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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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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A gripping play exploring Western guilt towards the Third World, from an author well-known for her award-winning adaptations for Shared Experience and the National Theatre. 'You're not a saint. Saints don't exist. You're just a woman doing her best.' Mark arrives in a village in India to try and find his wife. He doesn't understand what has driven her to abandon her young son. Jane cannot explain why she needed to escape or how she ended up looking after children in India – or what is in the bag she's been holding on to. It is hot, dusty and poor, and a long way from their comfortable life in London. Helen Edmundson's play Mother Teresa is Dead was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in June 2002.

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A darkly comic thriller set in the grim, seething and sometimes hilarious criminal world of Dublin's suburbs. Carl, a youngish but overweight Dublin taxi driver, owes Jackie three grand in gambling debts. Jackie wants the money, and he wants it now, not least because an armed robbery he has master-minded has just gone badly wrong. From there it is all downhill for Carl and his father-in-law George. And not in a good way. Robert Massey's play Rank was first staged by Fishamble: The New Play Company in October 2008 as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival. It transferred to the Tricycle Theatre, London, in November 2008.

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A riotously funny satirical farce in the tradition of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Shakespeare in Love, from the author of The Libertine. Elizabeth I is tottering at death's door. Conspirators are everywhere. Lucius Bodkin, an Elizabethan stand-up comedian, becomes unwillingly involved in the political skullduggery and jiggery-pokery surrounding the ailing queen. The Clink could pass itself off as a long-lost Elizabethan comedy. In fact it is a brilliant political satire offering many sharp parallels with our own times, when art must be sponsored, but to be sponsored it must be 'safe'. Stephen Jeffreys's play was first staged by Paines Plough in 1990 on tour in Britain and Holland.

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A smouldering political allegory about a political protest in a country ruled by a military junta. From the author of Death and the Maiden, written in collaboration with Tony Kushner, author of Angels in America. In a war-torn village the men have disappeared. The women – their mothers, wives, daughters – wait by the river, hope and mourn. Their anguish is unspoken until bruised and broken bodies begin being washed up on the banks and the women defy the military in the only form of protest left to them. Ariel Dorfman’s play Widows is based on his 1983 novel of the same name. The play was first presented by the Traverse Theatre Company at the Cambridge Arts Theatre in March 1997. (An earlier version of the play was first performed at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles in July 1991).

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An enchanting collection of witty music and skits about the Bard. Devised for, and first performed by, the Royal Shakespeare Company, this show has been a hit with audiences all over the world. It includes songs and sketches by Alan Bennett, Noël Coward, Stephen Sondheim, Fry and Laurie, Monty Python, Victoria Wood and many more. Christopher Luscombe and Malcom McKee's The Shakespeare Revue was first staged the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1994, later transferring to the West End.

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Two plays, from the award-winning author of Iron. Your Turn to Clean the Stair is a comically sinister study of the tensions in an Edinburgh tenement. Old Mrs Mackie has always been in charge of her stair, the communal stairwell she shares with inhabitants like tough single-mum Kay and brittle young couple Lisa and Brian. And then there's dodgy Bobby who just gets on everyone's nerves. So when – after avoiding his stair-cleaning duties once again – Bobby's body is found at the bottom of the stairs, the question is not did he fall or was he pushed, but whodunnit? Rona Munro's play Your Turn to Clean the Stair was first performed at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, in April 1992 and subsequently on tour. Fugue is a psychological horror story about a woman suffering a mental breakdown. Kay, a 24-year-old secretary, encounters her alter ego as she suffers an emotional breakdown in the Grampian Hills. Fugue was first performed at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, in April 1983.

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Two compelling and thought-provoking plays from one of the twentieth century's most significant writers. Anna Christie Eugene O’Neill’s epic Pulitzer Prize-winning play about love and forgiveness charts one woman’s longing to forget the dark secrets of her past and hope for salvation. Exiled from her home by the Old Devil Sea to the inland plains, Anna Christie’s life changed for ever at just five years of age. Fifteen years later, she is reunited with the father who sent her away, and sets sail in search of a new beginning. Anna Christie was first staged at the Vanderbilt Theater, New York, in November 1921. Its first London production was at the Strand Theatre in April 1923. The Emperor Jones An expressionistic chronicle of a black dictator's flight from his oppressed subjects. Brutus Jones rules his island's citizens from his opulent palace with tyrannical ease – until the day that they all disappear. They have retreated to the hills, following their former native leader Lem, and plan to revolt. It is time for the Emperor to make good his escape. The Emperor Jones was first performed at the Playwrights' Theater, New York, in November 1920. Its UK premiere was at the Ambassadors' Theatre, London, in September 1925. This edition includes a full introduction, biographical sketch and chronology.

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A collection of seven plays from Scottish writers, reflecting the upsurge in Scottish playwriting in the late twentieth century. Selected and introduced by Alasdair Cameron, the collection draws on adventurous theatres such as the Edinburgh Traverse and touring groups including Wildcat and 7:84, as well as looking further afield. The plays included in this volume are: Writer's Cramp by John Byrne Debut play from the author of The Slab Boys. Losing Venice by John Clifford A parable on the consequences of military adventuring. The Letter-Box by Ann Marie Di Mambro A short play about a woman who's been thrown out of her flat. Saturday Night at the Commodore by Rona Munro A woman remembers a painful teenage betrayal. Elizabeth Gordon Quinn by Chris Hannan Modern classic about an indomitable woman fighting to retain her dignity during the Glasgwegian rent-strikes of 1915. Dead Dad Dog by John McKay A short comedy about a trendy young Scotsman pursued by the ghost of his dad. The Steamie by Tony Roper Celebrates women's work in a Glasgow wash-house.

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When an unhappy estate agent sells a house to Alice, a charismatic social media influencer, the two strike up an unlikely friendship. But as her obsession with Alice's seemingly perfect world intensifies, the lines between online and reality become dangerously blurred. A thrilling, twisted and razor-sharp comedy on the corrosive effects of social media and isolation, Phoebe Eclair-Powell's play Harm premiered at the Bush Theatre, London, in May 2021.

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Raffish, urbane and frequently drunk, David Highland has kept a grip on his remote coastal parish through a combination of disordered charm and high-handed determination. When his faith impels him to take a hard line with a bereaved parishioner, he finds himself dangerously isolated from public opinion. As his own family begins to fracture, David must face a future that threatens to extinguish not only his position in the town, but everything he stands for. The Southbury Child is a darkly comic play exploring family and community, the savage divisions of contemporary society, and the rituals that punctuate our lives. It was co-produced by Chichester Festival Theatre and the Bridge Theatre, London, in 2022, starring Alex Jennings and directed by Nicholas Hytner.

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A double bill of plays from the frontline of climate change – an epic portrait of Britain in the grip of unprecedented and catastrophic floods. In On the Beach, glaciologist Will has followed in his father's footsteps, dedicating himself to studying climate change. Back from Antarctica, he visits his parents on the Norfolk coast. With catastrophic flooding growing more likely by the day, he has news that forces long-submerged secrets to rise to the surface. In Resilience, Will, freshly appointed as a scientific advisor, is in Westminster and he's out of his depth. Surrounded by ministers manoeuvring to impress, and with the threat of environmental disaster, can he get them to listen before it's too late? Impressive in scale and chilling as a prediction of our immediate future, the two plays are complementary but can also stand alone. Steve Waters' The Contingency Plan was first performed at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2009, and shortlisted for the John Whiting Award. It was revived, in this fully revised and updated version, at Sheffield Theatres in 2022, directed by Caroline Steinbeis and Chelsea Walker.

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A practical, empowering guide for performers and creatives, helping you navigate and overcome the pressures and demands of a career in the arts.

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‘The end-of-the-world quiz waits for no man, literally. Onwards, ever onwards, to our fiery decline. Round three…’ It's the end of the world. The last night on Earth. An asteroid is heading straight for us and there's nothing we can do about it. Except for maybe host a pub quiz – which is exactly what landlady Kathy and her quizmaster Rav are doing. But, with time ticking, some unexpected guests explode on the scene – Bobby wants to settle old scores, and Fran wants one last shot at love. Alison Carr's play The Last Quiz Night on Earth is an innovative comedy-drama featuring a fully interactive pub quiz for the audience to participate in, complete with real teams, real questions and real swapping each other's answers for marking. It was premiered by Box of Tricks in 2020 on a UK tour, taking in a host of theatres, community venues and pubs. Ideal for performance by amateurs – either in theatres or more unconventional spaces (such as theatre bars and local pubs) – this play offers rich opportunities for audience participation. Quizzing compulsory, alcohol optional.

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This empowering, informative guide explains everything actors need to know about agents – how to find one, what they do, and how to work with them effectively to help you succeed in your career. If you're currently seeking an agent, discover how to research and contact them, and what they're looking for in their clients. And if you already have one, learn how to manage and get the most out of this crucial relationship. Also included are invaluable tips on how to write a great CV; obtain attention-grabbing headshots, showreels and voicereels; prepare for and excel at auditions; embrace social media; protect your mental health; and much more. 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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Award winning playwright Chris Bush reimagines the Faust myth to explore what we must sacrifice to achieve greatness, and the legacy that we leave behind. Faustus: That Damned Woman is a radical new work in which the iconic character of Faustus becomes a woman who makes the ultimate sacrifice in order to traverse centuries and change the course of history. It is premiered at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in January 2020, in a co production with Headlong and Birmingham Repertory Theatre, prior to a UK tour. An epic, ambitious, gothic, baroque fever dream of a piece that takes a well known classic and inverts it to say something truthful about the contemporary female experience.

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It's 1975. The Millgarth Incident Room in Leeds is the epicentre of the biggest manhunt in British history, for one of the most notorious serial killers: the Yorkshire Ripper. With public and political pressure mounting, hundreds of officers must work around the clock and resort to increasingly audacious attempts to end one man's campaign of terror. Olivia Hirst and David Byrne's 'beautifully crafted' (Guardian) play goes behind the scenes to investigate the case that nearly broke the British police force. The Incident Room was first performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2019, transferring to New Diorama Theatre, London, in 2020, ahead of an Off-Broadway run.

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'I'm not broken. I'm a unique spark of life. We all are.' Jess has a great life: a job she loves, a sharp sense of humour and a close group of friends. When austerity threatens the world she has worked hard to build, Jess makes a stand to protect those she holds most dear. Capturing the humour, sadness and joy of everyday life, Francesca Martinez's play All of Us is a passionate and timely look at the human cost of abandoning those who struggle to fit in. It premiered at the National Theatre, London, in August 2022, in a production directed by Ian Rickson, with an ensemble cast featuring Francesca Martinez in the role of Jess. It was shortlisted for the 2022 George Devine Award.

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‘He’ll look different. My little boy. When I get out. Like… to the picture I’ve got in my head. Be like meeting him all over again. A whole new start.’ Instead of GCSEs, Cain, Riyad and Jonjo got sentences. Locked up in a young offender institution, they trade sweets, chat shit, kill time – and await fatherhood. Grace's job is to turn these teenagers into parents, ready to take charge of their futures. But can they grow up quickly enough to escape the system? Winner of the 2019 Papatango New Writing Prize, Samuel Bailey's Shook is a tender and honest play examining the young men society shuts away. It was premiered by Papatango at Southwark Playhouse, London, in October 2019, followed by a UK tour. Samuel Bailey was the winner of the Times Breakthrough Award at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards 2021.

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A passionate, illuminating exploration of Shakespeare's greatest plays and characters, by the director of acclaimed theatre company Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory. Combining close textual analysis with practical insights based on his extensive experience of directing Shakespeare's plays, Andrew Hilton delves into a fascinating range of topics such as emotional truth in the comedies, the importance of the plays' social dynamics, the choice of settings and periods, making and withholding moral judgements, working with different versions of the texts, and even adapting them. Throughout, Hilton urges us as audiences and theatre-makers to set aside our preconceived notions, and instead to approach Shakespeare's plays with an open mind, moment by moment, so that we can connect with them in fresh and vital ways. 'The clear-sightedness, wit and depth of knowledge and insight into the plays and their worlds is unparalleled... should be required reading for everyone approaching these plays... A fabulous book, brimful of wisdom and revelations and a gift to anyone interested in Shakespeare or, quite frankly, in people' John Heffernan, actor 'Andrew Hilton's Tobacco Factory Shakespeares were an inspiration... What audiences saw and heard was not a display but an uncovering. His productions did not add to the drama: they revealed it... In Shakespeare on the Factory Floor, Hilton has once again lit up Shakespeare: lucid and penetrating on the page and on the stage' Susannah Clapp, theatre critic of the Observer 'The detail and simplicity of Andrew Hilton's directing is as potent in his writing as it is in the rehearsal room... A wonderful book' Dorothea Myer-Bennett, actor 'Andrew Hilton has used his rich experience of many years to create a penetrating, timely and distinctive study of the plays… I only wish this book had been around when first I read Shakespeare. It would have opened my eyes and my mind much earlier' Professor Sir Christopher Frayling, Former Rector of the Royal College of Art and Chair of Arts Council England 'Andrew Hilton's fascinating book reveals how theatrical performance offers insights into longstanding questions of literary interpretation… Written in an engaging and readable style, it will be of interest to actors, directors, scholars and anyone who enjoys reading Shakespeare's plays or seeing them performed' Lesel Dawson, Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Bristol

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'Your hobbies are limited to Arab Idol and cooking lentils and having sex in fields late at night.' The year is 2043, and Reem and her husband Sayeed are going to share a 'Serious Play about Palestine'. Things are tense. People are on the edge. The Fifth Intifada is right around the corner. But on a contested piece of land near their village of Beit al-Qadir, Reem and Sayeed are about to go dogging. Don't worry, you're allowed to laugh. Sami Ibrahim's play two Palestinians go dogging uses the lens of humour to explore how the everyday becomes political and the political becomes everyday in a conflict zone. The play won the Theatre Uncut Political Playwriting Award in 2019 and was premiered in May 2022 at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, London, directed by Omar Elerian.

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William Thornhill arrives in New South Wales a convict from the slums of London. Upon earning his pardon he discovers that this new world offers something he didn't dare dream of: a place to call his own. But as he plants a crop and lays claim to the soil on the banks of the Hawkesbury River, he finds that this land is not his to take. Its ancient custodians are the Dharug people. A deeply moving and unflinching journey into Australia's dark history, Andrew Bovell's adaptation of Kate Grenville's acclaimed novel The Secret River was first performed by the Sydney Theatre Company in 2013. The play had its UK premiere in August 2019, as part of the Edinburgh International Festival, before transferring to the National Theatre, London. This edition includes an introduction by adapter Andrew Bovell, a foreword by historian Henry Reynolds, and music used in the original production. 'The Secret River is a sad book, beautifully written and, at times, almost unbearable with the weight of loss, competing distresses and the impossibility of making amends' Observer on the novel The Secret River

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