Search results for ""nick hern books""

In 1919, Badgersbridge Village Hall is Margaret's domain and the last place she expected to come face to face with Grace, who knew and loved Margaret's brother. This chance meeting results in an unlikely pairing that will change the course of both of their futures. Fast-forward to 2019. Mirjana from the care company is waiting to meet Sean's mother to help her stay in her own home. Mirjana is from Sarajevo, but has lived in the village since escaping the war there as a teenager. The village hall has been her solace and proves an unlikely link between them. With music, waltzing and unexpected connections, Deirdre Kinahan's play Crossings dances through a century, exploring how we return, resettle and adapt. The play was first seen on a UK tour in 2018, in a co-production between Pentabus Theatre Company and New Perspectives.

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The funniest and most magical Nativity you will ever see. A travelling troupe of two actors and an opera singer arrive by donkey to masterfully, movingly and miraculously enact the greatest story ever told. The absurdly talented Maurice Rose, the alarmingly unpredictable Ronald Bream RAC, and the distinguished diva Mrs Leonora Fflyte play a cast of thousands in a Christmas comedy that conjures up the sublime, the ridiculous and the truly angelic. Patrick Barlow's The Messiah was first performed to universal acclaim by the National Theatre of Brent in 1983, and revived at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2000. This new version, with additional material by Julian Hough, Jude Kelly and John Ramm, was published alongside a major touring production in 2018, starring Hugh Dennis, John Marquez and Lesley Garrett, which was seen at venues around the country including Birmingham Repertory Theatre and The Other Palace, London.

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‘I expect the plummet, I brace, but no. The wind is now a breeze is now a whisper and I’ve stopped; suspended in the sky…’ Greasy fish’n’chips, sticks of rock and a pot-bellied Spider-Man throwing himself off the pier; the annual ‘Birdman’ competition is in full flight. It’s the busiest weekend of the year in this faded seaside town, but Bayview B&B is somehow closed for business. A finalist in the Theatre503 Playwriting Award, Alison Carr's play Caterpillar is a darkly funny, searing and tender drama about those moments when we find ourselves teetering on the edge. Caterpillar was first performed at Theatre503, London, in September 2018 before transferring to the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, produced by Small Truth Theatre in association with Theatre503 and Michelle Barnette Productions.

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`It would still be me... they make it like me, look like me, smell like me, talks like me, feels like me... me. And you... most importantly... you get me...' Welcome to a world where your partner can arrive by special delivery, you can replace your ex with a replica, or supplement your waning love life with regular updates. It could be the answer to all our problems... but what might we lose along the way? Nessah Muthy's fearless examination of the future of sex offers a fascinating vision of where humanity could be heading next. It won the King's Head Theatre's Adrian Pagan Award and the Live Theatre Newcastle Elevator Lab Bursary, and premiered at the King's Head Theatre, London

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It’s 1991 in West Belfast. With their husbands either locked up or killed, Marie, Cassie and Nora are just trying to get on with their lives, despite the bombs, burning buses and soldiers trampling the flower beds. Life must go on – after all, there’s still laundry to do and kids to feed. But when a mysterious young woman turns up on Marie’s doorstep and disrupts their girls’ night out, the devastating revelations which ensue will shatter dreams and threaten their friendship irrevocably. Sharply funny, moving, yet never shying from the harsh realities of life during the Troubles, Bold Girls is a celebration of women’s strength under siege. It was first performed by 7:84 Scottish People's Theatre at Cumbernauld Theatre in 1990 and on tour. The play announced Rona Munro as one of the best playwrights of her generation, winning her the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for 1990-91. This new edition was published alongside the revival at Theatre by the Lake, Keswick, in June 2018.

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Will truth out? Set over one evening, Rathmines Road by Deirdre Kinahan is a play that rages in a tiny room. Fraught, funny and ferocious, this new drama testifies to the pain of carrying the memory of sexual assault throughout a lifetime. A play about secret trauma and public revelation, Rathmines Road bristles with tension and interrogates catharsis to ask: when and how do we take responsibility?

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London, present day. The body of an unidentified young man is found face down in a suburban street. Who is he and where did he come from? He has no ID and nobody witnessed anything. It's as if he has just fallen from the sky… Pathologists and police working on the case must uncover the truth and piece the story – and body – of this 'John Doe' back together. A breakthrough sends DC John Kavura into overdrive and as his investigation unravels, he uncovers a haunting story of our time. Inspired by real events, Fiona Doyle's play The Strange Death of John Doe is a powerful and poignant drama that premiered at Hampstead Theatre Downstairs, London, in 2018, and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.

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‘There is no shame in deriving pleasure from this little world.’ Siblings Fanny and Alexander are growing up amidst the gilded romance and glamour of 1900s Sweden. But their world is turned upside down when their widowed mother remarries the iron-willed local bishop. As creative freedom and rigid orthodoxy clash, a war ensues between imagination and austerity in this magical study of childhood, family and love. Legendary film-maker Ingmar Bergman’s 1982 masterpiece Fanny & Alexander was adapted for the stage by Stephen Beresford. It premiered at The Old Vic, London, in 2018, in a production starring Penelope Wilton and directed by Old Vic Associate Director Max Webster. Stephen Beresford is the BAFTA award-winning screenwriter of Pride. His other plays include The Last of the Haussmans, which premiered at the National Theatre.

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Autumn 1940. The Battle of Britain rages. Southampton is home to Britain's only hope of victory: the Spitfire. But when the Luftwaffe drops 2,300 bombs in three devastating raids, the city goes up in flames and the Woolston Supermarine Spitfire factory is destroyed. From the ashes, a story of chaos, courage and community spirit emerges. Jackie is the third generation of Dimmock at her family-run laundry. Polly is the first and only draughtswoman in the Spitfire design office. How will each woman forge her own path in this evolving landscape?

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It’s May 1997. Tony Blair has won the election and Katrina and the Waves have won Eurovision. Channel 5 is a month old. No one knows who Harry Potter is. Britain is the coolest place in the world. At the local secondary school it’s a different story. Miss Belltop-Doyle can’t control her Year 10s, Mr Pashley has been put in charge of a confiscated Tamagotchi, and Miss Turner is hoping that this muck-up day goes smoother than the last. Tobias, the German language assistant, watches on. Things can only get better. Education, Education, Education is The Wardrobe Ensemble’s love letter to the schools of the 1990s and asks big questions about a country in special measures, exploring what we are taught and why, and where responsibility lies. Inventively theatrical and irreverently funny, Education, Education, Education was co-produced with Royal & Derngate Northampton and Shoreditch Town Hall. It premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2017, where it won a Fringe First Award, before touring the UK.

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In 1949, scientist and mathematician Dr Jacob Bronowski installs a hidden, locked room in his house. Fifty years later, his grandson discovers the secrets contained in the room, unearthing echoes from across six million years of human history. David Byrne's play Secret Life of Humans was first seen during a sell-out, award-winning run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2017. It had its London premiere at New Diorama in April 2018, ahead of transferring Off-Broadway. David Byrne is a playwright and director. His other plays include a radical new version of George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London.

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A collection of five plays by Alexi Kaye Campbell. The premiere of The Pride at the Royal Court Theatre in 2008 marked the emergence of Alexi Kaye Campbell as a distinctive new talent. With its bold and ingenious structure and its daring take on sexual politics in the 1950s and today, the play combined thrilling dramaturgy with profound insight into the affairs of the human heart. It went on to win an Olivier Award, the Critics’ Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright, and the John Whiting Award for Best New Play, and was revived in the West End in 2013. Published here alongside that remarkable debut are Alexi’s four subsequent plays, which together demonstrate his rare ability to harness theatricality in pursuit of emotional truth. Apologia (Bush Theatre, London, 2009; revived in the West End in 2017), a perceptive look at what has happened to 1960s idealists and their children. ‘Sharp, funny, wise and humane, Alexi Kaye Campbell is a writer to cherish’ Telegraph The Faith Machine (Royal Court, 2011), an exploration of the relationship between faith and capitalism that asks fundamental questions about the true meaning of love. ‘An urgent play of expansive ambition and largeness of spirit’ Guardian Bracken Moor (Tricycle Theatre and Shared Experience, 2013), a haunting tale of grief and denial, set against the economic crisis of the 1930s. ‘A superior kind of ghost story… intellectually as well as emotionally haunting’ The Stage Sunset at the Villa Thalia (National Theatre, 2016), a passionate and deeply personal play about the impact of foreign influence, planned and unintentional, on a nation and its people. ‘This play is a winner, a thought-provoking slow-burn story that works on many levels’ The Times Also included is an introduction by the author.

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Millions of people cycle to work every day. And every week, some of them don’t make it home. One Tuesday morning, Isabelle packs her lunch box into her pannier, kisses her young daughter goodbye, and sets off on her bike through Hackney. What happens along the way is at once shocking, inconceivable, and terrifyingly ordinary. Based on a true story, The White Bike is an affecting play about what happens when our world is turned upside down. It was premiered in 2017 at The Space, London, in a production directed by Lily McLeish. Tamara von Werthern is the founder and producer of Fizzy Sherbet, a new-writing initiative for women writers from across the world. This edition also includes her short plays Baby Dolls and The Village Church.

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'I used to be scared of them. They seemed so different. They don't scare me any more. They're just children, aren't they? Just children.' January 1941. A terrible crime is taking place in a clinic for disabled children. The perpetrators argue that it will help struggling parents and lift the financial burden on the mighty German state. One brave voice is raised in objection. But will the doctor listen? A moving examination of a terrifying moral dilemma, and a powerful story that shows what it takes for humanity and decency to be restored in a world that has abandoned them. First produced by Tara Finney Productions, Stephen Unwin's debut play All Our Children premiered at Jermyn Street Theatre, London, in 2017.

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A thoughtful and deeply personal book by a master theatre-maker. In Tip of the Tongue, Peter Brook takes a charming, playful and wise look at topics such as the subtle, telling differences between French and English, and the many levels on which we can appreciate the works of Shakespeare. Brook also revisits his seminal concept of the 'empty space', considering how theatre – and the world – have changed over the span of his long and distinguished career. Threaded throughout with intimate and revealing stories from Brook's own life, Tip of the Tongue is a short but sparkling gift from one of the greatest artists of recent times.

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In September 2004, a group of terrorists stormed School Number One in Beslan, Russia, taking hundreds of children, their parents and teachers hostage. The ensuing siege lasted three days and left many dead. Us/Them is not a straightforward account of this terrible tragedy, but an exploration of the entirely individual way children cope with traumatic situations. Originally created for BRONKS, a theatre company for young audiences, Us/Them had a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2016, winning a Scotsman Fringe First Award, and transferred to the National Theatre, London, in 2017. It was co-produced by BRONKS and Richard Jordan Productions, with Theatre Royal Plymouth and Big in Belgium, in association with Summerhall.

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'Beauty is but skin deep, ugly lies the bone; beauty dies and fades away, but ugly holds its own.' After three tours of duty in Afghanistan, wounded veteran Jess finally returns home to Florida, where she must confront her scars – and a hometown that may have changed even more than her. Undergoing an experimental virtual reality therapy, she builds a breathtaking new world where she can escape her pain. As Jess advances further into that world, she begins to restore her relationships, her life and, slowly, herself. Lindsey Ferrentino's play Ugly Lies the Bone received its European premiere at the National Theatre, London, in 2017, in a production directed by Indhu Rubasingham and starring Kate Fleetwood. It was a New York Times Critics' Pick during its sold-out run Off-Broadway in 2015.

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'When am I going to wake up and be different?' Three flatmates. A single bathroom. And a whole world of men. In this funny, unapologetic play, three twenty-something women figure out how they really feel about sex, their bodies and each other. With a vibrancy and stylistic freedom, Low Level Panic interrogates the effects of society's objectification of women. Clare McIntyre's play Low Level Panic premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in 1988, winning the Samuel Beckett Award. This edition was published alongside its first major revival at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, in 2017.

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Why 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.

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Jessica Swale's Blue Stockings is the empowering and surprising story of four young women fighting for their right to a university education in a world that assumed women belonged at home. First produced professionally at Shakespeare's Globe in 2013, and a sell-out success, it is now regularly performed by theatre groups in the UK and beyond, and widely studied by GCSE Drama students. This Page to Stage guide, written by the playwright, who also directed the first production at RADA, along with her assistant director Lois Jeary, is packed with contextual information, scene-by-scene and character breakdowns, and personal insights into the world of the play and the real lives that inspired it. An invaluable resource for those studying and staging the play, it takes you through the entire production process, considering each of the elements in turn, from sound and music to design and rehearsals. You'll also find notes from the original rehearsal process, extracts from working diaries, and interviews with key members of the creative team. Throughout, there are hints and tips on staging, and helpful games and exercises to bring the play to life on the stage and in the classroom. Highly accessible and uniquely authoritative, it is the indispensible guide for anyone studying, teaching or performing the play.

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The Bronze Age. The Iron Age. The Age of Oil. The Stone Age didn't end for want of stones. Oil follows the lives of one woman and her daughter in an epic, hurtling collision of empire, history and family. Ella Hickson's explosive play drills deep into the world's relationship with this finite resource. It is 'the single most gloriously audacious piece of playwriting of the last few years' Evening Standard. Oil premiered at the Almeida Theatre, London, in October 2016, in a production directed by Carrie Cracknell and starring Anne-Marie Duff.

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Ava and Tash are up on a cliff, looking out at the flocking birds – and at their future. On the cusp of adulthood and about to leave the care home they've shared, the two friends road-test their impending freedom and living in the outside world. Ava must confront the mother she left behind. Tash will have to look for a new home. And both girls will go on living dangerously with the men who surround them. Raw, delicate and bold, Katherine Chandler's play Bird is a story of growing up outside a family but inside the fiercest of friendships. It was the winner of a Judges' Award in the 2013 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, and premiered at Sherman Cymru in 2016 before transferring to the Royal Exchange, Manchester.

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Peepolykus bring their exhilarating combination of verbal slapstick, visual surprise and anarchic comedy to Gustave Flaubert's seminal nineteenth-century masterpiece Madame Bovary. Laugh and cry in equal measure as Emma Bovary chooses the wrong husband. Lose yourself in mesmeric love scenes featuring a procession of devastatingly attractive men. Rail at the fate of women in a patriarchal society, if you will. Prepare yourself for vermin, moustaches, wild animals, lots of French people and a nun. Written for a bijou cast of four playing multiple roles, The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary was a co-production between Peepolykus, Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse, the Nuffield in Southampton, Bristol Old Vic and the Royal & Derngate in Northampton. It premiered at the Everyman in Liverpool in 2016 before touring to all those other places too. Like their tremendously popular Hound of the Baskervilles, Peepolykus's Bovary offers abundant opportunities for comedy and slapstick – plus some massive tragedy – to any theatre company or drama group looking for a loving derailment of a classic novel.

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A delightfully unfestive comedy about a group of recent graduates doing seasonal work selling Christmas trees. 'Tis the season to be jolly. But the employees at Christmas Pines are certainly not. Gabby has a first-class honours degree and an MA, but somehow she's stuck – for the third year running – counting Norwegian Spruce. Betty wishes she was ice-skating with her mates at Somerset House rather than 'gaining work experience'. Joe is nursing a broken hand, and heart, by lugging trees. Taj can't decide whether he's in love with Gabby or Betty. And they're all being driven out of their minds by Christmas songs on repeat… Jacqui Honess-Martin's play Pine explores the value of learning on the job, the rose-tinted expectations of recent graduates, and the inability to see the wood for the trees. It premiered at Hampstead Downstairs, London, in December 2015.

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A romantic drama with music inspired by the days of music hall and beyond, from the author of the modern classic Kindertransport. It is 1919. The Great War is over and Poppy Wright arrives in London from the north of England to make her mark in the world. Deep in the heart of the East End she finds work in Smith's tailor and costumiers workshop, where she meets dashing chauffeur George, and falls in love. This is a time of change and opportunity, emerging from the losses of war, when all are questioning who they are and what roles they can play in forging a new, modern era. It’s time to ditch the corset and discover who really wears the trousers. Poppy + George is a beguiling romance that draws on a world of female impersonators, popular song and double entendre. It was first performed at the Watford Palace Theatre in February 2016.

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It's the hot, humid, sticky summer of 1977. At a popular birdwatching spot jutting out into the North Sea at the mouth of the Tees, Martin, Jack, Michael and Carol are staring out into the future, their lives intertwined. A friendship, a marriage, a holiday, and a death – the gatherings and departures that make us human. Robert Holman's richly resonant play is an uplifting portrait of human hope and vulnerability. German Skerries was first performed at the Bush Theatre, London, and won the George Devine Award in the year that it is set. It was revived in 2016 at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, in a co-production with the award-winning Up in Arms Theatre Company, followed by a tour around the UK.

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Shakespeare's heartbreaking tale of forbidden love, brought to life in a new production co-directed by Rob Ashford and Kenneth Branagh. This version of Romeo and Juliet was performed as part of the Plays at the Garrick Season in 2016, starring Derek Jacobi as Mercutio, Meera Syal as the Nurse, and Lily James and Richard Madden as the star-crossed lovers. This official tie-in edition features the version of Shakespeare's text as edited by Kenneth Branagh, as well as an introduction to the play, interviews with Jacobi, Syal, Madden and James, and original design sketches by Christopher Oram.

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Five characters share a common thread: Joanne. But it's not about her. It's about Stella, whose tomorrow is as far away as winter from summer. It's the way Grace finds her song on the footpath between two cars. It's about Alice's MBA wasted on plugging holes, Kath's patients crawling alongside her after the night shift and it's Becky caught in the crosshairs of what's best and what's right for her students. But what about her? What about Joanne? In Joanne, five of the most exciting voices in theatre explore the pressures on our public services as one young woman buckles under pressures of her own. The play comprises five interconnected short plays for a solo performer, written by Deborah Bruce, Theresa Ikoko, Laura Lomas, Chino Odimba and Ursula Rani Sarma. Commissioned by Clean Break, Joanne premiered at Latitude Festival in 2015, before transferring to Soho Theatre, London.

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Mary had a son, now her son is dead, and that is all. But her friend Jenn is hosting a dinner party, just like before, a chance to catch up. No pressure. Nothing big. Just old friends. It would be great to see you. If you're free. If you're ready. Darkly funny, and achingly tender, Kat Roberts' play Staying Alive is about the death of a child; an exploration of love, honesty, family and grief; about how in the wake of any irreparable loss, we find ways to connect and survive. Kat Roberts' play Staying Alive was produced by Blackshaw Theatre Company and first performed at the Pleasance, London, in 2015.

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An explosive and thought-provoking play from the author of Girls Like That, exploring what happens when buried secrets catch up with you. As Head of Year 11, Diane is meant to be implementing the new 'Healthy Relationships' curriculum. But then Freddie arrives. She hasn't seen him since that night six years earlier when he was fifteen. She thinks he took advantage of her. He thinks she groomed him for months. Neither is sure. But when it comes to sex and consent, how far can you blur the lines? Evan Placey's Consensual was first performed by the National Youth Theatre in their 2015 West End season.

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Dazzling and sequin-studded, Kiss Me Quickstep is a play about the world of ballroom dance, taking us behind the fixed smiles and fake tan to look at the real lives of those for whom ballroom dancing is everything. Justin and Jodie have finally made it to the national ballroom-dancing championships in Blackpool – via the motorway hard shoulder. Luka's come all the way from Russia. Nancy's been training for this since she was three. Lee and Samantha arrive on a wave of success. But what if your dance-floor dreams are turning into a nightmare? How do you stop dancing to other people's tunes? What can you do if your partner's secret could cost you the crown? And, even when the whole world's at your feet, it only takes one false step... Amanda Whittington's Kiss Me Quickstep premiered at New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme, in 2016, in a co-production between the New Vic and Oldham Coliseum Theatre.

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‘Who said smashing things up was a bad thing?’ Three strangers are about to face their demons head on. Balanced precariously on the tipping point, they might just be able to save one another – if they can only overcome their urge to self-destruct. Passionate, painful and playful, Stef Smith’s Swallow takes a long, hard look at the extremes of everyday life. The play premiered at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, as part of the 2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it received a Scotsman Fringe First Award. It was directed by Traverse Artistic Director Orla O’Loughlin, and featured original music by LAWholt.

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A thrillingly fast-paced play about youthful disaffection, protest and violence, drawing on the history of the Scuttlers, the youth gangs of nineteenth-century Manchester. It's 1882 and the streets of Manchester are crackling with energy, youth and violence. As workers pour into Ancoats to power the Industrial Revolution, 50,000 people are crammed into one square mile. The mills rumble thunderously day and night. The air is thick with smoke. Life is lived large and lived on the street. This is the world's very first industrial suburb and the young mill workers form the very first urban gangs, fighting over their territory with belts, fists and knives. Invisible in history, their lives, deaths, loves, lusts and defiant energy tell stories that will repeat and repeat over the decades that follow. Scuttlers by Rona Munro was first performed at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, in 2015. With nine leading roles and a large cast of mill workers and gang members, Scuttlers is well suited to performance by schools and youth groups, who will enjoy its physical energy and dramatic storyline.

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Charlie Ashanti lives in a future where phones are powered by the sun, cars are banned and companies are more powerful than countries. Charlie is a perfectly normal boy, except for one thing: he can speak to cats. When his parents are kidnapped, he sets off on a rescue mission – with a little help from a floating circus and its pride of performing lions. Based on Zizou Corder's bestselling novels, Marcelo Dos Santos's adaptation fuses storytelling and circus in a gripping tale that provides great opportunities for amateur and school groups looking to perform a magical adventure. Lionboy was commissioned and first produced by award-winning theatre company Complicite in 2013, and was revived in 2014 for an international tour.

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Mr and Mrs Twit are not very nice. In fact they're extremely nasty. They're nasty to each other, and they're VILE to everyone else. They hold a family of monkeys hostage in a cage and force them to stand on their heads. ALL THE TIME. We told you they weren't very nice. Can the monkeys find a way to show those vicious Twits what for? Mischievously adapted from Roald Dahl's story, acclaimed playwright Enda Walsh has turned The Twits upside down. This revolting revolution was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in April 2015.

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A gripping, kaleidoscopic drama about a clash of values in multicultural Britain, from actor and playwright John Hollingworth. Bradford. On the eve of a Conservative Party Conference the country is in turmoil and one of its most multicultural cities awaits a visit from the Prime Minister. Kash, a liberal British Muslim, prepares his address to politicians about the state of the nation. His girlfriend Natalie, a recent convert to Islam, cooks for anti-war protesters gathered at the Town Hall. Lyn, her mother, moans to anyone who’ll listen about the decline of her cherished England. It’s all too much for Kash’s daughter Qadira, who begins to plan a radical intervention. As the nation questions immigration policies and military support in the Middle East, one family face their own internal conflict of faith, belonging, and who gets to call themselves British. Multitudes, John Hollingworth’s debut play, premiered at the Tricycle Theatre, London, in 2015.

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A razor-sharp, acid-tongued play by Mike Bartlett, one of the UK's most exciting and inventive young writers. Two jobs. Three candidates. This would be a really bad time to have a stain on your shirt...Bull opened at Crucible Studio Theatre, Sheffield, in February 2013 in a Sheffield Theatres Production, winning the 2013 UK Theatre Award for Best New Play. This edition is published alongside its production at the Young Vic Theatre, London. Winner of the 2015 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre.

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Melissa Bubnic's Beached is a darkly funny comedy about modern freak shows, love and cream buns. Loads of cream buns. Arty is the world's fattest teenager. At sixty-seven stone, he is a young man literally going nowhere.
 All that is set to change when a reality TV crew moves in to ruthlessly document Arty's supposed transformation from bedridden walrus to trousered sophisticate. But with the cameras rolling, something totally unexpected happens – Arty falls in love. Beached had its British premiere at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, in 2014 before transferring to Soho Theatre, London. It won the 2010 Patrick White Playwrights Award at the Sydney Writers' Festival.

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THE GOOD AUDITION GUIDES: Helping you select and perform the audition piece that is best suited to your performing skills If you're auditioning for a musical – or needing to choose a song to perform for an exam, showcase or drama-school application – it's vital you find a song that shows off your voice and reveals your full potential as both a singer and an actor. In this invaluable book, you'll find comprehensive introductions to fifty of the best songs from musical theatre, for tenor/high baritone and baritone/bass voices, and in a variety of periods, styles, genres and tempos. Each song comes with detailed textual, vocal and musical analysis, and a practical performance guide to ensure you perform it to maximum effect in your own unique way. Drawing on his experience as a performer, musical director and teacher at several leading drama schools, Paul Harvard gives his top tips for performing each song, note by note, moment by moment. He also recommends soundtrack recordings to inspire you, and tells you where to find the correct sheet music for your chosen song (please note: the book does not contain the sheet music itself). The selection includes songs from acclaimed contemporary musicals such as Children of Eden and Pippin by Stephen Schwartz, Parade and The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown, as well as Martin Guerre, The Wild Party, Taboo and The Lion King – alongside many much-loved classics like Carousel, Fiddler on the Roof, 42nd Street, Kiss Me, Kate, and six of Sondheim's masterpieces. Also included is an extensive introduction to the process of choosing your song, preparing your performance and approaching the audition itself, along with many vocal and acting exercises to improve your technique and boost your confidence. 'For anyone wishing to do justice to a musical-theatre role, and definitely for those wishing to work in this genre, this guide is a must' Teaching Drama Magazine on Paul Harvard's bestselling book Acting Through Song

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THE GOOD AUDITION GUIDES: Helping you select and perform the audition piece that is best suited to your performing skills If you're auditioning for a musical – or needing to choose a song to perform for an exam, showcase or drama-school application – it's vital you find a song that shows off your voice and reveals your full potential as both a singer and an actor. In this invaluable book, you'll find comprehensive introductions to fifty of the best songs from musical theatre, for soprano, mezzosoprano and alto voices, and in a variety of periods, styles, genres and tempos. Each song comes with detailed textual, vocal and musical analysis, and a practical performance guide to ensure you perform it to maximum effect in your own unique way. Drawing on his experience as a performer, musical director and teacher at several leading drama schools, Paul Harvard gives his top tips for performing each song, note by note, moment by moment. He also recommends soundtrack recordings to inspire you, and tells you where to find the correct sheet music for your chosen song (please note: the book does not contain the sheet music itself). The selection includes songs from acclaimed contemporary musicals such as In the Heights by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Songs for a New World by Jason Robert Brown, as well as Next to Normal, Miss Saigon, The Color Purple, Sister Act and Ragtime – alongside much-loved classics like The Sound of Music, Fiddler on the Roof, My Fair Lady, Anything Goes, and five of Sondheim's masterpieces. Also included is an extensive introduction to the process of choosing your song, preparing your performance and approaching the audition itself, along with many vocal and acting exercises to improve your technique and boost your confidence. 'For anyone wishing to do justice to a musical-theatre role, and definitely for those wishing to work in this genre, this guide is a must' Teaching Drama Magazine on Paul Harvard's bestselling book Acting Through Song

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A portrait of an eclectic family, held together by the courage to survive. In an ivy-clad house in Zagreb, Croatia, the Kos family argue and fall in and out of love as world after world is erected and then torn down around them. From the remnants of monarchy, through Communism, then democracy, war, and eventual acceptance into a wider Europe, four generations of Kos women – each one more independent than the last – have to adapt to survive. The one constant is the house: built by aristocrats, partitioned, nationalised, it stands witness to the passing generations. But when the family assemble for Lucija's wedding, Alisa learns that her nouveau-riche brother-in-law has bought the family home for himself and the other tenants have to move out. For the bride this is progress, for her sister it's a shady act of greed. For their principled parents, finally, it's one battle too many. Tena Štivičić's play 3 Winters premiered at the National Theatre, London, in November 2014. It won the 2015 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.

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Lynn 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.

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This collection of plays written and introduced by actor-turned-writer Ayub Khan Din charts the development of a writer able to turn the tumultuous experience of life in modern Britain into satisfying, humane and often richly comic drama. Whether drawing on his own childhood, growing up in an Anglo-Pakistani family in Salford, or on E.R. Braithwaite's account of racial tensions in the East End in To Sir, With Love, he depicts the struggles of individuals to come to terms with their conflicting cultural legacies – and he does so with unerring warmth and compassion. East is East (1996) is an irresistible comedy set in multiracial Salford in 1970, where the Khan children are buffeted this way and that by their Pakistani father’s insistence on tradition, their English mother’s laissez-faire and their own wish to be citizens of the modern world. The film adaptation that followed, with a screenplay by the author, became one of the most successful British films ever made. The version included here is the revised text first performed at the Trafalgar Studios in 2014. The short, elegiac play, Notes on Falling Leaves (2004), is an emotionally tender depiction of a young man as he loses his mother to dementia, 'overwhelming in its emotional impact' (Telegraph). In All the Way Home (2011), a quarrelsome group of siblings gathers at the family home under the shadow of impending loss. Amidst the cut and thrust of spiky Salford banter, long-harboured resentments rise to the surface and family bonds unravel and unwind. To Sir, With Love (2013), based on E.R. Braithwaite's autobiographical novel, is the uplifting story of a talented, idealistic young teacher discovering the reality of life as a black man in Britain after the Second World War as he struggles to find a way to connect with his students at a tough but progressive East End school.

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A story of lust, madness and destruction set in the backstreets of Paris. Based on Emile Zola's classic novel. The beautiful but doomed heroine is trapped in a loveless marriage to her sickly cousin, Camille. Every Thursday evening she watches her domineering aunt, Madame Raquin, play dominoes... until one day her husband brings along an old friend, the alluring and athletic Laurent. As Laurent and Thérèse embark on an illicit affair, a turbulent passion is unleashed that drives them ultimately to violence and murder. Helen Edmundson's sensuous adaptation of Thérèse Raquin premiered at the Theatre Royal, Bath, in July 2014. It was later seen on Broadway in a production starring Keira Knightley.

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The essential, one-stop handbook for actors, with everything you need to survive and thrive, from the team behind the internationally successful Surviving Actors conventions. Being an actor is a vocation, but it’s also a real-life job. Talent, determination and passion are vital, but will only get you so far. In addition to developing the craft of acting, actors have to remember that it is a career, and so the business side needs to be taken just as seriously. This manual covers the day-to-day essentials you need to succeed in the industry, with sections that cover: Establishing your personal brand and business plan Getting great headshots, showreels, voicereels and a website Dealing with agents, casting directors and auditions Developing your networking skills And managing your money Honest, straightforward, but also empowering, it will help you unlock your potential and focus on being the best, most employable – and, hopefully, successful – actor you can be. Compiled by the team at Surviving Actors, and drawing on a wide range of other experienced professionals, the Surviving Actors Manual is designed to help you develop and sustain your career and to create your own new opportunities. Felicity Jackson and Lianne Robertson both trained as actors. Together they run Surviving Actors, founded in 2009 to help and encourage other actors in all areas of their professional lives.

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In The Quality of Mercy, one of the world's most revered theatre directors reflects on a fascinating variety of Shakespearean topics. In this sequence of essays, Peter Brook debates such questions as who was the man who wrote Shakespeare's plays, why Shakespeare is never out of date, and how actors should approach Shakespeare's verse. He also revisits some of the plays which he has directed with notable brilliance, such as King Lear, Titus Andronicus and, of course, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Taken as a whole, this short but immensely wise book offers an illuminating and provocative insight into a great director's relationship with our greatest playwright. 'An invaluable gift from the greatest Shakespeare director of our time... Brook's genius, modesty, and brilliance shine through on every page' James Shapiro, author of 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare

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Three plays based on George Eliot's classic novel, which can be performed as a trilogy or as standalone pieces. George Eliot's Middlemarch is peopled with some of literature's most memorable characters. In Geoffrey Beevers' dramatisation, all three interconnected plays can be performed as a trilogy, but each play can also stand on its own, telling the story of Middlemarch from the perspective of a different set of characters: from county, town and countryside. In Dorothea's Story, set among the big houses of the local aristocracy of Middlemarch, young, intelligent Dorothea is so enamoured of the pedantic Reverend Casaubon that she marries him, much to everyone's disbelief. But her friendship with Casaubon's young cousin Will Ladislaw arouses suspicions in her new husband, who will do anything to thwart their mutual affection. In The Doctor's Story, set in the town of Middlemarch itself, where everyone wants to know each other's business, idealistic Dr Lydgate arrives in Middlemarch determined to achieve great things. He catches the eye of the Mayor's beautiful, self-centred daughter Rosamond but is torn between ambition and loyalty as he is drawn into an alliance with a corrupt banker. In the poignant but light-hearted Fred and Mary's Story, set amongst hard-working countryfolk, Fred is trying to please his parents and become a country gentleman, but his childhood sweetheart Mary will have none of it. The Middlemarch Trilogy premiered at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, in October 2013.

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