Search results for ""author nick"
Quercus Publishing Breaking Point: by the author of THE LOST AND THE DAMNED, a Times Crime Book of the Month
Olivier Norek: Former police officer, writer on SPIRAL and a million-copy bestseller"The greatest exponent of the policier at work today" Mark Sanderson, The Times"Exhilarating . . . This is not conventional crime" Barry Forshaw, FTWhen a routine kidnapping case goes badly wrong, Capitaine Vincent Coste breaks his golden rule: he starts to take things personally.And with his career hanging by a thread - his resignation letter parked in his superior's desk draw - he is plunged into his most testing ordeal yet.A raid on the vault at the Bobigny law courts. Five vital pieces of evidence swiped. Four men who can no longer be held: an armed robber, a foreign legionnaire, a kidnapper and a paedophile. But what is the connection between them?With Coste and his team at a loss, it's the moral outrage of another criminal that will throw up a lead: one they'll follow to their breaking point - and beyond.What readers are saying about Olivier NorekYou can see the similarities with the TV series Spiral, which can only be a major positive!A hard hitting and gritty French crime read that makes an impact.A great thriller, sardonic, humorous, dark.I loved this book. Well written and had an authentic feel to it. A complete page turner.Translated from the French by Nick Caistor
£18.99
Grosvenor House Publishing Ltd NICKED!: Parking fines and how to avoid them
This light-hearted book is not wholly about the perils of trying to park but it has a strong theme about cricket and football, and it is also a memoir as a veteran sports writer for the Daily Mail. I write about 350 or more personalities I've interviewed or known about. My hero was Denis Compton. I used to listen to a portable radio in hospital aged 11 about his dynamic batting after WW2. Another hero was the great all-round cricketer, Lord Learie Constantine, whom I wrote his articles in the Daily Sketch. He was the first Afro-Caribbean to be a Lord and as a barrister he broke the colour bar in the High Court when he won damages of five guineas, also gave advice for the Race Relations Acts. No-one has done more for diversity than this remarkable, lovable man - and today's generation haven't heard of him, sadly. We are campaigning for a statue of him in the Parliament Estate to add to the three black statues there compared to nearly 300 white statues in the borough of Westminster.
£14.29
Penguin Books Ltd Good Material: THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER, FROM THE AUTHOR OF EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT LOVE
‘Made me laugh while punching me in the gut. Loved this book’ AISLING BEA'This is the greatest. You'll cry and laugh. I read it though the night. And I never, ever avoid sleep' CLAUDIA WINKLEMAN‘I award it 13/10 on my QWJ scale (stands for Queasy With Jealousy that I didn't write it)’ MARIAN KEYES---Every relationship has one beginning.This one has two endings.Andy loves Jen. Jen loved Andy.And he can't work out why she stopped.Now he is. . .1. Without a home2. Waiting for his stand-up career to take off3. Wondering why everyone else around him seems to have grown up while he wasn't lookingSet adrift on the sea of heartbreak at a time when everything he thought he knew about women, and flat-sharing, and his friendships has transformed beyond recognition, Andy clings to the idea of solving the puzzle of their broken relationship. Because if he can find the answer to that, then maybe Jen can find her way back to him.Andy still has a lot to learn, not least his ex-girlfriend's side of the story.From the bestselling author of Ghosts and Everything I Know About Love: a sharply funny, beautifully observed and exquisitely relatable story of heartbreak and friendship, and how to survive both.'The most book-based fun I had this year ... It's the most I've laughed while reading about heartbreak since Nick Hornby's High Fidelity. A complete delight' The Sunday Times, Critics' favourite books of the yearSunday Times bestseller, November 2023
£18.99
Penguin Books Ltd What Alice Forgot: From the bestselling author of Big Little Lies, now an award winning TV series
From the bestselling author behind the addictive, award-winning HBO sensation BIG LITTLE LIES comes the compelling and thought-provoking story of love, life and memory'Gripping, thought-provoking and funny' MARIE CLAIRE______________How can ten years of your life just disappear?Alice is twenty-nine.She adores sleep, chocolate, and her ramshackle new house.She's newly engaged to the wonderful Nick, and is pregnant with her first baby. But there's just one problem.That was ten years ago . . .Alice slipped in her step-aerobics class, hit her head and lost a decade.Now she's a grown-up, bossy mother of three in the middle of a nasty divorce and her beloved sister Elisabeth isn't speaking to her.This is her life, but not as she knows it.Just how many mistakes can you make in a decade?Can she ever get back to the woman she used to be?______________'Captivating' Closer'Funny and knowing about what we choose to remember, and fight to forget' O Magazine'A bittersweet tale by a gifted writer' Woman's WeeklyPraise for Liane Moriarty'Moriarty writes vividly, wittily and wickedly' Sunday Express'Mistress of the razor-sharp observation' Kate Morton'An extraordinary talent' Nicole Kidman'Keeps you guessing to the very end - perfect summer read' Reese Witherspoon
£9.99
Orion Publishing Co P.S. Come to Italy: The perfect uplifting and gorgeously romantic holiday read from the No.1 bestselling author!
'The ultimate escapist read!' VERONICA HENRY on To Italy, with Love'Deliciously romantic' ERICA JAMES on P.S. Come to Italy 'Knowing, compassionate and moving' CATHERINE ROBERTSON The scenery is swoonsome' STEVE BRAUNIAS on P.S. Come to Italy Wish you were here?When Belle's quiet, idyllic life on the coast starts to crumble, it's a stranger - thousands of miles away in Italy - who provides a shoulder to cry on. And so, when Enrico sends her a beautiful gift with a note signed off 'P.S. Come to Italy!' she decides to follow her heart.Arriving at Enrico's palazzo in beautiful Puglia, it's clear that his life couldn't be more different than the one Belle's left behind. Yet despite his flashy cars and his glamorous, warring family, she starts to realise that perhaps Enrico needs her just as much as she needed him.Belle's holiday of a lifetime was never about falling in love - but under the sun-kissed olive trees, anything can happen...Readers are loving Nicky Pellegrino!'I could smell the fresh pasta, feel the sunshine, smell the sea breeze and feel my worries wash away. It was lovely to stumble down the cobbled paths and stroll along the beautiful scenery''Through Italy, through food, through heartbreak, through love, through family. Add in a pinch of karmic justice and you have the perfect read with a joyful ending!''Once again Nicky Pellegrino had me captivated with this amazing story. It made me laugh, made me cry. I read it in one afternoon''I will say that if you are a woman on the cusp of discovering who you are and what your heart desires...then you will devour this book as I did''Such a great escapism read, full of emotions and family drama with love'
£14.99
Orion Publishing Co P.S. Come to Italy: The perfect uplifting and gorgeously romantic holiday read from the No.1 bestselling author!
'The ultimate escapist read!' VERONICA HENRY on To Italy, with Love'Deliciously romantic' ERICA JAMES on P.S. Come to ItalyWish you were here?When Belle's quiet, idyllic life on the coast starts to crumble, it's a stranger - thousands of miles away in Italy - who provides a shoulder to cry on. And so, when Enrico sends her a beautiful gift with a note signed off 'P.S. Come to Italy!' she decides to follow her heart.Arriving at Enrico's palazzo in beautiful Puglia, it's clear that his life couldn't be more different than the one Belle's left behind. Yet despite his flashy cars and his glamorous, warring family, she starts to realise that perhaps Enrico needs her just as much as she needed him.Belle's holiday of a lifetime was never about falling in love - but under the sun-kissed olive trees, anything can happen...
£8.99
Transworld Publishers Ltd The People on Platform 5: A feel-good and uplifting read with unforgettable characters from the bestselling author of The Authenticity Project
No one speaks to strangers on the train. What would happen if they did?Find out in the feel-good read of the year.Readers are falling in love with The People on Platform 5:'Incredible book, full of joy and warmth and love!''A great novel with some truly wonderful characters''The fantastic cast of eclectic characters will steal your heart & have you rooting for their happy endings''A feel-good, once-in-a-lifetime story'-----------------------Every day at 8:05, Iona Iverson boards the train to go to work. As a seasoned commuter, she knows there are rules that everyone should follow:· You must have a job to go to· Don't consume hot food· Always pack for any eventuality· You must never speak to strangers on the trainIona sees the same group of people each day - ones she makes assumptions about, gives nicknames to, but never ever talks to.But then, one morning, Smart-but-Sexist-Surbiton chokes on a grape right in front of Iona. Suspiciously-Nice-New Malden steps up to help and saves his life, and this one event sparks a chain reaction.With nothing in common but their commute, an eclectic group of people learn that their assumptions about each other don't match reality. But when Iona's life begins to fall apart, will her new friends be there when she needs them most?-----------------------'Utterly gorgeous. A proper good pick-me-up of a book' RUTH JONES'Warm, funny and moving' ROSIE WALSH'Full of original characters and wisdom' KATIE FFORDE'Sunny, funny and full of heart' NITA PROSE'Feel-good fiction at its best' SOPHIE COUSENS'Gloriously entertaining and completely addictive' HAZEL PRIOR
£9.99
£14.38
Penguin Books Ltd The One Plus One: Discover the author of Me Before You, the love story that captured a million hearts
Penguin presents the unabridged, CD edition of The One Plus One by Jojo Moyes read by Elizabeth Bower, Ben Elliot, Nicola Stanton and Steven France.One single mumWith two jobs and two children, Jess Thomas does her best. But it's hard on your own. And sometimes you take risks you shouldn't . . .One chaotic familyJess's gifted daughter Tanzie is brilliant with numbers, but without a helping hand she'll never get the chance to shine. And Nicky, Jess's teenage stepson, can't fight the bullies alone . . .One handsome strangerInto their lives comes Ed Nicholls, a man whose life is in chaos. But he has time on his hands. He knows what it's like to be lonely. And he wants to help . . .One unexpected love story . . .
£18.00
Penguin Books Ltd Just Like You: Two opposites fall unexpectedly in love in this pin-sharp, brilliantly funny book from the bestselling author of About a Boy
'A charming - and sharp - love story about what it means to fall for someone who is your polar opposite' Sunday Telegraph_______________________________________________________Lucy married just the sort of man you might expect: a university graduate who runs his own business. Unfortunately he turned out to have serious dependency issues.Joseph is shaking off the memory of his last date, a girl who ticked all the right boxes and also drove him up the wall.On an average Saturday morning in a butcher's shop in North London, Lucy and Joseph meet on opposite sides of the counter. She is a teacher and mother of two, with a past she is trying to forget; he is an aspiring DJ with a wide-open future that maybe needs to start becoming more focused. Lucy and Joseph are opposites in almost all ways. Can something life-changing grow from uncommon ground?Nick Hornby's brilliantly observed, tender and brutally funny new novel gets to the heart of what it means to fall headlong in love with the best possible person - someone who may not be just like you at all.Sunday Times Bestseller March 2023 _____________________________________________'Truly funny . . . immensely readable, sharp-eyed and at times hilarious' Guardian'Comedy for our times' Sunday Times'Sparkles with tip-top dialogue and pin-sharp comic timing' Daily Mail
£9.99
Nick Wharton How Hard Can It Be?
How hard can it be? Not a bad question for anyone to ask when faced with a challenging situation whether that is at work, in the home, or in a chosen pursuit. This book describes that positive, self-confident approach by Nick Wharton during his many and varied adventures. The book takes the reader on a journey through a wide collection of stories and insights into his own escapades and how he has faced them over the past 40 years starting with learning to climb at boarding school - climbing the buildings in the middle of the night. We get an insight into his time in the army - holding back the Russians in Germany; patrolling the streets of Northern Ireland at the height of the troubles; training Mozambique forces in Zimbabwe; and, back home in the UK. Living in the Lake District, Wharton retrained as an Environmental Health Officer which started his unlikely choice of career in health and safety. We get an insight into his perspective of risk and how he has used his climbing to help get the H&S message across to colleagues and clients with great effect. He gives us an insight into his own, distinctive approach to climbing His insight into the world of hazards and risk management helps us to understand, what has been described by many as one of the most bold approaches to climbing in recent years. The book is a fabulous collection of stories and anecdotes with contributions from many others - colleagues, friends, climbing partners and well-known characters from the climbing world. Illustrated throughout with a range of full-colour photos. The book will appeal to climbers and other outdoor activity enthusiasts but also to anyone with a sense of adventure and fun. It is introduced with a foreword by Leo Houlding - one of the best-known adventurers of our time.
£16.95
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Nobody Nicked 'em: How We Started a Toy Library in the East End of London
£5.05
Nick Hern Books Greek Tragedy: Three Plays
Three of the most famous tragedies from Ancient Greece, all featuring female protagonists - in modern, much-performed translations. This volume, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classic Collections series, contains: Antigone by Sophocles, translated by Marianne McDonald. The first great 'resistance' drama, and perhaps the definitive Greek tragedy. Bacchae by Euripides, translated by Kenneth McLeish and Frederic Raphael. The story of revenge by the half-man half-god Dionysos on Pentheus, King of Thebes, and all his people. Medea by Euripides, translated by Kenneth McLeish and Frederic Raphael. The powerful myth of Medea, who murders her children as revenge for her husband's infidelity.
£10.99
Nick Hern Books Women Beware Women
Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price A Jacobean gore-fest of enforced seduction and ultimate revenge. Written in 1623, two years after The Changeling, Women Beware Women is the second of Thomas Middleton's two great tragedies. It is the story of the corruption of three young people, seduced and destroyed by the lust and treachery of the court of the Duke of Florence. This edition, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is edited and Introduced by Colin Counsell.
£6.29
Nick Hern Books The Game Of Love And Chance
Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price The best known play by one of the most performed French playwrights - a sparkling 18th-century comedy of manners based on the simplest of plot devices, the exchanging places of master and valet, mistress and maidservant. This edition of Pierre Marivaux's play The Game of Love and Chance, in an English translation by Stephen Mulrine, is in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series. It includes an introduction by Stephen Mulrine.
£6.29
Nick Hern Books La Ronde
Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price Arthur Schnitzler's famous 'daisy-chain' play of sexual coupling, set in Vienna in the 1890s. La Ronde is a play of ten scenes, each depicting a couple in a sexual liaison. There are ten characters altogether, each appearing in two adjacent scenes, forming an endless chain of sexual links across all the layers of Viennese society. This edition, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, features a translation by Stephen Unwin and Peter Zombory-Moldovan.
£6.29
Nick Hern Books The Man of Mode
Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price The best comedy of manners written in England before Congreve, The Man of Mode was first staged in 1676 and contains all the classic ingredients of Restoration Comedy: adultery, intrigue, gossip - as well as the first and greatest of the Restoration fops, Sir Fopling Flutter. This edition, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is edited by Trevor Griffiths, presenting the complete text, uncluttered by footnotes, with a full introduction setting out the historical context.
£6.29
Nick Hern Books The Alchemist
Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price Face, Subtle and Dol Common are three rogues intent on conning the gullible out of their money. Setting up a quack-doctor's practice in Lovewit's house they promise miraculous services that cost their customers dear. Everything goes swimmingly, until Lovewit returns and the three turn against each other. Ben Jonson's classic comedy The Alchemist was first performed by the King's Men in 1610. This edition of the play in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series is edited by Simon Trussler, with an introduction by Colin Counsell.
£5.71
Nick Hern Books The Hypochondriac
Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price Molière's classic farce, Le Malade Imaginaire, in a fresh and performable translation. The 'imaginary invalid' Argan is so obsessed with his health that he fails to notice what is happening around him in his own family. His scheming wife and loving daughter are finally revealed to him in their true light by Argan's brother, who poses as a quack doctor and suggests he feigns death to test their loyalty. This English version of Molière's The Hypochondriac, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is translated and introduced by Martin Sorrell.
£5.71
Nick Hern Books Oedipus
Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price The story of the mythical Greek king of Thebes, the archetypal tragic hero who accidentally fulfills a prophecy that he will end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby bringing disaster down upon his city and family. This volume, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, contains two plays by Sophocles, Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonos, in English translations by Kenneth McLeish. It also includes an introduction to the plays.
£6.29
Nick Hern Books Drama Games for Classrooms and Workshops
101 great drama games for use in any classroom or workshop setting. Part of the Nick Hern Books Drama Games series. A dip-in, flick-through, quick-fire resource book, packed with 101 lively drama games suitable for players of all ages, with many appropriate for children from age 6 upwards. Whilst aimed primarily at school, youth theatre and community groups, they are equally fun - and instructional - for adults to play in workshop or rehearsal settings. 'An extraordinarily helpful compendium... a valuable help to directors, teachers and workshop leaders' Max Stafford-Clark, from his Foreword
£10.99
Nick Hern Books The Recruiting Officer
Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price A classic Restoration-era comedy about the sexual exploits of two officers, the womanising Plume and the cowardly Brazen, as they go about their task of recruiting soldiers in the town of Shrewsbury. George Farquhar's play The Recruiting Officer was first staged at Drury Lane in 1706. It was an immediate hit and went on to become one of the most frequently performed plays of the 18th century. This edition in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series is edited and introduced by Simon Trussler.
£6.29
Nick Hern Books Peer Gynt
Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price Henrik Ibsen's mighty epic, by turns fantastic and tragic, based on the Norwegian fairy tale Per Gynt. Ibsen's play, his last to be written in verse, follows the poet and braggart Peer Gynt as, fleeing disgrace, he swaggers and seduces his way from the fjords of Norway to the deserts of Africa and back. Peer Gynt was originally published in 1867, and first performed in Christiania (Oslo) in 1876. This English version, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is translated and introduced by Kenneth McLeish.
£6.29
Nick Hern Books Life is a Dream
Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price A masterpiece of the Spanish Golden Age. It is foretold that Prince Sigismund will become a tyrant. Alarmed, his father, the king, imprisons him. When he is released for a day as an experiment he proves the omens only too right, and, as a result, is incarcerated once more. Sigismund persuades himself that all that has passed is a dream and emerges to rule wisely and justly. Pedro Calderon's play Life is a Dream was first published in 1635. This English translation by John Clifford was first performed at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, in 1998. It is published in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series.
£6.01
Nick Hern Books London Assurance
Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price When the amorous Sir Harcourt Courtly prepares to wed an heiress several decades his junior, he hasn't reckoned on the superior charms of her cousin, the foxhunting Lady Gay Spanker... Dion Boucicault, the Irish genius of London theatre in the age of Dickens, wrote the brilliantly funny London Assurance in 1841 and thereby created – in Sir Harcourt and Lady Spanker – two of the great comic roles of the English stage. A classic comedy of manners that borrows from Sheridan and anticipates Oscar Wilde, the play is a small comedic masterpiece and is regularly revived. This edition of London Assurance, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is edited and introduced by Trevor R. Griffiths.
£5.71
Nick Hern Books The White Devil
Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price The Italian Court is riddled with corruption in this classic Jacobean tragedy. The Duke Brascino is openly seducing a married woman, Vittoria, while plotting the murder of his own wife. Vittoria's brother Flamineo, a cold-blooded murderer, tries to exploit his position as Brascino's servant and pander. Finally Brascino's enemies, outraged by his perversions, seek a vicious revenge. John Webster's play The White Devil was first performed at the Red Bull Theatre, London, by Queen Anne's Men in 1612. This edition, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is edited by J.R. Brown, with an introduction from Simon Trussler.
£5.71
Nick Hern Books Meisner in Practice: A Guide for Actors, Directors and Teachers
A step-by-step introduction to the key features of the Meisner Technique, including a full set of practical exercises. The Meisner Technique is at the forefront of actor training today: with its radical simplicity it has the power to reconnect actors with their bodies and emotions. Developed by the teacher and actor Sanford Meisner, the technique places emphasis on truthful interaction between actors. The aim is for the actor 'to live truthfully under imaginary circumstances' – to remain truly 'in the moment'. In Meisner in Practice, Nick Moseley offers actors a step-by-step introduction to the salient features of the technique, and puts these to the test through a succession of increasingly challenging practical exercises. He also addresses certain pitfalls and problems that he has encountered over many years of teaching Meisner in drama schools. This book will be of immense value to students, teachers and practitioners in exploring a technique that is becoming increasingly recognised as a core element of actor training.
£14.99
Nick Hern Books The Knight of the Burning Pestle
Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price Francis Beaumont's The Knight of the Burning Pestle is a five-act satire on chivalric romances, generally considered the earliest whole parody (or pastiche) play in English. The play's structure is that of a play within a play. The intended performance of The London Merchant - the tale of an apprentice's efforts to win the hand of his master's daughter - is interrupted by a request from the audience to stage the story of a heroic grocer who kills a lion with a pestle. Rafe is dragged from the audience to play this hero. Both stories get muddled up and the conventions of theatre get thoroughly mauled. The play was first performed at Blackfriars Theatre, London, in 1607. This edition in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series is edited and introduced by Colin Counsell.
£6.29
Nick Hern Books The Beaux Stratagem
Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price George Farquhar's immortal comedy about two young gentlemen with a misguided plan to get enrich themselves at the expense of a series of young heiresses. A pair of London gentlemen, Archer and Aimwell, pose as a Lord and his servant in order to procure one handsome dowry to split between them. While Aimwell, the 'lord', works on the affections of Lady Bountiful's daughter Dorinda, his 'servant' Archer makes his bid for her son's wife. George Farquhar's play The Beaux Stratagem was first produced at the Theatre Royal, London, in 1707. This edition, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is edited and introduced by Simon Trussler.
£6.29
Nick Hern Books Poetics
Part of the Nick Hern Books Dramatic Contexts series: important statements on the theatre by major figures in the theatre. One of the most influential tracts in world theatre, Aristotle's Poetics is crucial to an understanding of how drama works, and how it has evolved. It is the source of the doctrine of the Three Unities – of Time, Place and Action – and the concept of catharsis in tragedy. Writing only a hundred years after Sophocles and Euripides, Aristotle's insights into Greek drama are endlessly rewarding. This English translation by Kenneth McLeish makes the famous text more accessible than ever before, without cutting or paraphrasing. Important passages are highlighted, while key words and concepts are glossed within the text, without the need for intrusive footnotes. The result is an authoritative text of Aristotle's Poetics that allows readers to experience his arguments directly for themselves. Also included is a compact introduction by McLeish to Aristotle and his ideas.
£8.09
Nick Hern Books The Playboy of the Western World
Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price J.M. Synge's extraordinary play about a young man on the run, and his unexpected elevation to folk hero. A stranger, Christy Mahon, arrives in a village bar in County Mayo in the West of Ireland, claiming to have killed his father. The locals are impressed – some can even directly relate to the deed – and Christy is lauded as a folk hero. He can't believe his luck, and confidently pursues the affections of the barmaid Pegeen, until the arrival of his not-so-dead father takes the winds out of Christy's sails... The Playboy of the Western World was first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in January 1907, causing riots across the city. This edition of the play, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is introduced by Margaret Llewllyn Jones.
£6.29
Nick Hern Books The Changeling
Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price Middleton and Rowley's masterpiece, a tale of murder, lust, seduction and blackmail in the seventeenth century. Alsemero has fallen in love with the beautiful Beatrice after a chance meeting in a church – but Beatrice has already been promised to another man. Unable to marry the man she loves, she employs the hated De Flores, her father's servant, to murder the man her father bids her marry. As payment, De Flores demands Beatrice. And then things get worse... Thomas Middleton and William Rowley's play The Changeling was mostly likely first performed in 1622. This edition of the play in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series is edited and introduced by Trevor Griffiths. Set Text >> The Changeling is a set text for AQA Drama and Theatre Studies A/AS Level, AQA English Literature A/AS Level, OCR English Literature A/AS Level and WJEC English Literature A/AS Level.
£6.29
Nick Hern Books Woyzeck
Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price One of the most performed and influential plays in German theatre, Georg Büchner's Woyzeck is a modern classic that remains frighteningly relevant today. Franz Woyzeck, a lowly soldier stationed in a provincial German town, is bullied by his superiors and starved by the regiment's doctor in the name of scientific experiment. His only pleasures in life are his lover Marie and their innocent young son. But when Woyzeck learns that Marie has been unfaithful with the regiment's handsome Drum Major, he murders his lover in a fit of rage and hopelessness. Based on a real-life murder trial that took place in Germany in the 1820s, Woyzeck was written in 1837 but not staged until 1913. This English translation by Gregory Motton is published in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series. The edition includes an introduction by Kenneth McLeish, a chronology and suggestions for further reading.
£6.52
Nick Hern Books Drama Games for Those Who Like to Say No
A dip-in, flick-through, quick-fire resource book in the Nick Hern Books Drama Games series, this title is for teachers and workshop leaders working with difficult or reluctant students, youth groups, young offenders, and all those who seem intent on saying 'no' to whatever is offered them. 'This book offers invaluable ways for artists, teachers, workshop leaders and activists to better use the arts to empower young people' Ken Livingstone, from his Foreword. For these groups, drama games and activities need to be robust and engaging, and the dozens that appear in this book have been devised with this in mind - and then tested by their target players. Each page features clear instructions on How to Play, notes on the Benefits of the Game, and advice on age range, number of players and timing. Following the ninety games and exercises aimed at developing core skills, the book offers scenarios for a series of improvisational challenges that test participants' abilities in mediation, communication, negotiation, assertiveness and managing emotions. Also included is a collection of games aimed at preparing teachers and workshop leaders for facilitating challenging sessions. The ultimate aim is to encourage reluctant participants to engage, collaborate and develop not just skills for drama but skills for life.
£10.99
Nick Hern Books Conor McPherson Plays: Two
The second collection of plays from the multi-award winning author. Included in this volume is Conor McPherson's The Weir, one of the most successful plays of recent years. In a bar in a remote part of Ireland, the local lads are swapping spooky stories to impress a young woman from Dublin newly moved into the area... 'A spellbinder that transfixes you... No praise in fact is too high' Guardian Dublin Carol is set on Christmas Eve, when a Dublin undertaker is visited by his estranged daughter urging him to face up to the past. 'McPherson writes like a dream.... The play works an ingenious spell' Daily Mail Port Authority tells of three interwoven lives: a boy leaves home for the first time; a man starts a job for which he is unqualified; a pensioner is sent a mysterious package... 'Overwhelmingly poignant... desolate, searing eloquence' Evening Standard And in Come on Over, published here for the first time, a Jesuit priest, sent to investigate a 'miracle' in his home town, re-encounters the woman who loved him thirty years before. 'Piercingly evocative, powerfully exploring the tension between human and divine love' Daily Telegraph The volume also contains an Afterword by the author.
£17.09
Nick Hern Books The Enchantment
The extraordinary and mesmeric play by the Swedish author who was reputedly a model for Miss Julie and Hedda Gabler. One sunny day in Paris, Gustave Alland, famous artist and philanderer, visits Louise Strandberg - convalescing in her brother's studio - and casts her effortlessly under his spell. In a vain attempt to escape, she exiles herself to her provincial hometown in Sweden. But a letter propels her back to Paris and into his arms. And for a brief moment, ecstasy is hers. Victoria Benedictsson's play The Enchantment was written shortly before her suicide in 1888. This English version by Clare Bayley was first staged at the National Theatre, London, in July 2007.
£12.99
Nick Hern Books There Are No Beginnings
This is not a story about the Yorkshire Ripper. It's 1975 and Sharon just wants to marry Donny Osmond. Her mum, June, is working to keep girls like Helen off the street, and Fiona is desperate to get inside the Milgarth Police Station incident room. Between the years of 1975 and 1980, the women of Leeds lived in fear. With no clue as to who was responsible for the sustained attacks and murders across the city, the authorities urged women to stay at home. From the fear and fury, a steadfast solidarity arose, birthing the Reclaim the Night movement and echoing down the generations to this day. Charley Miles's play There Are No Beginnings was premiered at Leeds Playhouse in October 2019, in a production featuring Julie Hesmondhalgh.
£12.99
Nick Hern Books The Acting Book
A ‘fast-forward’ acting course covering all the essential techniques an actor needs to know and use – with a suite of exercises to put each technique into practice. John Abbott's The Acting Book offers various ways to analyse a text and to create character, using not only the established processes of Stanislavsky and Meisner, but also new ones developed by the author over many years of teaching drama students. It also sets out a wide range of rehearsal techniques and improvisations, and it brims over with inventive practical exercises designed to stimulate the actor’s imagination and build confidence. The book will be invaluable to student actors as an accompaniment to their training, to established actors who wish to refresh their technique, and to drama teachers at every level. ‘Abbott knows what he’s talking about and has a gift for expressing himself in straightforward, clutter-free language’ The Stage on Improvisation in Rehearsal
£12.99
Nick Hern Books Laban For All
A comprehensive 'how to' book on the Laban system of movement - from the author of Laban for Actors and Dancers. Laban for All offers a simplified version of Rudolf Laban's system for analysing - and annotating - the way the human being moves. It can be used by relative beginners upwards. The reader is introduced to the language and terms of Laban, with each new concept accompanied by very specific, clearly illustrated exercises - each designed to strengthen and deepen our understanding. When the basic vocabulary has been explained and demonstrated, its expressive possibilities in drama and dance are further explored. The result is a thorough - and thoroughly practical - grounding in the most significant movement system of modern times.
£14.99
Nick Hern Books Paul
An irreverent and provocative drama questioning the basis of Christianity, by the author of The Romans in Britain. The most famous conversion in history - when Saul became Paul on the road to Damascus - was a trick. It was actually Jesus appearing to him. Jesus did not die on the cross but was rescued and sheltered by his brother James, by Peter and by Peter's wife, Mary Magdalene. But they prefer to keep Paul in the dark because, although he is mistakenly preaching that Christ rose again, at least it keeps him busy and gets the Christian message out there... Now imprisoned by Nero, Peter finally tells Paul the truth before they go to their deaths as the first Christian Martyrs. Howard Brenton's play Paul was first performed at the National Theatre, London, in 2005.
£8.99
Nick Hern Books All Change Please: A Practical Guide to Achieving Gender Equality in Theatre
'Lucy Kerbel's work has become increasingly pivotal in helping the entire industry raise its game... this illuminating book answers the cynic, informs the impartial, converts the supporter into an activist and equips them all; not in a rallying cry of anger-fuelled idealism, but in a calm, pragmatic and clear-eyed way.' Rufus Norris, Director of the National Theatre, from his Foreword Theatre needs to change. Everywhere – in its boardrooms, on its stages, throughout its repertoires – it could be so much more successful at reflecting the gender balance of the world it seeks to represent. This is a book about why change matters, its benefits – artistic, commercial, ethical and social – and how, with everyone's help, we can actually achieve it. From small shifts, such as how you run your meetings, or what's on the shelves of your school library, to rethinking concepts as huge as the art we inherit, how we attribute excellence, and the constraints we unwittingly pass on to the next generation, there are things we can all do to bring about change. In this book, you'll find provocations to help you consider your current practices and their effects, challenge unconscious biases and identify opportunities for change, plus strategies and tools to help you decide where best to focus your efforts, to convince others why change matters, and to achieve meaningful, lasting success. Eye-opening, empowering and inspiring, All Change Please is a book for anyone who loves theatre. Whether you make it, teach it, watch it or study it, everyone has their own unique part to play in helping refresh, reshape and re-imagine the industry as truly diverse, equal and inclusive. 'We are the industry. If things will shift it is down to us, all of us, to make that happen. We all need to reflect on how we work, how we think, and how we make choices. That's what will drive the greatest change.' Since 2011, Lucy Kerbel and her organisation Tonic Theatre have been working with companies and individuals across the theatre industry to support them in achieving greater gender equality in their work and workforces. Her first book, 100 Great Plays for Women, is also published by Nick Hern Books.
£12.99
Nick Hern Books What Actors Do: Advice to the Players in Seven Paradoxes and a Manifesto
'Only what is open and searching is active and alive. You, the actor, must learn to find security in insecurity, certainty in uncertainty, to trust that this will lead to discovery and growth.' In What Actors Do, revered theatre director Mike Alfreds explores the wellspring of the actor's craft, tracing a pathway to creative freedom through the thickets of competing methodologies and confusing paradoxes that you will face throughout your training and career. How do you give life to a character that both is and isn't yourself? How can you be childlike and open in your work without becoming childish? How, when you know what's coming next, can you still be spontaneous? Frank, uncompromising and full of sharply focused insights, this book will help you strip away the inhibitions and habitual thinking that can shackle our imaginations. It will show you how to generate truthful performances by trusting your inner creativity and remaining radically open, responsive and present in every moment. Mike Alfreds has been directing plays for more than seventy years. In the 1970s he founded Shared Experience, and has since worked for the National Theatre, Shakespeare's Globe, the Royal Shakespeare Company and also extensively abroad. He is hugely respected within the profession, and is the author of two previous books, Different Every Night and Then What Happens? 'If I was allowed to train again to be an actor, but I was only allowed one teacher, it would have to be Mike Alfreds. To me he is a genius when it comes to acting and storytelling' Mark Rylance
£12.99
Nick Hern Books Misterman
A virtuosic study of one man's descent into religious mania in small-town Ireland. Inishfree might seem like a quaint Irish town, but fierce evangelist Thomas Magill knows better. He knows that jovial Dwain Flynn is a miserable drunk, that Timmy O'Leary enslaves his lovely mother, and that sweet Mrs Cleary is a blasphemous flirt. It is down to Thomas, with God on his shoulder, to save this sinful place. But the townsfolk are not listening, an angel is misbehaving and a barking dog will not be silenced. Just how far will Thomas go in his quest for salvation? Enda Walsh's Misterman was first performed by the author in a Corcadorca Theatre Company production at the Granary Theatre in Cork in April 1999, directed by Pat Kiernan. A revised version was produced by Landmark Productions and Galway Arts Festival, and performed at the Black Box Theatre, Galway, as part of the Galway Arts Festival, in July 2011. This edition of the revised play was published alongside the production at the National Theatre, London, in 2012, directed by the playwright, starring Cillian Murphy.
£10.99
T Adler,US Dora Lives: The Authorized Story Of Miki Dora
The definitive record of the surfing iconoclast who became an icon The surfing iconoclast who became an icon, Miki Dora was the epitome of 1960s beach culture. His dark good looks were the envy of Malibu. His talent earned him trophies (which he disdained) and the nickname “Da Cat.” And in the end, when he didn't like the commercial direction of the sport he helped define, he turned his back on the beach, wandered the world, served time in jail, and, finally in 2002, suffering from pancreatic cancer returned to his father's house in Montecito, California to die at age 67. A Malibu graffiti that appeared during his years on the road sums up his role in the surfing imagination and still holds true: “Dora Lives.” Years in the making and compiled with the cooperation of Dora while he was alive and his family after his death, Dora Lives is the definitive record of the legend. Transcribed interviews with Dora and texts by former Surfer magazine editor Drew Kampion and writer C.R. Stecyk are combined with nearly 100 photos and stills from photographers, filmmakers, and Dora's personal albums. The story starts out in Budapest, Hungary, where Miklos Dora was born in 1934, follows the child émigré to Hollywood High (except when the surf was up), and finds him at the center of the post-Gidget surf boom of the 60s. At that time, Dora stunt-doubled in a few films and competed when he felt like it, but mostly he embraced the hedonist milieu and burnished his antihero legend, culminating in a mid-wave mooning of the judges at the 1967 Malibu Invitational. Shortly after, he left for points (and point breaks) abroad in France, Indonesia, Australia and Madagascar until 2001, when he returned to the West Coast to die.
£36.00
Nick Hern Books Plays from VAULT: Five new plays from VAULT Festival
This anthology comprises five of the best plays from VAULT 2016, London's biggest and most exciting arts festival. Eggs is a dark comedy about female friendship, fertility and freaking out, by Florence Keith-Roach, 'rising star of the London theatre scene' (Evening Standard). Two women, living very different lives, are united by their quick wit, love of nineties’ dance music and a mounting alienation. In Mr Incredible, Adam is single. He doesn't like it. He misses Holly. He deserves Holly. Doesn't he? A monologue about love and entitlement by Camilla Whitehill, author of Where Do Little Birds Go?, who was described by The Times as 'a writer of huge promise'. The world of the celebrity PA is laid bare in Primadonna. A young first-timer navigates impossible tasks, difficult conversations and fearsome passive aggression in this one-woman play from Rosie Kellett, winner of the VAULT Festival Spirit Award. Mickey and his team of Cornermen never have much luck in the boxing world. Until, that is, they sign a young fighter whose winning ways catapult them to a level they've never known before. 'A striking new play by an exciting new writer', Oli Forsyth (Scotsman). Stephen Laughton's one-man play Run explores what it means to love, to lose, and how to grow from a boy into a man, as a gay Jewish kid sneaks out over Shabbat to meet his boyfriend – and his universe implodes. 'A vibrant, varied programme full of theatrical treats… a brilliant place to spot new talent' The Stage on VAULT 2015
£17.09
Nick Hern Books God's Dice
Science and religion go head to head in David Baddiel's debut play: a ferociously funny battle for power, fame and followers. When physics student Edie seems to prove, scientifically, the existence of God, it has far-reaching effects. Not least for her lecturer, Henry Brook, his marriage to celebrity atheist author Virginia – and his entire universe. God's Dice is an electric tragicomedy about the power of belief and our quest for truth in a fractured world. It premiered at Soho Theatre, London, in October 2019, starring Alan Davies as Henry, and directed by James Grieve.
£12.99
Nick Hern Books nut
'Bein you means not bein me, see, a deficit already - before you even started we running at a loss.' Elayne doesn't want company but company won't leave her alone. Everyone's got an opinion but no one's listening and things are starting to slip. debbie tucker green's play nut is a drama about a woman who wants to withdraw from the world. It premiered at The Shed at the National Theatre in October 2013, directed by the author.
£9.99
Nick Hern Books Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of)
'Love's irrelevant – we're talking about marriage.' This unique take on Jane Austen's beloved novel is an adaptation like no other, drawing on over two hundred years of romantic pop history, and featuring five young women with a story to tell. You might have seen them before, emptying the chamber pots and sweeping ash from the grate; the overlooked and the undervalued making sure those above stairs find their happy ending. Of course, these women have always been running the show – after all, 'You can't have a whirlwind romance without clean bedding' – but now the servants are also playing every part. Let the ruthless match-making begin! Isobel McArthur's acclaimed Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) was first produced in 2018 by theatre company Blood of the Young at the Tron Theatre, Glasgow, before a UK tour the following year, produced by the two companies and the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh. It transferred to the Criterion Theatre in London's West End in October 2021, and won Best Entertainment or Comedy Play at the 2022 Olivier Awards, with its author winning the Emerging Talent Award at the 2022 Evening Standard Theatre Awards. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that an amateur company in want of an irreverent all-female adaptation of a literary classic to perform, need look no further.
£10.99