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Anna Reading

ANNA READING  (1965 - )

 Nationality:    British
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    n/a


Graduated from the University of York with a first class honours in English and Politics, followed by an ESRC funded MA in Women's Studies from the University of York 1988. Worked as a lecturer at Department of English and American Studies, University of Lodz, Poland, 1988-9; co-founded Strip Search Theatre, working as a playwright, touring plays in the UK and Poland, while also working as a writer and journalist. In 1992 began work as a Researcher on ESRC funded project on changes to television after communism at the University of Westminster's Centre for Communication and Information Studies, doing field research in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, whilst also doing a PhD awarded in 1996. Between 1995-2011 Anna worked at London South Bank University in the Department of Arts, Media and English, teaching and researching, before becoming the first Director of the new Centre for Research in Media and Culture in 2009. In October 2011, Anna moved to Sydney, Australia to take up a Professorship in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts at the University of Western Sydney. As well as writing plays, she is the author of various articles and books, including, Polish Women, Solidarity and Feminism (Palgrave, 1992); The Social Inheritance of the Holocaust: Gender, Culture and Memory (2002); co-editor of Media in Britain (Palgrave, 1998) and Save As. . .Digital Memories (Palgrave, 2009). She was a partner to the Women's National Commission (Cabinet Office, UK ) 2003-10) and is joint editor of the journal, Media, Culture. Her earlier work is understood as part of the new wave of British theatre in the 1990s, see Alex Siertz In Yer Face Theatre. See www.inyerface-theatre.com/ .

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

 Cacti Hearts         Falling         Grandma's Garden         Hard Core         Kiss Punch Goodnight         RP35         Stoning, The         Want

Cacti Hearts

Synopsis:
Set in a fictional country in the Middle East this short 10 minute play examines the conflict between two women, an army conscript and a refugee, who do not speak the same language and seek to make each other understand their different memories of the same land .

Notes:
This the first part of A new 'tryptic' of interlocked short plays entitled Preoccupations.

1st Produced:
Rehearsed Reading Edrich Theatre, London    Dec 2009

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
This play is available electronically under Creative Commons license.    -

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:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Falling

Synopsis:
Mixing the idioms of South East London, with medieval English, the play tells the story of 15 year old Ket, and her friend, Tyler, trying to make sense of their lives amidst unemployment, racism and eviction.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Bird's Nest Theatre, Deptford    1996

Organisations:
Low Life 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:  2            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Grandma's Garden

Synopsis:
Beatie, a shy elderly woman, in an abusive care home gains the courage to escape to be with her colourful spirited elderly lover, Lottie. Set in the care home and various places of the imagination. They cause a riot, are arrested by the police and Beatie is returned to the home.

Notes:
Grandma's Garden is usually staged As A rival companion to The Stoning.

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Strip Search Theatre

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:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  2            Other:  The two women can be played by one person.

Further Reference:
-

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Hard Core

Synopsis:
Set during an era of European upheaval when the Roman Empire was collapsing the play examines the contradictions of sex and pornography.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Sherman Arena, Cardiff, Wales.    1990

Organisations:
Wot Theatre

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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Kiss Punch Goodnight

Synopsis:
Traces the journey of Dawn, abused by her father from the age of 4, to adulthood and freedom. Set in the UK from the late 1960s to the mid 1980s. Mixes conventional narrative realism with humour, cabaret and puppets.

Notes:
The play is written to be performed by An All female Adult cast. Performed by A number of different companies in the UK, U.S , Ireland And India, the play is usually followed by Audience discussions, raising funds for NGO's that provide support to survivors of Abuse.

1st Produced:
York Dram Barn, University of York, York.    1988

Organisations:
Strip Search Theatre

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:  9            Female:  11            Other:  Puppets

Further Reference:
-

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RP35

Synopsis:
When Leon's father dies and he has to travel to the U.S, Roza his wife, stays behind and discovers his vast hidden collection of illegal pornography. When he returns from the funeral they enter a nightmare world. Set in South London and a beach near Dungeness power station.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
The South Bank Playgroup

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:  1            Female:  1            Other:  Windows - voice, a computer portal to the outside world); PA, a voice, giving security statements and public information.

Further Reference:
-

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Stoning, The

Synopsis:
Two young women in prison, Carol for a minor offence and Marie for violent crime, find a way to work and play together to survive. Set in a prison courtyard and various places of the imagination. Uses technique of surreal intervention.

Notes:
The Stoning is usually staged As A rival companion to Grandma's Garden.

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Strip Search Theatre

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:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Want

Synopsis:
Three Polish women waiting in line for rations of basic food decided to break in and loot the shop next door selling luxury Western goods. Set on a street and in a shop in Poland. The play mixes conventional narrative realism with song and cabaret.

Notes:
The play was originally performed to generate support for Klub Kobiet (a movement of Women's Clubs in Poland) After the wall between And East And West came down in Poland in 1989 And communism collapsed.

1st Produced:
Warsaw    1989

Organisations:
Strip Search Theatre

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:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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