Search results for ""nick hern books""
Nick Hern Books The Last of the Pelican Daughters
In folklore, pelican mothers feed their young on their own blood. Today, four sisters are trying to come to terms with their mother's death – and divide their mother's house between them. Joy wants a baby, Storm wants to be seen, Sage wants to be paid, Maya doesn't want anyone to find out her secret. Granny's in a wheelchair on day release – and Mum's presence still seeps through the ceiling and the floors. The Pelican Daughters are home for the last time. The Wardrobe Ensemble's play The Last of the Pelican Daughters is a comedy about four sisters trying to come to terms with their mother's death. It combines the company's trademark irreverent humour and lovable characters to tackle the idea of what it means for young people to grapple with inheritance, loss and justice. The Last of the Pelican Daughters was first staged at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2019. In addition to the full script of the play, this published edition includes an extensive oral history of The Wardrobe Ensemble by its members, and a workshop plan for two people of different generations to communicate and collaborate in person or online.
£10.99
Nick Hern Books Jekyll and Hyde
'If I am the chief of sinners, I am the chief of sufferers also.' A series of random nocturnal assaults in the back streets and alleyways of Victorian London are spreading fear and panic. Meanwhile, the friends of a highly respected doctor are beginning to wonder why he goes missing on exactly the same nights… Neil Bartlett's inventive, brilliantly theatrical adaptation cuts right to the heart of Robert Louis Stevenson's darkly fascinating tale of male violence, guilt and privilege. It premiered at Derby Theatre in 2022, directed by Artistic Director Sarah Brigham, before transferring to Queen's Theatre Hornchurch. Written for an ensemble and with several key roles for women, this adaptation will appeal to any theatre or company looking to thrill their audiences with a bold new take on this classic tale of murder and mayhem.
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Nick Hern Books Little Wars
A dinner party during the Second World War unites celebrated writers Agatha Christie, Lillian Hellman, Dorothy Parker, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas – with a mysterious guest. With copious booze flowing, acid-tongued barbs flying, and the threat of global conflict looming, the guests – and the world around them – are close to boiling point. Everyone has a confession. Someone has a secret. Set in the French Alps in 1940, Steven Carl McCasland’s Little Wars is an enthralling, entertaining and ultimately moving portrait of seven exceptional women – and a thrilling fiction based on truth. It was workshopped Off-Off-Broadway, first performed in 2015, and received an acclaimed digital premiere in 2020, featuring Linda Bassett, Sarah Solemani, Juliet Stevenson and Sophie Thompson. It provides glorious opportunities for an all-female cast to play some of the greatest literary figures of the twentieth century.
£10.93
Nick Hern Books The Mandate
A chillingly grotesque farce set in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, banned for decades in the USSR and revived in this uproarious new version by Declan Donnellan. Moscow, 1924. The early days of the Soviet Union. Communism is everywhere - little understood but greatly feared. A landlord must pretend to be a Communist. His cook is mistaken for the missing princess Anastasia, and his lodger is threatening them with the militia. Nikolai Erdman's play The Mandate was written in 1924 and first performed in 1925 in a production directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold. This English version by acclaimed director Declan Donnellan was first performed at the National Theatre, London, in 2004, in a production directed by Donnellan.
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Nick Hern Books Educating Agnes
A dark and wickedly funny farce about one man's twisted attempts to find a woman he can control completely. Adapted from Molière's classic comedy The School for Wives by Liz Lochhead, 'Scotland's greatest living dramatist' (Scotland on Sunday). He's old, rich and determined to find the perfect wife. She's young, innocent and in debt to him. He'll have her by any means possible... 'Wives like your one, those with all the smarts, The ballbreakers, they're the ones to break our hearts... So pick a simple girl - it's not rocket science!' Liz Lochhead's play Educating Agnes was first staged by Theatre Babel at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, in 2008.
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Nick Hern Books My Boy Jack
The tragic story of how Rudyard Kipling sent his son to his death in the First World War. The year is 1913 and war with Germany is imminent. Rudyard Kipling's determination to send his severely short-sighted son to war triggers a bitter family conflict which leaves Britain's renowned patriot devastated by the warring of his own greatest passions: his love for children - above all his own - and his devotion to King and Country. David Haig's play My Boy Jack was first staged at Hampstead Theatre in 1997. It was revived at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, in 2004, and toured the UK. The play was filmed for television in 2007, with Daniel Radcliffe as Jack and the author himself as Kipling.
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Nick Hern Books Six Characters in Search of an Author
Pirandello's classic play, updated for the twenty-first century by Headlong. Blurring the border between fiction and life, between the stage and the world outside, Luigi Pirandello's play Six Characters in Search of an Author exploded onto the stage in 1921 as one of the unique achievements of twentieth-century drama. Updated and recontextualised in this vertiginous new version, it becomes a dark parable for a media-obsessed age and an exhilarating exploration of how we define art, ourselves and 'reality' in the twenty-first century. This version by Rupert Goold and Ben Power was first performed at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester, in June 2008, in a co-production between Headlong and Chichester Festival Theatre.
£10.35
Nick Hern Books Kindertransport
A modern classic about one woman's struggle to come to terms with her past. Brutally separated from her German Jewish parents at the age of nine, Eva is brought to England with the promise of a new life... Between 1939 until the outbreak of World War II, nearly 10,000 Jewish children were taken from their families in Nazi-occupied Germany and sent to live with foster families in Britain. Diane Samuels’ seminal play, Kindertransport, imagines the fate of one such child. Now widely considered a modern classic, Kindertransport has been read and studied the world over. Kindertransport won the 1992 Verity Bargate Award and was subsequently staged by the Soho Theatre Company at the Cockpit Theatre in London in 1993. It also won the Meyer-Whitworth Award in 1993. Since its premiere the play has been revived several times. Watford Palace Theatre staged it in 1996, in a production that transferred to the West End. Renowned theatre company Shared Experience also revived the play to great acclaim for a regional tour in 2007. This edition includes several personal memoirs by German-born children whose lives were saved, and transformed, by the Kindertransport. Kindertransport is a SET TEXT for GCSE English Literature (AQA) and AS/A-Level English Literature (WJEC).
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Nick Hern Books Machinal
A powerful expressionist drama from the 1920s about the dependent status of women in an increasingly mechanised society, based on the true story of Ruth Snyder. Sophie Treadwell was a campaigning journalist in America between the wars. Among her assignments was the sensational murder involving Snyder, who with her lover, Judd Gray, had murdered her husband and gone to the electric chair. 'This is a play written in anger. In the dead wasteland of male society – it seems to ask – isn't it necessary for certain women, at least, to resort to murder?' - Nicholas Wright Sophie Treadwell's play Machinal was first seen on Broadway in 1928, in London in 1930, and was later revived in the 1990s. This edition of Machinal includes an introduction by Judith E. Barlow.
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Nick Hern Books Sunday in the Park with George
Inspired by Georges Seurat's pointillist masterpiece, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's musical celebrates the art of creation and the creation of art. In the first half of the musical, set in 1884, the people - and the animals - in the painting come to life in a world where, for the artist George, art comes before love, before everything. In the second half, a century later, Seurat's great-grandson is wrestling with the same obsessions in present-day New York. Sunday in the Park with George was premiered on Broadway in May 1984, in a production directed by James Lapine. An earlier, incomplete version had been performed Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in July 1983. The musical went on to win the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The first London production opened at the National Theatre in March 1990. It won the 1991 Olivier Award for Best New Musical.
£12.99
Nick Hern Books Contemporary Monologues for Men: Volume 2
Whether you’re applying for drama school, taking an exam, or auditioning for a professional role, it’s likely you’ll be required to perform one or more monologues, including a piece from a contemporary play. It’s vital to come up with something fresh that’s suited both to you – in order to allow you to express who you are as a performer – and to the specific purposes of the audition. In this book, you’ll find forty fantastic speeches featuring male roles, all written and premiered since the year 2014, by some of today’s most exciting dramatic voices from the UK and USA. Playwrights include Annie Baker, Andrew Bovell, Jez Butterworth, Caryl Churchill, Mark Gatiss, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Anna Jordan, Arinzé Kene, Rona Munro and Evan Placey. The plays featured were premiered at leading venues including the National, the Royal Court, the Bush and Hampstead in London, prestigious theatres in Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Manchester, and by renowned companies including Frantic Assembly and Paines Plough. Drawing on her experience as an actor, director and teacher at several leading drama schools, Trilby James introduces each speech with a user-friendly, bullet-point list of essential things you need to know about the character, and then five inspiring ideas to help you perform the monologue. This book also features a step-by-step guide to the process of selecting and preparing your speech, and approaching the audition itself. ‘Easy-to-use… The guidance is perhaps the most thorough I have seen in a monologue book’ Teaching Drama on Trilby James’s first volume of Contemporary Monologues Please note that some of the speeches in this volume contain strong language and themes which some readers may find inappropriate.
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Nick Hern Books Noughts & Crosses
Sephy and Callum sit together on a beach. They are in love. It is forbidden. Sephy is a Cross and Callum is a Nought. Between Noughts and Crosses there are racial and social divides. A segregated society teeters on a volatile knife-edge. As violence breaks out, Sephy and Callum draw closer, but this is a romance that will lead them into terrible danger. This gripping Romeo and Juliet story by acclaimed writer Malorie Blackman is a captivating drama of love, revolution and what it means to grow up in a divided world. Sabrina Mahfouz’s stage adaptation first toured the UK in 2019 and won the Excellence in Touring category at the UK Theatre Awards. It was commissioned and presented by Pilot Theatre in co-production with Derby Theatre, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, Mercury Theatre Colchester and York Theatre Royal.
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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 The Starry Messenger
Mark Williams is tired of his marriage and tired of his job teaching astronomy at the Hayden Planetarium in New York City. Angela Vasquez is a young single mother training to be a nurse. Norman Ketterly is fighting for his life in a cancer ward. Their intertwining stories unspool under a canopy of stars too vast to imagine and too beautiful to comprehend, especially when the travails of life on Earth threaten to blot it out. Kenneth Lonergan's play The Starry Messenger is a bittersweet exploration of love, hope and the mysteries of the cosmos. It premiered in New York in 2009, and received its UK premiere at Wyndham's Theatre, London, in May 2019, featuring Matthew Broderick and Elizabeth McGovern.
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Nick Hern Books You Stupid Darkness!
‘I just think it’s, you know, important to look at the good things that are happening as well.’ In a cramped, crumbling office, four volunteers spend a few hours every Tuesday night on the phone telling strangers that everything is going to be okay. As the outside world disintegrates, they teeter on the edge of their own personal catastrophes. Their hopes and fears become entangled as they try, desperately, to connect with the callers and with each other. Sam Steiner's You Stupid Darkness! is an urgent play about the struggle for optimism and community amid the chaos of a world falling apart. It was first seen at Theatre Royal Plymouth in February 2019, in a co-production between Paines Plough and Theatre Royal Plymouth.
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Nick Hern Books The Sweet Science of Bruising
‘When that bell rings, your life is entirely in your hands.’ London, 1869. Four very different Victorian women are drawn into the dark underground world of female boxing by the eccentric Professor Sharp. Controlled by men and constrained by corsets, each finds an unexpected freedom in the boxing ring. As their lives begin to intertwine, their journey takes us through grand drawing rooms, bustling theatres and rowdy Southwark pubs, where the women fight inequality as well as each other. But with the final showdown approaching, only one can become the Lady Boxing Champion of the World… Joy Wilkinson's play The Sweet Science of Bruising is an epic tale of passion, politics and pugilism. It premiered at Southwark Playhouse, London, in October 2018, in a production by Troupe.
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Nick Hern Books ear for eye (NHB Modern Plays)
'Marchin' days is over man.' Patience is running out, times have changed. And progress isn't enough. Black British. African American. Here. There. Now. Snapshots of lives, snapshots of experiences of protest; violence vs non-violence, direct action vs demonstrations, ear for eye follows characters navigating their way through society today. debbie tucker green's play ear for eye premiered in October 2018 at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, in a production directed by the playwright. ear for eye was a finalist for the 2019 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. A filmed version of ear for eye, written and directed by debbie tucker green, was broadcast on BBC Two in October 2021. 'A furious dissection of racial injustice... overwhelming' - Guardian
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Nick Hern Books Ramona Tells Jim
A darkly comic debut play about confession and the gravity of young love. Ramona is sixteen, hates bananas, and she's totally cool. Honestly. She's completely cool. It's 1998, and Ramona, of Englandshire, is on a wet, midge-riddled geography field trip, deep in the Scottish Highlands. There she meets Jim, a local laddie obsessed with hermit crabs, rock erosion and spider plants. When Ramona falls for Jim's awkward charm, she gets caught in a scandal that will haunt her for years to come. Sophie Wu's Ramona Tells Jim was commissioned by and first performed at the Bush Theatre, London, in September 2017.
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Nick Hern Books Gloria
New York. A city that runs on ambition – and coffee. In the offices of a notorious Manhattan magazine, ruthless editorial assistants vie for their bosses' jobs and a book deal before they're thirty. But bestselling memoir fodder is thin on the ground, and climbing the career ladder is hard when you're trapped between Starbucks runs, jaded gossip and endless encircling cubicle walls... Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's Gloria is a razor-sharp comic drama about ambition, office warfare and hierarchies, where the only thing that matters is selling out to the highest bidder. The play was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2016, and had its UK premiere at Hampstead Theatre, London, in 2017. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins was named Most Promising Playwright at the Critics' Circle Awards in 2018 for his plays Gloria and An Octoroon.
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Nick Hern Books Fleabag: The Original Play (NHB Modern Plays)
The Fleabag bites back. A rip-roaring account of some sort of female living her sort of life. Phoebe Waller-Bridge's debut play is an outrageously funny monologue for a female performer. It premiered at the 2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, performed by Phoebe herself, before transferring to Soho Theatre, London, for several successful runs, followed by a UK tour. It won a Fringe First Award in Edinburgh, the Most Promising New Playwright and Best Female Performance at the Off West End Theatre Awards, The Stage Award for Best Solo Performer and the Critics' Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright. It received a Special Commendation in the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and was nominated for the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre. In 2016 it was turned into a wildly successful and 'utterly riveting' (Guardian) BBC television series. This edition also features an introduction by the author.
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Nick Hern Books Dara
An intense domestic drama of global consequence – for India then and for our world now. 1659. Mughal India. The imperial court, a place of opulence and excess; music, drugs, eunuchs and harems. Two brothers, whose mother's death inspired the Taj Mahal, are heirs to this Muslim empire. Now they fight ferociously for succession. Dara, the crown prince, has the love of the people – and of his emperor father – but younger brother Aurangzeb holds a different vision for India's future. Islam inspires poetry in Dara, puritanical rigour in Aurangzeb. Can Jahanara, their beloved sister, assuage Aurangzeb's resolve to seize the Peacock Throne and purge the empire? Originally performed by Ajoka Theatre, Pakistan, Tanya Ronder's adaptation of Shahid Nadeem's play Dara premiered at the National Theatre, London, in 2015.
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Nick Hern Books The Wardrobe (NHB Modern Plays)
A gripping journey through British history that shows how our country was shaped and how connected we are with our past. Across seven centuries, small groups of children seek sanctuary in the same solid old wardrobe. It's the safest place they know - but is it safe enough? The Wardrobe was commissioned as part of the 2014 National Theatre Connections Festival and premiered by youth theatres across the UK. With a variety of roles for young actors, the play can be performed by a large cast of up to twenty-eight, or a smaller cast with doubling.
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Nick Hern Books Drama Games for Actors: Exploring Self, Character and Text
From the bestselling Drama Games series, this dip-in, flick-through, quick-fire resource book offers dozens of games to serve as a rich source of ideas and inspiration for all actors – and those teaching or directing them. This must-have companion is divided into three sections, each focusing on a different aspect of the actor’s process: Self provides methods to deepen relaxation, sharpen focus, boost energy, expand imagination and enable a company of actors to work collaboratively Character suggests strategies to aid the process of transformation, encouraging actors to explore characteristics that are distinct from their own And Text offers exercises to unlock the words, allowing free and imaginative work within the structure of a script, without losing specificity The games range from solo explorations which can be performed alone, to ideas for pairs and group work – making them suitable for a wide variety of scenarios and requirements. Overall, the book will serve as an essential foundation for every actor’s creativity, helping improve preparation, rehearsal and performance. ‘A mass of invaluable ideas for all ages and all types of actors, amateur or professional. It’s hard to imagine anyone involved in theatre who wouldn’t find it useful.’ Richard Eyre, from his Foreword
£12.99
Nick Hern Books Drama Games for Rehearsals
'I wish I'd had this book when I was starting out as a young director... I cannot recommend it highly enough' Marianne Elliott, from her Foreword This dip-in, flick-through, quick-fire resource book in the bestselling Drama Games series offers dozens of ideas and exercises to energise and inspire a bold, creative rehearsal process for any play, of any period or genre. Aimed at directors of all levels, it covers every aspect of rehearsal, including: Warm-up exercises to prepare the body, voice and mind, and to create a strong ensemble Ideas for approaching the text, tackling the 'Story of the Play' A wealth of games for unlocking the 'World of the Play', including developing characters, finding a physical style, understanding genre and investigating themes Suggestions for exploring sound and music, whether for use in the production or simply to encourage a sense of fun in rehearsals This essential 'go-to' book will provide you with a host of original and illuminating games, perfect for the play you're rehearsing, be it Shakespeare or Greek tragedy, a Restoration comedy, physical theatre, Modern Naturalism – or even a brand new play. Marianne Elliott, one of the most innovative and exciting directors working anywhere in the world, describes it as a 'beautiful, and very clearly written book' which will become her 'constant companion in future'.
£12.99
Nick Hern Books I Am Shakespeare
A fascinating, witty and characteristically exuberant dramatic exploration of the Shakespeare authorship debate. Is it possible that the son of an illiterate tradesman, from a small market town in Warwickshire, could have written the greatest dramatic works the world has ever seen? It’s a question that has puzzled scholars, theatre practitioners and theatregoers for many years. The philosopher, Francis Bacon; the Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere; and Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke: all of them have been put forward as the real author of the plays. But why would they hide behind an anonymous actor? Who was the real Bard of Stratford? Why should we care? Mark Rylance is one of a number of leading actors who seriously question the idea that William Shakespeare was the man behind the thirty-seven plays that have moved, inspired and amazed generations. First performed at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester, in 2007, and subsequently on tour, Rylance’s provocative play introduces us to four candidates and their respective claims – whilst asking fundamental questions about what makes a genius, and why it all matters anyway.
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Nick Hern Books Sex with a Stranger
Bleak, funny and excruciatingly accurate, Sex with a Stranger examines what it is to be in your twenties, lonely, hollow and uncertain. Adam meets Grace in a club. They go back to hers. Earlier that day, his girlfriend watches as he prepares for his big night out. Stefan Golaszewski's play Sex with a Stranger was first performed at Trafalgar Studios, London, in February 2012.
£11.99
Nick Hern Books Becoming an Actor
A practical guide to training as an actor, helping you get the most out of drama school - and survive in the world beyond. Are you thinking of applying to drama school? Do you have a place already and want to get the most out of your training? Are you seeking to make the best possible start in the world beyond drama school? Becoming an Actor takes you, step by step, technique by technique, through everything you can expect to encounter at drama school, and in your first year as a professional actor. Stuffed with exercises and full of practical advice, it is the ideal handbook to accompany your training. Thomasina Unsworth teaches at Rose Bruford College, one of the UK's leading drama schools. Here she shows what acting classes at an accredited drama school are actually like, and offers guidance and support through what is a critical time in any actor's career. With many different exercises to help actors explore the techniques they need to master, Becoming an Actor is also an invaluable resource for those teaching acting, and for those seeking to refresh their training.
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Nick Hern Books La Bête
Written in a blaze of rhyming couplets, La Bête is an exuberant, wildly distinctive comedy that encompasses timeless concerns about life and art. Winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. Elomire, high-minded head of the Royal theatre troupe, is incensed. His patron, the Princess, has decreed that the Court ensemble admit a new actor – the scandalously boorish street entertainer, Valere. With Elomire's pride and the troupe's livelihood on the line, the company is duty-bound not only to accept the outrageous troubadour, but to perform one of his ludicrous plays, an event that has dramatic consequences for them all. David Hirson's La Bête opened on Broadway in February 1991 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, and had its UK premiere at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, in 1992. A new production, directed by Matthew Warchus and starring Mark Rylance, opened at the Comedy Theatre in the West End in June 2010, and subsequently transferred to Broadway.
£8.99
Nick Hern Books Ghosts
Richard Eyre's version of Ibsen's Ghosts is a fresh and vivid depiction of a woman who yearns for emotional and sexual freedom, but who is too timid to achieve it. Helene Alving has spent her life suspended in an emotional void after the death of her cruel but outwardly charming husband. She is determined to escape the ghosts of her past by telling her son, Oswald, the truth about his father. But on his return from his life as a painter in France, Oswald reveals how he has already inherited the legacy of Alving's dissolute life. Richard Eyre's version of Ghosts was first staged at the Almeida Theatre, London, in 2013. This edition contains an introduction to the play by Richard Eyre.
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Nick Hern Books Jerusalem
Jez Butterworth's hugely acclaimed, prize-winning play - a comic, contemporary vision of life in England's green and pleasant land. On St George's Day, the morning of the local country fair, Johnny 'Rooster' Byron, local waster and Lord of Misrule, is a wanted man. The council officials want to serve him an eviction notice, his son wants to be taken to the fair, a vengeful father wants to give him a serious kicking, and a motley crew of mates wants his ample supply of drugs and alcohol. Jerusalem premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in July 2009 in a production directed by Ian Rickson and starring Mark Rylance. It transferred to the Apollo Theatre in the West End in January 2010, and played on Broadway in 2011. Jez Butterworth's play won the Evening Standard Best Play Award and the Critics Circle and Whatsonstage.com awards for Best New Play.
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Nick Hern Books Boy Parts
'I wonder what I have to do for people to recognise me as a threat. Do I have to smash a glass over the head of every single man I come into contact with, just so I leave a mark?' Irina takes erotic photos of average-looking men. Always behind the lens, she watches, she moulds, and she stalks. These boys are putty in her hands, just the way she likes it. When the opportunity to show her photographs in a fashionable London gallery coincides with a new boy to obsess over, cracks begin to appear. How far can she push her new prey for the perfect shot, or has she already gone too far? Based on the critically acclaimed debut novel by Eliza Clark, which was a finalist for the Women's Prize Futures Award, Boy Parts is a pitch-black psychological thriller that subverts the erotic gaze and asks what happens when our need for connection gets twisted. This stage adaptation for one actor by Gillian Greer was premiered in 2023 at Soho Theatre, London, in a co-production between Metal Rabbit Productions and Soho Theatre, and directed by Sara Joyce. Praise for Eliza Clark's novel: 'Hilariously sardonic… Will make most readers howl with laughter and/or shut their eyes in horror' Guardian 'A carnival funhouse ride: terrifying, feverish, hilarious' Julia Armfield 'Boundaries are for breaking and if anyone can crash through and reinterpret the fear of our time, Eliza Clark can' Mslexia 'Hallucinogenic, electric and sharp' Jessica Andrews 'Delightfully and deviously rooted in the now with its delectable internet and culture references and evocative and real-feeling portrait of women' Dazed 'Smart, stylish, and very funny' Lara Williams 'Explores the darkest corners of artistic practice, sexuality and violence with bold wit and fearlessness. A dazzling, horrifying debut' Irish Times
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Nick Hern Books Somewhere Out There You
'We are all the authors of our own love story.' Casey's new boyfriend Brett is handsome, romantic and devoted – a dream come true. He writes poetry! He makes quiche! For once in her life, Casey is in a relationship with a man who attends to her every whim and desire. But when her suspicious sister Cynthia starts digging into Brett's past, she threatens to take away the one good thing that's ever happened to Casey… Nancy Harris's play Somewhere Out There You is a romantic comedy with a twist, playfully unravelling the love stories we weave for ourselves and inviting us to question what compels us to tell them in the first place. It was first performed in 2023 at the Abbey Theatre, as part of Dublin Theatre Festival, directed by Wayne Jordan.
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Nick Hern Books Accidental Death of an Anarchist
'We know all too well that we're up to our necks in the shit, and it is for this very reason that we walk with our heads held high!' An irrepressible fraudster known only as the Maniac is brought into Police Headquarters just as the officers are preparing for a judicial review of the recent 'accidental' death of a suspect in custody. Outwitting his captors, the Maniac dupes them into performing a farcical recreation of the incident, exposing the absurd corruption and terrifying idiocy at the heart of the system. Dario Fo and Franca Rame's riotous satire has been widely performed around the world since its premiere in 1970. Tom Basden's acclaimed adaptation was first performed at Sheffield Theatres in 2022, directed by Daniel Raggett, and starring Daniel Rigby as the Maniac. The production transferred to the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in 2023, before moving to the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London's West End.
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Nick Hern Books A Strange Loop
Usher is a Black, queer writer, working a day job he hates while writing his original musical: a piece about a Black, queer writer, working a day job he hates while writing his original musical... Michael R. Jackson's blistering original musical follows a young artist at war with a host of demons – not least of which are the punishing thoughts in his own head – in an attempt to understand his own strange loop. A Strange Loop received its world premiere at Playwrights Horizons in New York in 2019. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, as well as Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical at the 2022 Tony Awards – and every other 'Best Musical' award on Broadway. It received its British premiere at the Barbican Theatre, London, in 2023, with Michael R. Jackson winning Best Composer, Lyricist or Book Writer at the 2023 Stage Debut Awards. 'A metafictional musical that tracks the creative process of an artist transforming issues of identity, race and sexuality that once pushed him to the margins of the cultural mainstream into a meditation on universal human fears and insecurities' Pulitzer Prize Committee
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Nick Hern Books Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons
'Let's just talk until it goes.' The average person will speak 123,205,750 words in a lifetime. But what if there were a limit? Oliver and Bernadette are about to find out. Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons is a tender and funny rom-com about what we say, how we say it, and what happens when we can't say anything any more. This special edition of Sam Steiner's hilarious and provocative play – featuring a revised text, plus an introduction by the author – was published alongside a major revival in 2023 performed at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London's West End, as well as at Manchester Opera House and Theatre Royal Brighton. It was directed by Josie Rourke and starred Jenna Coleman and Aidan Turner. The play was first performed at Warwick Arts Centre in 2015, and won three Judges' Awards at the National Student Drama Festival before appearing at Latitude Festival, Camden People's Theatre in London, and several runs at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it was a hit with both audiences and critics. It has since been performed around the world, is widely studied and has been translated into multiple languages.
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Nick Hern Books Sea Creatures
'Where's Robin? Where's Robin? Where's Robin?' In a cottage by the sea, four women live in a house made for five. Meals are prepared, stories are shared and the waves break on the shore. When only one of their two expected guests arrives for the summer, life is about to change for all of them... Cordelia Lynn's Sea Creatures is a haunting play about grief, loss and the power of storytelling. It opened at Hampstead Theatre, London, in March 2023, directed by James Macdonald.
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Nick Hern Books Word-Play
'History always ripples on. Even if we don't realise it.' In the Downing Street Press Office an emergency meeting has been called. The Prime Minister has been ad-libbing on live TV (again) and his words are going viral. There is a flurry of accusations, and demands for an apology; but as his team debate what to do next, it's already too late. His words have found their way to dinner parties, bus journeys and newspaper columns across the nation – and not everyone is angry. Rabiah Hussain's play Word-Play explores how language seeps into public consciousness and reverberates with far-reaching consequences that will last for generations. It premiered at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London, in July 2023, directed by Nimmo Ismail.
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Nick Hern Books Chasing Hares
'They're always trying to do that. Make us run off in different directions to try to catch a single hare. Because they know. If we work together we might bring down the stag.' By day, machine operator Prab struggles to survive the precarity and brutality of his factory job in West Bengal. By night, he writes stories for his baby daughter Amba. When a popular actress recruits him to write a play for her, Prab seizes the opportunity to expose the injustice of factory conditions and the rumours of child exploitation. But in his fight for change, is he ready to risk his future, his family and even his own life? Winner of Theatre Uncut's Political Playwriting Award, Sonali Bhattacharyya's Chasing Hares is a tale of resistance and dignity in the face of global exploitation. It was premiered at the Young Vic Theatre, London, in July 2022, directed by Milli Bhatia.
£10.99
Nick Hern Books The Drama Workshop Leader: A Practical Guide to Delivering Great Sessions
This comprehensive, easy-to-use guide contains everything you need to plan and deliver effective drama sessions, get the best out of your participants, and develop an empowering leadership style that works for you. Drawing on over fifteen years' experience of running workshops – including for the National Theatre, The Old Vic, Barbican, Battersea Arts Centre and National Youth Theatre – Linden Walcott-Burton takes you through everything you need to know, with essential advice on: Your Workshop: How to plan and structure a successful session; how to deliver it effectively, whether in-person or online; how to devise and run an entire course. Your Group: How to motivate and get the best out of your group; how to encourage positive behaviours and manage challenging ones; how to adapt to different groups and needs; how to give and receive feedback. Yourself as a Workshop Leader: How to empower yourself by owning the space and maintaining boundaries; how to use your voice (and not lose it); how to harness the power of humour and fun. Packed with tips and techniques that work with any setting and age group, whether you're running a short session or a longer course, the book also provides specific guidance on delivering workshops in schools, working with disabled people and those with learning disabilities, and safeguarding when working with children and young people. There's also advice on co-facilitating, working with assistants and finding work. Organised in handy, bite-sized chunks allowing you to find just what you need, the book also includes sample workshop plans and content, with additional insights and examples of best practice from many other leading practitioners in the field. Whether you're just starting out and want to learn the basics, or you're a seasoned facilitator looking for fresh ideas, The Drama Workshop Leader is the resource you need to deliver a great session in any room you walk into, no matter what's thrown your way. 'Every practitioner, no matter their level of experience, will gain so much from this book' Jackie Tait, Primary Programme Manager, National Theatre Learning
£15.29
Nick Hern Books Drama Menu: Second Helpings: Another 160 Tasty Theatre Games
160 all-new games and exercises from the author of the bestselling companion for drama teachers and workshop leaders, offering more than one million unique and tasty combinations, ready to be put into action! Simply make a selection from each of the four complementary courses, and your whole drama session will come to life with clarity, intensity and focus: Appetisers are fast-paced warm-up exercises to energise and enthuse; Starters are the intermediary course to challenge and kickstart creativity; Main Courses provide the central part of the session, culminating in a final performance piece; Desserts are there for when you have space at the end of your session for something sweet. Every exercise has been devised, tested and selected for its ability to ignite creativity and develop the performing potential of each player. There's also a downloadable Resource Pack stuffed with a huge range of new stimuli to engage your students and encourage deeper participation. Drama Menu: Second Helpings has everything you need to spice up your sessions with a variety of new challenges that will invigorate and inspire your students, and ensure that every session is fresh, dynamic and relevant. Bon appétit! Praise for Drama Menu: 'An easily accessible, flexible and creative resource useful for any dramatic platform. A must-have for all teachers wanting to give their students the very best!' Word Matters 'Easy to navigate... definitely something for everyone... a really useful collection' Teaching Drama 'Ideal... will provide a great deal of varied and inspiring material for drama sessions' Drama Resource 'Unbelievably useful... every reader will find something new and of absolute hands-on usefulness... Drama Menu will become your companion' ReviewsGate.com
£15.29
Nick Hern Books The IT
'It is really small. Whatever it is. But it's here. It's definitely here.' A teenage girl has something growing inside her. She doesn't know what it is, but she knows it's not a baby. It expands. It has claws. Eventually it takes over the entirety of her body. No one must know about it. She has to keep its presence, its possession of her, concealed. She pulls away from her friends. She refuses to speak, in case 'The IT' is heard. But she can't contain it forever. Sooner or later something's got to give... Presented in the style of a direct-address documentary, Vivienne Franzmann's The IT is a darkly comic state-of-the-nation play exploring adolescent mental health and the rage within. Written specifically for young people, the play formed part of the 2021 National Theatre Connections Festivals and was premiered by youth theatres across the UK. It was named Best Play for Young Audiences at the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards 2023. The IT offers opportunities for a large, flexible cast of any size and mix of genders.
£10.99
Nick Hern Books Tuesday: With a Welsh-language translation, Un Bore Mawrth
'I've been waiting for something like this to happen. I'm surprised it's taken so long. The signs have been building up for a while.' An ordinary Tuesday turns really, really weird when the sky over the school playground suddenly rips open. Pupils and teachers are sucked up to a parallel universe, whilst a new set of people start raining down from above. 'Us' and 'Them' must come together to work out what is going on, and how they can get things back to how they were. Alison Carr's play Tuesday is funny and playful, with a little bit of sci-fi and a lot of big themes: friendship, family, identity, grief, responsibility – and what happens when an unexpected event literally turns the world upside-down. Written specifically for young people, the play formed part of the 2020, 2021 and 2023 National Theatre Connections Festivals and was premiered by youth theatres across the UK. It offers opportunities for a large, flexible cast of any size, age and mix of genders. This bilingual edition includes the original English play with a Welsh-language translation, Un Bore Mawrth, by playwright Daf James. Set Text >> Tuesday is a set play on WJEC's GCSE Drama specification. Un Bore Mawrth ''Wi 'di bod yn aros i rywbeth fel hyn ddigwydd. 'Wi'n synnu'i fod e 'di cymryd mor hir. Ma'r arwyddion 'di bod 'ma ers sbel.' Dydd Mawrth digon cyffredin yw hi, ond yn sydyn mae'n troi'n ddiwrnod rhyfedd iawn pan mae'r awyr uwch ben yr ysgol yn rhwygo'n agored. Caiff disgyblion ac athrawon eu sugno i fyny i fydysawd cyfochrog wrth i garfan newydd o bobl arllwys i lawr oddi uchod. Rhaid i 'Ni' a 'Nhw' ddod ynghyd i ddeall beth sy'n digwydd ac i ddatrys sut i gael pethau'n ôl fel yr oedden nhw. Mae'r ddrama wreiddiol hon gan Alison Carr, Tuesday, yn ddoniol ac yn chwareus, gyda phinsiad o ffugwyddoniaeth a thomen o themâu mawr: cyfeillgarwch, teulu, hunaniaeth, galar, cyfrifoldeb – a beth sy'n digwydd pan fydd digwyddiad annisgwyl yn llythrennol yn troi’r byd wyneb i waered. Wedi'i hysgrifennu ar gyfer pobl ifanc, roedd y ddrama'n rhan o Ŵyl National Theatre Connections yn 2020 a 2021, a chafodd ei llwyfannu am y tro cyntaf gan theatrau ieuenctid ar draws y DU. Mae'n cynnig cyfleoedd i gastiau mawr, hyblyg o unrhyw faint, oedran a rhywedd. Mae Tuesday yn waith gosod ar fanyleb TGAU Drama CBAC. Yn y gyfrol ddwyieithog hon, fe welwch y ddrama wreiddiol Saesneg ynghyd â chyfieithiad Cymraeg y dramodydd Daf James, Un Bore Mawrth.
£11.99
Nick Hern Books The Reporter
An enthralling detective story based on the true life story of BBC reporter James Mossman. A brilliant man kills himself mid-career, leaving behind a cryptic suicide note. Based on the remarkable life of the star BBC correspondent James Mossman during his last years, 1963 to 1971, Nicholas Wright's play The Reporter searches for the truth behind his bewildering suicide. What lies beneath the surface? Or is the surface ultimately all there is? The Reporter was first staged at the National Theatre, London, in 2007.
£18.19
Nick Hern Books All's Well That Ends Well
The Shakespeare Folios series - offering the absolute authenticity of the First Folio in a totally accessible form. 'A quite wonderful idea... So blindingly obvious, I can't understand why nobody had thought of it before. I will certainly use the texts myself' - Peter Hall This edition accurately reproduces the text of the Shakespeare First Folio (1623), but in modern type. At a stroke the dust of ages is blown away and what Shakespeare actually intended is revealed to modern readers. Now Shakespeareans everywhere - students, actors, directors - can see for themselves what the Folio really says. As a further aid to understanding, on each opposing page the same text appears in a fully modernised version - a useful safety net whenever the Folio becomes problematic. Each volume also contains: - an introduction to the particular play - textual notes - an appendix giving variant versions from the Quarto where appropriate - a facsimile page from the First Folio
£25.87
Nick Hern Books The People Next Door
A black comedy about the post-9/11 world and what happens when someone else's global problem becomes your local one. If 9/11 changed everybody's life forever, somebody forgot to tell Nigel. With his Xbox, his TV and his spliff, Nigel's life seems as sweet as ever. Maverick cop Phil, however, has a covert mission to put Nigel back in touch with his estranged brother Karim, a suspected terrorist on the run. Henry Adams' play The People Next Door was first staged at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, during the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it won a Fringe First Award. It transferred to the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, in September 2003.
£18.07
Nick Hern Books Never So Good
A fascinating portrait of Harold Macmillan in an epic play about the decline of British fortunes in the middle of the twentieth century. Set against a back-drop of fading Empire, war, the Suez crisis, vintage champagne, adultery and vicious Tory politics at the Ritz, Never So Good paints the portrait of a brilliant, witty but complex man, at times comically and, in the end, tragically out of kilter with his times. Harold Macmillan, the Eton-educated idealist who rushed, with Homer's Iliad under his arm, to do his duty in the Grenadier Guards, is tormented by the harsh experiences of war and an unhappy marriage. His career in the 1930s is blocked by his loyalty to Winston Churchill, and he nearly loses his life in the Second World War. When at last he becomes Prime Minister he is brought down by the Profumo scandal. Howard Brenton's Never So Good was first performed in the Lyttelton auditorium of the National Theatre in March 2008, directed by Howard Davies and starring Jeremy Irons as Macmillan.
£17.73
Nick Hern Books Wonder Boy
'What use is a boy who can't say his own name?' Sonny is twelve. Living with a stammer, he is finding his way in a world ruled by vicious vowels, confusing consonants, and the biggest beast of all – small talk. His only escape is with a comic-book hero of his own creation, who helps Sonny soar above his reality. But when he's cast by the headteacher in the school production of Hamlet, he soon discovers that language is power – and the real heroes are closer than he thinks. Wonder Boy, Ross Willis's play about the power of finding your own voice, premiered at Bristol Old Vic in March 2022, directed by Sally Cookson. It was named Best Play at the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards 2023.
£21.48
Nick Hern Books The Fall NHB Modern Plays
£20.46