Another Romeo and another Juliet in a strikingly different love story. . .Ben Power weaves the text of Romeo and Juliet into a provocative new tale of love and sacrifice. Re-imagining Shakespeare's story, A Tender Thing is an elegiac yet ultimately hopeful account of the human capacity for love. Shakespeare's timeless poetry provides the backdrop for this delicate and moving account of old age, memory and the demands we make of those we love. When a married couple discover that their lifetime together is drawing to a close, they realise they cannot contemplate being apart.

Nicholas Wright's play about the controversial psychoanalyst Melanie Klein is a haunting and poignant study of mother-daughter relationships. In 1934 the son of Melanie Klein, Britain's most admired psychoanalyst, was reported killed in a climbing accident. There were no witnesses. Nicholas Wright's play shows the effect of this shattering and unexpected death on Mrs Klein, on her daughter and on her new assistant Paula, a young refugee from Hitler's Berlin. Melanie Klein had herself come to Britain from Berlin with a controversial mission to extend psychoanalysis to infants. But her analysis of her own children has damaged her relationship with them almost beyond repair, and the news of her son's death provokes a bitter confrontation with her daughter.

To protect the country from the horrors prophesied, Segismundo is condemned for all eternity. Banished to a secret world high in the mountains and cut off from the sun, he can only dream of a life reversed: of palaces, empires, freedom and revenge. Helen Edmundson's new version of Calderon's richly poetic, epic masterpiece explores illusion, reality, fate and destiny against the backdrop of a mythical kingdom.

A luminous journey exploring the life of Dijana Polancec: professional romantic, eternal optimist and accidental prostitute. '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.'

Sometimes you can be too careful. Sometimes you just want to say something quickly, without reserve without self-censorship, without shame. Sometimes the way some thing is said is more revealing than what is being said. There's a danger in that. It's the tyranny of form over content. But there's a kind of wonderful freedom in constraint. It can lead to an unwitting truth.

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.

A darkly comic and freewheeling epic that gets to the heart of small-town politics and what it means to please all of the people all of the time. A provincial town is in search of a hero. A shell-shocked soldier downs vodka on his return from the frontline in Chechnya. As Ilya arrives home he stumbles into the epicentre of an extraordinary power struggle that threatens to tear the town apart.

2nd May 1997. An historic victory. The Tories, 18 years in power, are defeated as New Labour sweeps into government. From the euphoria and despair, three deeply personal stories emerge. Tory MP Robert prepares to attend the count. With defeat looming large, he fears becoming a forgotten man while his wife Marie counts the cost of her own sacrifice to politics. Lib Dem footsoldier Ian is no hero but party-crasher Sarah is determined to make him one. Best mates Jake and Will wake up to a new world order and try to memorise the cabinet before their politics A Level class. Jake dreams of Number 10. Will dreams of Jake.

shrugs off all those fanged Hammer spoofs and restores the real tragedy

On Mary Shelley

Dornoch, northern Scotland, 1727. In the claustrophobic heat of summer, a woman's apparent ability to manipulate the power of land and sea stirs suspicion. Janet Horne can cure beasts, call the wind and charm fish out of the sea. Or can she? As her refusal to refute their claims of sorcery incenses the local community, her magnetic allure continues to captivate and destroy. The Last Witch is based on the historical account of Janet Horne, the last woman to be executed for witchcraft in Scotland. She was sentenced to death by burning in her home town, accused by friends and neighbours who believed she had made a pact with the devil. Rona Munro is one of Scotland's leading playwrights and The Last Witch has been specially commissioned by the Festival. Munro explores the psychological rifts that can divide close communities and drive families apart, and vividly illustrates the destructive potential of fear in a small village.

John Abbott, author of The Improvisation Book, explains how theatre directors at every level can use improvisation in the rehearsal room. Foreword by Mark Rylance. 'Improvisation can be used as part of the creative process of rehearsing a play. It can be a fabulous tool for exploration and discovery. It can strengthen the actor's commitment to their character. And it can create an environment of confidence and spontaneity.' Packed with useful exercises and improvisation scenarios, and examples from a wide variety of plays, Improvisation in Rehearsal reveals how improvisation enriches and enlivens the creation of characters, back-stories, relationships, shared histories and emotional lives. The book also demonstrates how improvisation can be used as a powerful tool in the foundation of a strong company, and when searching for the hidden depths and dynamics in a scene. Building on his own experience as an actor, director and teacher, Abbott writes with clarity and an infectious enthusiasm which will motivate directors to try the techniques for themselves. As Mark Rylance says in his Foreword, this book 'will inspire and delight its readers'.

"My dad said he jumped buses. Horseboxes. Jumped an aqueduct once. He was gonna jump Stonehenge but the council put a stop to it." On St George's Day, the morning of the local county fair, Johnny Byron, local waster and modern day Pied Piper, is a wanted man. The council officials want to serve him an eviction notice, his children want their dad to take them to the fair, Troy Whitworth wants to give him a serious kicking and a motley crew of mates want his ample supply of drugs and alcohol. A comic, contemporary vision of life in our green and pleasant land

'Mum, I had a dream last night where I threw you down the stairs. It's not right.' For Hildy, political activism comes easier that dealing with the disorder of her family life: Her druggie son; her philandering husband; her father, misbehaving in a hugely expensive retirement home. And then there's her mother - a charismatic 60s pop star, who clings to her former beauty (and a bottle of vodka), and who sets up camp in Hildy's spare room to belittle her from close range. By day, Hildy leads the City's cleaners in revolt against the bankers. But by night, she dreams unsettling acts of violence.

A collection of endearing characters, hitting adulthood in The Naughties, offer deliciously cynical yet touching snippets of life that question what it is to be 'normal' in a generation where everything has become acceptable. In a decade when the shock factor is hard to come by and the media is scrabbling around in the dirt to find the not-yet-exploited, Eight's characters come from the fringes of a society that has been invaded by normal. From life-partners hanging by Hermès scarves to finding friendship in morgues, Eight looks at the refugees created by the dissolution of social, sexual and national boundaries, resulting in hard-hitting drama that has dared to confront the toughest of topical issues

Deep in the Polynesian islands of the Pacific Ocean, hungry spirits circle the homes of writer Robert Louis Stevenson and artist Paul Gauguin. The path to Stevenson's grave, his 'Road to Paradise', is complete; he can pass on anytime he likes. But, having spent thirty years in rigorous combat with the grim reaper, is he finally ready to concede defeat? His islander maid, Java is terrified his spirit will get waylaid on its journey back to Edinburgh and stay to devour her soul. Gauguin too, is ready - he has bought rum, arsenic and morphine for his suicide cocktail and is certain he's not long for this world. It seemed easy enough to avoid being arrested by the gendarme, but he'll be damned if they give him a Catholic burial in consecrated ground. Set in the strange and supernatural surroundings of Samoa and Tahiti, Death of Long Pig explores the duality of experience from the perspectives of two great artists as they usher death into their island homes. As the final hour approaches, they face the eternal question: is it how we prepare for death that really governs the way we live?

Shakespeare Monologues for Men contains 50 monologues drawn from across the Shakespeare canon. Each speech is prefaced with an easy-to-use guide to Who is speaking, Where, When and To Whom, What has just happened in the play and What are the character's objectives. In fact, everything the actor needs to know before embarking on the audition!

Shakespeare Monologues for Men contains 50 monologues drawn from across the Shakespeare canon. Each speech is prefaced with an easy-to-use guide to Who is speaking, Where, When and To Whom, What has just happened in the play and What are the character's objectives. In fact, everything the actor needs to know before embarking on the audition!

Albrecht von Wallenstein, Duke of Friedland, Supreme Commander of the Habsburg armies, champion and saviour of the Holy Roman Empire, stands undefeated in a seemingly endless war of religion. A victim of his own military success, Wallenstein believes he is the only commander who can bring peace to the Empire. In the field, Wallenstein inspires fanatical loyalty in his troops. At court, politicians, jealous of his victories, howl for his dismissal and plot against his life. Four wintry days of terrible events, conspiracy, divided loyalty and betrayal culminate in one night of violent score settling. Wallenstein's struggle is played out on a vast European stage, but the heart of the tragedy is private and domestic: wives, children, lovers and friends must bear the heaviest burden of suffering. Schiller's skill in balancing the epic with the human make him arguably Europe's greatest playwright.

Cats like to tease mice. In other words, I'm saying, it's not something that happens by accident when they're pursuing some other more respectable purpose. No. They like to do it. The scientist who tinkered with the universe tells us of his many loves. As his self-obsession literally consumes him, we listen to tales of food, sex and man's true best friend. An extreme, disturbing, and funny vision of the embattled relationship between man and beast.

part of The Contingency Plan a double bill of plays (Resilience and On the Beach) from the frontline of climate change. They both stand alone and are complementary. Together, they present an epic portrait of an England of the near future, in which huge flooding has destroyed Bristol and threatens to sink the east coast.

Distinguished playwright David Edgar examines the mechanisms and techniques which dramatists throughout the ages have employed to structure their plays and to express their meaning. Written for playwrights and playgoers alike, Edgar's analysis starts with the building blocks of whole plays - plot, character creation, genre and structure - and moves on to scenes and devices. He shows how plays share a common architecture without which the uniqueness of their authors' vision would be invisible. What does King Lear have in common with Cinderella? What does Jaws owe to Ibsen? From Aeschylus to Alan Ayckbourn, from Chekhov to Caryl Churchill, are there common principles by which all plays work? How Plays Work is a masterclass for playwrights and playmakers and a fascinating guide to the anatomy of drama.

Jez Butterworth takes on domestic paranoia in his inimitably sly and incisive style in Parlour Song, which explores what happens when two ordinary people discover they hate who they have become. Butterworth reveals a world where all is not what it seems, when a demolitions expert suspects his wife is stealing from him
- press release

Colonel Kotov, decorated hero of the Russian Revolution, is spending an idyllic summer in the country with his beloved young wife and family. But on one glorious sunny morning in 1936, his wife's former lover returns from a long and unexplained absence. Amidst a tangle of sexual jealousy, retribution and remorseless political backstabbing, Kotov feels the full, horrifying reach of Stalin's rule.

Mary. . . uses the mythology that has grown up to surround Mary and her life to draw dramatic and uncomfortable parallels between the sacrifices of Mary in her day and the myriad sexual, political and religious preoccupations which still inform the Scottish psyche

Having inherited her fathers farm, the spirited and feisty young Bathsheba Everdene finds herself playing mistress in a mans world. She is pursued by three would-be lovers: the constant shepherd, Gabriel Oak; the obsessive landowner, William Boldwood; and the reckless Sergeant Troy. But are any of them a match for the headstrong and independent Bathsheba?

Ten-year-old Andy used to live happily at Mulberry Cottage with her family: Mum, Dad, and Radish the rabbit, who lives in Andy's pocket and shares all her secrets. But then it all went wrong: Mum went to live with Bill, and Dad went off with Carrie. And Andy is expected to shuttle between the two - living out of a suitcase - and come to terms with her strange new families.

even Jewish Children is Caryl Churchill's response to the situation in Gaza, as it was when the play was written in January 2009

101 great drama games for use in any classroom or workshop setting. In the NHB Drama Games series. A dip-in, flick-through, quick-fire resource book, packed with 101 lively drama games suitable for players of all ages, with many appropriate for children from age 6 upwards. Whilst aimed primarily at school, youth theatre and community groups, they are equally fun - and instructional - for adults to play in workshop or rehearsal settings.

The Convict's Opera follows Gay's pattern in many respects, not least the score which lifts popular tunes ranging from the original 18th century ballad "Over the hills and far away" (sung by Olivier in the film version) to strains of Leonard Cohen, Neil Young and the Gypsy Punks. A fine tradition which is a distinct improvement on the tuneless number of so many so-called "original" musicals.

The 1958 Philip is in love with Oliver, but married to Sylvia. The 2008 Oliver is addicted to sex with strangers. Sylvia loves them both.

One of the most bracing and critically acclaimed plays in recent Broadway history, this is a portrait of the dysfunctional American family at its finest and absolute worst. When the patriarch of the Weston clan disappears one hot summer night, the family reunites at the Oklahoma homestead, where long-held secrets are unflinchingly and uproariously revealed. The three-act, three-and-a-half-hour mammoth of a play combines epic tragedy with black comedy, dramatizing three generations of unfulfilled dreams and leaving not one of its thirteen characters unscathed. After its sold-out Chicago premiere, the play has electrified audiences in New York since its opening in November 2007

Set in rural Ireland of the early 1960s, Lay Me Down Softly introduces the colourful if seedy burlesque that is Delaneys Travelling Roadshow  and in particular its boxing hall, where prizefighter Dean takes on all comers on a nightly basis. That is, until a challenge from a professional fighter upsets the apple-cart. . .

A seemingly normal detention in a seemingly normal modern day comprehensive. The valiant teacher battles on with biology revision. She believes only education will set her pupils free. For outside the world is in the middle of a long and bloody war. Despite all her best efforts, all too soon the tide of conflict is lapping at the school gates and one by one pupils and teacher are pulled under, as their hopes and dreams float away from them. But as she has taught them in her biology lesson, like the cockroach, the fittest will survive. She is no longer sure however if tenderness and humanity stand a chance?

A muscular version of Sophocles' timeless masterpiece, offering a profound reflection on the nature of power, democracy and human rights. The war has ended, but with peace comes conflict. Antigone's brother Polyneices lies on the battlefield where he fell, his burial outlawed by Creon, the new king of Thebes. Should Antigone obey Creon, or must she follow her conscience and lay her beloved brother to rest?

The play is an original story of three young men all set for a night out in Bromley when the demon of violence causes them to pursue very different agendas. Derek Nicholls said, "Overspill impressed the judges because of its energy, and the originality of its storytelling. The tale it tells of three young men and their relationship to their home town is both very funny, and poignantly thoughtful, with a surprising dramatic twist at its climax.",