The Playwrights Database
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Best Years Of Your Life, The
Synopsis:
the Best Years of Your Life is an anthology of blistering new plays charting some of the most turbulent and vital birthdays of our lives: from sweet 16 to 25, from adolescence to adulthood.
Notes:
part of Internationally Acclaimed new writing company nabokov returns to HighTide Festival with 5 Birthdays from this pioneering project
1st Produced:
Organisations:
nabokov
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
short play
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Captain Of the School Football Team, The
Synopsis:
Its rollicking verse style evokes memories of happy-go-lucky schooldays in a manner reminiscent of Willy Russell's Blood Brothers, before tearing off the rose-tinted spectacles with a horrifically unsettling act of onstage violence. By building up the comfortable hierarchies and harmless rebellions of school life, only to shoot them down, the play delivers a lesson about the unplumbed darkness present even in people or situations we thought safe and familiar.
- Matt Boothman , British theatre Guide
Notes:
part of Word:Play 2
1st Produced:
Organisations:
Box of Tricks
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
15 min play
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Meditation On Reality And Fiction, A
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
Written as Kenneth Empson. Part of "Miniaturists 41"
1st Produced:
Arcola Theatre, London
09 Jun 2013
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Short play
Parts:
Male: - Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Other People's Gardens
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
Part of Miniaturists 31 - Bringing you more of the best short plays by some of the most exciting playwrights in the UK today. Music Design And Pianist An-Ting Chang
1st Produced:
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
short play
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Parkway Dreams
Synopsis:
Parkway Dreams explores the facts behind the Peterborough Development Corporation and its role in shaping a modern city. Using the voices of those who worked for the PDC back in the 1970s and 1980s, playwright Kenneth emson charts the backroom story of the architects and politicians who transformed the old Fenland city into Peterborough New Town, describes how ancient villages morphed into modern townships and discovers how a comical Roman Centurion came to front the city's media campaign, all through the eyes of a London overspill family'.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Peterborough: Key Theatre Studio
18 Apr 2013
Organisations:
Eastern Angles
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
musical documentary play
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Plastic
Ben used to get beaten up most days at school. He stole money from his mother to pay a bully. Kev used to go out with the best looking girl at school. He was captain of the school football team and scored the winning goal at the All Essex Schools Cup Final
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
-
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Nick Hern Books 2018
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Drama
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Random Act Of Violence And Misadventure
Synopsis:
there are messages on the money you spend, the coloured pattern of cars that drive past you in the street. and the red light's on. the red light's always on, so a killer is on the loose.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Organisations:
Lost Theatre Company
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Rural
Synopsis:
Set in a dystopian near-future, Kenny emson's sociopolitical fantasy takes place following the great 'divide' between town and countryside. the cities are on fire, so Robert and Jim, 'two townie scumbags', head for the coast. they hope to take the feny and escape to a land where city and village folk are not at war. But then they encounter annie, the daughter of a wealthy landowner, and events take a nasty - or, rather, even nastier - turn. Post-911 1, apocalypse is so now (there's a reference here to 'people jumping' fiom the towers). emson sketches in a world of militia-run villages and call centre-dominated towns; his central characters are 'ghosts' who are forced to inhabit other people's lives - Jim is forever on the phone making fictitious inquiries about burial costs. then there's a sinister corporation called Dexter, which is apparently a front for the Countryside alliance .
Robert Shore, Time Out London
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Organisations:
Box of Tricks
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Play
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Rust
Nadia and Daniel have had enough of the drudgery of married - the school run, the bills and TV takeaways. They have gone away taken a studio flat under false names and are making a fresh start
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
-
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Nick Hern Books 2019
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Drama
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Shove
Synopsis:
and I started to feel like I was about to fall. Like I was about to come crashing to the floor and this feeling took me over. the story of how we fell.
Notes:
part of London Tales - Three London monologues
1st Produced:
Organisations:
Box of Tricks
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
short monologue
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Soyuz 40
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
Part of Miniaturists 28 - Bringing you more of the best short plays by some of the most exciting playwrights in the UK today
1st Produced:
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
short play
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Stiff Acrylic
Synopsis:
the 1970s porn flick' Debbie Does Dallas' was one of the highest grossing adult movies of all time: 'Bigger than Disney,' says one of the cast of low-life high-hopers, industry villains and victims, and frat-boy internet-addicts who unzip their innermost thoughts (and their pants) in Kenneth emson's new Drama. 'Debbie' herself, (the mysteriously disappeared 'actress' Bambi Woods) is the link between the characters: one plot-line introduces Barbara, a two-bit strip-joint dancer who may be the ageing Bambi; another offers docuDrama-style vignettes from her ex-colleagues recollecting their (them) shooting days. the third brings in slacker comedy, with pals Brett and Eric taking a 1,000-mile road trip so Eric can find Holly, the trailer-trash girlfriend that he's lost his virtual cherry to on the internet and Brett can fmd Bambi's grave.
- Caroline McGinn, Time Out London
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Organisations:
Fortress Productions
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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These Small Tragedies
Synopsis:
A writer's response to Owen Jones' Chavs: The Demonization of The Working Class [In modern Britain, the working class has become an object of fear and ridicule. From Little Britain's Vicky Pollard to the demonization of Jade Goody, media and politicians alike dismiss as feckless, criminalized and ignorant a vast, underprivileged swathe of society whose members have become stereotyped by one, hate-filled word: chavs. In this acclaimed investigation, Owen Jones explores how the working class has gone from 'salt of the earth' to 'scum of the earth.' Exposing the ignorance and prejudice at the heart of the chav caricature, he portrays a far more complex reality. The chav stereotype, he argues, is used by governments as a convenient figleaf to avoid genuine engagement with social and economic problems and to justify widening inequality. Based on a wealth of original research, Chavs is a damning indictment of the media and political establishment and an illuminating, disturbing portrait of inequality and class hatred in modern Britain. This updated edition includes a new chapter exploring the causes and consequences of the UK riots in the summer of 2010.]. Six of the UK's most talented, bold young playwrights respond to the issues raised in Owen Jones' influential study of class stigma within modern Britain. These short plays debate the connotations of this stereotype, the current state of our nation and perhaps more significantly how we got here. With last summer's riots and the proposed new welfare reforms, there has never been a more pertinent time to discuss these issues.
Notes:
part of Chavs - Last Man on The Heygate/Schnapps/Somewhere between a News Clipping and the Gossip Pages/An Education/The Royal Borough
1st Produced:
Organisations:
Waifs + Strays
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
short play
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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This Must Be The Place
Two friends try to make it in the big city
Notes:
Written as Kenneth Emson. Written with Brad Birch
1st Produced:
Latitude Festival
Jul 2016
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Nick Hern Books 2017
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Drama
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Tomorrow/Seppuku
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
Part of Miniaturists 25 - Bringing you more of the best short plays by some of the most exciting playwrights in the UK today
1st Produced:
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
short play
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Whispering Happiness
Synopsis:
Two teenagers sit in a desolate playground as the city tears itself apart. an old tramp waits in an empty church, while the gangs stalk the streets for their next fix. Into this wasteland of crumbling tower blocks, a shadowy figure appears, promising happiness. But at what price? a political play of personal journeys, Whispering Happiness is a lyrical and provocative urban fairytale that explores the choices we face when society is in freefall.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Organisations:
Box of Tricks
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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White
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
shortlist for Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting 2011
1st Produced:
-
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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