Search results for ""nick hern books""

An exhilarating and unsentimental exploration of working-class life in Belfast. Development. Hotels, spas, Nando's, boutiques. Belfast is changing, but for some people, progress means new barriers. A group of construction workers is building an extension to the Peace Wall that separates Them-ens from Us-ens. When Polish worker Yuri's daughter starts having serious problems with her boyfriend, they rally round in support. But good intentions can easily go too far… Stacey Gregg's play Shibboleth premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, as part of the 2015 Dublin Theatre Festival. This edition includes an Afterword by the author.

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An unflinching and constantly surprising drama about how we make sense of who we are through our often fraught relations with others. Winner of the Best Play Award at the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards. Shane, sixteen and scared shitless, has fled small-town Australia for downtown Sydney. Adrift among the lonely hearts and heady thrills of Darlinghurst Road, Shane attempts to navigate the troubled waters of his past toward a brighter future. Tommy Murphy's Strangers in Between was first performed by Griffin Theatre Company in Sydney in 2005, and received its UK premiere at the King's Head Theatre, London, in 2016, directed by Adam Spreadbury-Maher.

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A chillingly funny play that freeze-frames a generation negotiating intimacy and independence in the twenty-first century. Meeting the demands of twenty-first-century life is as impossible as herding cats for Justine, Michael and Saddo. Justine has an infuriating new boss; Michael chats to strangers for a living; Saddo is one of them. All three are living a comic fiction in an attempt to avoid the facts. And now Christmas is coming... ready or not. Lucinda Coxon's play Herding Cats was first staged at the Ustinov Theatre, Bath, in 2010.

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A punchy and provocative new play by the Bruntwood Prize-winning author of Yen. Georgie is thirty with dirty secrets. She drinks in her bedroom and hides from the sun. Leah is fifteen with teenage dreams. She practices her cum face and Veets. A lot. All-meat, all-sex, all-vulnerable, all-powerful. There's a first time for everything... Isn't there? Anna Jordan's play Freak was first produced by Theatre503 and Polly Ingham Productions at Assembly George Square during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2014 and at Theatre503, London, in September 2014.

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Ukraine 1929. As Stalin launches the first of his Five-Year Plans, a closeknit rural community stands unwittingly in the path of his drive to create a thriving socialist Soviet Union. The outcome is catastrophic. What begins for the people of the village as an amusingly alien concept rapidly becomes an unstoppable force for change. Robbed first of their land, then their religion and independence, the whole country soon becomes engulfed by a tragedy that will scar a nation for generations. Natal'ya Vorozhbit's play The Grain Store was first staged in this English translation by Sasha Dugdale by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, in 2009.

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'I know exactly how much I am worth. I am worth one thousand euros because that is how much Babac paid for me. To put this in easy language, that is like two-and-a-half iPhones.' A luminous journey exploring the life of Dijana Polancec: professional romantic, eternal optimist and accidental prostitute. Lucy Kirkwood's it felt empty when the heart went at first but it is alright now is a play about modern-day sex trafficking. It was commissioned by Clean Break and first performed by the company at the Arcola Theatre in London in October 2009. The play was the joint winner of the John Whiting Award in 2010.

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An invaluable guide to the difficult arts of devising plays and directing texts, by one of the UK’s leading theatre directors. Throughout a lifetime of experience – as an actor for Mike Leigh, founder of Hull Truck, Artistic Director of the Bush Theatre, and subsequently as a freelance director – Mike Bradwell has forged a reputation as a theatrical innovator and risk-taker. This book begins by exploring the process of devising a play by working intensively through character and improvisation with a group of actors. Using A Bed of Roses as an example, a play that he himself devised, Bradwell shows how the actors set about inventing their characters, whether within a pre-determined framework or with no strictures whatsoever. He explores how actors can then ‘grow’ their character, both through solo work and through interaction with the other characters. He also examines the role of the director in moulding and shaping the individual scenes, the overall action of the play, and the development of the characters within it. The second half of the book describes in detail how the nuanced work involved in devising characters from scratch can be applied to a pre-existing text. Bradwell explains the techniques by which he encourages the actor to take possession of his or her character by investigating or inventing their whole history up to the moment the action begins. Taking as his template Jack Thorne’s play When You Cure Me, which Bradwell directed at the Bush, he demonstrates the meticulous work on the text that is needed to keep the characters alive and truthful in every moment of the action. All together, Inventing the Truth offers practitioners a unique account of the techniques involved in devising or directing plays to the highest standard. Mike Bradwell’s previous book The Reluctant Escapologist won the Theatre Book Prize in 2011. ‘There is a special sense of care about a Mike Bradwell production, in dramas that penetrate deeply into the secret corners of the human heart’ Daily Telegraph Also included in the book, to aid the reader’s understanding of the process, are the full texts of both A Bed of Roses (‘Hilariously funny, extremely moving and physically frightening... a small masterpiece’ Time Out) and Jack Thorne’s When You Cure Me (‘Painstakingly honest... acutely observant of the petty rivalries and jealousies that sickness provokes’ Guardian).

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The funny, heart-warming sequel to the enormously successful Ladies' Day, following the lasses from Hull on their adventures down under. After hitting the jackpot at Ladies' Day in York, the fishfilleting foursome - Pearl, Jan, Shelley and Linda - are celebrating in style with the trip of a lifetime to the land of Oz. While Shelley dreams of luxury and glamour, the rest of the gang decide to go native and camp out under the stars at Uluru. But Shelley soon discovers there's more on offer than posh hotels, stunning beaches and sun-kissed surfers; and Pearl finds that she's got a mountain of her own to climb... Ladies Down Under is the second play in Amanda Whittington's Ladies Trilogy, alongside Ladies' Day (Hull Truck, 2005) and Ladies Unleashed (Hull Truck, 2022), all of them featuring the same four principal characters, Pearl, Jan, Shelley and Linda.

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An acclaimed dramatisation of Dickens' well-loved Christmas story - more faithful to the original than any other published version, and making skilful use of traditional carols to underscore the action. Karen Louise Hebden's stage adaptation of A Christmas Carol was first staged at Derby Playhouse in 2003, directed by Stephen Edwards with Ben Roberts as Scrooge, breaking box office records with 98% paid attendance. Hebden's version was staged at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, in December 2005, and was revived at Derby Playhouse in 2006. It has subsequently enjoyed over fifty amateur productions nationally as well as being the inaugural Christmas production at The Rose, Kingston, in December 2008.

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A gripping and darkly humorous play about the camaraderie of a trio of obsessive mountaineers. Grizzly, Dog and Gnome live to climb mountains. They're good at it. They're not looking for death. They love what they do and they do it to the limit. But they're climbing up to places where death is only one mistake away. Suffused with black humour, Rona Munro's play Long Time Dead is an expedition into ghosts frozen in time, immediate bonds of camaraderie and horizons yet to be discovered. Long Time Dead was first performed by Paines Plough at The Drum, Theatre Royal Plymouth, in October 2006. The production was revived at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, in August 2007 as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

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The award-winning play that follows one man's desperate attempts to buck the system, and asks what really makes us who we are in the 21st century. When a young executive reaches breaking point and decides to disappear, he pays a visit to a master of the craft in the form of a seafront fortune teller in Southend. Haunted by visitations from a pathologist who swears he is already lying flat out on her slab, he begins a nightmarish journey to the edge of existence that sees him stripped of everything that made him who he was. Fin Kennedy's play How To Disappear Completely and Never Be Found won the 2005 Arts Council’s John Whiting Award and was subsequently staged at the Crucible Studio, Sheffield, in March 2007.

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A spiky play about the clash between suburban and itinerant ways of life in present-day Liverpool. Bobby, Paul and Ange. Three people, four walls: the basic recipe for family life. Down the road in Curzon Park there are no walls, just wheels, and a fierce sense of belonging that has nothing to do with place. Two ways of life: yards apart and yet worlds apart. But when Bobby starts skipping school to hang out with Danny, their friendship forces both families to look beyond the walls that divide them. Chloë Moss's play The Way Home was first performed at the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, in October 2006.

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You're young, free and single and haven't had sex for the last eleven and a half months, then one morning you wake up pregnant, and here is the Angel Gabriel on your doorstep claiming parentage. In Oliver Lansley's "Immaculate", things quickly spiral into farcical confusion with no fewer than three more potential fathers claiming parentage, one of them an ex-boyfriend, one of them a nerdish contemporary from school that you wouldn't want to be seen dead with, and the third being Satan himself. "Immaculate" was first seen at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival, and is now embarking on an extensive tour including two dates in London.

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A revered modern classic about life in the closing days of World War II. Set in 1945 during the days between victory in Europe and victory in Japan, Touched follows the fortunes of a group of women in a working-class suburb of Nottingham. Stephen Lowe's play was first staged at Nottingham Playhouse in 1977 in a production directed by Richard Eyre. It transferred to the Royal Court, London, in 1981 in a new production by William Gaskill.

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Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price John Gay's bawdy and burlesque pastiche of classical Italian opera, often regarded as the world's first ever musical. Peachum the thief-catcher is horrified when he discovers his beloved daughter Polly has married Macheath the highwayman; he and his wife plot Macheath's death in the knowledge that they would be entitled to their daughter's inheritance once he was out of the way. But Lockit the prison warden is also after the highwayman's treasures, and daughter Lucy his crown jewels... The Beggar's Opera was premiered at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, London, in January 1728. This edition of The Beggar's Opera is edited and introduced by Colin Counsell

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A gritty adaptation of Dickens' least sentimental love story with a cast of some of his most unforgettable characters. Whilst at his parents' graveside, Pip is accosted by Magwitch, a convict escaped from one of the prison ships. Terrified, he is forced to help the man to get away. An unexpected invitation to the house of rich old Miss Havisham forces him into the path of her beautiful, cruel niece Estella and their strange, ruthless games. After an anonymous benefactor grants him a small fortune, Pip turns his back on his humble life as a blacksmith's apprentice – he moves to London to become a gentleman in the hopes of winning Estella. But he has no idea of the dangers that await him there, or from where his salvation will come. This adaptation of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, by Nick Ormerod and Declan Donnellan, was first performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, in 2005.

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A heartbreaking tale of orphans, angels, murder and music - dramatised from the Whitbread Award-winning novel set in 18th-century England. In 18th-century Gloucestershire, the evil Otis Gardner preys on unmarried mothers, promising to take their babies (and their money) to Thomas Coram's hospital for foundling children. Instead, he buries the babies and pockets the loot. But Otis's downfall is set in train when his half-witted son Meshak falls in love with a young girl, Melissa, and rescues the unwanted son she has had with a disgraced aristocrat. The child is brought up in Coram's hospital, and proves to have inherited the startling musical gifts of his father - gifts that ultimately bring about his father's redemption and a heartbreaking family reunion. Helen Edmundson's adaptation of Jamila Gavin's award-winning novel, Coram Boy, was first performed at the National Theatre, London, in 2005. It won the Time Out Live Award for Best Play. 'A rich and almost Gothic drama' - Philip Pullman

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A hard-hitting play about the collapse of idealism in contemporary politics. The founder members of a radical think-tank meet to toast their success – fifteen years of second-guessing the next big idea; fifteen years of shaping politics on the left; fifteen years of thinking the unthinkable. But there's a spectre at the feast, and a scandal is about to break that will ruin more than just the party. Steve Waters' play The Unthinkable was first staged at the Crucible Studio, Sheffield, in 2004.

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A hands-on, step-by-step guide to directing plays – by one of Britain's leading theatre directors. Stephen Unwin has worked with hundreds of different actors in a multiplicity of different venues. He is the ideal author of a 'how to' guide to directing. As Unwin himself says: 'Directing plays is difficult. The aim of this book is to lay out what skills are needed, and to give some sense of how you might develop them. The emphasis is on the professional theatre, but the book is useful for directors in other contexts - amateur dramatics, university drama, school plays and so on. Directing is directing, wherever you do it.' Starting at the very beginning, Unwin takes us step by step through: * Choosing the play * Casting * Design * Rehearsal - Establishing Facts, Improvisation, Language, Character, Blocking, Using Specialists and so on * Running the Play * Putting it on the Stage * Opening Night

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A mesmerising and startling play about voyeurism, power and guilt. 'You ever woken up of a morning wondering if this one was gonna be your last – you ever got that feelin in your stomach as you lay there wonderin that? Like butterflies gone ballistic. Like butterflies gone bad.' Listening through their thin walls, Amelia and Jason are drawn into the dark and compelling world of their mutual neighbour Jo. debbie tucker green's play dirty butterfly was first performed at Soho Theatre, London, in February 2003.

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How to write a play and get it produced - a manual for playwrights. Playwright and former literary manager Tim Fountain guides the budding playwright over the many hurdles involved in getting a play on - from finding a story that only you know, through the detailed construction of the play, and on to the strategies you can use to get it on stage. • What kind of play do you want to write? • Where do you get your ideas from? • How much exposition do you need? • Where do you find your characters' voices? • What should you do when you get stuck? • Where should you send your play? The book also deals with the actual production: choosing directors, designers and actors, and coping with rehearsals, previews and press nights. Includes appendixes of vital websites, and contact details for new-writing theatres, agents and publishers. 'A marvellous and invaluable guide... full of wisdom and no-nonsense practical advice on the tricky but thrilling business of making plays' Willy Russell

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An intense psychological drama set in a women's prison, in which a mother and daughter try to break through the barriers of time, memory and punishment which separate them. Josie is seeing her mother Fay for the first time in a while – she's never walked into a prison before, and she's been putting it off for fifteen years. Fay is serving life for murdering her husband with a kitchen knife. Her daughter needs to find out why she can't remember anything that came before that terrible night, why her own mother would kill her father. Uncovering the memories they share is going to be more perilous than either of them can imagine... Rona Munro's play Iron was first performed at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, in July 2002, transfering to the Royal Court Theatre, London, in January 2003. It went on to win the 2003 John Whiting Award.

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A moving portrait of the young Vincent van Gogh - a hit in the West End and on Broadway. Winner of the 2003 Olivier Award for Best New Play. Brixton, 1873. A brash young Dutchman rents a room in the house of an English widow. Three years later he returns to Europe on the first step of a journey which will end in breakdown, death and immortality. Nicholas Wright's play Vincent in Brixton was first performed at the National Theatre, London, in the Cottesloe auditorium, in April 2002, directed by Richard Eyre. The production transferred to Wyndhams Theatre in the West End in August 2002.

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THE GOOD AUDITION GUIDES: Helping you select and perform the audition piece that is best suited to your performing skills In this volume of the Good Audition Guides, you'll find fifty fantastic speeches for men, all written since the year 2000, by some of our most exciting dramatic voices. Playwrights featured in Contemporary Monologues for Men include Howard Brenton, Jez Butterworth, Alexi Kaye Campbell, Caryl Churchill, Ariel Dorfman, Ella Hickson, Lucy Kirkwood, Bruce Norris, Jack Thorne and Enda Walsh, and the plays themselves were premiered at the very best theatres across the UK including the National Theatre, the Donmar Warehouse, the Bush and the Young Vic, Manchester Royal Exchange, Birmingham Rep, the Traverse in Edinburgh, and many on the stages of the Royal Court. Drawing on her experience as an actor, director and teacher at several leading drama schools, Trilby James prefaces each speech with a thorough introduction including the vital information you need to place the piece in context (the who, what, when, where and why) and suggestions about how to perform the scene to its maximum effect (including the character’s objectives and keywords). Contemporary Monologues for Men also features an introduction on the whole process of selecting and preparing your speech, and approaching the audition itself. The result is the most comprehensive and useful contemporary monologue book now available. ‘Sound practical advice for anyone attending an audition… a source of inspiration for teachers and students alike’ Teaching Drama Magazine on The Good Audition Guides

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A comprehensive guide to every aspect of producing a show, from raising the money to creating a hit - now revised and updated. This unique guide – the first ‘how-to’ book of its kind on the subject – offers comprehensive, clear advice to anyone producing or selling a show, whatever the venue or scale. Packed full of insights and tricks of the trade, it will give you the inspiration and confidence you need – whether you are taking your first steps in the profession or simply want to know what it takes to get a show on the stage. Drawing on his own experience as a producer of theatre productions at every level – from university, via the fringe, to the West End – James Seabright takes you through each stage of the process: - Having an idea for a show or getting the rights to an existing one - Planning your budget and raising the money - Booking your venue or a tour - Marketing and selling the show effectively - Getting the production designed, rehearsed and onto the stage From the fundamental (dealing with contracts) to the frivolous (how to organise your first-night party), every aspect is explained with the help of illuminating examples. There is also a wide-ranging appendix and a companion website with downloadable contract templates, marketing packs and budget spreadsheets. ‘Essential reading for anyone contemplating a life in the theatre fast lane.’ Thelma Holt ‘A perfect handbook for beginners and a useful aide-memoire for those of us who’ve been at it for years.’ Nicholas Allott, Managing Director, Cameron Mackintosh Ltd 'At last, hundreds of students on arts management and administration courses have a comprehensive reference book. It proves a unique guide for anyone taking their first steps into the world of productions' Anthony Field, The Stage 'Yes! A good book on producing theatre, written by a successful theatre producer!...valuable insights on everything from the creative issues of coming up with the ideas and casting a show, through to tackling touring costs, insurance, marketing, PR and so forth...valuable information for anyone putting on a production of any scale in any setting.' Total Theatre

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A bold and theatrically inventive adaptation of the literary classic that puts the interior life of the novel on stage. As a child, the orphaned Jane Eyre is taught by a succession of severe guardians to stifle her natural exuberance. A part of herself is locked away, out of view of polite society... until she arrives at Rochester's house as a governess to his young child. Soon Rochester's passionate nature reawakens Jane's hidden self, but darker secrets are stirring in the attic... Polly Teale's adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre was first performed by Shared Experience Theatre Company in 1997.

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A comedy of low-life manners from the man whose "strength is his satirical observation of English tribal customs."--Guardian (UK)

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A road movie for the stage, following two young lads from Motherwell on their trip from dislocation to location. Alex and Brian are a pair of Scottish smalltown boys going nowhere, who get out the only way they know how – doing a runner with a prized surfboard in the only transport available: a worn-out Lada. But the surfboard belongs to Binks, Alex's psychopathic gangster boss, and he's hot on their heels as they head north for Thurso – where the surf is up all year round. Stephen Greenhorn's play Passing Places was premiered at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, in 1997.

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A valuable fresco is discovered in a church in war-torn Eastern Europe. As international and local art historians argue over who should claim ownership, the fate of the painting becomes a metaphor for the future of the emergent nations of Eastern Europe. David Edgar's play Pentecost was first performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company at The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, in October 1994. The production transferred to the Young Vic, London, with performances from 31 May 1995. It went on to win the 1995 Evening Standard Award for Best Play. Pentecost is part of David Edgar's trilogy of plays about post-Communist Eastern Europe, which also includes The Prisoner's Dilemma and The Shape of the Table.

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An extraordinary collision of ancient fairytale and fractured urban England. In a broken world, two girls meet an extraordinary creature. The Skriker is a shapeshifter and death portent. She can be an old woman, a child, a young man. She is a faerie come from the Underworld to pursue and entrap them, through time and space, through this world and her own. Caryl Churchill's play The Skriker was originally produced at the National Theatre, London, in 1994.

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An extensive guide to acting, followed by close to a hundred audition pieces chosen from the whole of world drama. Masterclass is a unique handbook for actors, student actors and teachers. 'Full of such essential truth that it seems at once revelatory and confirmatory. This book will give the actor a massive injection of self-confidence - at the same time propelling them into unknown territory. An affirmation of the actor's strength - instinct. Buy it!' Hugo Weaving

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Two powerful expressionist plays from the early career of one of the twentieth century's most significant writers. The Hairy Ape is a nightmarish condemnation of the dehumanising effects of industrialisation on the American people. Robert 'Yank' Smith, an animalistic stoker, breaks free from his engine-room confines when he is spurned by the glamorous society woman, Mildred Douglas. Looking to find his free self out in the 'real' world, Yank goes on the rampage – but how much will his freedom cost him? And is there really any such thing? First staged at the Playwrights' Theater, New York, in March 1922. All God's Chillun Got Wings is a vigorous social commentary based around a violently dysfunctional mixed-race marriage. Ella is the neurotically jealous white wife of Jim, a driven, charismatic black man. She sabotages his career, effectively destroying him, before her frenzy lapses into remorseless dependency. First performed in 1924 at the Provincetown Playhouse, New York, in a production starring Paul Robeson. This edition includes a full introduction, biographical sketch and chronology.

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A landmark play about sexual politics in colonial Africa and modern-day Britain, in which all our assumptions about sex and gender are stunningly exploded. Set in both colonial Africa and modern-day Britain, Cloud Nine is about relationships – between women and men, men and men, women and women. It is about sex, work, mothers, Africa, power, children, grandmothers, politics, and money. Caryl Churchill's play Cloud Nine was first staged by Joint Stock and premiered in London at the Royal Court Theatre in 1979. It has since been staged all over the world.

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This clear, concise and practical guide provides actors with a structured and effective method for breaking down and understanding a performance script. It offers a flexible approach that works with plays from any period or genre, with television and film scripts, and even when preparing for your audition. Inside, you'll find the tools you need for every step of the process, from making sense of the whole script, to breaking it down scene by scene, through to detailed line-by-line analysis. There are strategies for exploring character arcs, objectives, beat shifts and subtext, as well as practical exercises and sample scenes from leading playwrights to help you put the concepts into action. Also included are worksheets you can use and reuse on all your future projects. Wherever you are in your acting career, this book is your essential working companion – giving you a method for tackling any script, and providing the foundation to take your performances to the next level. 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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When Patrick is eight years old, his absent father returns unexpectedly for a brief but memorable encounter. Years later – recalling that meeting, and the revelations that followed – Patrick traces the events of his father’s life, laying bare a journey of grandiose plans, aching disappointments and audacious self-delusion. Three Kings by Stephen Beresford is a heartbreaking and hilarious play for a solo actor about fathers and sons, the gifts and burdens of inheritance, and the unfathomable puzzle of human relationships. It was written for Andrew Scott to perform as part of Old Vic: In Camera, a series of live performances streamed from the Old Vic Theatre, London, in 2020. This edition includes an introduction by the director Matthew Warchus. ‘A knockout – entertaining, sad and outrageous. [Stephen Beresford] is going to be a major name’ Observer on The Last of the Haussmans

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'One day all you care about is music, fashion and boys. The next day there's no food. Piece by piece your world starts to change so you change with it.' Mostar, Yugoslavia, 1988. Mili, a boy from out of town, dives from the famous Old Bridge. Mina, a local girl, watches. As he falls, she begins falling for him. Mostar, Bosnia, 1992. In a town of growing divisions, Mina and Mili never doubt that their future lies together. But nor can they imagine the dangers that future will bring. Winner of the 2020 Papatango New Writing Prize, Igor Memic's play Old Bridge is an epic love story exploring the impact of a war that Europe forgot, and the love and loss of those who lived through it. It was first produced by Papatango at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2021, directed by Selma Dimitrijevic. Memic went on to win the Most Promising Playwright Award at the 2022 Offies (Off West End Awards), and was also named Most Promising Playwright (jointly with Zadie Smith) at the 2022 Critics' Circle Awards. Old Bridge won the Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre Award at the 2022 Olivier Awards.

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A sometimes comic, sometimes heartbreaking journey into the world of autism. Sandra is looking for love. Gordon is seeking acceptance. Simon just wants these parents to stop talking for two minutes so he can get on with teaching their kids. And Casper? Casper is not here. Jody O'Neill's play What I (Don't) Know About Autism mixes narrative, song, dance and direct address to explore this contentious and often misunderstood subject matter. Inspired by the writer's own experiences with autism, the play celebrates autistic identity whilst offering deeper insight and understanding to non-autistic audiences.

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An outrageous play about imperialism, cross racial adoption, cultural appropriation... and tea. Brighton, 1862. A day in the life of Sarah, an African girl, adopted by Queen Victoria and raised in the Queen's circles. Today is the eve of her having to return to Africa, but will she go The Present. A day in the life of Sarah, a black middle class woman staying in a Cheshire village with her husband and small child. They are paid a visit by well meaning neighbours who have something to confess... The two Sarahs meet Queen Victoria for tea. This won't be your regular tea party... Janice Okoh's play The Gift is premiered on a UK tour by Eclipse Theatre, from January 2020.

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Two plays about contemporary life in Ireland, from award-winning writer John O'Donovan. On the outskirts of Ennis, on a dark and stormy night, three men gather for the anniversary of a childhood friend, killed in a road accident when they were seventeen. Expecting a crowd and tearing into the cans, the three slowly realise they're the only ones coming. As they drink to their uncertain futures – and their receding youth – they're forced to face up to the ghost that has held them together. Flights is a haunting and funny play about bereavement, brotherhood and breaking away from your past. It premiered in 2020 at glór in Ennis before transferring to Dublin and London, directed by Thomas Martin. Sink is a play of two voices for one actor, about memory, catastrophe and sacrifice. Bríd's coming home to convalesce after drying out in rehab. Ciara's headed west too, investigating a potential archaeological site on a parched area of bogland. But as the countryside swelters in a heatwave, the pair find peace elusive. How will Bríd cope in her old haunts? How will Ciara confront a past she thought forgotten? And will they unearth the hidden truth that binds them together? Sink premiered at the Dublin Fringe Festival in 2019, directed by Thomas Martin.

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Here is a father who loves his daughter. You can tell from the way he held her when she was born after a difficult delivery; you can tell from the way he dances with her to her favourite songs; you can tell from the way he will do anything to protect her. He's not going to apologise for every other little thing he's ever done. Who knows, you might have done them too… Told with unsettling charm, Daughter is a darkly satirical monologue about fatherhood, love and toxic masculinity, by Canadian playwright and performer Adam Lazarus. Daughter received its UK premiere at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2018, where it became one of the most talked about shows at the festival, before transferring to Battersea Arts Centre, London, in 2020. This edition contains the complete text of the play alongside an introduction by the author and essays about the impact of the play and the issues it raises.

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One life in the hands of 12 women. Rural Suffolk, 1759. As the country waits for Halley's comet, Sally Poppy is sentenced to hang for a heinous murder. When she claims to be pregnant, a jury of 12 matrons are taken from their housework to decide whether she's telling the truth, or simply trying to escape the noose. With only midwife Lizzy Luke prepared to defend the girl, and a mob baying for blood outside, the matrons wrestle with their new authority, and the devil in their midst. The Welkin premiered at the National Theatre, London, in 2020, directed by James Macdonald and featuring Maxine Peake and Ria Zmitrowicz. Lucy Kirkwood's other plays include Mosquitoes, The Children, Chimerica (winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Play, the Evening Standard Best Play Award, the Critics' Circle Best New Play Award, and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize), NSFW and it felt empty when the heart went at first but it is alright now.

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‘There are no miracles in this world. Only those we make for ourselves.’ It's 8 a.m. and a revolt is underway. The father is dying. The son is spying. The wife is cheating. The uncle is stealing. The mother is scheming. The dynasty is crumbling. One house. One fortune. One victor. Maxim Gorky's savagely funny play Vassa Zheleznova was first published in 1910. Mike Bartlett's adaptation, Vassa, premiered at the Almeida Theatre, London, in October 2019.

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Kefalonia, 1941. Captain Corelli, an enigmatic young Italian officer, is posted to the idyllic Greek island as part of the Axis occupying forces. Shunned by the locals at first, he proves to be civilised, humorous – and a consummate musician. The captain is soon thrown together with Dr Iannis's strong-willed and beautiful daughter, Pelagia, who discovers all of the complexities of love, and how it can blossom in the most unexpected and profound way. Rona Munro's adaptation of Louis de Bernières' much-loved epic novel, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, premiered on tour of the UK in 2019, before transferring to London's West End.

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'We ain't killers' 'How you figure that?… Iss in the blood.' When a letter arrives from the mother they thought was dead, twenty-one-year-old twins Racine and Anaia travel from the Dirty South to the California desert, to a yellow house with teal shutters. They're on a mission to avenge her past, and they're ready to take down anyone who stands in their way. A revenge tale about two women seeking justice and taking control of their own narratives, Is God Is collides the ancient and the modern, the tragic and the Spaghetti Western, hip-hop and Afropunk. Aleshea Harris's play had its world premiere at Soho Rep., New York, in February 2018, winning the Relentless Award, and the Obie Award for Playwriting. It received its British premiere in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in September 2021, directed by Ola Ince.

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‘We stand on the edge On the threshold of On the entrance to Stepping out from On the cusp…’ Set in and around a swimming pool, Chris Bush's play The Changing Room follows a group of teenagers full of excitement, impatience and uncertainty. They know change is coming, but not what it'll look like. Written specifically for young people, The Changing Room was part of the 2018 National Theatre Connections Festival and was premiered by youth theatres across the UK. It offers opportunities for a large, flexible cast of any size or mix of genders, and incorporates chorus work and music. No swimming pool required. This edition of The Changing Room includes the words and music to Chris Bush's original songs, arranged by Matt Winkworth.

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‘So I thought, since we can’t do Europe this summer, why don’t the kids and I just do a little Southern History road trip? We’re going to drive back home through Mississippi, Louisiana – all those places – experience some of Daddy’s heritage.’ The Lafayette family gather at their late father's home in Arkansas to bury the hatchet and prepare the former plantation for its Estate Sale. Until, that is, they make a discovery which changes everything. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' Appropriate is a gripping play about ghosts and the legacies we are left with, and a wickedly subversive appropriation of the great American family drama. Appropriate premiered Off-Broadway in 2014, and won the Obie Award for Best New American Play. It had its UK premiere at the Donmar Warehouse, London, in August 2019, directed by Ola Ince and featuring Monica Dolan. This edition also features his short play I Promise Never Again to Write Plays About Asians...

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‘It wasn’t just her freakish ability with language. She saw through to behind the words. It was like she had a direct line to – I was going to say to “the gods”…’ About to be fired from her cleaning job for stealing a volume of Euripides, Jude turns her employer's outrage to shock by translating the ancient Greek on the spot. The employer, a Classics teacher, knows great talent when she sees it and the encounter kick-starts Jude's lifelong ambition to study at Oxford University. Possessing an astonishing gift for languages, Jude will stop at nothing to achieve her dream – but she remains oblivious to the hidden barriers that her background has placed in her path… Loosely inspired by Thomas Hardy's novel Jude the Obscure, Howard Brenton's play Jude is a modern-day tale of unexpected genius and of our struggle to accommodate extraordinary talent. The play premiered at Hampstead Theatre, London, in 2019, directed by Edward Hall.

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