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Zinnie Harris

ZINNIE HARRIS

  (1973 - )
Nationality:    British
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Casarotto Ramsay and Associates Ltd  represented by Mel Kenyon

Zinnie Harris's plays include the multi-award-winning Further than the Furthest Thing, produced by the National Theatre/Tron Theatre in 2000 (1999 Peggy Ramsay Playwriting Award, 2001 John Whiting Award, Edinburgh Festival Fringe First award); Nightingale and Chase (Royal Court Theatre, 2001); By Many Wounds (Hampstead Theatre, 1999); and Silver Whale Fish and Master of the House (BBC Radio Four). Solstice, the first in a trilogy of plays, was staged in 2005 by the RSC, who had already presented Midwinter in 2004; the last, Fall, was staged at the Traverse, Edinburgh, in 2008. The Wheel was staged at the Traverse Theatre by the National Theatre of Scotland and was joint winner of the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award 2011. Zinnie Harris has received an Arts Foundation Fellowship for playwriting, and was Writer in Residence at the RSC, 2000-2001.

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below is a list of Zinnie Harris's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         (the fall of) The Master Builder         Biohazard         Bomb  A Partial History, The         By Many Wounds         Chain Play, The         Doll's House, A         Fall         From Elsewhere: the Message. . . / On The Watch         Further Than the Furthest Thing         Gallery 9         Garden, The         Gravity         How To Hold Your Breath         Julie         Meet Me At Dawn         Midwinter         My Many Wounds         Nightingale And Chase         Panel, The         Silver Whale Fish         Skylight         Solstice         Some Kind Of Dawn         This Restless House Part 1: Agamennon's Return         This Restless House Part 2: The Bough Breaks & This Restless House Part 3: Electra And Her Shadow         Wheel, The

(the fall of) The Master Builder

(the fall of) The Master Builder
Halvard Solness has arrived at the pinnacle of his career. He has just been awarded the prestigious Master Builder award, his beautiful wife still loves him, his beautiful secretary still flirts with him and Prince Charles is coming to open his new building tomorrow. Then a knock at the door propels Solness past into everyones future. The only way is down.

Notes:
after Henrik Ibsen

1st Produced:

Organisations:
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1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Biohazard

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
-

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Bomb  A Partial History, The

Synopsis:
the Bomb - a partial history is in two parts, and is the political history of the Nuclear Bomb from 1940 to present-day Nuclear proliferation and its implications for the world now. each of the two parts can be seen on consecutive nights or on an afternoon and evening over the weekend

Notes:
By Lee Blessing, Ryan Craig, John Donnelly, David Greig, Elena Gremina, Amit Gupta, Zinnie Harris, Ron Hutchinson, Diana Son And Colin Teevan

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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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

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Genre:
piece

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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By Many Wounds

Synopsis:
A very ordinary family. An ordinary family holiday. Mum, Mike, Gill and Judy. Now Judy's gone and nothing will ever be the same again. Drawn from memories of a real incident in France. By Many Wounds examines ordinary lives made extraordinary through disaster. In this gripping story about love and loss. Zinnie Harris paints a haunting picture of a family coming to terms with grief and of a child's forced entry into early adulthood.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 1998   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

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Chain Play, The

Synopsis:
One off performance of chain writing to celebrate the National theatre's 25th anniversary. a scene each from all the authors for a performance on one night

Notes:
Written By Terry Johnson, Philip Ridley, Charlotte Jones, Lee Hall, Sebastian Barry, Zinnie Harris, Kevin elyot, Nick Dear, Tanika Gupta, Frank McGuinness, Nick Stafford, Stephen Sondheim, Colin Teevan, Patrick Marber, David Lan, Sarah Daniels, Martin She

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Conceived and commissioned by angus Mackenchnie

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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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

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Doll's House, A

Doll's House, A
Nora loves her husband above all else. When he was ill, she fraudulently borrowed money to save his life and has been secretly working to pay back the debt ever since. With her husband Torvald receiving a promotion, the end of the struggle is in sight, but when Torvald's employee Krostag begins to blackmail Nora, her world begins to fall apart.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Henrik Ibsen

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London   

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

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Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Fall

Fall
To make your future, do you have to murder the past? In the aftermath of a horrific civil conflict, a new country is preparing for the mass execution of its war criminals. Kate knows nothing and everything about it. She knew one of the guilty men for 15 years and never suspected a thing. as the city burns and the new government struggles to look credible to the rest of the world, Kate gets tragically caught up in their conspiracy.

Notes:
Politics, justice And revenge collide in A tense new thriller by Zinnie Harris And directed by the Traverse's Artistic Director Dominic Hill. Fall is the last play in A group of three individual plays that examine the transforming effects of war. Midwinter And Solstice were commissioned And performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2004 - 05. Fall is presented in Association with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

1st Produced:

Organisations:
RSC

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 2008   

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

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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From Elsewhere: the Message. . . / On The Watch

From Elsewhere: the Message. . . / On The Watch
In a lab in Birmingham two physicists uncover something. If their calculation is right, it will change the course of the war, if anyone will listen.

Notes:
Part of the Bomb  A partial history. FIRST BLaST: Proliferation

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

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Genre:
short play

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Further Than the Furthest Thing

Synopsis:
1962. On a remote island in the middle of the Atlantic secrets are buried. When the outside world comes calling, intent on manipulation for political and economic reasons, the islanders find their own world blown apart from the inside as well as beyond. Further Than the Furthest Thing is a beautifully drawn story evoking the sadness and beauty of a civilisation in crisis.

Notes:
RNT & Tron theatre

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 2000   

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

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Gallery 9

Synopsis:
Written by 20 of Scotland's leading writers. Directed by Joe Douglas and Catrin Evans. The Portrait Gallery will take centre-stage this spring as the National Theatre of Scotland explores their collection through the written word and performance in Dear Scotland. In this unique work, twenty of the country's leading writers will pen short, sharp monologues inspired by the Gallery's celebrated portraits which will be performed as a promenade theatre piece, staged within the galleries.

Notes:
Part of "Dear Scotland" : participants include: Peter Arnott; Jo Clifford; Rob Drummond; Janice Galloway; David Greig; Zinnie Harris; Iain Heggie; Stuart Hepburn; Jackie Kay; A L Kennedy; Hardeep Singh Kohli; Liz Lochhead; Iain Finlay Macleod; Nicola McCartney;Johnny McKnight;Linda McLean; Rona Munro; James Robertson; Ali Smith; Louise Welsh

1st Produced:
National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh     24 Apr 2014

Organisations:
National Theatre of Scotland

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

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Genre:
monologue

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  1            Other:  -

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Garden, The

Synopsis:
Bras all over the place !! We are just creatures in the end aren't we? Nothing special. the same as the pigs and the flies. We fucked it. We tried to put it right, we didn't manage. Maybe its time just to be one of them again. - extract from the Garden

Notes:
part of the World is Too Much, theatre for Breakfast

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

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Gravity

Synopsis:
Gravity is a play about the role of music in people's lives and is based on a series of recollections. 'When I listen to music I am aware of my involvement in the dissonance and strain, the consonance and peace, the loudness, the softness, the rising and falling and much, much more.'

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Howden Park Centre, Edinburgh     35/2000

Organisations:
Edinburgh International Festival commission

1st Published:
-   

Music:
Music Marina Adamia.

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  musicians

Further Reference:

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How To Hold Your Breath

How To Hold Your Breath
Because we live in Europe. Because nothing really bad happens. The worst is a bit of an inconvenience. Perhaps not such a good mini break. But really in the grand scheme of life, not so bad. Starting with a seemingly innocent one night stand, this darkly witty and magical play by Zinnie Harris dives into our recent European history. An epic look at the true cost of principles and how we live now

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
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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

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  4            Other:  doubling and extras

Further Reference:

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Julie

Julie
highly politicised new version in which the action is relocated to rural Scotland during the great Strike of 1926.

Notes:
Original Playwright - August Strindberg (Miss Julie) Adapted by Zinnie Harris, literal translation by Hanna Slattne

1st Produced:
N Edinburgh Arts Ctr / Touring     08 Sep 2006

Organisations:
National Theatre of Scotland

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London   

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

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Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Meet Me At Dawn

Meet Me At Dawn
Two women wash up on a distant shore following a violent boating accident. Dazed by their experience, they look for a path home. But they discover that this unfamiliar land is not what it seems  and that, though they may be together, they have never been further apart. Unflinchingly honest and tenderly lyrical, Meet Me at Dawn is a modern fable exploring the triumph of everyday love, the mystery of grief, and the temptation to become lost in a fantasy future that will never be.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Edinburgh International Festival commission

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

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Midwinter

Midwinter
a pedlar announces that the war is over; and as the soldiers return in the fragile peace that follows, the starving people are left to build new lives, to forge new identities. Written in a spare and lyrical language, Midwinter is a play about now, about love, self and a world made from conflict.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 2004   

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

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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My Many Wounds

Synopsis:
Story of a family coming to terms with grief and of a child's forced entry into early adulthood.

Notes:
-

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

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Nightingale And Chase

Nightingale And Chase
Played this game. Inside, with the other girls. the 'he is going to meet you' game. the 'he is going to meet you with flowers' game. the 'he is going to turn up in a limo' game. the 'he is going to bring champagne' game. the 'he is going to cover you in kisses, or cum, or love bites or bloody Belgian chocolate' game, doesn't matter but when you walk out of those gates. He is going to be there, that is the game.' Chase is waiting to be released from prison. and Nightingale is there to meet her. everything is under control and they're both going to get it right. This time.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 2001   

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

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Panel, The

Panel, The
the last candidate has just left the room and the door is shut. the clock is ticking, there's a train to catch, and the panel must decide who to appoint. But what is really motivating them, and whose agenda will prevail?

Notes:
part of Women, Power & Politics: Now

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

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Genre:
Short play

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Silver Whale Fish

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

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

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Skylight

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
One city, 50 writers, 50 plays, 25,000 words. In celebration of our 50th anniversary, we invited fifty emergent playwrights to work with us over the course of our birthday year. the worldwide search for the Traverse Fifty started last September with a challenge to write a 500-word Play for Edinburgh. Of the 630 applications, we selected the most urgent voices to form our Traverse Fifty. In January, these 50 plays were premiered all together, in one epic performance. This August, in the midst of our Festival Fever, we are re-staging these extraordinary plays, over two thrilling nights. This is your chance to see the future.

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

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Genre:
5 min play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Solstice

Solstice
a protagonist prophesises that what has began as a quarrel between neighbours in a small, faraway place will become a vast international conflict in which 'lots of people will die'

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 2005   

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:  5            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Some Kind Of Dawn

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

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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This Restless House Part 1: Agamennon's Return

Synopsis:
A father's horrifying sacrifice of his daughter sets in motion a cycle of bloody revenge and counter-revenge. As his family rots from the inside as a result of his brutal act, the loyalties of his surviving children are tested to the extreme. An equally fragmented society outwith the family home is hungry for justice, but is faced with a moral dilemma that tests the limits of a culture on the edge of revolution.

Notes:
This Restless House, based on the epic Greek trilogy The Oresteia, is a theatrical and accessible new way to delve in to an ancient drama that exposes the cracks in democracy and the fragility and evolution of a familys bonds. A tragic saga that has survived two and a half thousand years is brought into sharp focus in a trilogy of new plays by Zinnie Harris.

1st Produced:

Organisations:
National theatre of Scotland

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:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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This Restless House Part 2: The Bough Breaks & This Restless House Part 3: Electra And Her Shadow

Synopsis:
Electra's father, brother and sister are all dead or missing, and her beloved mother is inert with grief. A familiar stranger opens her eyes to the truth behind her family's past, forcing Electra to come face to face with their parents' hideous flaws and driving her to an unthinkable act. With a chain of reprisals to resolve, justice can no longer be found within a family's feud. A fledgling society in a delicate democracy is tasked with finding righteousness in the tangle of criminal acts, questioning whether one life can ever be weighed against another.

Notes:
This Restless House, based on the epic Greek trilogy The Oresteia, is a theatrical and accessible new way to delve in to an ancient drama that exposes the cracks in democracy and the fragility and evolution of a familys bonds. A tragic saga that has survived two and a half thousand years is brought into sharp focus in a trilogy of new plays by Zinnie Harris.

1st Produced:

Organisations:
National theatre of Scotland

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:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Wheel, The

Wheel, The
Beatriz and her sister Rosa are happily preparing for Rosa's wedding. their world is turned upside down when the groom arrives, pitchfork rabble in tow, ready to occupy their farm. a little girl stumbles into their world, lost and looking for her father. In a moment of determination Beatriz takes the girl to find him - and so begins an unimaginable journey. Beatriz and her charge, in their need to survive, witness more than anyone ever should.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
National Theatre of Scotland

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:  7            Female:  5            Other:  1b 1 g

Further Reference:
-

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