Search results for ""nick hern books""

A bitingly witty play about the loyalty and trust a couple must give each other.

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Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price Set in a country weighed down by political, ideological and spiritual stagnation, Chekhov's compelling early play is rooted in the revolutionary atmosphere of Russia at the turn of the 20th century. Anton Chekhov's play Ivanov was first performed in 1887 at the Korsh Theatre in Moscow. This English version, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is translated and introduced by Stephen Mulrine, with notes on Further Reading, a Chronology and a Pronunciation Guide.

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Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price Dryden's 1677 play All for Love is a version of the Antony and Cleopatra story, told as a heroic tragedy. Antony and Octavius Caesar are struggling for control of what was to become the Roman Empire. Antony and Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, are lovers and political allies, but their forces have been defeated at the battle of Actium. The play is set in Alexandria, under siege by Octavius Caesar. This edition in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series is edited and introduced by Trevor R. Griffiths.

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Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price Aeschylus' great trilogy of Greek tragedies about the end of the curse on the House of Atreus, The Oresteia comprises Agamemnon, Choephori (Libation-Bearers) and Eumenides (The Furies). A fourth play, Proteus, originally formed part of a tetralogy, but has not survived. The trilogy was first performed at the Dionysia festival in Athens in 458 BC, where it won first prize. This English version of The Oresteia, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is translated and introduced by Marianne McDonald and J. Michael Walton.

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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.

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Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price A classic Italian comedy that remains blisteringly hilarious and relevant, over two hundred and fifty years after it was written. Disguising herself as her dead brother, Beatrice travels to Venice to find Florindo, the man responsible for his death. However, her servant, Truffaldino, enters into the pay of Florindo, and struggles to keep his two lives and masters separate. Carlo Goldoni's play The Servant of Two Masters (Il servitore di due padroni) was written in the 1740s, though later revised by its author. It draws on the tradition of Italian commedia dell'arte. This English version in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series is translated by Stephen Mulrine.

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Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price Federico García Lorca's extraordinarily powerful drama, the last he wrote before his assassination, explores the darkness at the heart of repression. When Bernarda's husband dies, she locks all the doors and windows. She tells her grown-up daughters to sew and be silent. 'There are eight years of mourning ahead of us. While it lasts not even the wind will get into this house.' But locks can't hold back the growing tide of desire. This English version of The House of Bernarda Alba, published in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is translated and introduced by Jo Clifford, and also contains a chronology and suggestions for further reading.

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Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price Oscar Wilde's undying comedy – in an edition to fit any handbag. Jack Worthing pretends to be Earnest to avoid certain social obligations. But Gwendolen has fallen in love with him as Earnest - and he with her. Quizzed as to his origins by her aunt Lady Bracknell, Jack has to admit to being found in a handbag. After further complications involving Jack's friend Algernon, who is also passing himself off as Earnest, Jack's true origins are revealed. Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest was first performed in February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London. This edition in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series includes an introduction by Dan Rebellato.

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Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price Frank Wedekind's famously banned German play written in 1891 focuses on a group of classmates and explores adolescent sexuality and the emotional consequences if suppressed. This edition of Spring Awakening in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series is an English translation by Julian Forsyth and Margarete Forsyth.

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Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price Euripides' version of the Ancient Greek myth of revenge on a murdering parent. Electra's brother Orestes returns to avenge the murder of his father, Agamemnon, by his mother Clytemnestra. This edition of Electra, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is translated and introduced by Marianne McDonald and J. Michael Walton.

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Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price A startling domestic thriller from the seventeenth century, one of the first tragedies ever to be written about ordinary people. Thomas Heywood's play A Woman Killed with Kindness strips bare two women's lives, with forensic realism. It was first performed by Worcester's Men in 1603. This edition, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is edited and introduced by Trevor Griffiths.

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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.

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Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price Bored with her sheltered existence, Miss Julie attempts to seduce the footman, but gets far more than she bargained for... August Strindberg's classic naturalistic play Miss Julie was written in 1888, and first performed at Strindberg's experimental theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1889, despite being banned by the censor. This English version, translated and introduced by Kenneth McLeish, is published in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series. The volume also includes Strindberg's Preface.

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Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price Should the truth be pursued, whatever the cost? The idealistic son of a wealthy businessman seeks to expose his father's duplicity and to free his childhood friend from the lies on which his happy home life is based. Henrik Ibsen's play The Wild Duck, considered a masterpiece of modern tragicomedy, was premiered in January 1885 at Den Nationale Scene, Bergen, Norway. This English translation by Stephen Mulrine is published in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, with a full introduction.

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Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price A ghoulish and bloody 16th-century tragedy. The ghost of a murdered courtier is promised by Revenge that he will see his murderer killed by his mistress. The two ghostly figures sit down to watch the violent proceedings. Thomas Kyd's play The Spanish Tragedy is credited with establishing a new genre in English theatre, the revenge play or revenge tragedy. This edition of the play in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series includes an introduction by Simon Trussler.

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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.

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A Drama Classic: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price A classic Restoration comedy by one of the earliest and most celebrated female playwrights. Arriving in Naples at carnival time, a group of exiled cavaliers determine to enjoy themselves. They are repeatedly tempted and tricked by various prostitutes and their pimps, until their leader, the Rover, is finally forced to give up his wild behaviour when he falls in love with a single-minded, wealthy virgin. Aphra Behn's The Rover was first performed at the Dorset Garden Theatre, London, in March 1677. This edition in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series is edited and introduced by Simon Trussler.

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Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price One of Henrik Ibsen's most powerful studies of female psychology, The Lady from the Sea introduces the character of Hilde Wangel, who reappears in Ibsen's later play The Master Builder. Ellida Wangel cannot give herself fully to her husband because she is overwhelmed by memories of the past and her attraction to the ocean. Will she suffocate on dry land, or find freedom across the sea? This English version of The Lady from the Sea, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is translated by Kenneth McLeish, with a full introduction by Stephen Mulrine, biography and suggestions for further reading.

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Mona is a young woman on the edge. All she sees is the Earth falling apart, but no one really seems to care. Amidst the chaos of competing and contradictory voices, she sets off on a kaleidoscopic journey to find solutions for the planet – and the truth about her family – in the hope that everything might start to make sense again. Lizzie Nunnery's Heavy Weather is a powerful, timely play featuring songs, about one girl's journey through a world teetering on the brink. The play is part of Platform, an initiative from Tonic Theatre in partnership with Nick Hern Books. Aimed at achieving greater gender equality in theatre, Platform comprises big-cast plays with predominantly, or all, female casts, written specifically for performance by young actors.

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‘Maybe she just doesn’t wanna be found, maybe that last day she felt freedom was when she ran, and she just didn’t stop, maybe that was it.’ When her best friend Jay goes missing, Dee withdraws into a twilight world of fragmented memories and conversations, shattered by her grief. Where should she look for Jay? What did she miss? What did Jay say? And what couldn’t she say? Somalia Seaton’s Red is an unflinching and bold exploration of the internal lives of young women. It is part of Platform, an initiative from Tonic Theatre in partnership with Nick Hern Books, aimed at addressing gender imbalance in theatre. Platform comprises big-cast plays with predominantly or all-female casts, written specifically for performance by young actors.

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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.

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‘Off you go then and best of luck It’s bound to be different this time though some of it might seem familiar The big questions, we mean The beginnings, middles, endings, et cetera Still, not to worry, it’s all a work-in-progress’ You're born a girl. You grow up. You grow old. You die. But who is in control of your life story? Can you actually choose your destiny? And how do you forge your own identity along the way? Second Person Narrative by Jemma Kennedy is part of Platform, an initiative from Tonic Theatre in partnership with Nick Hern Books aimed at addressing gender imbalance and inequality in theatre. Platform comprises big-cast plays with predominantly or all-female casts, written specifically for performance by school, college and youth-theatre groups. ‘Drama is an important tool for building confidence and empowering young people. Platform will give girls opportunity to access these benefits as much as their male counterparts.’ - Moira Buffini

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Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price A rumbustious Elizabethan comedy featuring identity fraud, love triangles and a marriage proposal disguised as a shoe fitting. Thomas Dekker's play The Shoemaker's Holiday was first staged in London in 1599. This edition of the play, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is edited and introduced by Peter J. Smith.

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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.

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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

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Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price The Rolls-Royce of English comedies, Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband explores corruption and morality, bringing an act of political sin into the heart of the English home. Ambitious government minister Sir Robert Chiltern seems assured of a smooth ascent to the top. Until Mrs Cheveley appears in London with damning proof of his past financial chicanery. An Ideal Husband was first staged at the Haymarket Theatre, London, in 1895. This edition of An Ideal Husband in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series is edited and introduced by Laurie Wolf.

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Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price Ben Jonson's comedy, one of the finest of the Jacobean era. Volpone is a Venetian aristocrat, a loveable rogue who enjoys the cunning pursuit of wealth more than money itself. Pretending to be mortally ill, he watches as his greedy neighbours swarm around him with expensive gifts in the hope of inheriting his fortune. Volpone was premiered by the King's Men at the Globe Theatre, London, in 1606. This edition of Volpone, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is edited by R.B.Parker, and introduced by Colin Counsell.

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Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price Chekhov's early tragedy, translated and introduced by Stephen Mulrine. Arkadina, a famous actress, and her lover, a famous novelist, are spending the summer on her country estate, but their glamorous presence proves fatally disruptive to the lives of all those present, especially her son, Konstantin and Nina, the girl he loves. Anton Chekhov's play The Seagull was first staged at the Alexandrinsky Theatre in St Petersburg in October 1896. This translation by Stephen Mulrine, published in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, was first staged by English Touring Theatre in 1997.

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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.

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Michael Pennington's solo show about Shakespeare, Sweet William, has been acclaimed throughout Europe and in the US as a unique blend of showmanship and scholarship. In this book, he deepens his exploration of Shakespeare's life and work - and the connection between the two - that lies at its heart. It is illuminated throughout by the unrivalled insights into the plays that Pennington has gained from the twenty thousand hours he has spent working on them as a leading actor, an artistic director and a director - and as the author of three previous books on individual Shakespeare plays. 'Michael Pennington is a great Shakespearian actor who writes with the authority of an academic. His book analyses the plays, the characters and the playwright's life. It will intrigue, entertain and challenge students, actors and their audiences. It undoubtedly leads the field in modern Shakespeare scholarship' Ian McKellen ‘There are very few who can bring to Shakespeare the thoughts that are born in the burning heart of hard-earned experience. Michael Pennington not only knows what he means, he has the writer's talent to put this into irresistibly readable words.' Peter Brook

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Two plays from Molière, by 'Scotland's greatest living dramatist' (Scotland on Sunday). Miseryguts is a Scots version of Molière's Le Misanthrope, a bitter comedy about a worldly sophisticate who cannot help telling uncomfortable truths about his fellow men – and women, with one of whom, despite himself, he is deeply and painfully in love. In this Scots version of Molière's play, Liz Lochhead transposes the action of the play into the world of media and politics in 21st-century, devolved Scotland, allowing for a rich seam of contemporary satire. Miseryguts was first performed in March 2002 at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh. Tartuffe is a rollicking Scots version of Molière's comic masterpiece. Lochhead brings out Molière's mix of political satire and black comedy as the religious hypocrite, Tartuffe, worms his way into Orgon's household. Liz Lochhead's version is written in a robust Scots dialect, while retaining the rhyming couplet form of the French original. It was first performed in January 1986 at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh.

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Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price The classic story of the learned Doctor Faustus who sells his soul to the devil. This edition of Christopher Marlowe's play contains two self-contained versions, known as the A-text and the B-text, allowing readers to compare the available versions, and performers to choose the version that suits them best. It also contains a full introduction, notes on further reading, a chronology and a glossary of difficult words. Edited by D. Bevington & E. Rasmussen, and introduced by Simon Trussler.

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A bawdy, fast-paced, raunchy comedy musical from one of the world's most influential and innovative creators of musical theatre, loosely based on the plays of Plautus. Pseudolus, a simpering slave, is trying to win his own freedom by cooking up a romance for his master's son, Hero, with the pretty young virgin Philia. But there's a problem – not only is Philia owned by Marcus Lycus, an infamous courtesan dealer, but she's also already promised to swaggering soldier Miles Gloriosus... and neither of them are keen to give her up. Stephen Sondheim's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, with a book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart, ran for three years on Broadway. The first British production, starring Frankie Howerd as the cowardly slave Pseudolus, ran almost as long and spawned the TV series Up Pompeii! A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum won the 1962 Tony Award for Best Musical.

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Clara and Nyri. Two very different women. Two complicated lives. Both having a very bad day. Mental health nurse Nyri's woken up hungover with a younger man. Meanwhile, Clara has developed a compulsive wink and can't remember if she's taken her meds. Nyri needs to get to Ebbw Vale Hospital via Greggs, and Clara's got to get cracking with her shoplifting list for The Devil. Lives interweave and unexpectedly connect in Alan Harris's fast-moving, touchingly funny play. Originally performed by one actor, as part of National Theatre Wales' celebration of the NHS in 2018, the play subsequently transferred to the 2019 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

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A vivid and fast-paced ride through a working-class estate, which fuses Shakespeare-inspired lyricism with Cockney accents. Flesh and Bone premiered at the Etcetera Theatre, London, in December 2016, before going on to win a Fringe First Award at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe. It is published alongside its transfer to Soho Theatre, London. Flesh & Bone won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre, 2019.

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Terence Rattigan's devastating masterpiece, a classic study of forbidden love, suppressed desire and the fear of loneliness - but at heart a deeply moving love story. Published alongside its revival at the National Theatre in 2016.

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The Smith family hatch a plan to murder their estranged matriarch for her insurance money. They hire Joe Cooper, a police detective and part-time contract killer, to do the job. But once he enters their trailer home and comes face to face with their innocent daughter, the plan spirals out of control...A tense, gut-twisting thriller, Killer Joe asks where the moral line is drawn in the fight for survival This edition of Tracy Letts' gripping thriller is published alongside the West End production, starring Orlando Bloom in the title role.

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In the aftermath of civil war, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, resolves to claw his way to political power at any cost. A master of manipulation, subtle wit and beguiling charm, he orchestrates his unlawful ascent by spinning a ruthless web of deceit and betrayal. His staunch ambition has horrifying consequences when, finding himself utterly alone and steeped in dread, he is forced to answer for his bloody deeds. This official tie-in edition of Richard III was published alongside director Jamie Lloyd's new production for his Trafalgar Transformed season at the Trafalgar Studios, London, in 2014. It starred BAFTA Award-winning Martin Freeman as Richard III and Gina McKee as Queen Elizabeth. This volume includes the version of Shakespeare's text performed in the production, as well as additional material including an exclusive rehearsal diary and an interview with the director.

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A startling psychological drama about the darker side of modern parenthood. Behind the shiny door of Hazel Robinson's immaculate London home, things aren't as good as they look. Her plastic surgeon husband, Richard, has embarked on his latest charitable mission to Haiti, leaving the heavily pregnant Hazel to cope with a failing business and a problem son. When a professional nanny arrives unannounced on her doorstep, Hazel finds her home under the shadow of a seemingly perfect stranger, and one who has an agenda of her own. Nancy Harris's play Our New Girl was first performed at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2012. This volume also includes her short play Little Dolls, first performed as part of the Bush Theatre's Broken Space season in 2008.

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A landmark dramatisation for the Royal Shakespeare Company of one of the foundation stones of English literature. This two-play adaptation of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales encompasses all 23 stories. All the famous characters are here – as well as many less well-known but equally full of life. Each of the stories has its own style – heroic verse for the Knight's Tale, vernacular rhymes for the Miller's Tale etc – echoing the many narrative voices employed by Chaucer himself. Mike Poulton's adaptation of The Canterbury Tales was first staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company in the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, in 2005.

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A unique collection of performance pieces and improvisation exercises in the Commedia style, a companion volume to the author's best-selling Playing Commedia. Commedia Plays offers eight original short plays from across the different periods and styles of Commedia dell'Arte - suitable for performance on stage as well as classroom and workshop study. Also included is a collection of Lazzi, the pieces of 'business' that form the basis of Commedia's comic action, ranging from the 'Double Takes' to 'The Unwanted Proposal'. These can be inserted into the written text or explored and improvised in the drama studio.

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THE GOOD AUDITION GUIDES: Helping you select and perform the audition piece that is best suited to your performing skills Each Good Audition Guide contains a range of fresh monologues, all prefaced with a summary of the vital information you need to place the piece in context and to perform it to maximum effect in your own unique way. Each volume also carries a user-friendly introduction on the whole process of auditioning. Classical Monologues for Women contains 50 monologues drawn from classical plays throughout the ages and ranging across all of Western Theatre: * Classical Greek and Roman * Elizabethan and Jacobean * French and Spanish Golden Age * Restoration and Eighteenth Century * Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries Also available: Classical Monologues for Men

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THE GOOD AUDITION GUIDES: Helping you select and perform the audition piece that is best suited to your performing skills Each Good Audition Guide contains a range of fresh monologues, all prefaced with a summary of the vital information you need to place the piece in context and to perform it to maximum effect in your own unique way. Each volume also carries a user-friendly introduction on the whole process of auditioning. Classical Monologues for Men contains 50 monologues drawn from classical plays throughout the ages and ranging across all of Western Theatre: * Classical Greek and Roman * Elizabethan and Jacobean * French and Spanish Golden Age * Restoration and Eighteenth Century * Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries Also available: Classical Monologues for Women

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Mysterious yet compelling, bewildering yet intoxicating, a play that mixes poetic rhythms with vernacular phrases, rap-song repetitions with complex psychology. 'So what happened to the bitches that gotta conscience? The underclass bitches, the womanist bitches... What about alla them then? Not a one of them would march for me?' A husband and wife row about a prescription. A mother and father row about their son, who has become a child soldier. Two sisters row about which one is superior to the other. It emerges that the younger sister, Mary, has killed the child soldier. She is to be stoned to death... What if all these things were happening here? And what if these people were white? debbie tucker green's play stoning mary was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in April 2005.

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A tough but tender portrait of urban squalor, from the award-winning Siberian-born author of Plasticine. Dima, 19, lives with his alcoholic father. The night before he leaves for the war in Chechnya to do his national service, he throws a party. Lera, 20, lives in the same block. She's convinced that she'll win a fortune if only she can borrow enough money for a lottery ticket. Lera's cousin Yulka, 18, is more interested in seeing just how far Dima will go to prove his devotion to her. Vassily Sigarev's play Ladybird was first performed in this English translation by Sasha Dugdale at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2004.

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A darkly comic fable of brotherly love and family identity, winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Suzan-Lori Parks' play Topdog/Underdog tells the story of Lincoln and Booth, two brothers whose names were given to them as a joke, foretelling a lifetime of sibling rivalry and resentment. Haunted by the past, the brothers are forced to confront the shattering reality of their future. Topdog/Underdog was first performed at the Joseph Papp Public Theater, New York, in 2001. Its UK premiere was at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2003.

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A brilliant and unsettling play from one of the UK's leading dramatists. At the opening of the play, a young girl is questioning her aunt about having seen her uncle hitting people with an iron bar; by the end, several years later, the whole world is at war - including birds and animals. Caryl Churchill's play Far Away is a howl of anguish at the increasing – and increasingly accepted – levels of inhumanity in a world seemingly perpetually involved in conflict. The play was first performed at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, London, in November 2000.

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An unsettling play about infidelity seen from the perspective of the three women involved: the wife, the lover and the daughter. George and Honor have been happily married for thirty-two years. She is a successful writer, he is a revered columnist. They have a perfect understanding of each other. Until a pushy young female journalist - on an assignment to 'profile' George - quite deliberately seeks to undermine that understanding. The fallout is dreadful - but beautifully and convincingly portrayed in all its painful consequences. Joanna Murray-Smith's play Honour was first performed at the Playbox Theatre, Melbourne, Australia, in November 1995. It received its UK premiere, in this revised version, at the National Theatre, London, in February 2003, and was revived in the West End in 2006.

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