewA provocative edition, one which belongs on the shelves of student and scholar alike. --Martha Oberle, Frederick Community College, Maryland, in The Sixteenth Century Journal
£11.39
Currency Press Pty Ltd Jack Hibberd Selected plays
Book Synopsis
£20.89
Josef Weinberger Plays Seeds of Doubt
Book Synopsis
£10.44
Josef Weinberger Plays Death by Fatal Murder
Book Synopsis
£10.44
Josef Weinberger Plays Death of a Salesman
Book Synopsis
£10.44
New Directions Publishing Corporation Glass Menagerie Rev New Directions Books
Book SynopsisNo play in the modern theatre has so captured the imagination and heart of the American public as Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie.Trade Review"The revolutionary newness of The Glass Menagerie . . . was in its poetic lift, but an underlying hard dramatic structure was what earned the play its right to sing poetically." -- Arthur Miller"With the advent of The Glass Menagerie . . . Tennessee Williams emerged as a poet-playwright and a unique new force in theatre throughout the world." -- Lyle Leverich in Tom: The Unknown Tennessee Williams
£999.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Master Class
Book SynopsisThe world can and will go on without us but I have to think that we have made this world a better place. That we have left it richer, wiser than had we not chosen the way of art.The 1996 Tony Award winner for Best Play.Terrence McNally''s Master Class presents the legendary opera diva, Maria Callas, as she puts aspiring young singers through their paces in a series of master classes. Both moving and entertaining, this theatrical tour de force dramatizes the Callas phenomenon and is an unembarrassed, involving meditation on Callas''s life and the nature of her art. Such subjects are not easily dramatized, certainly not with this brio. (New York Times)After opening on Broadway in 1995 with Zoe Caldwell and Audra McDonald, the play premiered in London in 1997 with Patti LuPone. It was last revived on Broadway and in the West End in 2011-12 starring Tyne Daly.Trade ReviewMcNally's well-crafted, quip-filled drama — which depicts Callas teaching at Juilliard, circa 1971 (her voice was virtually destroyed by then) — is less a biography and more a love letter to La Divina. * Entertainment Weekly *Terrence McNally's brusque and brilliant rendering of Callas is the sort of meaty role actresses love to sink teeth and claws into * New York Daily News *
£10.44
Currency Press Pty Ltd Jandamarra
Book Synopsis
£16.14
Arizona Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies,US Hamlet
Book SynopsisTo thine own text be trueLisa Peterson's translation ofHamletinto contemporary American English makes the play accessible to new audiences while keeping the soul of Shakespeare's writing intact. Lovers of Shakespeare's language take heart: Lisa Peterson's translation ofHamletinto contemporary American English was guided by the principle of First, do no harm. Leaving the most famous parts ofHamletuntouched, Peterson untied the language knots that can make the rest of the play difficult to understand in a single theatrical viewing. Peterson's translation makesHamletaccessible to new audiences, drawing out its timeless themes while helping to contextualize To be, or not tobe:that is the question, and Something is rotten in the state of Denmark, so that contemporary audiences can feel their full weight. This translation ofHamletwas written as part of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Play On! project, which commissioned new translations of thirty-nine Shakespeare plays. These translati
£10.18
LEGARE STREET PR Caliban
£14.09
Simon & Schuster Macbeth
Book SynopsisThe authoritative edition of Macbeth from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers.In 1603, James VI of Scotland ascended the English throne, becoming James I of England. London was alive with an interest in all things Scottish, and Shakespeare turned to Scottish history for material. He found a spectacle of violence and stories of traitors advised by witches and wizards, echoing James’s belief in a connection between treason and witchcraft. In depicting a man who murders to become king, Macbeth teases us with huge questions. Is Macbeth tempted by fate, or by his or his wife’s ambition? Why does their success turn to ashes? Like other plays, Macbeth speaks to each generation. Its story was once seen as that of a hero who commits an evil act and pays an enormous price. Recently, it has been applied to nations that overreach themselves and to modern alien
£9.49
Hackett Publishing Co, Inc The Figaro Plays
Book Synopsis[Beaumarchais'] fame rests on Le Barbier de Seville (1775) and Le Mariage de Figaro (1784), the only French plays which his stage-struck century bequeathed to the international repertoire. But his achievement has been adulterated, for ‘Beaumarchais’ has long been the brand name of a product variously reprocessed by Mozart, Rossini, and the score or so librettists and musicians who have perpetuated his plots, his characters, and his name. The most intriguing question of all has centered on his role as catalyst of the Revolution. Was his impertinent barber the Sweeney Todd of the Ancien Régime, the true begetter of the guillotine? . . . Beaumarchais' plays have often seemed to need the same kind of shoring up as his reputation, as though they couldn't stand on their own without a scaffolding of good tunes. Yet, as John Wells' lively and splendidly speakable translations of the Barber, the Marriage, and A Mother's Guilt demonstrate, they need assistance from no one. [Beaumarchais] thought of the three plays as a trilogy. Taken together, they reflect, as John Leigh’s commentaries make clear, the Ancien Régime’s unstoppable slide into revolution. --David Coward in The London Review of BooksTrade Review[Beaumarchais'] fame rests on Le Barbier de Seville (1775) and Le Mariage de Figaro (1784), the only French plays which his stage-struck century bequeathed to the international repertoire. But his achievement has been adulterated, for 'Beaumarchais' has long been the brand name of a product variously reprocessed by Mozart, Rossini, and the score or so librettists and musicians who have perpetuated his plots, his characters, and his name. The most intriguing question of all has centered on his role as catalyst of the Revolution. Was his impertinent barber the Sweeney Todd of the Ancien Régime, the true begetter of the guillotine? . . . Beaumarchais' plays have often seemed to need the same kind of shoring up as his reputation, as though they couldn't stand on their own without a scaffolding of good tunes. Yet, as John Wells' lively and splendidly speakable translations of the Barber , the Marriage , and A Mother's Guilt demonstrate, they need assistance from no one. [Beaumarchais] thought of the three plays as a trilogy. Taken together, they reflect, as John Leigh's commentaries make clear, the Ancien Régime's unstoppable slide into revolution. --David Coward in The London Review of Books
£13.29
Martino Fine Books The Importance of Being Earnest
Book Synopsis
£8.02
Penguin Putnam Inc As You Like It
Book Synopsis The acclaimed Pelican Shakespeare series edited by A. R. Braunmuller and Stephen Orgel The legendary Pelican Shakespeare series features authoritative and meticulously researched texts paired with scholarship by renowned Shakespeareans. Each book includes an essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare’s time, an introduction to the individual play, and a detailed note on the text used. Updated by general editors Stephen Orgel and A. R. Braunmuller, these easy-to-read editions incorporate over thirty years of Shakespeare scholarship undertaken since the original series, edited by Alfred Harbage, appeared between 1956 and 1967. With definitive texts and illuminating essays, the Pelican Shakespeare will remain a valued resource for students, teachers, and theater professionals for many years to come. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700Trade Review“Gorgeous new Shakespeare paperbacks.” —Marlon James, author of A Brief History of Seven Killings“I have been using the Pelican Shakespeare for years in my lecture course--it's invaluable, the best individual-volume series available for students.”—Marjorie Garber, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of English and Visual and Environmental Studies, Harvard University
£9.50
Nick Hern Books Dara
Book SynopsisAn intense domestic drama of global consequence – for India then and for our world now. 1659. Mughal India. The imperial court, a place of opulence and excess; music, drugs, eunuchs and harems. Two brothers, whose mother's death inspired the Taj Mahal, are heirs to this Muslim empire. Now they fight ferociously for succession. Dara, the crown prince, has the love of the people – and of his emperor father – but younger brother Aurangzeb holds a different vision for India's future. Islam inspires poetry in Dara, puritanical rigour in Aurangzeb. Can Jahanara, their beloved sister, assuage Aurangzeb's resolve to seize the Peacock Throne and purge the empire? Originally performed by Ajoka Theatre, Pakistan, Tanya Ronder's adaptation of Shahid Nadeem's play Dara premiered at the National Theatre, London, in 2015.Trade Review'Electrifying' * The Times *'Cuts to the thrust of the most critical, insoluble dilemma of our times; faith's absolutism against liberalism's tolerance... a huge dramatic force' * WhatsOnStage *'Magnificently ambitious... throws both light and darkness on a crucial moment in world history' * Time Out *
£9.49
Nick Hern Books Crushed Shells and Mud
Book Synopsis'She came out of the sea Crawled out of the mud, quietly Shy and beautiful, brushing off sand and shells' England trembles in the grip of a devastating epidemic. But in a remote coastal village, quiet Derek waits for love and life to really begin. Then Lydia arrives. She burns brightly, beyond Derek’s wildest dreams. And she is hiding something. When Derek discovers her secret, they are both propelled into a strange new world of conflicted desire and dangerous loyalties, where terrifying forces test their courage and humanity. But can love survive the fear inside? Ben Musgrave's play Crushed Shells and Mud premiered at the Southwark Playhouse, London, in October 2015.Trade Review'Musgrave writes so beautifully: these intricate, intimate moments – psychological dances of persuasion, rivalry and cruelty' * WhatsOnStage *'A sensitive portrait of a teenage love triangle... the nuances of relationships are finely rendered' * Evening Standard *
£12.34
Aurora Metro Publications A Girl With a Book: And Other Plays
Book SynopsisA Girl with a Book and Other Plays brings together four plays for young people by acclaimed playwright Nick Wood. Topical and wide-ranging, they concern refugees, friendship, loss and courage.Trade Review“The easy option when hearing the news of Malala Yousafzai’s shooting is to think that Pakistan is somewhere so distant, inhabited by people so different, that you could never understand why it happened. Wood rather invites us to better understand Malala, her father, and her kinsmen.” On Religion journal “…a journey into empathy and imagination coolly and cleanly done. A crucially important tale well told with great humanity.” Stephen Lowe, playwrightTable of ContentsINTRODUCTION THE PLAYS A GIRL WITH A BOOK A DREAM OF WHITE HORSES BIRDBOY MIA PRODUCTION IMAGES
£12.34
Mariner Books Sophocles the Oedipus Cycle
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£999.99
Poetry Wales Press One Act Wales
Book Synopsis
£8.50
Nick Hern Books Terrorism
Book SynopsisThe extraordinary debut play from the Royal Court by two brothers from Siberia. A series of seemingly unrelated scenes portray the ordinary frustrations of everyday life: office workers bickering, a couple committing adultery, grannies complaining about their husbands. But the scenes unfold to reveal the mistrust and dysfunction that have become the norm, in Russia and elsewhere. Terrorism by the Presnyakov Brothers was first performed, in this English translation by Sasha Dugdale, at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2003.Trade Review'A play with this title has an obvious resonance right now. But the extraordinary thing about this deft and brilliant piece by Siberia's Presnyakov Brothers is the way it extends... This is a play about the breakdown of society in contemporary Russia. What astonishes is the cool, sardonic wit that the Presnyakov brothers bring to their task... beautifully realised in Sasha Dugdale's translation... Russian society may be in disarray, but, on the evidence of this and the recent work of Vassily Sigarev, a sense of dislocation yields first-rate drama' * Guardian *'A bitter, funny, penetrating look at the toxic effects of living with fear... Terrorism shrugs off more ideas in quarter of an hour's wit than most political debating plays do in an evening' * Observer *
£11.39
Nick Hern Books Don Juan
Book SynopsisDrama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price Molière's comedy about the notorious womaniser, in a fresh and performable translation by Kenneth McLeish. Set in Sicily, Moliere's play retells the famous myth of Don Juan, the womaniser with no morals and a scorn for religion. It charts his relationship with his servant Sganarelle, his romantic philandering, his false conversion and his ultimate punishment. Don Juan was first performed in 1665 in the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, Paris, with Molière playing the role of Sganarelle. This version in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series is translated and introduced by Kenneth McLeish.
£6.12
Wits University Press Fools, Bells and the Habit of Eating: Three
Book SynopsisCupidity, corruption and conciliation are the themes of the three plays in this collection from one of South Africa's leading playwrights and novelists. The Mother of all Eating, a one-hander, with its central character a corrupt Lesotho official, is a grinding satire on materialism in which the protagonist gets his come-uppance. You Fool, How Can the Sky Fall? is an unbridled study in grotesquerie, reflecting a belief, traceable throughout Mda's work, that government by those who inherit a revolution is almost inevitably, in the first decade or two, hi-jacked by the smart operators. The Bells of Amersfoort, with its graphic portrayal of the isolation imposed by exile, picks up on the themes of the other two plays, but adds to them the concept of 'healing', both of the soul and of the land, in a lyrical work which holds out more hope than do its companions in this volume. The plays are introduced by Rob Amato, who directed much of Mda's earlier work.Table of ContentsIntroduction The Mother of all Eating You Fool, How Can the Sky Fall? The Bells of Amersfoort
£18.00
Faber & Faber Neil LaBute Plays 2
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£17.09
Farrar, Straus and Giroux The Oresteia of Aeschylus
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£14.25
Random House USA Inc Goethes Faust
Book SynopsisThe best translation of Faust available, this volume provides the original German text and its English counterpart on facing pages. Walter Kaufmann''s translation conveys the poetic beauty and rhythm as well as the complex depth of Goethe''s language. Includes Part One and selections from Part Two.
£12.34
Random House USA Inc The Most of Nora Ephron
£31.35
Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) The Beatification of Area Boy Methuen Modern Plays
Book SynopsisSet in Nigeria, amid the scenes of everyday racketeering and general disquiet, the police try to clear the area of undersirables, as a traditional wedding between two illustrious and ambitious families is about to take place.'Witty, wise and uplifting, this is a beautiful play whose message steals up on you and lingers on.' Financial Times.'The play is a protest against the barbarity of greed and oppression; but it is also a celebration of people's irrepressible and indomitable spirit' Sunday Times.
£16.59
WW Norton & Co Modern African Drama
Book SynopsisThe first truly continentally representative collection of modern African drama in any language, this Norton Critical Edition includes plays from Egypt, Algeria, the Republic of South Africa, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Kenya.
£18.99
Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) The Truth Stage Adaptation Modern Plays
Book SynopsisWilliam de Worde is the Discworld's first investigative journalist. But as he fills his pages with reports of local club meetings and pictures of humorously-shaped vegetables, dark forces are plotting to overthrow the city's ruler, with the help of Mr Tulip and Mr Pin.
£16.59
Samuel French Ltd A Nice Family Christmas
Book SynopsisIt’s Christmas Eve, and a young newspaper reporter on the brink of being fired has been assigned a last-chance story about a typical family Christmas – his family’s Christmas. He goes home to his recently widowed mother, his crazy uncle, his eccentric grandmother, and his battling siblings and their neurotic spouses, who provide no shortage of material. One by one, we learn each family member’s secrets, problems, and dysfunctions, and when they learn that he’s wr
£14.20
Faber & Faber Government Inspector
Book SynopsisThe news that a government inspector is due to arrive in a small Russian town sends its bureaucrats into a panicked frenzy. A simple case of mistaken identity exposes the hypocrisy and corruption at the heart of the town in this biting moral satire.David Harrower''s version of Nikolai Gogol''s Government Inspector premiered at the Warwick Arts Centre in May 2011 and transferred to Young Vic, London in June.
£10.44
Samuel French Ltd Grease School Version
Book SynopsisFull Length, Musical/ Characters: 9m, 9f / ABRIDGED VERSION FOR SCHOOL PRODUCTIONSGroups who perform for young audiences or produce musicals with young actors now have an ideal version of GREASE for their needs. Shorter and more suitable in content for teens and subteens, this abridged version retains the fun-loving spirit and immortal songs that make GREASE a favorite among rock and roll fans of all ages. Here is Rydell High''s senior class of 1959: duck-tailed, hot-rodding Burger Palace Bo
£19.32
Penguin Putnam Inc Troilus and Cressida
Book SynopsisThe acclaimed Pelican Shakespeare series, now repackaged in award-winning modern covers to inspire Shakespearians of all ages.
£8.54
Faber & Faber Bryony Lavery Plays 1 A Wedding Story Frozen
Book SynopsisA Wedding Story''A spry if wintry comedy about a lesbian, a wedding-day bonk, and a mother who contracts Alzheimer''s... It dares to find failure and frivolity (a sure sign of dramatic honesty) in the face of domestic hell. Funny, frank and churning by turns, this struck me as a lyrical new play about the unlyrical business of coping when real life knocks on the door.'' Daily ExpressFrozen Winner of the TMA Best New Play award and Eileen Anderson Central Television Award for Best Play.''Bryony Lavery''s big, brave, compassionate play about grief, revenge, forgiveness and bearing the unbearable.'' Guardian''A major play... thrilling, humane and timely.'' The Times''Consistently surprising and even bravely comic... The almost thriller-like promise of the play''s climactic confrontation is like a time-bomb ticking in the back of your head. IndependentIllyriaA young war reporter gets abducted and finds hersTrade Review"'Bryony Lavery's big, brave, compassionate play about grief, revenge, forgiveness and bearing the unbearable.' Guardian Illyria: A young war reporter gets abducted and finds herself in the midst of a cycle of violence, in a land crippled by hate. More Light: 'Triumphant... A startlingly metaphorical play about the creation of art.' Independent"
£17.09
Faber & Faber Plaques and Tangles
Book SynopsisI do not accept there is anything wrong with me.Days before her wedding Megan discovers she has a 50-50 chance of developing early onset Alzheimer''s. Years later she''s offered a genetic test. But if she''s got the gene does she really want to know?Megan, 21. Megan, 47. Megan, 32. Megan, 27.One woman lurches through time while her young family deal with the consequences.I can''t think. But I still feel. And most of the time I feel scared. Scared because it''s too soon. I haven''t finished yet.Plaques and Tangles by Nicola Wilson premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in October 2015.
£9.49
Random House USA Inc The Heidi Chronicles
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£14.88
Ediciones Ctedra Las bicicletas son para el verano Bicycles are
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£14.62
Washington Square Press Inc.,N.Y. The Tempest New Folger Library Shakespeare
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£7.59
Random House USA Inc The Laramie Project and The Laramie Project Ten
Book SynopsisTwo classic plays in a single volume: One of the most-performed theater pieces in America about the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard and the town in which it happened, joined by an essential and moving sequel to the original play.A terrific piece of theater, history, and life.... Nothing short of stunning.... A theatrical and human event.” —New York magazineOn October 7, 1998, a young gay man was discovered bound to a fence outside Laramie, Wyoming, savagely beaten and left to die in an act of brutality and hate that shocked the nation. Matthew Shepard’s death became a national symbol of intolerance, but for the people of the town, the event was deeply personal. In the aftermath, Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project went to Laramie and conducted more than 200 interviews with its citizens. From the transcripts, the playwrights constructed an extraordinary chronicle of life in the town after the murder. In The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, the troupe revisits the town a decade after the tragedy, finding a community grappling with its legacy and its place in history. The two plays together comprise an epic and deeply moving theatrical cycle that explores the life of an American town over the course a decade.
£13.29
Suhrkamp Verlag Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder
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£999.99
Broadway Play Publishing Inc Fat Pig
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£10.80
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC James Graham Plays 1
Book SynopsisThis collection brings together four of Graham''s most successful and entertaining plays, each representing a relationship with a theatre with which he has worked and introduced by the author. One of the plays, Sons of York, has never before been published, but earned James Graham a nomination for the Empty Space Mark Marvin Award.A History of Falling Things is a gentle love story about a young man and woman forced to confront their fears of the outside world and discover what really matters to their lives. Tory Boyz is a fast-paced, political comedy about prejudice and ambition in Westminster, looking at homosexuality in the British Conservative party, both today and in the past.As Ben, self-employed, skint and emotionally vulnerable, begins to stitch together the patchwork quilt that was the Tax Year 2009/2010, he relives a year that was both hilarious and tragic, all mixed up in one shoe box of receipts. The Man is an affectionate and funny portrait of anTrade ReviewThe prodigiously talented James Graham * British Theatre Guide *Table of ContentsIntroduction, A History of Falling Things, Tory Boyz, The Man, The Whisky Taster, Sons of York
£26.48
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC A Taste Of Honey
Book SynopsisReissue of the all-time best-selling Methuen Modern Play in the new Methuen Student Edition cover styleTrade Review'Some of Delaney's themes may feel dated but her writing still glitters dangerously and wittily. A Taste of Honey remains a passionate statement about real people trapped in poverty, deprived of ambition and vulnerable to manipulation by the fickleness of others.' Independent, (19 November 2008) 'Brawling, boozing, teenage pregnancy and fractured families: Shelagh Delaney's benchmark drama, first staged by Joan Littlewood in London in 1958, has lost none of its relevance 50 years on... The quirkiness and passion of Delaney's young voice still rings out... It remains passionate and pungent.' The Times, (19 November 2008) 'Its raw eloquence, sometimes almost lyrical, its tough, swaggering humour...its frank brutality and unblinking humanity.' Sunday Times, (23 November 2008)
£999.99
Dramatists Play Service An Enemy of the People Arthur Millers Adaptation
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£11.21
Currency Press Pty Ltd Dons Party
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£14.24
