Search results for ""NICK HERN BOOKS""

From the bestselling Drama Games series, this dip-in, flick-through, quick-fire resource book – packed with over 200 individual games – is perfect for teachers, playgroup leaders and drama facilitators who want to inspire and entertain children, aged 3 and up, with vibrant and engaging drama experiences. The book includes 40 complete and easy-to-follow lesson plans that can be implemented with little prior preparation – all appropriate for exploring the curriculum or running extra-curricular workshops. The action-packed sessions will transport you and your group to enchanted forests, pirate ships, bustling farmyards or the bottom of the sea, via magic-carpet rides or a journey through outer space. They incorporate vocal exercises, mime and movement, nursery rhymes and fairytales, character development, costumes, songs and music, puppetry, art and text work. Also included is advice on preparing sessions, and a template lesson plan. The most comprehensive and practical drama resource ever published for anyone working with young children (including parents!), the book offers material that will engage any child, from the most reticent to the supremely confident. It is an ideal way to explore and encourage skills of creativity, self-expression, tolerance, mutual respect, problem-solving and communication, in a safe, non-threatening environment. 'Tapping into a child’s ability to play is the way to educate our children and inspire them to learn. Katherine Zachest understands this and her book is a fantastic tool with which to do it.' Sally Cookson, from her Foreword

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“I’m walking down the street and there’s a door in the fence open and inside there are three women I’ve seen before.” Three old friends and a neighbour. A summer of afternoons in the back yard. Tea and catastrophe. Caryl Churchill's play Escaped Alone premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2016, in a production directed by James Macdonald. It was named Best Play at the 2017 Writers' Guild Awards.

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In the late 1600s, in a convent in Mexico, a gifted and progressive writer finds herself at the centre of a deadly battle of ideas. Celebrated by the Court but silenced by the Church, she is betrayed by the very people she thought she could trust. Inspired by the extraordinary life of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Helen Edmundson's The Heresy of Love is a powerful drama about a clash between organised religion and personal faith, full of intrigue and danger, ruthless ambitions and illicit desire. Premiered by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2012, The Heresy of Love was revived in a new production at Shakespeare's Globe, London, in 2015.

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Mike Bartlett's 'future history play' explores the people beneath the crowns, the unwritten rules of our democracy, and the conscience of Britain's most famous family. Queen Elizabeth II is dead. After a lifetime of waiting, her son ascends the throne. A future of power. But how to rule? Drawing on the style and structure of a Shakespearean history play, King Charles III opened at London's Almeida Theatre, directed by its Artistic Director Rupert Goold, in April 2014, before transferring to the West End. The play went on to win Best New Play at both the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards and the Olivier Awards. It also won the South Bank Sky Arts Theatre Award.

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Actioning – and How to Do It is the indispensable companion to a vital component in every actor’s toolkit. Actioning is one of the most widely used rehearsal techniques for actors. It helps bring clarity to every moment or thought in the text, energising rehearsals and bringing performances to life. Actioning will enable you to discover and unlock newfound energy, range, variety and clarity of body and voice, by: Interrogating the text and making initial action verb choices Playing your chosen actions, both verbally and physically Maintaining an imaginative and emotional connection with each moment Signposting each thought to your scene partner From the publishers of the internationally successful Actions: The Actors' Thesaurus, this is the first in-depth exploration of Actioning for student actors, those who train them, and professionals working in the industry, whether they're brand new to the technique or have been practising it for years. This step-by-step guide draws on concepts from Stanislavsky, using sample scenes from classic plays such as The Seagull and The Importance of Being Earnest, as well as contemporary pieces, and is filled with exercises to demonstrate the technique at work.

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An exciting, fresh and accessible adaptation of Dostoyevsky's masterful novel. Starving, destitute student Raskolnikov is surrounded by the harsh injustices of the world: the grime of poverty and prostitution, unscrupulous pawnbrokers chasing debts, and a sister about to marry someone she doesn't love to keep her family alive. His guilt is unbearable. Only Sonya, a downtrodden prostitute, can offer any chance of redemption. As Raskolnikov enters a dangerous cat and mouse game with the examining magistrate, a psychological thriller unfolds that probes how far humanity might go when driven by disillusionment and whether any crime can be justified by a higher purpose. Chris Hannan's adaptation of Crime and Punishment was first performed at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, in 2013, followed by a UK tour.

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Someone sneezes. Someone can't get a signal. Someone shares a secret. Someone won't answer the door. Someone put an elephant on the stairs. Someone's not ready to talk. Someone is her brother's mother. Someone hates irrational numbers. Someone told the police. Someone got a message from the traffic light. Someone's never felt like this before. In this fast moving kaleidoscope, more than a hundred characters try to make sense of what they know. Caryl Churchill's play Love and Information was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in September 2012.

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A gripping historical play that dramatises a crucial moment of English history. December 1648. The Army has occupied London. Parliament votes not to put the imprisoned king on trial, so the Army moves against Westminster in the first and only military coup in English history. What follows over the next fifty-five days, as Cromwell seeks to compromise with a king who will do no such thing, is nothing less than the forging of a new nation, an entirely new world. Howard Brenton’s play depicts the dangerous and dramatic days when, in a country exhausted by Civil War, a few great men attempt to think the unthinkable: to create a country without a king. 55 Days was first performed at Hampstead Theatre, London, in October 2012, in a production directed by Howard Davies.

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Arthur Ransome's famous and much-loved children's classic is brought thrillingly to life in Helen Edmundson's wonderfully theatrical adaptation, with 'delightfully catchy and often witty' (Telegraph) songs by Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy When John, Susan, Titty and Roger are granted their wish to set sail on their beloved boat Swallow, they know it will be the summer holiday of a lifetime. But their adventure truly begins when they encounter Nancy and Peggy, the self-proclaimed Amazon Pirates, and the dastardly Captain Flint. This adaptation was first performed at the Bristol Old Vic in 2010. It had its West End premiere in 2011.

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Helen Edmundson's celebrated and 'exemplary' (The Times) adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's enduring classic is a vibrant and deeply moving meditation on the nature of love. Anna is beautiful and admired but empty – until a chance meeting throws her into emotional turmoil and a scandalous affair. Contrasting with this tale of destructive love is the story of Levin, an idealistic man striving to find meaning in life – and a self-portrait of Tolstoy himself. Helen Edmundson's stage adaptation of Anna Karenina was first performed by Shared Experience at the Theatre Royal, Winchester, in January 1992 at the start of a nationwide tour. The production went on to win the Time Out Award for Outstanding Theatrical Event of 1992. This edition of the play was published alongside a revival at the Arcola Theatre, London, in 2011.

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Based on the award-winning memoir by Timothy Conigrave, and adapted for the stage by acclaimed playwright Tommy Murphy, Holding the Man tells a remarkable true-life love story that speaks across generations, sexualities and cultures. The course of teenage love rarely runs smooth, but it is a white-water adventure if you are secretly gay in an all-male school in 1970s Melbourne with a crush on the captain of the football team. Against the odds, Tim and John develop a relationship that, for fifteen years, survives everything life throws at it – the separations, the discriminations, the temptations, the jealousies and the losses – until the only problem that love can't solve turns up to part them. Tommy Murphy's play Holding the Man was first performed in Sydney, Australia, in 2006. It had its UK premiere at the Trafalgar Studios in the West End in 2010. ‘Tommy Murphy is a bewitching playwright of startling originality’ - Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton, Artistic Directors of Sydney Theatre Company

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100 speeches and scenes for Learners entering LAMDA Graded Examinations in Performance: Acting from Grade 1 to Grade 5.

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Chris Bush and Richard Hawley's musical, a history of modern Britain told through the stories of one Sheffield housing estate. Winner of the Best New Musical award at the 2023 Olivier Awards.

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'With great pleasure Leyla & Joel Invite you to celebrate their marriage. Dress code is smart casual. Doors at 7.30 p.m., followed by the exchange of vows. And at the signal, the entertainment will begin. (This performance is being staged without a licence from the Ministry. We recognise the risk that each and every one of you is taking by attending and we salute your courage.)' A Mirror is an elusive, explosive play by Sam Holcroft, interrogating censorship, authorship and free speech. It premiered at the Almeida Theatre, London, in 2023, directed by Jeremy Herrin, and with a cast including Jonny Lee Miller, Tanya Reynolds and Micheal Ward.

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'I am strength I am power I am courage I am revolution I am Amber Rai' Amber is trapped – by her family's rules and expectations, and by her own fears. But on the running track she feels free. As her body speeds up, the world slows down. And the tangled, mixed-up words in her head start to make sense... It's time to start a revolution: for her mother, for her sister, for herself. Run, Amber. Run. Manjeet Mann's multi-award-winning verse novel, Run, Rebel, about a young woman beginning to take control of her life, was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal 2021 and won the CILIP Carnegie Shadowers Choice Award, a UKLA Book Award, a Diverse Book Award and the Sheffield Children's Book Award. This fast-paced, mesmerising stage version, adapted by the author, was first produced in 2023 by Pilot Theatre, with Mercury Theatre, Colchester, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, Derby Theatre and York Theatre Royal. This edition also contains a range of teaching materials and resources designed to help educators bring the play to life for their students. 'Mann's brilliant, coruscating verse novel lays out the anatomy of Amber's revolution, and the tentative first flowerings of hope and change' Guardian

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Mary has just been released from prison. She wants to come home and forget all about it – but Briana has other ideas. Over two tumultuous days, a family is forced to confront not only their past, but everything about themselves. Because the truth doesn't go away, even if you refuse to hear it. A powerful story of family and forgiveness, Deborah Bruce's play Dixon and Daughters was first performed at the National Theatre, London, in April 2023, directed by Róisín McBrinn and co-produced with Clean Break.

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'I have to write. That's what I am. My sister Meg is beautiful, my sister Beth is good, my sister Amy is, well, she is what she is, but I'm the writer of the family. What shall I do?' Christmas Eve, 1862. With their father away on the frontline of the American Civil War, the four March sisters – Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy – journey into adulthood, each determined to pursue a life on their own terms. But growing up means contending with love and loss, as well as the myriad twists of fortune that shape a life. Published in 1868, Louisa May Alcott's Little Women was an immediate critical and commercial success, and remains one of the best-loved novels of all time. This joyful and spirited adaptation was first produced at Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Watford Palace Theatre in 2022, directed by Brigid Larmour. An earlier version was staged at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, in 2011. It provides rich opportunities for any amateur company looking for an uplifting version of a classic story that's guaranteed to delight audiences.

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'I'm not in your Britain. I'm in another Britain.' Zafar flees homophobic persecution in Pakistan to seek asylum in the UK. Londoner Bilal (or Billy as he prefers to be known) is ground down by years of Grindr and the complexity of being a brown gay man. In Soho, at 2 a.m., parallel worlds collide – and Zafar and Billy's lives are about to change forever. The P Word is Waleed Akhtar's sharp-witted and devastating play charting the parallel lives of two gay Pakistani men as they negotiate everything from casual hook-ups to the UK's hostile environment. A story of who wins in the luck of life's draw, it was premiered at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2022, directed by Anthony Simpson-Pike. It went on to win Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre at the 2023 Olivier Awards. Waleed Akhtar was named Most Promising New Playwright at the 2023 OffWestEnd Awards, for his two plays The P Word and Kabul Goes Pop: Music Television Afghanistan.

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'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.

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Thirty-somethings Leo, Misha, Ralph and Dawn have been inseparable since college. Making their way together in the big city, they are liberal, open-minded and socially aware. As best friends and lovers, confident in their 'woke-ness', their connection with each other is stronger than anything else – until Leo is assaulted by the police in a racially motivated incident. Shaken to the core, he brings to the group an extreme proposition... Suzan-Lori Parks' play White Noise takes an unflinching look at race in the twenty-first century from both a black and white perspective. It was first performed at The Public Theater, New York, in March 2019, directed by Oskar Eustis, and had its European premiere at the Bridge Theatre, London, in October 2021, directed by Polly Findlay.

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'I must have action! And if I cannot find it, I will make it.' Jane Eyre may be poor, obscure, plain and little, but she has heart and soul – and plenty of it. Chris Bush's witty and fleet-footed adaptation lays bare the beating heart of Charlotte Brontë's classic novel, whilst staying true to its revolutionary spirit. With actor-musicians, playful doubling, and a plethora of nineteenth-century pop hits, it was first produced at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, and the New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme, in 2022, directed by Zoë Waterman. 'One of the UK’s most exciting young playwrights' The Stage 'A writer of great wit and empathy' The Times

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Our most brilliant, fearless and creative women directors open the door on their craft, discussing their work in the theatre in intimate and illuminating detail. Through a series of fascinating conversations with many of the leading talents working on British stages, Running the Room explores what it takes to succeed in the field, and how each director approaches the work in their own way. Each interview focuses on a particular facet of the director's practice, examining not just the 'how' – how to talk to actors, how to create the right rehearsal environment, how to handle cuts and previews, how to work with a living playwright – but also the 'why': why certain approaches work better than others, why there's no 'right' way to direct a play, and why work in theatre anyway? As this passionate, inspiring book shows, there are myriad ways to be a theatre director. For aspiring or current directors, it will give you the confidence to be uniquely yourself, develop your own approach, and create the work you want to make. For creatives in other disciplines, it will provide insight into directors' processes, along with examples of successful collaboration. And for anyone who loves theatre, this is an unparalleled first-hand account of how brilliant theatre is made – direct from those making it. With contributions from: Natalie Abrahami • Annabel Arden • Milli Bhatia • Carrie Cracknell • Tinuke Craig • Marianne Elliott • Nadia Fall • Yaël Farber • Vicky Featherstone • Jamie Fletcher • Sarah Frankcom • Emma Frankland • Rebecca Frecknall • Debbie Hannan • Tamara Harvey • Natalie Ibu • Ola Ince • Lynette Linton • Nancy Medina • Katie Mitchell • Rachel O'Riordan • Emma Rice • Indhu Rubasingham • Jenny Sealey

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In How Plays Work, distinguished playwright David Edgar examines the mechanisms and techniques which dramatists throughout the ages have employed to structure their plays and to express their meaning. Written for playwrights and playgoers alike, Edgar's analysis starts with the building blocks of whole plays – plot, character-creation, genre and structure – and moves on to scenes and devices. He shows how plays share a common architecture without which the uniqueness of their authors' vision would be invisible. How Plays Work is both a masterclass for playwrights and playmakers and a fascinating guide to the anatomy of drama. In this revised edition, Edgar brings the book right up to date with analyses of many recent plays, as well as explorations of emerging genres and new innovations in playwriting practice. 'A brilliantly illuminating, bang-up-to-date, unmissable read' April De Angelis 'A book of real theoretical heft written by a major working playwright' Steve Waters 'An essential accompaniment for anyone fascinated by the craft of dramatic storytelling' John Yorke 'Every theatremaker should read this book' Pippa Hill, Literary Manager, Royal Shakespeare Company 'Even if you've read the book before, it demands to be reread' Simon Callow 'Combines theoretical acumen with the assured know-how of a working dramatist' Terry Eagleton, Times Literary Supplement

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This clear, accessible guide to creating and putting on a solo show is packed with inspiring, practical advice for writers, actors, directors, and anyone who wants to know how solo shows are actually made. Written by two theatremakers with a wealth of experience in the field, it leads you through the whole process – from finding a subject you're passionate about, to developing your ideas and getting the script written, through to rewrites, rehearsals and getting your show on stage. It tackles key questions such as: What makes a 'good' solo show? How do I engage the audience? How should directors and writer-performers work together? And what's the best way of approaching a producer? There's also invaluable advice on looking after yourself, coping with anxieties, dealing with reviews, and taking your show to the Edinburgh Fringe. With practical exercises throughout to help you put everything into action, this book is an indispensable toolkit for making your solo show a reality. Lisa Carroll is a playwright, screenwriter and comedian, whose plays have been staged at Soho Theatre, the Arcola Theatre, and the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. Milly Thomas is an actor and writer whose plays have been staged at Theatre503, the Edinburgh Fringe, Soho Theatre, the West End's Trafalgar Studios and New York Theatre Workshop. Together, Lisa and Milly have taught regular solo-show workshops, including for training and creative organisation The Mono Box. The Compact Guides are pocket-sized introductions for actors and theatremakers, each tackling a key topic in a clear and comprehensive way. Written by industry professionals with extensive hands-on experience of their subject, they provide you with maximum information in minimum time.

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