This collection features four urgent and explosive plays by award-winning playwright Evan Placey, each tackling issues facing young people today. They provide ideal material for teenagers to read, study and perform. Girls Like That explores the pressures caused by technology when a schoolgirl's naked photograph goes viral. Commissioned in 2013 by Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Theatre Royal Plymouth and West Yorkshire Playhouse, it has subsequently been performed by school and youth-theatre groups across the UK, at the Unicorn Theatre, London, and in the Houses of Parliament. It won the Writers' Guild Award for Best Play for Young Audiences. Banana Boys, published here for the first time, is about the challenges of being on the school football team - and secretly gay. It was commissioned and produced by Hampstead Theatre's heat&light company in 2010. In Holloway Jones, Holloway dreams of being a world-class BMXer, but she is held back by the tough reality of a parent in prison. Also making its debut in print here, the play was commissioned by Synergy Theatre Project, toured schools and the Unicorn Theatre in 2011, and won the 2012 Brian Way Award for Best Play for Young People. Finally, Pronoun is a love story about two childhood sweethearts dealing with the fact that one of them, Isabella, has now become a boy. As one of the plays in the 2014 National Theatre Connections Festival it proved enormously popular with youth theatres and college companies.

Welcome to Octopus Inc., the internet giant that allows users to exchange personal data for currency. But not everyone is prepared to sacrifice their privacy for an easier life. A teenager subverts the system in an attempt to save her mother. A visionary tech exec takes shortcuts to get ahead, and a cybercriminal chooses between two kinds of freedom. Darknet navigates through the world of data transparency and the uncharted deep web, uncovering the things we choose to share online and the places in which we can hide.

Don't go burying wild animals in my garden. . . or at least ask for permission first. In the overcrowded city, nature is getting out of control. The mice are scratching between walls, the pigeons are diseased and the foxes are beginning to rule the streets. The problem is growing. It's contagious. It has to be stopped, before it's too late. "People can get used to terrible things. Very quickly. If they have to. It doesn't take much for things to start to fall apart"

Ava and Tash are up on a cliff. Looking out at the flocking birds. And at their future. On the cusp of adulthood and leaving the care home they've always known, the friends test their freedoms and practise living in the world. Ava confronts the mother she left behind. Tash looks for a home. And both girls live dangerously with the men who surround them. Raw, delicate and bold. This is a story about growing up outside a family but inside the fiercest of friendships.

In a run-down movie theater in central Massachusetts, three underpaid employees mop the floors and attend to one of the last 35 millimeter film projectors in the state. their tiny battles and not-so-tiny heartbreaks play out in the empty aisles, becoming more gripping than the lackluster, second-run movies on screen. With keen insight and a finely-tuned comic eye, the Flick is a hilarious and heart-rending cry for authenticity in a fast-changing world.

Hilda is blind, lives alone, and is visited by a carer once a week. Camilla is a young offender looking for her next mark. A surprising and curious relationship sparks off between these opposites as both search for connection and purpose. Kate Lock's insightful new play delves into maternal relationships and the line between friendship and family, and contrasts our current culture of blame and instant gratification with the self-worth and determination of the post-war generation.

This is an S.O.S. message. Please Save Our School from imminent catastrophe. It's 1963 and Dame Dorothea Dosserdale School for Girls has a proud tradition of fostering free spirits from all walks of life. So it's a crushing blow when the new Headmistress turns out to be a reactionary tyrant with strict Victorian values - and top of her hit list are the two Sixth-Formers accused of "Unnatural Behaviour" in the Art Room... But hope is revived by a glamorous Games Mistress known as 'Miss Givings' and it's hockey sticks to the fore in an all-out battle to save the school and the course of true love. A jolly smashing night out, Crush is a coming-of-age romp that celebrates and subverts the traditional schoolgirl fiction genre, with lashings of charm, team spirit and toe-tapping tunes.

Something strange is brewing in the labyrinth beneath Shoreditch Town Hall: A witch surrounded by golden hair blinds a prince. Seven beds are left unmade. An old woman and her granddaughter gasp We invite you to experience a handful of classic fairytales in the flesh. From Little Red Riding Hood to Rapunzel, you'll brush shoulders with unforgettable characters from Philip Pullman's book, in a theatre production that will enchant and inspire children and adults of all ages. This is an Easter experience full of unexpected twists and turns, well suited to adults with a keen sense of curiosity and their brave children.

Actioning - and How to Do It is the indispensable companion to a vital component in every actor's toolkit. Actioning is one of the most widely used rehearsal techniques for actors. It helps bring clarity to every moment or thought in the text, energising rehearsals and bringing performances to life. Actioning will enable you to discover and unlock newfound energy, range, variety and clarity of body and voice, by: Interrogating the text and making initial action verb choices Playing your chosen actions, both verbally and physically Maintaining an imaginative and emotional connection with each moment Signposting each thought to your scene partner From the publishers of the internationally successful Actions: The Actors' Thesaurus, this is the first in-depth exploration of Actioning for student actors, those who train them, and professionals working in the industry, whether they're brand new to the technique or have been practising it for years. This step-by-step guide draws on concepts from Stanislavsky, using sample scenes from classic plays such as The Seagull and The Importance of Being Earnest, as well as contemporary pieces, and is filled with exercises to demonstrate the technique at work.

explores the lives of an ordinary family who are aware that they are part of a story, and initially bemused by all the attention. the everyday concerns and events of their lives form the early part of the play - raising children, growing up, growing old. But all of this changes when Death comes calling. Plunged suddenly into a reality where they can no longer rely on the 'certainties' of existence, Joe, Mary, Kevin and Mazz must reassess their lives. Perspectives change and the things they cherish and regret are stripped of all the usual distractions and confusions. the play presents a warm and uplifting look at how ordinary people deal with tragedy. It's a story that will resonate with anyone who has lost someone they love - and suggests that when we grieve it's for the good times that are past rather than the pain we feel now.

It's the hot, humid, sticky summer of 1977. At a popular birdwatching spot jutting out into the North Sea at the mouth of the Tees, Martin, Jack, Michael and Carol are staring out into the future, their lives intertwined. A friendship, a marriage, a holiday, and a death - the gatherings and departures that make us human. Robert Holman's richly resonant play is an uplifting portrait of human hope and vulnerability. German Skerries was first performed at the Bush Theatre, London, and won the George Devine Award in the year that it is set. It was revived in 2016 at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, in a co-production with the award-winning Up in Arms Theatre Company, followed by a tour around the UK.

Six young people are caught in the aftermath of a terrorist attack in the heart of London. By turns terrifying, inspiring, brutal, heart-breaking and hilarious, BU21 is verbatim theatre from the very near future. Stuart Slade's play comprises six interlinking monologues.

Kiss Me Quickstep is the story of competitive ballroom dancing - both on and off the dance floor - and the real people behind the fixed smile and fake tans. Justin and Jodie have finally made it to Blackpool's national championships - via the motorway hard shoulder. Luka's come all the way from Russia. Nancy's been training for this since she was just three. Lee and Samantha arrive on a wave of success. But what if your dance-floor dreams are turning into a nightmare? How do you stop dancing to other people's tunes? What can you do if your partner's secret could cost you the crown? And, even when the whole world's at your feel, it only takes one false step... A must for all fans Strictly Come Dancing. . .

A rapacious banker, corrupt, corrupting, you thought he would steal my soul Against all odds, young, attractive Sofia has got a job as PA to one of the wealthiest bankers in the country. Sofia's mother questions whether she gave more than just a good interview to get it. . .In these times of financial chaos, the bankers are getting filthy rich whilst others are left unable to support their families. A storm is brewing, people are desperate - just what will they be driven to? Suicide? Murder? In a subtle game of cat and mouse, split loyalties and questionable morals, Alexandra Wood's thrilling and darkly funny new play looks at the complexities of a mother daughter relationship and, in the growing argument between rich and poor, the girl who is stuck in between.

A comic play about sex and commitment in the 21st century. Rafe and Pete have hit a rut. After seven-and-a-half blissfully happy years, their lack of sexual experience is driving them apart. So when they proposition mutual friend Michael to help out with their problems - knowing full well Michael has his own partner Andrew - what seems like a simple solution quickly spirals out of control.

. . .my hand, groping around the universe, has torn a corner open. . .why did I tear the corner open, if I'm not prepared for the encounter? Twenty years ago Simon McBurney was given a book. Written by a Romanian who escaped the Ceausescu regime to reinvent himself as a Los Angeles screenwriter, the book, Amazon Beaming, tells the story of photographer Loren McIntyre, who, in 1969, found himself lost amongst the remote people of the Javari Valley, on the border between Brazil and Peru. It was an encounter that changed his life: bringing the limits of human consciousness into startling focus. Taking Petru Popescu's account of McIntyre's journey as its compass and using binaural technology to build an intimate and shifting world of sound, Complicite's new production is a set of encounters with nature, with time, and with our own consciousness.

Gustave Flaubert's complex novel lovingly derailed by Peepolykus. For your viewing pleasure, Peepolykus proudly present Gustave Flaubert's masterpiece Madame Bovary. The seminal Nineteenth Century novel will be brought spectacularly to life by director Madame Bodinetz and her bijou cast (with a fair amount of doubling). Laugh and cry in equal measures as Emma Bovary chooses the wrong husband. Lose yourself in mesmeric love scenes featuring a stupendous collection of devastatingly handsome men. Question the impotence of women in a Victorian patriarchal society, if you want. Marvel at how many parts a Spanish man with limited English can play with only one moustache. There will be vermin, visual absurdity, wild animals and a nun. Can the cast of five rise to the ridiculous challenge they have set themselves? It's going to be hilarious. And bloody serious. Possibly.

A romantic drama with music inspired by the days of music hall and beyond, from the author of the modern classic Kindertransport. It is 1919. The Great War is over and Poppy Wright arrives in London from the north of England to make her mark in the world. Deep in the heart of the East End she finds work in Smith's tailor and costumiers workshop, where she meets dashing chauffeur George, and falls in love. This is a time of change and opportunity, emerging from the losses of war, when all are questioning who they are and what roles they can play in forging a new, modern era. It's time to ditch the corset and discover who really wears the trousers. Poppy + George is a beguiling romance that draws on a world of female impersonators, popular song and double entendre.

The year is 1660. The Puritans have run away with their drab grey tails between their legs and Charles II has exploded onto the scene with a love of all things loud, French and sexy. On Drury Lane, a young Nell Gwynn is peddling her satsumas and wit with equal gusto but, little does she know who is watching. . .Nell Gwynn charts the rise of an unlikely heroine, from her roots in Coal Yard Alley to her success as Britain's most celebrated actress, and her hard-won place in the heart of the King. But at a time when women are second-class citizens, can her charm and spirit protect her from the dangers of the Court?

This anthology comprises five of the best plays from VAULT 2016, Londons biggest and most exciting arts festival.

Vivian Bearing, Ph.D., a renowned professor of english who has spent years studying and teaching the brilliant and difficult metaphysical sonnets of John Donne, has been diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer. Her approach to the study of Donne: aggressively probing, intensely rational. But during the course of her illness-and her stint as a prize patient in an experimental chemotherapy program at a major teaching hospital-Vivian comes to reassess her life and her work with a profundity and humor that are transformative both for her and the audience

Yen explores a childhood lived without boundaries and the consequences of being forced to grow up on your own. Hench is sixteen, Bobbie is thirteen. They live alone with their dog Taliban, playing PlayStation, watching porn, surviving. Sometimes their chaotic mum Maggie visits; occasionally she passes out on the front lawn. But when Jenny knocks on the door the boys discover a world far beyond what they know, a world full of love, possibility and danger.

Becca and Howie Corbett have everything a family could want, until a life-shattering accident turns their world upside down and leaves the couple drifting perilously apart. RaBBIT HOLe charts their bittersweet search for comfort in the darkest of places and for a path that will lead them back into the light of day.

I'm walking down the street and there's a door in the fence open and inside there are three women I've seen before. Three old friends and a neighbour. A summer of afternoons in the back yard. Tea and catastrophe.

A funeral party for a man with an adventurous past and a ginger cat that needs a home. Where is he now? Is his heart lighter than a feather? How did he die? And what happens to his friends? A short play about death

So no one told you life was gonna be this way. . .Fifteen years after their happy ending, Ross and Rachel are still together - and it's boring. When a visit to a doctor brings bad news, the great romance that never materialised is thrown into stark relief. Inhabiting the consciousness of the most famous fictional couple of a generation, one actor stages the breakup of the 21st Century. Because every relationship has to end somehow.

Twenty years ago, Pastor Paul's church was nothing more than a modest storefront. Now he presides over a congregation of thousands, with classrooms for Sunday School, a coffee shop in the lobby, and a baptismal font as big as a swimming pool. Today should be a day of celebration. But Paul is about to preach a sermon that will shake the foundations of his church's belief. A big-little play about faith in Americaand the trouble with changing your mind.

Three strangers are about to face their demons head on. Balanced precariously on the tipping point, they might just be able to save one another  if they can only overcome their urge to self-destruct. Passionate, painful and playful, Stef Smiths Swallow takes a long, hard look at the extremes of everyday life. The play premiered at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, as part of the 2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, directed by Traverse Artistic Director Orla OLoughlin, and featuring original music by LAWholt.

Phil and Alice are in love - familiar, flawed, ordinary love. They are on a journey, but this journey doesn't have an A to Z. Jack Thorne's The Solid Life of Sugar Water is an intimate, tender play about loss, hurt and rediscovery. It previewed at The Drum, Theatre Royal Plymouth, and premiered at the 2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, in a co-production between Graeae Theatre Company and Theatre Royal Plymouth.

A man turns up at Lucy's door claiming to be the brother she hasn't seen in ten years. But why has he come? Is it really him? And what happens when there's another knock at the door? An intriguing tale of loss, renewal and knowing who to trust, Alexandra Wood's The Human Earwas first produced by Paines Plough in their pop-up theatre, Roundabout, at the 2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, before touring.

Two of the biggest musical-theatre stars working today answer questions submitted by the public on a wide range of theatrical topics. A message from LOUISE and MARK. . . This is the book for anyone who's seen a show and thought: 'That could be me&' That's what we used to think growing up, dreaming of working in musical theatre. Now, after years of hard work, we've been lucky enough to star in some amazing shows, including Wicked, The Book of Mormon, Ghost: The Musical, Evita and Cats. We've picked up lots of tips from other performers, and have developed our own strategies and solutions too. In this book, using this knowledge and our experiences, we want to draw back the curtain and shine a spotlight onto how you can follow in our footsteps.

A group of disillusioned young women have disappeared. On a platform out at sea, they have formed The Community  a new type of society and a better way of living. But how can you change the world if youve taken yourself out of it?

You're born a girl. You grow up. You grow old. You die. But who is in control of your life story? Can you actually choose your destiny? And how do you forge your own identity along the way?

During the First World War, seventeen-year-old Elsie Wright fools the world into believing she has photographed fairies in her garden. An ambitious young reporter seeks to expose Elsie as a fraud. But as she looks at the facts, she begins to think there's more to Elsie's story than a simple hoax.

Welcome to Tower Hamlets. This is East London as you've never seen it before. Here, nothing is as it seems. It is a world where baby spirits inhabit rainclouds, where time can be bought in shops, a world where pianos bite the fingers of their players, debts rise up as demons and dominoes are ivory eggs from which the future hatches. Because this is Amina's world. A world of softness, imagination and possibility. But where has her mother gone? A magical tale about small actions, big effects and finding your power.

A bold reimagining of Hans Christian Andersen's tale of love, loss and desire, transported to a contemporary setting. Beneath the ocean's waves there is no death or pain or separation. Above, the modern world is beset with war, poverty and desire. On her sixteenth birthday, a mermaid rises up to the surface, leaving her childhood behind for ever when she falls in love with a mortal prince. She knows that she can no longer live at the bottom of the ocean - but must she destroy herself in order to be loved?

Charlie Ashanti lives in a future where phones are powered by the sun, cars are banned and companies are more powerful than countries. Charlie is a perfectly normal boy, except for one thing: he can speak to cats. When his parents are kidnapped, he sets off on a rescue mission - with a little help from a floating circus and its pride of performing lions. Based on Zizou Corder's bestselling novels, Marcelo Dos Santos's adaptation fuses storytelling and circus in a gripping tale that provides great opportunities for amateur and school groups looking to perform a magical adventure.

A thrillingly fast-paced play about youthful disaffection, protest and violence, drawing on the history of the Scuttlers, the youth gangs of nineteenth-century Manchester. It's 1885 and the streets of Manchester are crackling with energy, youth and violence. As workers pour into Ancoats to power the Industrial Revolution, 50,000 people are crammed into one square mile. The mills rumble thunderously day and night. The air is thick with smoke. Life is lived large and lived on the street. This is the world's very first industrial suburb and the young mill workers form the very first urban gangs, fighting over their territory with belts, fists and knives. Invisible in history, their lives, deaths, loves, lusts and defiant energy tell stories that will repeat and repeat over the decades that follow.

Drama Menu is a brand new concept for planning and delivering dynamic, progressive drama lessons and workshops. Packed with over 150 tried-and-tested theatre games, exercises and improvisation ideas, it's an essential resource for any drama teacher or workshop leader - guaranteed to deliver delicious drama sessions every time. Simply make a selection from each of the three courses, and your whole drama session will come to life with new-found energy and focus: Appetisers are fast-paced warm-up exercises to energise and enthuse the group; Starters are the intermediary course to challenge the players and encourage creativity; Main Courses provide the central part of the session, culminating in a final performance piece; And a few Desserts are also provided, if you have some space at the end of your session for something sweet. Drama Menu is the recipe book that will relieve the stress of planning lessons and workshops. Now you can get on with what you do best: delivering creative drama sessions that will have your groups hungry for more.

The definitive guide to designing for theatre  by an award-winning designer with over 160 productions to his name. With a Foreword by Alison Chitty. A theatre designer needs to be able to draw on a wide spectrum of skills, work collaboratively with all the different members of the production team, and deliver designs that work in the testing conditions of performance. This book guides you through everything you need in order to become  and ultimately to succeed as  a theatre designer. Written by an experienced practitioner and teacher, this book will be an essential guide for any aspiring or emerging theatre designer, as well as anyone seeking a greater understanding of how designers work.

Many theatre practitioners think of physical theatre as one thing and text-based theatre as another. In this book, Dymphna Callery, author of Through the Body: A practical guide to physical theatre, shows how exercises and rehearsal techniques associated with physical and devised theatre can be applied to scripted plays. Working through the body enables performers to discover what really makes a play work. Throughout the book, the author draws on a core selection of well-known texts (from Sophocles and Shakespeare to Brecht, Arthur Miller, Steven Berkoff and Sarah Kane), showing how an active approach to text can challenge assumptions about even the most familiar of plays. Packed with theatre games, improvisation exercises and rehearsal techniques, The Active Text is an inspirational guide for performers, directors, students and teachers. It will revitalise work in the rehearsal room, workshop or classroom  anywhere that dramatic text needs to be brought to life.

How do you save 22 million pounds? Mark and Hilary, the leaders of the Council are about to find out. Following the success of Let The Right One In and This is England '86, Jack Thorne has written an urgent political play, a funny and scathing fable attacking the squeeze on local government.

Acclaimed for his screenplays for TV dramas including Skins, Shameless, The Fades, This is England '86/'88/'90 and Glue, Jack Thorne first emerged as a writer of unflinching, compassionate and often challenging plays for the stage. Described as a powerful voice for Britains youth (Independent), he remains one of the most distinctive talents working in theatre today. This title includes: 2nd May 1997; Bunny; When You Cure Me; Stacy; Mydidae; Red Car, Blue Car.

In The Quality of Mercy, one of the world's most revered theatre directors reflects on a fascinating variety of Shakespearean topics. In this sequence of essays, Peter Brook debates such questions as who was the man who wrote Shakespeare's plays, why Shakespeare is never out of date, and how actors should approach Shakespeare's verse. He also revisits some of the plays which he has directed with notable brilliance, such as King Lear, Titus Andronicus and, of course, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Taken as a whole, this short but immensely wise book offers an illuminating and provocative insight into a great director's relationship with our greatest playwright.

Since his successful spell running the National Theatre, Richard Eyre's career as a director of film, theatre and opera has made him a leading cultural figure and a hugely respected commentator on the arts. This book collects over fifty short pieces written by Eyre about people he has known and worked with, ideas he has struggled with, things that have moved, delighted or infuriated him. He writes with candour, perceptiveness and charm, and always with an eye for the telling anecdote or the revealing detail that betrays the inner life of his subject. Here we encounter Arthur Miller recounting to Eyre the events of the first night of Death of a Salesman; Harold Pinter overheard in a characteristically pugnacious exchange; Judi Dench racing clockwork chicks across a table, her face 'illuminated by demented glee'. Here too are Alan Bennett, Kate Winslet, Margaret Thatcher, John Mortimer and Marlon Brando, each of them brought vividly and unforgettably to life in the space of a few hundred words. Eyre also includes pieces about the monarchy, about the Iraq War, about Alzheimer's Disease (from which his mother suffered), about his love of climbing (from the comparative safety of his armchair), and about the relationship between music and sexuality. What Do I Know? is a book that tackles serious ideas with a light and often mischievous touch, and it confirms Eyre's place as one of our foremost writers and cultural statesmen.

Essential tips and advice from stars of stage and screen. Actors know the best source of advice on the profession is other actors. Nothing compares with the wisdom and practical know-how acquired through years of working in the business. Advice from the Players features a host of tips and guidance on every aspect of the actor's craft, direct from some of the best-known stars of stage and screen, including Julie Walters, Lenny Henry, Harriet Walter, Simon Callow, Mark Gatiss, David Harewood, Jo Brand, Simon Russell Beale, Lesley Manville, Zawe Ashton and Mathew Horne, amongst many others. Drawing directly on their own personal experience, they offer essential advice on topics including: Applying to drama school Getting an agent Auditions The dos and don'ts of rehearsal Acting for camera Acting comedy Coping with stage fright Surviving the tough times Staying inspired, and much more. . .Candid, passionate, sometimes contradictory, often very funny - Advice from the Players is a book to turn to whenever you're in need of guidance or inspiration, whether you're a working actor, at drama school, or involved in amateur theatre. It is also an invaluable introduction for those considering a career in the performing arts, and a fascinating read for anyone who wants to know what it's really like to be a working actor.

George Eliot's Middlemarch is peopled with some of literature's most memorable characters. In Geoffrey Beevers' new dramatisation, all three interconnected plays can be performed as a trilogy, but each play can also stand on its own, telling the story of Middlemarch from the perspective of a different set of characters: from county, town and countryside. In Dorothea's Story, set among the big houses of the local aristocracy of Middlemarch, young, intelligent Dorothea is so enamoured of the pedantic Reverend Casaubon that she marries him, much to everyone's disbelief. But her friendship with Casaubon's young cousin Will Ladislaw arouses suspicions in her new husband, who will do anything to thwart their mutual affection. In The Doctor's Story, set in the town of Middlemarch itself, where everyone wants to know each other's business, idealistic Dr Lydgate arrives in Middlemarch determined to achieve great things. He catches the eye of the Mayor's beautiful, self-centred daughter Rosamond but is torn between ambition and loyalty as he is drawn into an alliance with a corrupt banker. In the poignant but light-hearted Fred and Mary's Story, set amongst hard-working countryfolk, Fred is trying to please his parents and become a country gentleman, but his childhood sweetheart Mary will have none of it.

When Josie dies in an old peoples home, her grandchildren gather to share their memories of her, and her fellow residents feel the effects of her death as her funeral takes place. Is the gulf between the young and old as wide as it feels, or are we fundamentally the same inside whatever age we are?

A gripping journey through British history that shows how our country was shaped and how connected we are with our past. Across five centuries of British history, small groups of children seek sanctuary in the same solid, old wardrobe. It's the safest place they know  but is it safe enough?

A play about grief and looking at someone that little bit more closely.. Tom's brother is dead. He was killed by a broken bottle to the neck. . . This has upset a lot people. . . . . it hasn't upset Tom. Or, rather, it has upset him, but in ways he can't explain and in ways his aunties . . . who keep trying to thrust snack products at him . . . would never understand. You see, Tom and his brother, Luke, were never friends, were never really much at all, I mean, Tom really didn't like Luke, but without him. . .So it's an odd decision . . . to try and bury Luke in the pavement of the Tunstall Estate . . . to try and bury him at the point where he was brutally murdered . . . but, you know, it sort of makes sense. In a kind of upside-down, monkey-type way. As he goes through due process on pavement burial, Tom comes across planning officials, tramps, undertakers, police officers, sisters, mothers, estate agents, ghosts, pavement elephants, sky dragons and a strange lad called Tight who wants to sell him a travel-card. This is a play about grief, and looking at someone that little bit more closely . . . oh, and there are a few songs, bits of dancing, and lots of weird things involving sofas.

Drawing on his lifetime career in front of the camera (and sometimes behind it), Denis Lawson offers a wonderfully accessible introduction to acting for film and TV. For the young actor hoping to break into the industry - whether in a drama series, soap or sitcom - this book is the ultimate insider's guide. The author takes us on a guided tour of the film or TV set from day one. We meet the various members of the crew, from the director of photography to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd ADs, and learn what each of them does - and how to get the most from them in your work as an actor. Then comes the actual business of shooting the scenes, beginning with readthroughs and rehearsals (if there are any), on to hitting your mark and getting your eye-line right, finishing with the actor's involvement in post-production. Throughout, Lawson takes the actor's point of view, offering encouragement and enlightenment, as well as being refreshingly candid about some of the more inane procedures. Above all, he offers a magnificent array of tips and inside knowledge for coping with what can be a daunting experience for a hopeful young actor.

An arresting and angry look at conflict and its effect on soldiers returning home  to a world they no longer know how to cope with, and a society that doesnt know how to cope with them. Carl doesnt fit in at home. He doesnt fit in anywhere. When he signs up for the Army, he sees it as a way out of his life in Blackpool. But the Army takes him to Afghanistan. And when he comes home, its not as a war hero but as a changed man.

Drawn from his published diaries, this is Michael Palin's account of the making of the Monty Python TV and stage shows, films, books and albums. Monty Python at Work opens on 8th July 1969 with Michael Palin's diary entry for the first day of filming on the very first episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus. The diary entries that follow - up until the opening of their final feature film, The Meaning of Life, in 1983 - chart the tumultuous story of how the now famous shows and films were conceived and brought to life. Palin records the evolution of Monty Python's comic style, the moments of creative inspiration as well as discord, the persistent self-doubt, and the happy accidents that shaped what are now classic comedy moments. He captures too the group's many anarchic exploits (John Cleese in a bikini; driving a Budget Rent-a-Van up Glencoe in full chainmail; filming 'Scott of the Sahara' on the beach at Torquay&), as well as their battles with BBC suits, budget-conscious film producers and self-appointed censors. Thanks to Palin's as-it-happened accounts, we are taken behind the scenes to watch with unrivalled intimacy the creative processes that led to the finished work, seeing how it was actually put together. By distilling everything about the Pythons at work, this edition of Palin's diaries serves as an intimate guide to the legendary shows, films, books and albums. It will delight Python fans everywhere, and be a source of instruction and inspiration to those who seek to follow in their footsteps.

The Queen is dead: after a lifetime of waiting, the prince ascends the throne. A future of power. But how to rule? Mike Bartletts controversial new play explores the people beneath the crowns, the unwritten rules of our democracy, and the conscience of Britains most famous family. The play draws on the style and structure of a Shakespearean history play, with much of the dialogue written in blank verse, a comic subplot, and even the occasional appearance of a significant ghost. . .

A touching, funny play about what happens when you hate your best friend. One of them went on the anti-war protest, shouted their lungs out, then got horrendously and staggeringly drunk. The other stayed at home, watched TV for a bit, and thought about the future.

Alex has his flat. His home. Hes building a life with Clare. Nothing can derail his happiness - he just wishes those kids would stop hanging round outside his house. But theyre just kids, with nothing to do. Theyre not dangerous, right?

Harry and Jo are up all night drawing the battle lines of their relationship with sex, violence and Wotsits. A viciously funny play, The One invites you into the world of a couple trapped in a destructive and violent cycle of love and lust.

London, 1947. Summoned by the Prime Minister from the Court where he is presiding judge, Cyril Radcliffe is given an unlikely mission. He is to travel to India, a country he has never visited, and, with limited survey information, no expert support and no knowledge of cartography, he is to draw the border which will divide the Indian sub-continent into two new Sovereign Dominions. To make matters even more challenging, he has only six weeks to complete the task. Wholly unsuited to his role, Radcliffe is unprepared for the dangerous whirlpool of political intrigue and passion into which he is plunged  untold consequences may even result from the illicit liaison between the Leader of the Congress Party and the Viceroys wife. . . As he begins to break under the pressure he comes to realise that he holds in his hands the fate of millions of people.

A sharp, dark comedy that explores the inescapable difference between feeling 19 and being 19. Lou is getting on with her life, carefree and without ties. But this abruptly comes to a halt when her 19 year old god-daughter Minnie moves in to take up a place at university. Minnie's arrival shines a harsh light into the corners of Lou's life - revealing it to be not as it seems. Her relationships are complicated, her neighbours are closing in on her, and the clock is ticking. What does it mean to be a grown up

A hard-hitting, claustrophobic drama about trying to escape your past.. Pink loves Rolly. Rolly loves Pink. And Pink loves getting bombed off her face. The story of two sisters from the same nest. Both trapped in a tiny rotting world. Both cuffed to a past that refuses to release them. One wants out. The other needs her in. Trouble is that when you complete each other, you're on your own.

Lizzie Siddal is a new play that tells the dramatic story of the woman who was 'Ophelia' in Millais' famous painting. It charts her dazzling trajectory from model to lover to artist, to a tragic figure in her own right. London, 1849. Lizzie is plucked from the obscurity of a bonnet shop to model for the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood - an intoxicating group of young painters bent on revolutionising the Victorian art world. Inspired by their passion and ambition, she throws herself headlong into their lives and their art - nearly dying in the creation of 'Ophelia'. The painting is a triumph. But Lizzie wants more and dares to dream of being a painter herself. Falling for their charismatic leader Dante Gabriel Rossetti, she becomes his muse and his lover and, against the odds, does succeed in winning independence as a female artist. She even secures a sponsor - the great critic, John Ruskin. But independence isn't always what it seems, love can be fickle - and all art is a kind of deception. Lizzie is betrayed, and her response sparks a tragic denouement that still stirs debate to this day.

'In 21 hours I have to give the order for 5,000 naval vessels harboured around these islands to leave their ports and sail south. They're waiting in Belfast, Grimsby, Liverpool, Greenock and Scapa Flow. You gotta help me here guys. Do I give the order to sail or not?'' June 1944 and the nation is looking to the skies. Everything is in place for the biggest invasion ever known in Europe - D-Day. Only one last crucial question remains: will the weather be right on the day? Problematically there are two definite forecasts. American celebrity weatherman Colonel Krick breezily predicts sunshine, while Scot Dr James Stagg, Chief Meteorological Officer for the Allied Forces, forecasts a storm. As the world watches and waits, General Eisenhower, Allied Supreme Commander, must decide which of these bitter antagonists to trust. The decision will seal not just the fates of thousands of men, but could win or lose the entire war. Seventy years on from the D-Day landings, this little known true story thrillingly explores the responsibilities of leadership, the challenges of prophecy and the personal toll of taking a stand.

"Most of what she told me about herself is a cover story. She is a British Intelligence Officer. How far would she go to get information out of me? the answer is, quite far". A young woman is found dead. Her sister sets out to find out what happened, and stumbles into a world of secrets and subterfuge that makes her question who Justine really was. How well can you ever know someone who lies for a living?

In The Viewpoints Book, first published in the United States, acclaimed theatre directors Anne Bogart and Tina Landau introduce the history, terminology and philosophy of Viewpoints, and offer a step-by-step recipe for using it as both a training tool and a rehearsal technique. Viewpoints is a technique of improvisation that grew out of the post-modern dance world, allowing actors to learn to function spontaneously and intuitively. It was first articulated by choreographer Mary Overlie, whose ideas have been expanded and developed by Anne Bogart and Tina Landau, adapting them for the use of actors. Over the last twenty years, Viewpoints has ignited the imaginations of actors, directors, designers, choreographers, dramaturgs and writers. It is taught all over the world and used by countless theatre-makers in the rehearsal process to develop flexibility, articulation and strength in movement, and to enrich ensemble playing. An invaluable resource for theatre-makers, as well as for anyone with an interest in collaboration and the creative process, whether in art, business or daily life.

Within the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the world's leading museum of art and design, there lies an extraordinary wealth of material relating to a single individual: the playwright William Shakespeare. This book presents a fascinating selection of one hundred objects - often surprising, always delightful - chosen by the museum's curators for the insight each affords into the world of Shakespeare and his plays. The objects are drawn from across the V&A's rich and varied collections. There are paintings, sculptures, pieces of jewellery, engravings and figurines. There are posters and playbills, costume designs, photographs, illustrations and film stills. Also included are original costumes worn by Henry Irving, Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Rudolf Nureyev and Ian McKellen. Amongst the more unexpected objects are a bed (the Great Bed of Ware, which Shakespeare mentions in Twelfth Night), a sword (presented to Edmund Kean after his performance as Macbeth) and a real human skull (Yorick to Jonathan Pryce's Hamlet). Some of the greatest Shakespearean performances and productions of all time are memorialised, including Sarah Bernhardt's Hamlet, Ellen Terry's Lady Macbeth, John Gielgud's Lear, Olivier's Richard III, Paul Robeson's Othello, many of Henry Irving's performances, David Garrick's celebratory Shakespeare Jubilee of 1769 and Peter Brook's iconic 1970 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Each object is illustrated in full colour and is accompanied by a compact essay on its history, its provenance, and what it has to tell us about Shakespeare and his plays, particularly in performance. The result is a book that not only underlines Shakespeare's infinite variety, but also reveals his astonishing legacy in material things, a substantial pageant that has not faded.

"It would be a great reform in politics if wisdom could be made to spread as easily and rapidly as folly". A month after stating we will stop the top-down reorganisation of the NHS that has got in the way of patient care , the government launched the biggest top-down reorganisation the service had seen in its 65-year history. With characteristic wit, tenderness, and dives into surrealism, Stella Feehily's new play explores one family's journey through the digestive system of the NHS, and asks: what is the prognosis for this much-loved institution?

It's 16 April 2010, the day after the first prime ministerial debate. Stranded in Malaga Airport by the Icelandic ash-cloud, a Labour special advisor, a Lib Dem staffer and a Tory candidate consider their options. Can their parties survive without them? How will they get back home? And who'll end up in government? And now it's 4 August 2014. As the nation settles down to commemorate the outbreak of the First World War, the three politicians meet again. One of them knows something that could change the outcome of the 2015 election. Should they reveal it? And at what cost?

powerful, inventive play that mixes real testimonials alongside existing and original music to explore one of the most important social concerns of today: homelessness amongst young people. Bullet doesn't want to call a hostel home. Eritrean Girl was smuggled here in a lorry. Singing Boy dreams of seeing his name in lights and Garden Boy just wants to feel safe. In 2013, homelessness amongst young people in the UK is at a record high, so when the big society doesn't work ? where do you go? An inner city high rise hostel, Target East, offers a roof. Home brings to life the unheard voices of the young residents and staff who live and work behind the anonymous concrete walls. A bold verbatim play that asks what it really means to call somewhere home, it is offers ideal material for youth theatres and young performers.

Tom spends all his days watching videos.Because Tom works in child protection, as an archivist in digital forensics. Faced with watching recordings of the most unforgivable crimes on a daily basis, in a job that barely anyone else can endure, Tom struggles to retain his humanity. Meeting Emily might just mean his life has changed for the better, but when your entire working life is spent watching horrific past crimes, how do you love in the present.Tackling a sensitive and important subject with sensitivity, a Kafkaesque sense of humour, conviction and courage, and chosen from more than 500 entries to this year's Papatango New Writing Prize, Luke Owens first play reveals a dramatist of exceptional promise. An astonishing debut play from a first-time playwright, Unscorched was selected unanimously from more than 500 entries to the fifth Papatango New Writing Prize by a panel including the four members of Papatango  George Turvey, Matt Roberts, Sam Donovan and Chris Foxon  together with Neil McPherson, Artistic Director of the Finborough theatre, and Francis Grin, Literary Manager of the Finborough theatre. All scripts were judged anonymously.

A love story about transition, testosterone, and James Dean. Josh and Isabella are childhood sweethearts. They were meant to spend their gap year together, they were meant to be together forever. But Isabella has now become a boy.

An exhilarating coming-of-age story that explores the intensity of adolescent relationships. Preparing to leave small-town Cornwall for the bright lights of university and beyond, best friends Ina, Holman and Tre arrange one final night together. Inspired by Ina's Greek heritage, they gather in a sea cave late at night to perform an ancient ritual that they hope will cement their friendship forever. But as the waves rise to cut them off and the ritual unfolds, hidden betrayals emerge and they begin to fear that the cave may hold other unimaginably dark secrets. . .

Fame fades. The gold in the hills runs out. For years, Francis Harmon traded off her reputation as a star actress in the prospering American cities. Now she and her companion May have washed up in a cabin on the Alaskan frontier, while May's daughter prospects for gold. The gold rush is almost exhausted. May makes a desperate gamble to reclaim Francis's fame, and their fortune. When Francis is struck down by illness, they each must choose between facing the threat of their future and the lure of their dreams of the past. In Skagway, a tale of the desires and loyalties of women in an American wilderness, is a compelling and lyrical first play by Irish writer Karen Ardiff.

Silver Johnny is the new singing sensation, straight out of a low-life Soho clubland bar in 1958. His success could be the big break for two dead-end workers in the bar, if they play their cards right and trust the owner of the place to make a good deal with the local money mogul. Before they can dream what to do with all the money they'll make, the owner turns up dead, Silver Johnny disappears, the second in command takes over the bar and power positions are juggled about. Going through the uppers and downers filched from pocketbooks, and trying to keep a lid on the precocious anger of the dead owner's son, the band of losers figures out the law of the streets and who killed the boss, but not in time to save one of their own, and perhaps their souls.

A sharp, hilarious behind-the-scenes glimpse of diplomacy in action, centering on England's bid for the 2018 World Cup. A footballer, a prince and a prime minister walk into a hotel room. . . David Beckham, Prince William and David Cameron are in Zurich the night before England's bid for the 2018 World Cup. Between them they thrash out a plan that will woo FIFA and bring the beautiful game home. But as precious minutes tick by things start to go disastrously and deliciously wrong. Whatever else is at stake, this is more, much more, than a question of sport.

A play about what happens when you push things underground, set in New York 1969 in the sweltering few days before the eruption of the Stonewall riots. Kicked out of the military after a year in Vietnam, Ruby rocks up in Greenwich Village in high heels and a rage, and meets the street kid who will change his world. Jon Bradfield and Martin Hooper's vibrant drama unfolds in a mafia-run bar greased with smart-talking queers, bribe-happy cops and nervous Wall Street high-flyers.

A funny and tender drama that explores the struggles, shifting loyalties and unshakeable hopes that come with having next to nothing in America. In South Boston you're starting on the wrong side of the tracks - it's tough just making ends meet. So when sharp-tongued single mother Margie loses yet another job, she'll do anything it takes to pay the bills. Hearing that an old boyfriend who has made good is back in town, Margot hopes he may be the ticket to turning her life around.

A razor-sharp new comedy that exposes the dilemmas of working in charity today and asks whether doing good is always the same as being good. 7.32am. Christmas Eve. Disasters Relief's staff parties are legendary - but their aftermath cataclysmic. Nick and Abi wake amidst the carnage to breaking news: a massive earthquake has struck Pakistan. Gathering their clothes - and dignity - the race with rivals Oxfam begins. Who can be the first to dispatch branded aid in full view of the world media? And how far are they willing to go? With the appalling spectre of last night's antics hanging over everything, the day rapidly spirals into a dizzying web of secrets and lies.

A practical, hands-on guide - for actors, directors, teachers and students - to Brecht's theory and practice of theatre, with a full set of exercises to help put theory into practice. The Complete Brecht Toolkit examines, one by one, Brecht's many, sometimes contradictory ideas about theatre - and how he put them into practice. Here are explanations of all the famous key terms, such as Alienation Effect, Epic Theatre and Gestus, as well as many others which go to make up what we think of as 'Brechtian theatre'. The book also explores the practical application of these theories in Acting, Language, Music, Design and Direction. Also included are fifty exercises contributed by Julian Jones, to help student actors investigate Brecht's ideas for themselves, becoming thoroughly familiar with the tools in the Brecht toolkit.

The author's guide to Kindertransport, an invaluable and uniquely authoritative resource for anyone studying, teaching or performing the play. Since it was first staged by the Soho Theatre Company in London in 1993, Diane Samuels'Kindertransport has enjoyed huge success around the world, has been revived numerous times, and is widely studied in schools and colleges. The play tells the story of how nine-year-old Eva, a German Jewish girl, is sent by her parents on the Kindertransport to start a new life with a foster family in Britain just before the outbreak of World War Two. Over forty years later, she has changed her name to Evelyn and denied her roots. When her own daughter discovers some old letters and photos in the attic, she is forced to confront the truth about who she really is and to reveal a dark secret that she has done everything to keep hidden. In this author's guide to the play, Diane Samuels investigates the historical background, drawing on the personal testimony of those whose lives were transformed by the Kindertransport. She explores the creative process that shaped the play through successive drafts. And she presents detailed accounts from the actors, directors, a composer and designer who have contributed to the play's most notable productions.

This collection features Chekhov's best-known short plays in brand new translations: three farces, two comic duologues and a monologue, all of them referred to by Chekhov as 'vaudevilles' and all written in the late 1880s before any of his great full-length plays. 'I don't much care for theatre,' he wrote at the time, 'but I do enjoy vaudevilles.' The Bear, The Proposal and The Wedding are all farces on the preposterous business of courtship and marriage. A Tragic Figure and Swansong are comic duologues: one about a civil servant sweltering in Moscow coping with the incessant demands of his family from their summer dacha, the other about a melancholy old actor perked up by memories of past glories. On the Evils of Tobacco is a bittersweet monologue in which a scientific lecture is hijacked by thoughts of domestic misery. These accurate and actable translations by Chekhov expert Stephen Mulrine reveal a dramatist revelling in the broad comedy of human behaviour, a comedy which was refined in his later masterpieces. Highly entertaining, these comic shorts offer a fascinating insight into Chekhov's development as a dramatist, and will provide actors at any level - student, amateur or professional - with an ideal showcase. This edition also includes an introduction, a chronology of key dates, and a pronunciation guide.

A gripping new version of Strindberg's masterly, darkly hilarious depiction of the struggles and strains of marriage. Meet Edgar and Alice. Married for almost thirty years, theirs is a relationship of mutual explosive loathing. Strindberg's tale paints a compelling and bitterly funny portrait of a magnificently doomed couple, whose ongoing battle threatens not only their future, but that of their friends and children as well. Howard Brenton's Dances of Death includes both Part One and the rarely performed Part Two of this masterpiece of European theatre, condensed into a single two-act drama.

Richard Eyre's version of Ibsen's Ghosts is a fresh and vivid depiction of a woman who yearns for emotional and sexual freedom, but who is too timid to achieve it.. Helene Alving has spent her life suspended in an emotional void after the death of her cruel but outwardly charming husband. She is determined to escape the ghosts of her past by telling her son, Oswald, the truth about his father. But on his return from his life as a painter in France, Oswald reveals how he has already inherited the legacy of Alvings dissolute life.

An exciting, fresh and accessible adaptation of Dostoyevsky's masterful novel. Starving, destitute student Raskolnikov is surrounded by the harsh injustices of the world: the grime of poverty and prostitution, unscrupulous pawnbrokers chasing debts, and a sister about to marry someone she doesn't love to keep her family alive. His guilt is unbearable. Only Sonya, a downtrodden prostitute, can offer any chance of redemption. As Raskolnikov enters a dangerous cat and mouse game with the examining magistrate, a psychological thriller unfolds that probes how far humanity might go when driven by disillusionment and whether any crime can be justified by a higher purpose.

Winter 1909. Snow is falling across London. Wendy Darling and her two brothers sleep peacefully in the bedroom, as their parents bicker downstairs. In a sudden flurry of snow their window blows open, and into their lives tumbles a mischievous boy called Peter. Shortly followed by a very fractious fairy by the name of Tink. In the magical Peter Pan, Wendy sees not only a great adventure, but also a chance to rediscover the key to her parents' lost happiness. With the aid of a little fairy dust she agrees to fly with Peter to Neverland. there she will give the Lost Boys a run for their money, defeat Captain Hook and his pirate crew, and ultimately, learn what it means to grow up.

An uplifting story of the triumph of love, inspiration and hope against all odds, laced with the song and dance of austere, 1940s Britain. Ricky Braithwaite, an ex-RAF fighter pilot and Cambridge graduate, arrives in London in 1948. Despite his First Class degree in electronic engineering he is turned down for job after job in his chosen profession and discovers the reality of life as a black man in post-war England. Taking the only job he can get, Ricky begins his first teaching post, in a tough but progressive East End school. Supported by an enlightened headmaster, the determined teacher turns teenage rebelliousness into self-respect, contempt into consideration and hate into love, and on the way, Ricky himself learns that he has more in common with his students than he had realised.

This high-spirited drama by Pirandello defies expectations. It is not the intellectual whirlwind of his Six Characters in Search of an Author but takes us instead to the heart of a rural community where property and kinship provoke fierce passions. Liola, a young man untroubled by tradition, takes the part of nature all the way. Of course it's wrong to force a well-guarded gate, but a boy who follows an open path, well... Written in Sicilian dialect, Liola is rarely played in the English language. Tanya Ronder's new version is performed by an Irish cast and gypsy musicians. It's unexpected, funny and touching. You can't have a full barrel and a drunk wife, you just can't cut it both ways.

A dark and visceral coming-of-age vampire love story, based on the acclaimed novel and film. Winner of the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Theatre, 2014 Oskar is a bullied, lonely, teenage boy living with his mother on a housing estate at the edge of town, when a spate of sinister killings rocks the neighbourhood. Eli is the young girl who has just moved in next door. She doesn't go to school and never leaves the flat by day. Sensing in each other a kindred spirit, the two become devoted friends. What Oskar doesn't know is that Eli has been a teenager for a very long time. . .

A truthful, personal and insightful exploration of the state of arts funding and carrying on in the face of adversity, by the renowned founder of Out of Joint. One March morning, out of the blue, Max Stafford-Clark learned that the Arts Council had drastically cut their grant to his theatre company, Out of Joint, leaving it in danger of imminent collapse. Journal of the Plague Year is his account of what happened next, as he sets out to contest the cut, make the case for public funding of the arts, and continue producing the work for which he and his company are renowned. Max's journal often takes on an autobiographical flavour, including the unexpectedly moving story of his two fathers, his surreal encounter with the New York theatre world, and the shocking details of what it is to suffer a massively debilitating stroke. By turns funny, alarming and deeply personal, Journal of the Plague Year offers a fascinating exposé of the often Kafkaesque workings of arts subsidy in England, and the financial and artistic manoeuvrings which are a fact of life for every arts organisation today. It is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the state of our arts, from students to theatregoers, and from struggling arts workers right up to the Secretary of State for Culture.

In this volume of the Good Audition Guides, you'll find fifty fantastic speeches for women, all written since the year 2000, by some of our most exciting dramatic voices. Playwrights featured in Contemporary Monologues for Women include Mike Bartlett, Alexi Kaye Campbell, Caryl Churchill, Helen Edmundson, debbie tucker green, Ella Hickson, Lucy Kirkwood, Rona Munro, Joanna Murray-Smith and Enda Walsh, and the plays themselves were premiered at the very best theatres across the UK including the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Bush, Soho and Hampstead Theatres, Manchester Royal Exchange, the Traverse in Edinburgh, the Abbey in Dublin, 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 Women 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.

Thomas Cromwell. Son of a blacksmith, political genius, briber, charmer, bully. A man with a deadly expertise in manipulating people and events. Mike Poulton's two-part adaptation of Hilary Mantel's acclaimed novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies is a thrilling and utterly convincing portrait of a brilliant man embroiled in the lethal, high-stakes politics of the Court of Henry VIII. Wolf Hall begins in England in 1527. Henry has been King for almost twenty years and is desperate for a male heir; but Cardinal Wolsey is unable to deliver the divorce he craves. Yet for a man with the right talents this crisis would be an opportunity. Thomas Cromwell is a commoner who has rised in Wolsey's household - and he will stop at nothing to secure the King's desires and advance his own ambitions. In Bring Up the Bodies, the volatile Anne Boleyn is now Queen, her career seemingly entwined with that of Cromwell. But when the King begins to fall in love with plain Jane Seymour, the ever-pragmatic Cromwell must negotiate within an increasingly perilous Court to satisfy Henry, defend the nation and, above all, to secure his own rise in the world. Hilary Mantel's novels are the most formidable literary achievements of recent times, both recipients of the Man Booker Prize. Adapted by Mike Poulton, the plays were premiered by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, in December 2013, directed by Jeremy Herrin. This edition contains a substantial set of notes by Hilary Mantel on each of the principal characters, offering a unique insight into the plays and an invaluable resource to any theatre companies wishing to stage them.

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.

Michael Pennington's solo show about Shakespeare, Sweet William, has been acclaimed throughout Europe and in the US as a unique blend of showmanship and scholarship. In this book, he deepens his exploration of Shakespeare's life and work - and the connection between the two - that lies at its heart. It is illuminated throughout by the unrivalled insights into the plays that Pennington has gained from the twenty thousand hours he has spent working on them as a leading actor, an artistic director and a director - and as the author of three previous books on individual Shakespeare plays. With practical analysis, wonderfully detailed and entertaining interpretations of characters and scenes, and vivid reflections on Shakespeare's theatre and ours, the result is a masterclass of the most enjoyable kind for theatregoers, professionals, students and anyone interested in Shakespeare.

He's the anonymous Twitter sensation whose hilarious and unfailingly accurate barbs satirising and celebrating the theatre industry have won him a devoted following. His identity is the subject of feverish speculation in the media, fuelled by his regular appearances at West End opening nights in costume, wig and latex mask. He has become a genuine theatre impresario, launching talent competitions Search for a Twitter Star and its successor, Search for a Twitter Composer. And now West End Producer is ready to share all he's learnt about how to get ahead in showbusiness, in the form of a handy paperback book.

Lucy Kerbel's 100 Great Plays for Women is an inspiring guide to a hundred plays that put female performers centre stage, dispelling the myth that 'There just aren't any good plays for women'. With a foreword by Kate Mosse. Women buy the majority of theatre tickets, make up half the acting profession, and are often the largest cohort of any youth theatre or drama club. And yet they have traditionally been underrepresented on stage. 100 Great Plays for Women seeks to address this gap by celebrating the wealth of drama available for women to perform. Theatre director Lucy Kerbel's myth-busting book features compact and insightful introductions to 100 plays, each of which has an entirely or predominantly female cast, with the female characters taking an equal or decisive role in driving the on-stage action. Also included are ten plays for solo female performers. The result is a personal but wide-ranging reappraisal of the theatrical canon, a snapshot of the very best writing - from ancient times right up to the present day - that has female protagonists at its heart. A fascinating mixture of familiar and less well-known works dealing with a broad range of themes, it is an essential resource for all directors and producers looking for plays to stage, writers seeking inspiration and actors trying to track down a new audition piece. It is also an exciting provocation that will have readers, both male and female, championing their own personal favourites. The book is the culmination of a project by Tonic Theatre and the National Theatre Studio. Tonic Theatre was founded by Lucy Kerbel in 2011 to support the theatre industry in achieving greater gender equality in its workforces and repertoires; it partners with leading theatre companies around the UK on a range of projects, schemes and creative works. The National Theatre Studio provides support and resources for both emerging and established theatre-makers of outstanding talent, and contributes to the National's ongoing search for and training of new artists.

An inspiring, practical handbook for anyone working with young people to make devised theatre. Devising theatre is a fundamental element of the Drama curriculum, but managing the process is often demanding, difficult and challenging. It can lead even highly compotent Drama teachers to feel disempowered. However, help is at hand, whether you're a novice coping with your first exam season, a non-specialist or a veteran in need of some fresh ideas. Making Theatre provides a framework that will take the stress out of the process, and help your students realise their full potential.

An urgent and explosive new play that explores of the pressures on young people today in the wake of advancing technology. When a naked photograph of Scarlett goes viral, she becomes the centre of attention for all the wrong reasons. But while rumours run wild and everyone forms an opinion, Scarlett just stays silent... With roles for up to twenty-four young female actors (though it can also be performed by a smaller cast), the play is perfect for any schools, youth theatres or drama groups looking to tackle a contemporary subject in a theatrically exciting way. Specially commissioned by Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Theatre Royal Plymouth and West Yorkshire Playhouse, Girls Like That was developed through work with young people from the three theatres and first performed by their youth theatre companies in 2013.

A moving, comical and eye-opening story of four young women fighting for education and self-determination against the larger backdrop of womens suffrage. 1896. Girton College, Cambridge, the first college in Britain to admit women. The Girton girls study ferociously and match their male peers grade for grade. Yet, when the men graduate, the women leave with nothing but the stigma of being a 'blue stocking' - an unnatural, educated woman. They are denied degrees and go home unqualified and unmarriageable. In ?Blue Stockings?, Tess Moffat and her fellow first years are determined to win the right to graduate. But little do they anticipate the hurdles in their way: the distractions of love, the cruelty of the class divide or the strength of the opposition, who will do anything to stop them. The play follows them over one tumultuous academic year, in their fight to change the future of education.

F*ck it. Today I am going to be a new person. No more slutty pizzas. No more porny wanks. Lots more lovely threesomes. Go. The Fleabag bites back. A rip-roaring account of some sort of a female living some sort of life in some sort of city. Critically acclaimed DryWrite make their Edinburgh debut with the world premiere of a new one-woman show written and performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. . . .a life-force of a performer who is one of our very brightest upcoming talents (Evening Standard). Shes good, very good, very good indeed (Times).

Luke wants Danny, but Danny's got a secret. Joe's happy in goal but Geoff wants a headline gig. Viv just wants to beat the lesbians to the league title. Game on.

An engaging, upbeat guide for any student thinking of applying to drama school. If you're thinking of applying to drama school, The Excellent Audition Guide will give you everything you need to prepare well and perform your audition to the best of your ability. Experienced actor, director and drama teacher Andy Johnson leads you through every step of the application process. A reassuring, encouraging 'how to' book that demystifies an often scary-looking process, The Excellent Audition Guide is ideal not just for applicants themselves, but also for parents, teachers and careers advisors looking to help them fulfill their acting ambitions.

A practical investigation into story-theatre and the art of telling stories through theatre, by the renowned director who founded Shared Experience Theatre Company. The book includes over two hundred exercises, improvisations and workshops dealing with the practical aspects of story-theatre, such as building an ensemble, creating a physical vocabulary, and transforming written narrative into drama. It draws on examples ranging from traditional legends and folklore, through the works of Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and Evelyn Waugh, to contemporary fiction. Alfreds shows how each story demands its own particular set of dramatic choices, opening up endless possibilities for performance. Then What Happens? - like the author's tremendously successful first book, Different Every Night - will be invaluable to directors and actors, to dramatists working in the field of adaptation, to those devising and working from improvisation, and to any theatregoer who has been moved by the power of an unfolding story to ask: 'Then what happens?'

A practical guide for actors who want to find work in the corporate sector, by a veteran with over 1400 corporate events to his credit. Thousands of actors in the UK make their living not from treading the boards but in the conference centres and training rooms of the nations corporate sector. In this, the first book to be published about the increasingly accessible and lucrative business of corporate acting, Paul Clayton shows how this sort of work - training, coaching, role-plays, Forum Theatre and live events - can keep you in paid employment, and your skills sharp, whilst you look for other acting opportunities. He takes you through every aspect of the industry, with a series of practical examples and invaluable tips at every stage, including:
What sort of work is available - and how you can get it
The various role-play techniques youll encounter
The dos and donts for offering constructive feedback to your clients
What Forum Theatre is - and how to do it
How to handle live events - and escape with your dignity intact
Written with humour and great insight, So You Want To Be A Corporate Actor? encourages you to look at your skills from a business point of view, enabling you to take control over your own career. It is a must-read for any actor wishing to broaden their skills and make themselves more employable at all stages of their career.

He calls me sometimes. Usually in the dark hours of the morning. Mummy he cries. Where are you? Come and find me. After years apart, two families come together to rediscover their lost friendship. Instead, they conjure up the spirit of a buried tragedy. Set against the economic crisis of the 1930s, this boldly theatrical tale of grief and denial by Alexi Kaye Campbell (The Pride, Apologia, The Faith Machine) is vividly brought to life by Shared Experience

Six generations, twenty-three characters one very special piece of furniture. Tanya Ronder's thrilling play is an epic tale of belonging, identity and the things we pass on.

A deeply moving meditation on love, loss and grief. October 1972. In a city somewhere in the American Midwest, Carla is trying to rebuild her life. Her husband is gone - killed in Vietnam. Now, under the watchful eye of her mother-in-law, she must raise her young son whilst struggling to avoid the sympathy of her local community. But everything changes with the unexpected arrival of a soldier on her doorstep.

A young entrepreneur sets out on a quest for wealth with priceless ambition and a purse of gold. A fable of free market economics and cut-throat capitalism.

A timely play based on the true story of an imprisoned Nobel Laureate. On 3 April 2011, as he was boarding a flight to Taipei, the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was arrested at Beijing Airport. Advised merely that his travel could damage state security, he was escorted to a van by officials, after which he disappeared for eighty-one days. On his release, the government claimed that his imprisonment related to tax evasion. Howard Brenton's play is based on Ai Weiwei's account in Barnaby Martin's book Hanging Man, in which he told the story of that imprisonment - by turns surreal, hilarious, and terrifying. A portrait of the artist in extreme conditions, it is also an affirmation of the centrality of art and freedom of speech in civilised society.

By turns dark and shimmering, Moth is a fast, funny and heartbreaking story about two young people with nowhere to go. Sebastian is that kid at high school. Hes weird. He smells. Hes obsessed with comics, and talks to himself. But after a catastrophic fallout with his only friend, Claryssa, he wakes up with a moth in a jar by his bed, and a calling to save the souls of all humanity. And so begins the Passion of Sebastian: a journey into a terrifying and starless night.

A powerful, provocative play about international relations and the shifting balance of power between East and West. Tiananmen Square, 1989. As tanks roll through Beijing and soldiers hammer on his hotel door, Joe - a young American photojournalist - captures a piece of history. In New York, 2012 Joe is covering a presidential election, marred by debate over cheap labour and the outsourcing of American jobs to Chinese factories. When a cryptic message is left in a Beijing newspaper, Joe is driven to discover the truth behind the unknown hero he captured on film. Who was he? What happened to him? And could he still be alive? A gripping political examination and an engaging personal drama, Chimerica examines the changing fortunes of two countries whose futures will shape the whole world.

A thrilling, funny and spectacular adaptation of Joan Aiken's classic children's novel, perfectly suited to performance by theatre companies and drama groups of any size. A thrilling adventure set in an alternative history of England, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase tells the story of two brave and determined girls as they fight against ferocious wolves, snowy wastelands and their very evil guardian, Miss Slighcarp. The opening of the Channel Tunnel has led to dangerous wolves roaming Britain, but this is not the only danger that cousins Bonnie and Sylvia, and their friend Simon the Goose-boy, must face as they encounter unforgettable characters and mysterious scheming. Russ Tunneys magical adaptation was originally performed by a cast of ?ve, but it has also been staged by  and is suitable for  much larger casts. Featuring a chorus who narrate, sing and comment on the action, and plenty of opportunities for song and dance, this version will suit any theatre company, youth theatre or drama group wanting to exercise their theatrical imagination.

My First Play is a unique collection of pieces by playwrights, actors and theatre directors  all of them regular Nick Hern Books authors  in response to the simplest of briefs: write about your first play. Candid, hilarious, and often sharply revealing, the resulting pieces  many of them written in the hurly-burly of work on a new production  combine to prove the power of theatre to entrance us, and hold us captive in its spell. Included here are remarkable first-person accounts from many of our leading playwrights: Caryl Churchill performing Cinderella to her parents with a cast of dolls and stuffed animals; Howard Brenton pinching his first main character from a boys comic; Jack Thorne having to become a thief to get his first play on; Conor McPherson still waiting to write his first play. There are also enthralling insights into the first steps in theatre of some of our principal actors and theatre directors: Antony Sher discovering theatre in Cape Town during the apartheid years; Dominic Cooke paying the price for using a real knife in performance; Harriet Walters photographic recall of the annual outing to Peter Pan; Richard Eyre on an open-air performance of A Midsummer Nights Dream that descends into chaos. Published to celebrate twenty-five years of Nick Hern Books, the royalties from the sale of this magical collection of sixty-six miniature autobiographies will be donated to the Theatre Section of the Writers Guild.

Why does Shakespeare write in the way he does? And how can actors and directors get the most out of his incomparable plays? In Speaking the Speech, Giles Block - 'Master of the Words' at Shakespeare's Globe - sets out to answer these two simple questions. The result is the most authoritative, most comprehensive book yet written on speaking Shakespeare's words. Throughout the book, the author subjects Shakespeare's language to rigorous examination, illuminating his extraordinary ability to bring his characters to life by a simple turn of phrase, a breath or even a pause. Block shows how we can only fully understand these characters, and the meaning of the plays, by speaking the words out loud. Drawing on characters from across all of Shakespeare's plays - and looking in detail at Macbeth, The Winter's Tale, Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice and Much Ado About Nothing - Block covers everything the actor needs to know, including: the essential distinctions between prose, rhymed verse and unrhymed verse, and the different strategies to be used when speaking them; the difference between 'you' and 'thou'; Shakespeare's use of silence; and the vital importance of paying attention to Shakespeare's 'original' punctuation. Speaking the Speech is a book for actors and directors who want to improve their understanding of Shakespeare's language in order to speak it better. It is also a fascinating read for anyone who wants to deepen their appreciation of Shakespeare's language and the way it comes to life when spoken aloud.

In The Quality of Mercy, one of the world's most revered theatre directors reflects on a fascinating variety of Shakespearean topics. In this sequence of essays - all but one published here for the first time - Peter Brook debates such questions as who was the man who wrote Shakespeare's plays, why Shakespeare is never out of date, and how actors should approach Shakespeare's verse. He also revisits some of the plays which he has directed with notable brilliance, such as King Lear, Titus Andronicus and, of course, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Taken as a whole, this short but immensely wise book offers an illuminating and provocative insight into a great director's relationship with our greatest playwright.

It's not the losing that matters, - it's the taking part. Faced with recession and cutbacks, the company has decided to lose someone from Thomas's team. He is determined it won't be him, but his two colleagues have other ideas. Written in the form of a bull-fight, with graphic language and imagery, Bull depicts ritual competition and bullying in the modern work place.

A collection of short plays by exciting new Irish writers, selected and introduced by the literary manager of the Abbey Theatre. These eight short plays by some of the most exciting new Irish playwrights around were commissioned and staged by the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. All of the plays are written for one man and one woman - with one exception, which is written for two men - and are ideal for performance in studio theatres, one-act play festivals, and as duologues. Together, the plays showcase the Abbey's commitment to nurturing and introducing the very best new Irish writing.

A unique new approach to the understanding and training of the actor's voice. Structured as a series of practical workshops, the book leads you, session by session, through the foundations of release and relaxation, breath and voice support. Later sessions concentrate on developing your stamina and muscularity, deep resonance, and your ability to create and sustain extreme vocal states. The book will help you to develop a voice that is utterly integrated with your body, breath, mind and emotion  and, therefore, with any character or text you are working on. Accompanying the book is a 110-minute DVD, showing many of the exercises and sessions in action, and featuring full-length workouts and warm-ups which you can join in with, to help you prepare your own voice. The result is a systematic and rigorous course to train and improve one of your most important instruments as an actor. It will prove essential reading (and viewing) for students, training actors, working professionals - and their teachers and coaches.

An essential guide for young people who want to work in the theatre - but aren't sure exactly what they want to do, or how to get to do it. Many young people are eager to experience the excitement and allure of working in theatre, but often this only goes as far as imagining themselves as actors, on stage in front of an audience every night. In reality, there are more jobs off the stage than on it. They can be every bit as rewarding as acting - and certainly more secure because there are invariably fewer people competing for each one. Using her expertise as Education and Training Editor for The Stage, Susan Elkin encourages aspiring theatre-makers and workers to look beyond acting to some of the other behind-the-scenes options available: playwriting, directing, producing, designing, stage management, administration, publicity, front-of-house, stage door... * She describes what each job entails and how you might achieve that role, including relevant courses and training opportunities offered in the UK. There are also numerous case studies of theatre professionals describing how they got where they are, and top tips for following in their footsteps. Written in a clear, no-nonsense style, this book is an ideal starting point for students considering a career in theatre, but also a useful tool for parents, teachers and career-advisers looking to learn more about the options open to interested young people. * And, for those of you who really must, the book does cover how to get into acting too.

An impassioned and invaluable guide for actors and students of musical theatre. In Acting Through Song, Paul Harvard takes the techniques of modern actor training - including the theories of Stanislavsky, Brecht, Meisner and Laban, amongst others - and applies them to the fundamental component of musical theatre: singing. With dozens of exercises to put these theories into practice, and numerous examples from a broad range of musicals, the result is a comprehensive and rigorous acting course for those training in musical theatre or already performing, whether amateur or professional, to realise their potential - and act better.

A moving and darkly comic story of an Afghanistan veteran's search for redemption, and a fascinating insight into the plight of ex-servicemen in modern Britain. Ex-squaddie Ray - mentally scarred from his time in Afghanistan - returns home to Doncaster to attempt to see his kids and reconcile with his ex-wife, Carla - mentally scarred from her marriage to Ray. A pub lock-in provides the setting for the humorous, heart-wrenching action that follows. Glory Dazed won the BBC's Alfred Bradley Bursary Prize 2011. It was developed in collaboration with ex-soldiers serving prison sentences at HMP & YOI Doncaster by Second Shot Productions, a social enterprise that exists to give serving prisoners and ex-offenders opportunities within creative industries.

A startling and darkly comic drama about childhood, family and fantasy. Siblings Tiana, Tionne and Tanika have found themselves home alone. Tiana's keeping it all together by taking charge of housework and homework. But Tionne's experiments are getting stranger and Tanika's starting to act up. As the outside world begins to press in, the three will do anything to keep their secret safe from the adults who come to call.

One bathroom. Two people. One day. A relationship witnessed in minute, devastating detail. A story of intimacy, fragility and the darker side of love, Jack Thorne's Mydidae exposes the private and disturbing moments a couple share, and explores what becomes of a relationship when it is held together not only by love, but by fear, guilt and despair.

When an irish busker and a young Czech mother meet through a shared love of music, their songwriting sparks a deep connection and a tender, longing romance that neither of them could have expected.

Ruth Ellis was the last woman to hanged in Britain, convicted of the cold-blooded killing of her unfaithful lover. This gripping new play by the author of the hugely popular Be My Baby takes a new look at the real woman behind the headlines and at the events that drive her to murder. A divorcee with a young child to care for, Ruth works in the kind of nightclubs where there's more than just drink on offer. The girls work hard, play hard and dream of a movie-star life. Then she meets the wealthy, womanising David, a racing driver with whom she becomes obsessed. Fame comes but not in the way she imagines. Why does their relationship end in murder? When on trial Ruth pleads not guilty but offers no defence. Why does she show no remorse? And, just who is it she's trying to protect?

A timely and compelling play about race, brotherhood and the weight of past mistakes. It's 1982. London is restless, gripped by spiralling unemployment and inner city riots. Ska beats dominate the airwaves and in a flat in Deptford, two mixed-race brothers are unexpectedly reunited. When Chima returns home, he finds that his sixteen-year-old brother Onochie has become a skinhead who no longer thinks of himself as black. Chima has been blamed for the death of a white girl and the hostile world outside won't rest until it delivers its rough justice. But will Onochie side with the community he's tried so hard to belong to, or stand by the brother he barely knows?

Four women from different moments in the twentieth century talk across time in Linda McLean's extraordinary play about faith, lust and family. Jane, a kitchen maid, the first in her family to move to the big city for work; Lizzie, passionate but unskilled and permanently dodging poverty; Sally, an early school-leaver who escapes a dangerous relationship by working her way into a profession; and Fiona, first in her family to go to university and discover a world of bewildering choices.

A thrilling play about the race to be the first woman in space. She's the gritty, glamorous aviator; the fastest, highest, bravest woman in the world, but with one last race to go: to dream the impossible dream, to reach the unreachable stars. If NASA will let her - and Congress plays ball. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. . .because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one that we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win- President Kennedy, 1961.

This delightful stage adaptation combines all the joy and mystery of Kenneth Grahame's much-loved classic with the lightness of touch and playful theatricality that award-winning playwright Mike Kenny is known for. Tired of spring-cleaning, Mole leaves Mole End and ventures out to the riverbank, where he befriends the resourceful Ratty, the gruff Badger and the infamous Toad of Toad Hall (Poop-poop!). Together they explore the Wide World, and the Wild Wood, and try to keep Toad out of trouble. . .! With ample opportunities for creativity on stage and wonderful character parts for actors, it is ideal for schools and youth theatres, or any drama groups looking for a fresh new version of an old favourite.

It's 1940, and Britain is at war. Young Chas McGill has the second best collection of war souvenirs in town but desperately wants it to be the best. Amidst the bombs and air raids, Chas and his friends plan their own war effort in their newly built bunker. Friendships are forged and loyalties tested, in the adventure of a lifetime. . .The Machine Gunners won the Carnegie Medal and was recently voted one of the 10 most important childrens novels of the past 70 years. This moving and touching story vividly re-creates life in Britain during World War II, and is guaranteed to resonate with children and adults today.

As a BNP rally gathers momentum on the streets outside, four women meet to play bridge. Struggling to find common ground, they talk about the men they married, their gifted and delinquent children and what their own heritage means. But beliefs and loyalties are tested to the limit when Stephie's fourteen year old son, Jack, is implicated in a brutal racist attack that leaves an eleven year old Pakistani boy close to death. A raw, uncompromising drama about bigotry and racism that explores the insidious rise of the British National Party.

A step-by-step introduction to the key features of the Meisner Technique, including a full set of practical exercises. The Meisner Technique is at the forefront of actor training today: with its radical simplicity it has the power to reconnect actors with their bodies and emotions. Developed by the teacher and actor Sanford Meisner, the technique places emphasis on truthful interaction between actors. The aim is for the actor 'to live truthfully under imaginary circumstances' - to remain truly 'in the moment'. In Meisner in Practice, Nick Moseley offers actors a step-by-step introduction to the salient features of the technique, and puts these to the test through a succession of increasingly challenging practical exercises. He also addresses certain pitfalls and problems that he has encountered over many years of teaching Meisner in drama schools. This book will be of immense value to students, teachers and practitioners in exploring a technique that is becoming increasingly recognised as a core element of actor training.

A practical guide to training as an actor, helping you get the most out of drama school - and survive in the world beyond. Are you thinking of applying to drama school? Do you have a place already and want to get the most out of your training? Are you seeking to make the best possible start in the world beyond drama school? Becoming an Actor takes you, step by step, technique by technique, through everything you can expect to encounter at drama school, and in your first year as a professional actor. Stuffed with exercises and full of practical advice, it is the ideal handbook to accompany your training. Thomasina Unsworth teaches at Rose Bruford College, one of the UK's leading drama schools. Here she shows what acting classes at an accredited drama school are actually like, and offers guidance and support through what is a critical time in any actor's career. With many different exercises to help actors explore the techniques they need to master, Becoming an Actor is also an invaluable resource for those teaching acting, and for those seeking to refresh their training.

An exhilarating, challenging new play by Amnesty Award-winning playwright Clare Bayley. Isolated airports, midnight landings, secret assignations...how much do we know about what our governments are involved in? And do we want to know - or is it easier to turn a blind eye? Blue Sky is a gripping political thriller about justice, journalism and what might be happening in the English countryside in the dead of night.

anarchic, feisty but growing old, high society drop-out Judy Haussman remains in spirit with the ashrams of the 1960s while holding court in her dilapidated art Deco house on the Devon coast. My baby's home! Let's wake 'em up! The old rebels, eh? Let's show this younger generation what it's all about! Shall we get naked? after an operation, she's joined by wayward offspring Nick and Libby, sharp-eyed granddaughter Summer, local doctor Peter, and Daniel, a troubled teenager who makes use of the family's crumbling swimming pool. Together they share a few sweltering months as they alternately cling to and flee this louche and chaotic world of all-day drinking, infatuations, long-held resentments, free love and failure. The only thing to be in life is a rebel. Stephen Beresford's The Last of the Haussmans examines the fate of the revolutionary generation and offers a funny, touching and at times savage portrait of a family full of longing that's losing its grip. This house. This summer. I feel as though I've been in a coma for the last god knows how many years. Honestly. and I'm now finally waking up.

A gripping historical drama that dramatises a crucial moment of English history. December 1648. The Army has occupied London. Parliament votes not to put the imprisoned king on trial, so the Army moves against Westminster in the first and only military coup in English history. What follows over the next fifty-five days, as Cromwell seeks to compromise with a king who will do no such thing, is nothing less than the forging of a new nation, an entirely new world. Howard Brenton's play depicts the dangerous and dramatic days when, in a country exhausted by Civil War, a few great men attempt to think the unthinkable: to create a country without a king.

A painfully comic excavation of a family history that asks if there is an authorised version of the past - or just the one we can live with. Kate Bane returns home to her parents for a winter weekend to introduce her new boyfriend. As the snow falls, Kate finds herself searching with increasing desperation for the truth about her family's past. Are her memories fact, or are they continually shifting acts of imagination? Unable to pin down the truth, can she write a version of the family mythology that will ensure her own happiness?

An uplifting, bittersweet drama set in a nursing home, celebrating friendship and the human spirit. A nursing-home conservatory. Sean sits alone, abandoned to his memories. In storms Patricia, a feisty woman with a zest for life and for handsome men in wheelchairs. A wary intimacy develops between the two, an unforeseen relationship, by turns charming and combative, tender and funny. Infused with wry humour and humanity, Deirdre Kinahan's Halcyon Days is a celebration of our quest for meaning in even the most seemingly hopeless of circumstances.

An absorbing study of attitudes towards outsiders, spanning two continents and sixty years.. 1949. Small town Colorado. A group of regular American students struggle to accept a foreigner in their midst; their unthinking behaviour will have terrible consequences that are to change world history. In London, sixty years later, a university professors work analysing those consequences takes on a frightening personal dimension when Layla Ahmad walks into his office. . .

On a moonless night in August when the sea trout are ready to run, a man brings his new girlfriend to the remote family cabin where he has come for the fly-fishing since he was a boy. But she's not the only woman he has brought here - or indeed the last.

Lucy Kirkwood's sharp comedy looks at power games and privacy in the media and beyond. Carrie's getting them out for the lads, Charlotte's just grateful to have a job, Sam's being asked to sell more than his body, and Aidan's trying to keep ?his magazine from going under. Set in the cut-throat media world, Lucy Kirkwood's timely new comedy exposes power games and privacy in the age of Photoshop. [NSFW = Not Safe For Work, online material which the viewer may not want to be seen accessing in a public or formal setting such as at work.]

Before It Rains is set on a proud, forgotten Cardiff estate. Gloria is a single mum who enjoys sitting in her deckchair drinking her troubles away on her allotment, while her gentle son, Michael, digs the soil and makes sure everything is in order. From a relocated, troubled home, Carl  wild, unpredictable and near feral watches both the mother and son with interest, bouncing his ball. It's a play about what a mother would do to protect her son and how complicated friendship can be when you haven't been taught to love. Funny, brave and beautifully told, Katherine Chandler's tale of parenthood, protection and provocation looks at how we all develop our own ways of coping with the world, our craving for companionship and the consequences of having either threatened.

Major Oscar Hadley is flown to the front line to probe allegations of severe misconduct within a self-styled 'Bully Boy' unit of the British army. When young squaddie, Eddie Clark, from Burnley is interrogated Oscar begins to discover that truth' in a modern insurgency can be a point of view rather than a fact. Sandi Toksvig tackles the challenging moral issues of contemporary military occupation and its effect on the mental health of serving soldiers. She asks the question, 'what makes a hero?' In this ferociously gripping story, Sandi Toksvig writes with startling insight and tenderness about the minds of soldiers.

Boy. Dad. Man. A lyrical tussle of will and minds. Boy wants to be bad like the rest. Dad wants the best for the boy. Man wants the boy to do whats best. A timely, urgent, razor-sharp drama about a teenage boy fighting to save his reputation, torn between the influence of his family, his friends and his school. Questioning where responsibility lies, Mad About the Boy explores the growing divide between the generations who gave, those who earned, and those who demand respect.

An uproarious underworld whodunit, Ronan O'Donnell's single-hander reworks the hardboiled crime thriller for our times. A suspicious death at the workplace and loner security guard Nick Prentice is hauled in for interrogation. The Inspector thinks he's got his man, as Nick's seedy wee stories' seem to nail him to the crime. Is he complicit in the death of two-bit shoplifter Gary Glover? Will Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson come to his rescue?

Someone sneezes. Someone can't get a signal. Someone shares a secret. Someone won't answer the door. Someone put an elephant on the stairs. Someone's not ready to talk. Someone is her brother's mother. Someone hates irrational numbers. Someone told the police. Someone got a message from the traffic light. Someone's never felt like this before. In this fast moving kaleidoscope more than a hundred characters try to make sense of what they know.

A child is shut in her room, a dog is dead in the road, someone is kissing her brother in law. A family locked in hatred is sending a son to war. And meanwhile in another country. . .

When Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead on his estate, with a look of terror still etched on his face, and the paw prints of a gigantic hound beside his body, the great detective Sherlock Holmes is summoned from Baker Street, with Dr Watson in tow, to unravel the mysteries surrounding his death, and investigate the ancient curse of the Hound of the Baskervilles...Packed full of the verbal and visual ingenuity that hit comedy team Peepolykus is known for, and offering abundant opportunities for silly comedy and slapstick, this version will suit any theatre company or drama group looking for a sublimely funny adaptation of a classic tale.

The passionate but doomed relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff - and its destructive impact on those surrounding them - is one of the most famous and enduring love stories in the English language. In Lucy Gough's adaptation for the stage, the spirit of Emily Brontë's haunting novel is brought to exhilarating life. Growing up together on the Yorkshire moors, Catherine Earnshaw and the gypsy Heathcliff are inseparable after he is adopted into her family. But when Catherine agrees to marry the refined Edgar Linton, Heathcliff setshis mind to revenge.

In an ancient, crumbling mansion, two men stumble across a dark and terrifying secret that will change their lives forever. David Filde is employed to catalogue the estate's impressive library and finds an incredible array of rare books. But as a series of strange and unexplained events conspire to keep Filde from his work, he realises that if he is to convince his septical employer that the mysterious phenomena he is experiencing is real, they must journey together to the very edge of terror to discover the source of the terrifying visitations. This gripping new adaptation of some of Charles Dickens' most haunting works, based on his spine-tingling tales of the unexpected, will have you on the edge of your seat.

A beautifully simple adaptation of one of Dickens's best-loved novels, bringing it thrillingly to life for the stage. When the orphan Pip meets the convict Magwitch in a graveyard and is forced to help him escape, his life takes a series of unexpected turns. Invited to the house of the mysterious Miss Havisham, he falls in love with her adopted daughter, the beautiful but cold-hearted Estella. Then the generosity of an unknown benefactor sends him to London to become a gentleman. But the truth behind his change of fortune, once revealed, is not what Pip expects...Eminently actable and stageable, this version is also ideal for schools and amateur theatre companies.

An insider's guide to achieving that dream career - by one of the brightest stars in musical theatre. Being in a West End or Broadway musical is the dream of thousands of talented performers. But competition is intense and reaching the spotlight can often require a leap into the dark. So You Want To Be In Musicals? is your comprehensive guide to building - and sustaining - a successful career in musical theatre, and introduces you to everything you need to know.

The theatre rehearsal room is a sacred place. What goes on there is mysterious, alchemical and closely guarded. So how are aspiring theatre directors supposed to learn their craft? In Getting Directions, Russ Hope gives us the benefit of unprecedented, fly-on-the-wall access to eight rehearsal rooms. He has shadowed some of the UK's most exciting young directors at each step of the way, on productions as diverse as Shakespeare at the Globe, Greek tragedy at the Gate, Tennessee Williams at the Young Vic, panto at the Lyric Hammersmith, and a touring Dickens dramatisation. Describing each of these rehearsal periods from first concept to first night in revealing and often remarkable detail, Hope gets under the skin of the professional director, and reveals the decisions they must make on a daily basis: How best to arrive at a concept and communicate this to a design team? Which games and exercises really help to unlock the text for actors? And what should you do if everything is falling apart during the tech?

Musicals are the most popular form of stage entertainment today, with the West End and Broadway dominated by numerous long-running hits. But for every Wicked or Phantom of the Opera, there are dozens of casualties that didn't fare quite so well. In this book, Julian Woolford explores the musical-theatre canon to explain why and how some musicals work, why some don't, and what you should (and shouldn't) do if you're thinking of writing your own. Drawing on his experience as a successful writer and director of musicals, and as a lecturer in writing musicals at the University of London, Woolford outlines every step of the creative process, from hatching the initial idea and developing a structure for the work, through creating the book, the music and the lyrics, and on to the crucial process of rewriting. He then guides the reader through getting a musical produced, with invaluable advice about generating future productions and sustaining a career.

A treasure trove of advice, support and encouragement that no performer should be without. Honest, witty and direct, The Golden Rules of Acting is every actor's best friend - in handy paperback form. 'When auditioning, rehearsing or in a performance, take a risk - the worst that can happen is that you get embarrassed. You won't die.' Easy to dip into, fully illustrated throughout, and designed to be both instructive and empowering, The Golden Rules of Acting won't tell you how to act - but it will tell you how to be an actor. 'Always remember, the people auditioning you want you to be brilliant. They want you to solve their casting problem.' If you're a working actor, drama-school student, someone who wants to become an actor, or simply someone who has a dream and wants to make it a reality, this book is for you. 'NEVER harmonise when singing 'Happy Birthday' - this has nothing to do with work, it's just all actors do it & it's bloody annoying.'

A fascinating, witty and characteristically exuberant dramatic exploration of the Shakespeare authorship debate. Is it possible that the son of an illiterate tradesman, from a small market town in Warwickshire, could have written the greatest dramatic works the world has ever seen? It's a question that has puzzled scholars, theatre practitioners and theatregoers for many years. The philosopher, Francis Bacon; the Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere; and Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke: all of them have been put forward as the real author of the plays. But why would they hide behind an anonymous actor? Who was the real Bard of Stratford? Why should we care? Mark Rylance is one of a number of leading actors who seriously question the idea that William Shakespeare was the man behind the thirty-seven plays that have moved, inspired and amazed generations. First performed at Chichester Festival Theatre in 2007, Rylance's provocative play introduces us to four candidates and their respective claims  whilst asking fundamental questions about what makes a genius, and why it all matters anyway. This is an utterly performable comedy, which raises serious questions about the authorship of Shakespeare's work. Claire van Kampen has written the music to the original production, which is available through us. Please email info@nickhernbooks.co.uk for more information.

A fast and funny family drama about intergenerational and cross-cultural relationships - containing plenty of spicy bits. . .It's the anniversary of John Anyia's death, and the Anyias are packing their suitcases, preparing to head home to Nigeria for a memorial service in his honour. But before they go, they're going to have to get rid of some excess baggage.

Nick Whitby's chilling play presents a Kafkaesque world where nothing is quite as it seems, and where office politics can lead to unlawful questioning, torture and even murder. . .Afra has decided to make a complaint. She is certain that her grievance is legitimate: she is perfectly clear about her rights. And she has no intention of giving up until she has some satisfaction.

A darkly humorous psychological thriller exploring the nature of possession, inheritance and corruption. A woman stripped by recession of everything she has ever worked for takes a stand in another womans living room, only to find she has disturbed a hornets nest of unimagined proportions.

"Sometimes when I think of going back. I feel like I could run there. It's like I'm being called back. I know it sounds ridiculous. And sometimes I don't give a shit about any of it and I just want to stack shelves for the rest of my life." Captured in an award-winning shot Alex was rescued from Rwanda and adopted by the man behind the lens. Back from uni and returning to where she was raised the distance between father and daughter stretches taut. In the dark room of a Hampstead home a long hidden secret is slowly exposed in a flash of revelation. Vivienne Franzmann's new play is a piercing and dark thriller of modern morals.

It's finals day for the Class of 2011. Benny, Mack, Timp and Cam are due out of their five bedroom flat tomorrow morning: five bedrooms, five chairs, four boys - and one hell of a party. Stepping into a world that doesn't want them, these boys start to wonder whether there's any point in getting any older. How will they find the fight to make it as adults? Tonight marks the end of an era. It's hot. And there'll be girls. Predict a riot.

Mustafa is in prison serving 14 years for the death of a teenage boy during an attempted exorcism. Racked with guilt at the loss of an innocent life and isolated in a world where his beliefs are constantly challenged, he tries to keep his head down to avoid drawing attention to himself. But soon, the prisoners who have been taunting him suffer unexplained injuries and the prison officers start behaving strangely. Mustafa believes that something, out of his control, is making his sentence intolerable, whilst others are sceptical of his odd behaviour. Is Mustafa the innocent, spiritual man he claims to be, or is a djinn, the evil spirit that he tried to banish from the boy's body, inside the prison looking for its next victim? A compelling and vivid ghost story Mustafa, will have audiences on the edge of their seats.

A 'fast-forward' acting course covering all the essential techniques an actor needs to know and use  with a suite of exercises to put each technique into practice. The Acting Book offers various ways to analyse a text and to create character, using not only the established processes of Stanislavsky and Meisner, but also new ones developed by the author over many years of teaching drama students. It also sets out a wide range of rehearsal techniques and improvisations, and it brims over with inventive practical exercises designed to stimulate the actor's imagination and build confidence. The book will be invaluable to student actors as an accompaniment to their training, to established actors who wish to refresh their technique, and to drama teachers at every level.

By William Shakespeare Compiled by Nick de Somogyi. A unique collection of Shakespeare's every reflection on the theatre, offering fascinating insights into the man, his work, and the world of the Jacobean stage. Shakespeare was a man of the theatre to his core, so it is no surprise that he repeatedly contemplated the nuts and bolts of his craft in his plays and poems. Shakespeare scholar Nick de Somogyi here draws together all the cherishable set pieces  including All the worlds a stage, Hamlets encounters with the Players, and Bottoms amateur theatricals  along with many other oblique but no less revealing glances, and further insights into theatre practice by Shakespeares contemporaries and rivals. De Somogyis informed commentary takes us through the entire process of a plays theatrical production, from its casting and auditions, via rehearsals, costumes, and props, to its premiere and audience reception. Shakespeare on Theatre eavesdrops on the urgently whispered noises-off in the tiring-house and inhales the heady aroma of the Globes first audiences.

By Anton Chekhov Compiled by Jutta Hercher and Peter Urban Translated by Stephen Mulrine . A unique collection of everything that Chekhov wrote about the theatre. Chekhov started writing about theatre in newspaper articles and in his own letters even before he began writing plays. Later, he wrote in detail about his own plays to his lifelong friend and mentor Alexei Suvorin, his wife and leading actress, Olga Knipper, and to the two directors of the Moscow Art Theatre, Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko. Collected for this volume, these writings reveal Chekhovs instinctive curiosity about the way theatre works  and his concerns about how best to realise his own intentions as a playwright. Often peppery, passionate, even distraught, as he feels his plays misinterpreted or undermined, Chekhov comes over in these pages as a true man of the theatre.

Losing her mother at the age of 11, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin finds comfort in reading the family memoir written by her philosophical father William Godwin. However his honest account of her mothers suicide attempt, extra-marital affair and the birth of their illegitimate elder daughter are regarded by society as shocking. Sharing her fathers controversially liberal outlook, Mary is herself drawn into scandal when she falls in love with Percy Bysshe Shelley, a married writer, and elopes  becoming Mary Shelley. Delving into the writers turbulent personal history, this production sheds light on the personal background of a bold young woman who came to write a novel so radical in its ideology that she changed the literary landscape forever.

A darkly comic play about the disintegration of a family get-together. Mike and Julia ade sure their children Rob and Stacey had the best of everything when they were growing up. Now theyre adults all they want is to be proud parents. But when they all meet up in a Lake District holiday cottage to celebrate Staceys birthday, the bid to keep up appearances in front of an unexpected guest soon falls by the wayside as secrets are revealed.

All aboard The Swallow! Follow Captain John and his able crew as they set sail to Wildcat Island on an exotic adventure to encounter savages, capture dastardly pirates and defeat mortal enemies. A new musical for the whole family written especially for Bristol Old Vic, Swallows and Amazons is a story of an idyllic era, of endless summer evenings and the beauty of youthful imagination.

William Bloor, a foxfinder', arrives at Sam and Judith Covey's farm to investigate a suspected contamination. He is driven by his education and beliefs to unearth and destroy an animal that threatens man's civilisation, and to remain free from its influence himself. As his investigations proceed, the events that follow change the course of all their lives - for ever.

A powerful drama based on the extraordinary life of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, a poet, nun and major literary figure of Mexico. In a convent in seventeenth-century Mexico, Sister Juana strives to reconcile her love for God with her desire for a life of the mind. Her gift for writing plays and poems is celebrated by the Court, but her success creates alarm within the Church. Persecuted by a zealous archbishop, Sister Juana's world threatens to crumble around her as everything she holds dear is jeopardised by dangerous ambitions and illicit desires.

A kaleidoscope of stories from post-Troubles Belfast, Lagan is an intimate and absorbing dramatic portrait of a city with a past like no other. Ten lives flow through the city of Belfast, like the River Lagan. A man returns to find old values and new shopping centres. A woman talks to her sons ghost amid scaffolding. A taxi driver picks up a pint of milk for his drunk dad. And a young woman turns her back on her past and discovers the possibility of love.

Four full-length plays and two previously unpublished shorts from the multi-award-winning author of Jerusalem. Jez Butterworth burst onto the theatre scene aged twenty-five with Mojo, 'one of the most dazzling Royal Court main stage debuts in years' (Time Out). This first volume of his Collected Plays contains that play plus the three that followed, as well as two short one-person pieces published here for the first time  everything in fact that precedes Jerusalem, 'unarguably one of the best dramas of the twenty-first century' (Guardian). Plays One includes: Mojo, The Night Heron, The Winterling, Leavings (previously unpublished), Parlour Song and The Naked Eye (previously unpublished). Introducing the plays is an interview with Jez Butterworth specially conducted for this volume.

'I want you to remember something, David: if you remember only one thing I've ever told you, remember this every day  morning, noon and night  you do what you want with your life. Exactly what you want. Break heads if you need to and hearts if you have to, but whatever you do don't do what I did. Don't waste yourself.' Frank has been married for forty years. Three years ago he fell in love. This taut and tender new play asks if it's ever too late to start again?

A devastating drama about family and the ties that bind us together. Sixty five miles. The distance between Hull and Sheffield. The distance between a man and the daughter hes never met. Pete and Rich are two very different brothers. Reunited after nine years, both are seeking forgiveness. Rich needs to confront ex-girlfriend Lucy, and the shadows of his recent past. Petes search is for the one woman in his life he has never known, his daughter.

Philosopher, David Hume and father of modern economics, Adam Smith awake in Edinburgh in the early 21st Century. To their bewilderment, joy and horror, it is a prerevolutionary world where all the knowledge they ever dreamt of is at everyone's fingertips and the utopia of a free market economy is a reality. But at what cost to the planet and to humanity? With their fellow traveller, Eve, a Scottish everywoman, Hume and Smith embark on an extraordinary journey of enlightenment - from the concrete New Towns of Scotland's central belt, to Silicon Glen, Ecstasy and the gay clubs of Edinburgh.

An invaluable guide to the difficult arts of devising plays and directing texts, by one of the UKs 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 Thornes 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 Bradwells previous book The Reluctant Escapologist won the Theatre Book Prize in 2011.

A funny, moving and topical portrayal of the world in flux, Invisible explores the many sides of migration. Lara left home convinced that hard work and talent would reward her with a better life. Anton was forced to leave his village and finds himself suspended sixteen floors above a city cleaning windows. Malik stands on a beach and looks out towards a country where women apparently walk around half-naked. Felix, a young businessman with a pretty wife and a lucrative future, finds it difficult to get out of bed in the mornings. Amid the world of visas and wind turbines, commuter flights and nightclubs, fairy tales and tabloid press a chance meeting drives disparate lives towards a chilling point of no return...

Balancing the cocktail of 21st century life and teasing relationships is as impossible as herding cats for Michael, Justine and Saddo. Justine has an infuriating new boss. Michael works from home, talking to strangers. Saddo is one of those strangers. . .All three are living a comic fiction in an attempt to avoid the facts. Teetering on the edge, all three are heading inexorably towards Christmas.

Bleak, funny and excruciatingly accurate, Sex with a Stranger examines what it is to be in your twenties, lonely, hollow and uncertain. Adam meets Grace in a club. They go back to hers. Earlier that day, his girlfriend watches as he prepares for his big night out.

Adapted from When We Dead Awaken, the last play Ibsen wrote before his death. First staged in 1899, it is rarely performed, yet is one of Ibsen's most extraordinary and deeply personal works. Whilst holidaying with his young wife, the sculptor Rubek encounters his muse: a woman that he loved and left a lifetime ago. Over a series of heated encounters, the entire scroll of Rubek's life is unrolled in Ibsen's final  and most autobiographical  exploration of what it means to love and be loved. Set within a mythical Nordic landscape, the play offers an explicit and merciless portrait of Ibsen as an ageing artist: restless with his art, his homeland and his married life.

A funny and fascinating tribute to the Eastern European immigrants who became major players in Hollywood's golden age. In a remote village in Eastern Europe, around 1900, the young Motl Mendl is entranced by the flickering silent images on his father's cinematograph. Bankrolled by Jacob, the ebullient local timber merchant, and inspired by Anna, the girl sent to help him make moving pictures of their village, he stumbles on a revolutionary way of story-telling. Forty years on, Motl - now a famed American film director - looks back on his early life and confronts the cost of fulfilling his dreams. How had a twenty-two-year-old pretentious layabout made a discovery that would elude every other cinematic pioneer for years to come?

As part of the ever-growing, increasingly popular Drama Games series, Jessica Swale returns with another dip-in, flick-through, quick-fire resource book, packed with dozens of drama games that can be used in the process of devising theatre. The games will be invaluable to directors and theatre companies at all levels who are creating new pieces of theatre from scratch and need lively, dynamic games to fire the imagination. They will particularly appeal to school, youth theatre and community groups where devising is a growing trend  and a core element of the drama curriculum. Written with clear instructions on How to Play, notes on the Aim of the Game, and illuminating examples from professional productions, the games cover every aspect of the devising process and develop all the skills required: generating ideas, creating characters and scenarios, using stimuli, structuring the piece, and creating an ensemble.

A startling psychological drama about the darker side of modern parenthood. Behind the shiny door of Hazel Robinson's immaculate London home, things aren't as good as they look. Her plastic surgeon husband, Richard, has embarked on his latest charitable mission to Haiti, leaving the heavily pregnant Hazel to cope with a failing business and a problem son. When a professional nanny arrives unannounced on her doorstep, Hazel finds her home under the shadow of a seemingly perfect stranger, and one who has an agenda of her own.

Michael Pennington's solo show about Shakespeare, Sweet William, has been acclaimed throughout Europe and in the US as a unique blend of showmanship and scholarship. In this book, he deepens his exploration of Shakespeare's life and work - and the connection between the two - that lies at its heart. It is illuminated throughout by the unrivalled insights into the plays that Pennington has gained from the twenty thousand hours he has spent working on them as a leading actor, an artistic director and a director - and as the author of three previous books on individual Shakespeare plays

Jez Butterworth burst onto the theatre scene aged twenty-five with Mojo, one of the most dazzling Royal Court main stage debuts in years (Time Out). This first volume of his Collected Plays contains that play plus the three that followed, as well as two short one-person pieces published here for the first time  everything in fact that precedes Jerusalem, unarguably one of the best dramas of the twenty-first century (Guardian).

Balancing the cocktail of 21st century life and teasing relationships is as impossible as herding cats for Michael, Justine and Saddo. Justine has an infuriating new boss. Michael works from home, talking to strangers. Saddo is one of those strangers&All three are living a comic fiction in an attempt to avoid the facts. Teetering on the edge, all three are heading inexorably towards Christmas.

This is a very good place to come from. Cos it's knackered and funny and it's falling in the sea. . . But it's not a good place to end up. Things aren't going to plan for one family in Withernsea. Pieces are falling off Martin's milk float as quickly as he's losing customers and something's up with Kath's kitchen sink. Billy is pinning his hopes of a place at art college on a revealing portrait of Dolly Parton, whilst Sophie's dreams of becoming a Jiu-Jitsu teacher might be disappearing down the plug hole. And amid the dreaming, dramas and dirty dishes, something has to give. But will it be Kath or the kitchen sink? An irresistibly funny and tender play about big dreams and small changes, by Bush Associate Playwright Tom Wells.

Gregory Doran's account of his quest to re-discover Cardenio, the lost play written by Shakespeare and John Fletcher. A thrilling act of literary detection that takes him from the Bodleian Library in Oxford, via Cervantes' Spain to the stage of the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford. Fully illustrated throughout, Shakespeare's Lost Play tells a fascinating story, which, like the play itself, will engross Shakespeare buffs and theatregoers alike. Doran's much-praised production of Cardenio for the Royal Shakespeare Company marked the culmination of years spent searching for a famously 'lost' play co-authored by William Shakespeare. In this book, Doran takes us with him on his quest to unearth every extant clue and then into the rehearsal room as he pieces together a play unseen since its first performance in 1613. The result, as the Guardian attested, is 'an extraordinary and theatrically powerful piece, one that should both please audiences and keep academic scholars in work for years'.

tells the story behind the King James Bible, which celebrates its 400th anniversary this year.Across an 80 year divide, two men translate the word of God into the English tongue. For one, it means death at the stake. For the other, it could mean an archbishop's mitre. After almost a century of unrest, the King James Bible was intended to end the violent upheavals of the English reformation. But deep-seated conflicts force a leading translator to confront the betrayal of his youthful religious ideals, for the sake of social peace.

The plays in this volume  three monologues and a three-hander  were all written while Conor McPherson was in his twenties. He has since become the finest playwright of his generation according to the New York Times. contains This Lime Tree Bower; St Nicholas; Rum and Vodka; The Good Thief

A compelling study of the corruption of fame, the lure of money and the betrayal that lurks at the heart of portraying the people around us, or the people we love. Based on Caroline Blackwood's book of the same name. 1980. The Sunday Times plans a fabulous journalistic coup: a photograph by Lord Snowdon of the long-reclusive Duchess of Windsor. Lady Caroline Blackwood, novelist, wit and journalist, is dispatched to Paris to secure it. But no sooner has she entered the Windsor mansion than she finds herself locked in battle with the Duchess's octogenarian lawyer, Maître Suzanne Blum. As the conflict ignites between them, Caroline begins to find Blum decidedly more fascinating than the Duchess herself. Where did she come from? What's her obsession? How did she get power of attorney over the Windsor fortune? Cruellest of all, why has she deprived the Duchess of her vodka? One of the Duchess's last loyal friends, Diana Mosley, introduces a further mystery: why do the famous Windsor jewels keep appearing anonymously on the international market? And since no one has seen the Duchess, what proof is there that she is even still alive?

May 1822, rural Ireland. The defrocked Reverend Berkeley arrives at the crumbling former glory of Mount Prospect House to accompany seventeen-year-old Hannah to England. She is to be married off to a Marquis in order to resolve the debts of her mother's estate. However, compelled by the strange voices that haunt his beautiful young charge and a fascination with the psychic current that pervades the house, Berkeley proposes a seance, the consequences of which are catastrophic. She says that sometimes, while she plays the piano, she can hear someone. . . singing. Or crying. I forget which. Set around a haunted house hemmed in by a restive, starving populace, Conor McPherson's new play weaves Ireland's troubled colonial history into a transfixing story about the search for love, the transcendental and the circularity of time.

We Are Three Sisters relates the story of the three sisters of the Chekhov play to the Bronte sisters and their brother at Haworth in 1848. Morrison said, "There are good reasons for transplanting the play to Haworth and for identifying the Serghyeevna sisters with the Brontes; they even have a troubled and self-destructive brother in common. Above all I hope that, by taking a cue from Chekhov, the play will banish the gloom surrounding the Brontes and reveal the northern humour and resilience they showed, despite the ever-present threat of death and disease. In other words, I'd like to honour the truth of the Brontes while showing Charlotte, Emily, Anne, Branwell and Patrick as they've never been seen before."

Inspired by a true story, this gloriously funny play investigates the nature of comedy, the operation of censorship, and the complex misunderstandings implicit in the Anglo-American relationship. In December 1975, Monty Python's Flying Circus was broadcast coast to coast in the US. It was the Pythons' first time on a major network. . . but somebody cut out all the naughty bits! Undismayed, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam flew to New York to persuade the network to reinstate the cuts - and, somewhat by accident, found themselves at the centre of a landmark court case concerning freedom of expression and the protection of artistic integrity. . .

A thief in heaven steals the divinity of the gods. Meanwhile down on earth some fetish items have been nicked from a reality TV star and she's facing exposure in the tabloids. Sex shops and comedy, gods and homeless people, all collide in a fierce, hectic and hilarious story about people looking for the divine. In Essex.

A seasoned humanitarian worker and her idealistic young colleague get ready for a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo. For Mathilde it's an induction into a life less ordinary. For Sadhbh it's back to madness and chaos away from her lover and London  exactly as she likes it. But while Mathilde lets off steam with a photographer and a spliff, Sadhbh has her own encounter: tea with a smart, brutal young warlord she's investigating. Or is it the other way round? Playwright Stella Feehily brings her trademark wit and emotional insight to this revealing new play that goes behind the public face of charities, journalists and NGOs.

On a beautiful September morning in New York Sophie forces Tom into a decision. The choice he makes, and the events of that day, will change their lives forever. Travelling from America to Britain to a remote Greek island this epic new play explores the relationship between faith and capitalism and asks fundamental questions about the true meaning of love.

Rwanda to Northern Ireland, Zimbabwe to Bosnia answers are demanded, reconciliation hard to hear and the truth reluctant to be told. 'I will not stay standing to have you accuse me. And I will not sit there and be accused.'

Two towers. Ten years. Twenty plays. Ten years after 9/11, twenty international writers respond to the defining event of our times. Published here are their individual plays, which woven together formed the basis of Decade, an immersive theatrical production from Headlong theatre company. The writers: Samuel Adamson, Mike Bartlett, Alecky Blythe, Adam Brace, Ben Ellis, Ella Hickson, Samuel D. Hunter, John Logan, Matthew Lopez, Mona Mansour, DC Moore, Abi Morgan, Rory Mullarkey, Janine Nabers, Lynn Nottage, Harrison David Rivers, Simon Schama, Christopher Shinn, Beth Steel, Alexandra Wood.

Every Tuesday, Pauline loyally spends the day with her father, tidies his home, does his ironing. Then they go to Tesco. Every Tuesday. All eyes are on Pauline when they go shopping. Before she became Pauline, her name was Paul. And to her father she remains Paul, despite all appearances to the contrary.

In our materialist culture obsessed with youth, death has become the ultimate taboo. Inspired by real life stories, Home Death is an unflinching yet ultimately uplifting dissection of how our society deals with the reality of dying. 64% of us want to die at home, but in reality only a quarter of us do. A lingering death in a nursing home is one of the biggest fears of the elderly, and yet research from the UK thinktank Demos predicts that by 2013, 90% of us will die in the soulless setting of a hospital ward. Home Death is a courageous and profoundly compassionate new play that raises essential and urgent questions about palliative care in the UK, and celebrates the strength of friendship and love

A heartbreaking study of heritage, grief and family, Rose is a powerful drama about a Middle-Eastern immigrant's struggle to raise his daughter 'the English way'. Reunited after years apart, Rose and her father, Arthur, try to piece together the fragmented memories of their troubled relationship. But Rose's attempts to uncover the secrets of their past, and find out who she truly is, meet only resistance from a man reluctant to reveal himself.

Eugene O'Neill's epic Pulitzer Prize-winning play about love and forgiveness charts one woman's longing to forget the dark secrets of her past and hope for salvation. Exiled from her home by the Old Devil Sea to the inland plains, Anna Christie's life changed for ever at just five years of age. Fifteen years later, she is reunited with the father who sent her away, and sets sail in search of a new beginning.

This volume contains: Nightwatchman by Prasanna Puwanarajah - 'marvellously incisive' Independent. There is a War by Tom Basden - 'a sharp satire with an irresistibly silly strain' Financial Times

At a time when science and religion have conspired to make freak shows shameful, Robert Riley, owner of Riley's Odditorium, struggles to find ways to keep his company afloat. There's no money in the coffers and they've had to eat the horse. Only the mermaid act is bringing in the punters and she's just holding her breath. . .

First Episode shows an infatuated undergraduate, Tony, falling for Margot, an actress ten years his senior. And vice versa. Completing a triangle of rival affections is Tonys best friend, David.

This volume contains: Edgar & Annabel by Sam Holcroft - 'startlingly imaginative... Clever, funny and disturbing' Evening Standard. The Swan by D C Moore - 'Moore is one of the best thirty-something playwrights around, an expert analyst of half-truths and human weakness' Evening Standard

The extraordinary story of the relationship between the famous dancer Vaslav Nijinsky and the impresario Sergei Diaghilev, drawing on an unproduced screenplay by Terence Rattigan. In a hotel room a once-lauded playwright meets Nijinsky's elderly widow, Romola, to fight over his latest play. Meanwhile, in the same room, Diaghilev and the young Romola fight over the tormented Nijinsky. In 1974, Terence Rattigan wrote a television script for the BBC about the relationship between Diaghilev, the impresario behind the Ballets Russes, and Nijinsky, the most renowned dancer of all time, which Rattigan described as the greatest love story since Romeo and Juliet'. But the playwright withdrew the play and it was never produced. Now in this bold re-imagining of events, Nicholas Wright investigates why.

In My Life in Pieces, Simon Callow recaptures the multifarious people, productions and events which have fed into his lifeblood and left their indelible mark. Starting with his first ever visit to the theatre  Peter Pan  he takes us through a somewhat chaotic boyhood in southern Africa and South London, an aborted university career, a testing time at drama school and on to an acting career that has encompassed roles in the West End and stand-out character parts in films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral.

A unique guide to every aspect of putting on your own solo show: choosing the subject, raising the finance, booking the venue - and performing it! More and more actors - faced with ever longer periods of unemployment  are turning to the solo show as a way of keeping active, keeping visible, and keeping the wolf from the door! This book is essential reading for anyone contemplating such a move, and comprehensively covers every aspect of putting on your own one-person show.

A 'how to' book for actors who want to develop a 'can do' attitude to their profession in the face of rejection and intense competition. Feeling despondent about the acting profession? Been out of work for longer than you care to remember? Starting to resent the injustices of the job and the success of other actors? If so, An Attitude for Acting will inspire you to break out of the cycle of despondency and start to view yourself as a creative and autonomous individual who is valuable and employable.

A superlative account of how theatre is made, in the words of the very people who make it. In Talking Theatre, Richard Eyre uses his unrivalled access to leading theatre people to allow us to eavesdrop on the stories behind many of the most important productions and performances in the theatre of recent times: John Gielgud " Peter Brook " Margaret 'Percy' Harris " Peter Hall " Ian McKellen " Judi Dench " Trevor Nunn " Vanessa Redgrave " Fiona Shaw " Liam Neeson " Stephen Rea " Stephen Sondheim " Arthur Laurents " Arthur Miller " August Wilson " Jason Robards " Kim Hunter " Tony Kushner " Luise Rainer " Alan Bennett " Harold Pinter " Tom Stoppard " David Hare " Jocelyn Herbert " William Gaskill " Arnold Wesker " Peter Gill " Christopher Hampton " Peter Shaffer " Frith Banbury " Alan Ayckbourn " John Bury " Victor Spinetti " John McGrath " Cameron Mackintosh " Patrick Marber " Steven Berkoff " Deborah Warner " Willem Dafoe " Simon McBurney " Robert Lepage " John Johnston (Britain's last Theatre Censor)

Chuks wants to run a bar. He wants to make money and send it to his family. But Chuks used to be a fixer, a go-between for foreign journalists and local groups. When militants attack a new oil pipeline, British journalists and international spin doctors rush to the scene: everyone wants the inside story. As more players get involved, the stakes get higher. They'll make it worth his while, but if Chuks joins the game, will he ever be able to leave? What am I supposed to do? When everything is stinking like shit, you think only me I will smell like perfume? Set in northern Nigeria against a backdrop of global turmoil and corruption, Fixer is a fast-paced drama that asks questions about integrity, loyalty and the price of human life.

An irreverent and unsettling play that interrogates paranoia, ambiguity and innocence in our highly sexualised world. Gethin has just finished his film course and reckons he's the next Scorsese. His mum is on at him to do her friend's wedding video - before the couple get divorced! But Gethin is interested in a much more daring project - one that will get him into dangerously deep water, question his idealism and turn his life and that of his family upside down.

Little Baby Jesus is a lyrical triptych of monologues revealing the inter-connected lives of three inner-city teenagers, capturing the exact moment each becomes an adult. Kehinde has a passion for light-skinned girls or otherwise known as. . .Mixed-raced girl syndrome. My favourite was when that black African or Caribbean skin mixes with that white English or European skin. You get that sun kissed finish. Jodie is a mixed-race girl dipped in rudeness and rolled in attitude. Listen, old man, I'm not in the mood for romancing with some weirdo, ya get me, so don't waste your rotten breath init. And then there's Rugrat. He's the class clown. He really wants to be liked - even by the scariest boy in school. He was some Nigerian gangster! He laid it on the line! His voice echoed through the playground like a lion's roar, through the plains of the Serengeti. Blood clot! Three magnetic personalities and three remarkable stories from the poetic imagination of Arinze Kene.

Plagued by the deafening tick of her biological clock, Lorna pins all her hopes for true love on Allan. But she soon discovers that life in his isolated farmhouse raises disturbing questions, not happy endings. . . As the horror of Allan's world is exposed, will Lorna do what's right or turn a blind eye to get what she wants? Hundreds and Thousands is a dark and twisted tale about deciding what's more important - doing what's right or what's right for you.

Vote for chang e!Sick of the two established parties and their vested interests, one man promises a third option with a radical agenda: to champion the people and remake politics. But does The League of Youth herald a future fair for all, or the same old small-town corruption? And is Stensgaard a hero in the making  or a man on the make? Switching his allegiances at the drop of a rosette, and caught up in a string of romantic affairs, Stensgaard rapidly comes unstuck. Before you can say 'hypocrisy', the people are questioning: whose side is he really on? Ibsen's political farce has long been praised for its sparkling wit and cynical humour. But The League of Youth is uncanny in the mirror it holds up to present-day Britain, where every promise leads to compromise in the rush to snatch a share of the power.

A striking version of Chekhovs classic play by Charlotte Pyke, John Kerr and Joseph Blatchley. In 19th Century rural Russia, an anxious young writer prepares the first performance of his new play for the two women in his life. The consequences are devastating, with everybody in love with the wrong person, and death hovering close by. Through both comedy and tragedy, Seagull explores lives that are precariously balanced between love and indifference success and failure, hope and despair. This is classic Chekhov with the original censor's cuts restored.

Adapted from Schiller's 1784 play Kabale und Liebe, a masterpiece of power and politics that explores the battle between honour and corruption, between truth and betrayal. Born into ancient nobility and son of the most powerful statesman in the land, Ferdinand is willing to forsake his fortune for the love of Luise, daughter of a humble musician. But in a world governed by deception and greed, where power is everything, their future happiness and liberty are beyond their control

Made Emperor, Julian attemps to abolish Christianity and restore the old gods. But met with fierce resistance, this great free-thinker becomes a tyrant more hated than his brutal predecessor Constantius. And in arousing the Christians from their apathy he advances their cause, his life and death altering the course of history in stark opposition to his intent. Ibsen's little-known masterpiece sweeps across Greece and the Middle East from AD351, covering twelve crucial years in the history of civilisation.

Edited by Robert Hastie, Josie Rourke. The official tie-in edition published alongside the 2011 production at Wyndham's Theatre, London, starring David Tennant as Benedick and Catherine Tate as Beatrice. In addition to the version of Shakespeare's text as performed in the production, this volume also includes extensive material about how the production was conceived and developed, interviews with its cast and creative team, design sketches, an extract from the original score, and a rehearsal diary.

Philip Massinger's 1632 play reworks Shakespeare's Measure for Measure as a waspish city comedy intended to attack the vices of hypocrisy, greed, self-indulgence and social pretension. Wealthy merchant Sir John Frugal takes pity on his penniless brother Luke and invites him to live under his roof with John's own haughty wife and two foolishly conceited daughters. As Luke plots to steal from his brother, and his daughters arrogantly spurn worthy suitors, John plans to teach them all a lesson. Retiring to a monastic life, he leaves his brother Luke in charge of the household, before returning in disguise to watch havoc unfold...This rarely produced but surprisingly timely play was revived by the Royal Shakespeare Company as part of its fiftieth birthday season in 2011.

Shakespeare's 'lost play' re-imagined. Set in the heat and dust of Andalusia in seventeenth-century Spain, Cardenio is the story of a friendship betrayed, with all the elements of a thriller: disguise, dishonour and deceit. A woman is seduced, a bride is forced to the altar, and a man runs mad among the mountains of the Sierra Morena. The history of the play is every bit as thrilling, and this text is the result of a masterful act of literary archaeology by the Royal Shakespeare Company's Chief Associate Director Gregory Doran, to re-imagine a previously lost play by Shakespeare. Based on an episode in Cervantes' Don Quixote, the play known as Cardenio by Shakespeare and John Fletcher was performed at court in 1612. A copy of their collaboration has never been found; however, it is claimed that Double Falshood by Lewis Theobald is an eighteenth-century adaptation of it. Since Theobald's play misses out some crucial scenes in the plot, Doran has turned to the Cervantes original to supply the missing episodes, using the original English translation by Thomas Shelton (1612) that Fletcher and Shakespeare must themselves have read.

In the autumn of 2006, the everyday life of the quiet rural town of Ipswich was shattered by the discovery of the bodies of five women. The residents of London Road had struggled for years with the soliciting and kerb-crawling that they frequently encountered. As Steve Wright, the occupant of No. 79, was arrested, charged and then convicted of the murders, the immediate community grappled with what it meant to be at the epicentre of this tragedy. Adam Cork uses the melodic and rhythmic speech patterns captured on playwright Alecky Blythe's extensive recorded interviews with the people of Ipswich to create an experimental and challenging work which reveals the ways in which even the darkest experiences can engender a greater sense of our mutual dependence.

A precise and beautifully crafted play from the American playwright, author of Tape and associate writer of The Laramie Project, whose events are echoed in this play. Twenty-four years ago, the future was going to be different. Molly was going to be happy; older and smarter and married with kids. Ray was going to be a heart surgeon. When they meet again, by chance  she divorced and childless; he a caretaker and gardener  they discover that their lives are even further from that future than they could have imagined. Steeped in both regret and possibility, Dusk Rings A Bell is about the difficulty of taking responsibility for our choices, and how life will make them for us, if we're not careful.

Two plays by award-winning playwright Ella Hickson. Precious Little Talent is about a father desperate not to forget his daughter and two young people determined not to be forgotten by the world. Hot Mess is a dark and lyrical tale about friendship, loss and loneliness. Twins Polo and Twitch were born with only one heart between them: where Polo is not looking to be loved, Twitch can do nothing but.

A romantic-comedy-thriller about the heat of love and the magic of changing perspectives. Lin Han and Jie Hui have exchanged 536 emails and 72 jpegs, though they've only just met. She's sure he's the man she could fall in love with, if only he'd do it first. But Jie Huis a little distracted. When his business partner gets shot, things start to get very complicated  especially when he realises his heart is broken. Meanwhile, Madeleine finds herself falling for James, the most attractive man shes met in years. And the feeling seems to be mutual. Its just a pity hes the policeman questioning her about the shooting of her ex-boyfriend. . .

Fifty years after Yuri Gagarin's first orbit around the Earth, Little Eagles tells the fascinating and little-known story of Sergei Korolyov, chief designer and unsung hero of the Soviet space programme. Under Korolyov's leadership the 'little eagles' of the USSR beat the Americans in the early stages of the space race, achieving a series of firsts, including the first human in space. Rona Munro's gripping play illuminates the life and work of a brilliant engineer who struggled to meet the military demands of his ruthless political masters, whilst devoting as much time as possible to his real passion, exploring outer space.

Helen Edmundson's hugely successful stage adaptation for Shared Experience Theatre Company of the classic novel by Tolstoy, which won the Time Out Award for the Outstanding Theatrical Event of 1992. Anna is beautiful and admired but empty  until a chance meeting throws her into emotional turmoil and a scandalous affair. Contrasting with this tale of destructive love is the story of Levin, an idealistic man striving to find meaning in life  and a self-portrait of Tolstoy himself.

Five plays from the sensational voice of new writing for Irish theatre. Since winning the George Devine Award for Howie the Rookie in 1999, Mark O'Rowe has electrified audiences with his distinctive dramatic style and dark, dangerous storytelling. In O'Rowe's first play, The Aspidistra Code (1995), Brendan and Sonia, head over heels in debt, are forced to hire their own protection against a volatile loan shark. From Both Hips (1997) sees Paul, a Dublin man shot in the hip during a bungled police raid, embark on a violent journey of revenge. In Howie the Rookie (which also won the 'Rooney Prize for Irish Literature'), brutal events take on mythical significance in a white-knuckle ride through a nightmare Dublin. In Made in China (2001), a dreadful accident sparks a savage tug-of-war between two criminal foot soldiers. And published for the first time - Crestfall (2003) - so dark that all but the tiniest glimmer of light has been extinguished, depicts three women trapped between nightmares and waking.

Catapult into a fantastical world of singing serial killers, avenging angels and love-sick demons. ' . . . hilarious, stunning, surprisingly touching and enormously satisfying . . . Not for the faint of heart!

Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant and ambitious young student, discovers the secret of creating life from the remains of the dead. But elation at his triumph is replaced by horror when he sees his monstrous creation. Abandoned by the one who made him, Frankenstein's Creature is left to a world that fears and rejects him, and soon his innocence turns to misery - and a murderous desire for revenge...Every word in Patrick Sandford's 'vigorous adaptation' (The Times) is lifted directly from Mary Shelley's classic gothic novel. One of the greatest horror stories of all time, and one that still grips readers today almost two hundred years after its first publication. All the more successful for staying faithful to the dark spirit of the original book, this adaptation includes notes on the first production and can be performed with a minimum of set and props, making it well suited for staging by schools and amateur theatre groups, as well as by professional companies.

A tender and funny tale about our secret selves A play about our search for connection in a fractured world. Rich with the absurdities, hypocrisies and vulnerabilities that course through our lives, it playfully observes the longings, fears and desires we reveal - and don't reveal - in our closest relationships. Laura has a secret. Joe's has been revealed. Peg's been keeping hers for years.

On a seemingly ordinary evening an Irish family sit down to tea. The difference tonight is that Nial is home - back from prison having committed a dark crime many years earlier with some news to share and a conscience to clear. Fast, witty and frighteningly real, Moment takes you on journey through trauma wrapped up in tablecloths and teacake and asks what happens to a family when a child is killed and how does it feel when it's your child that does the killing?

Jean works in a garage and consoles herself with drink and perfunctory sex. Jean's insistent neighbour Dawn and Dawn's Irish labourer husband, Mick, and Mick's spineless mucker, Len, all join her in a funny, drunken, sad celebration of their mutual affection and bleak lives.

a trial for murder where the defendants tried to exonerate each other by taking all the blame and the lasting effects on a woman member of the jury

It is 1942. At the Falcon Hotel, on the Lincolnshire coast, Teddy a young RAF bomber pilot celebrates a reunion with his actress wife Patricia. They are thrown into upheaval when Peter, Patricias ex lover and Hollywood heartthrob arrives and an urgent bombing mission over Germany is ordered. Who will make the sacrifice during the long night, as Patricia finds herself at the centre of an emotional conflict as unpredictable as the war in the skies. Flare Path is a story of love and loyalty, courage and fear. Based on Rattigans own experiences as a tail gunner in the RAF during the Second World War, he later reworked Flare Path into a screenplay and in 1954 the re-titled The Way to the Stars starring Michael Redgrave was released.

The first, authorised biography of the anarchic comic genius, much cherished for his performances on stage and screen. Ken Campbell (19412008) was a one-man whirlwind who tore through the British theatre establishment using well-rehearsed anarchy and a genius for surreal comedy. Starting out in rep at Stoke-on-Trent, he founded the Ken Campbell Road Show, whose members included the then-unknown Bob Hoskins and Sylvester McCoy, and which toured pubs and clubs with dramatised urban myths and shaggy-dog stories. His later shows included Illuminatus!  the first show at the National Theatres studio  and the 22-hour The Warp, the longest play in the world. On television he played corrupt lawyer Alex Gladwell in the 1970s series Law and Order, and was Alf Garnetts neighbour Fred Johnson in the sitcom In Sickness and in Health. He later found a devoted audience with his mesmerising one-man shows, which he toured worldwide.

A gripping and urgent play about a well-meaning teacher who intervenes on behalf of a troublesome student, with terrifying consequences.. When white secondary-school teacher Amanda is pushed to the ground by black student Jason, she's reluctant to report him as she knows exclusion could condemn him to a future as troubled as his past. But when Jason decides to protect himself by spinning a story of his own, Amanda is sucked into a vortex of lies in which victim becomes perpetrator. With the truth becoming less clear and more dangerous by the day, it isn't long before careers, relationships and even lives are under threat.

A darkly riotous, superbly fast-talking adventure, adapted from the Booker Prize-winning novel. Vernon Little is fifteen years old and lives with his mother in Martirio, a flea-bitten Texan town. His best friend just massacred sixteen of their classmates before killing himself. The town wants vengeance and turns its sights on Vernon, who is arrested at the start of the story.

From the moment he came into the world as the snow fell and the cold wind blew, Oscars existence has been a stagger through an underworld peopled by loners and losers. Oscar must discover whether or not a bird with a broken wing can ever learn to fly, or is destined to remain earthbound forever. . .

The first eight astonishing plays by one of the most dazzling wordsmiths of contemporary theatre' Guardian. Bursting onto the theatre scene in 1996 with Disco Pigs, Enda Walsh has delivered a sustained fusillade of strikingly original plays ever since. This volume, with a Foreword by the author, contains: The Ginger Ale Boy (Walsh's first play, previously unpublished); Disco Pigs; misterman; bedbound; The Small Things; Chatroom. Also included are two previously unpublished short plays, How These Desperate Men Talk (2004) and Lynndie's Gotta Gun (2005).

A group of West London parents are driven by desperation to take the new government up on their offer and start their own 'free school'. They want to create an education that their children will enjoy rather than endure. But as they find their lives given over to a disturbing version of the Big Society, their fervour turns to panic. Free schools are getting ready to transform from policy idea to classroom reality. But what do we know about them? This dark new comedy takes the pulse of Coalition Britain, by exploring what the retreat of the state and the growth of people power might actually mean. Moving from satiric comedy to poignant family drama, it asks why we're all so obsessed with education and what happens when we get what we wish for

Sir Walter Elliot demands advantageous love matches for his three daughters, and Annes choice of the poor naval officer, Frederick Wentworth, simply wont do. Seven years later, their fathers arrogance has plunged the Elliots into debt, and they are forced to rent out their beloved estate to Admiral Croft  brother-in-law to the now-fêted Captain Wentworth. Afflicted by ill-health and agonised by memories of a lost love, Jane Austen writes her final novel. But as she contemplates the bittersweet ending to her own story, can she bring herself to give Anne and Wentworth a happy one?

When John Dashwood and his snobbish wife Fanny inherit his father's estate, his stepmother, along with his half-sisters, are forced to leave their home and live on a reduced income. Elinor bears the move with her usual stoicism, even though it cuts short her growing friendship with Fanny's brother, Edward Ferrars, while Marianne's grief seemingly knows no bounds. Their new life, from the Devonshire countryside to London's high society - peopled by their eccentric host Sir John Middleton, the brooding Colonel Brandon, the dashing Willoughby and the simpering Lucy Steele - is set to test the sisters' sense and sensibilities to the limit.

Wild and lively, the production explodes with music and magic, story-book sets, shadow puppetry and a 150-piece orchestra in an 18-inch box!

On the morning of his 30th birthday, Joseph K wakes to find he's been arrested. He has no idea what he's done wrong, but he's determined to clear his name. As he tries to make sense of his situation, and to out manoeuvre the authorities who threaten his freedom, Joseph K is brought face to face with the dark heart of the terror state.

Eddie Carver is a self-made businessman. In stark contrast with his humble beginnings he now boasts a millionaire lifestyle: exotic holidays, flashy cars and real designer clothes. Not to mention exclusive country pursuits: 'hunting, shooting and fishing'. Wife Pam and daughter Ruby want for nothing, and expect the best. And because of Eddie's expertise they'll never be disappointed. Then one evening Eddie's behaviour becomes erratic. Have some dodgy business dealings come back to haunt him? Will the high walls, electric fences and CCTV keep evil at bay? Or is the real threat to the family's idyllic life already inside the perimeter? A tense and gripping thriller, this new play calculates the price we pay for material possessions and the effect it has on those we love.

Mike Kenny's imaginative stage adaptation of E. Nesbit's much-loved children's classic. Famously filmed, this story of a prosperous Edwardian family - mother and three children - forced into near-penury in the rural north of England captures the anxieties and exhilarations of childhood with great tenderness and insight. As Mike Kenny says of his remarkably faithful adaptation, 'You dont need a real train to perform this play. . . the most powerful prop is the imagination of the audience, the most effective tool the skill of the actors.' So this version of The Railway Children, which offers three plum roles for young performers, is eminently suitable for schools, youth theatres and drama groups - anywhere, in fact, where the cry of 'Daddy! My Daddy!' is likely to provoke a tear...

Dublin lads Colin and Ray are out of work, out of grub and nearly out of fags. On a whim, lonely ex-teacher Clarence brings the two brothers back to his cottage in Wicklow. In the course of an electric evening, the unlikely trio bond over flagons, chicken and history lessons. But when all you really have in common is a destructive streak, how long can you play at happy families?

The heartbreaking truth about the lives of women in the criminal justice system is exposed in these six plays by some of the most exciting and distinctive female voices in British theatre. Commissioned and premiered by Clean Break, a theatre and education company working with women whose lives have been affected by the criminal justice system. The collection includes: Fatal Light by Chloë Moss; Taken by Winsome Pinnock; Dream Pill by Rebecca Prichard; Doris Day by E V Crowe; Dancing Bears by Sam Holcroft; That Almost Unnameable Lust by Rebecca Lenkiewicz

A witty and prescient play about what happens when gaming and military technology collide. Seventeen-year-old student Adrian has a serious habit - playing military shooters on his computer games console. Single mum Maggie wants him to study Classics at university and stop locking himself in his room pwning* n00bs**. With the help of computer geek Tom, Maggie deciphers gaming lingo in an attempt to reconnect with Adrian. But when a revolutionary new technology Tom invents gets picked up by the MOD, their lives are rocketed from the virtual to the actual battlefield.

Red Buuuud!' rings out across the camp as five friends gather in ritual homage at the annual Motorcross championship. Greg used to ride with speed and style, but this year he brings his pregnant wife instead of his bike. Times have changed. As they relive past glories, the haze of beer and smoke can't disguise their fading friendship. American drama about the creeping spread of middle age.

Billy's fiercely intelligent and proudly unconventional family are their own tiny empire, with their own private language, jokes and rules. You can be as rude as you like, as possessive as you like, as critical as you like. Arguments are an expression of love. After all, you'd do anything for each other - wouldn't you? But Billy, who is deaf, is one of the few who actually listens. Meeting Sylvia makes him finally want to be heard; can he get a word in edgeways?

Liv is in trouble - her mum's planning a dog fight, her dad's getting out of jail, her brother's getting too close to her baby, the police are sniffing around and the pack is closing in. A sharp and savage story of the animals we are and the people we aspire to be.

Red Buuuud!' rings out across the camp as five friends gather in ritual homage at the annual Motorcross championship. Greg used to ride with speed and style, but this year he brings his pregnant wife instead of his bike. Times have changed. As they relive past glories, the haze of beer and smoke can't disguise their fading friendship. American drama about the creeping spread of middle age.

Billy's fiercely intelligent and proudly unconventional family are their own tiny empire, with their own private language, jokes and rules. You can be as rude as you like, as possessive as you like, as critical as you like. Arguments are an expression of love. After all, you'd do anything for each other - wouldn't you? But Billy, who is deaf, is one of the few who actually listens. Meeting Sylvia makes him finally want to be heard; can he get a word in edgeways?

An enthralling new version of an unforgettable Ibsen classic. Part psychological thriller, part Gothic tragedy, Ibsens late masterwork is a compelling portrait of one man's obsessive determination, and what might lie on the darker side of ambition. Halvard Solness, the leading architect of his age, is at the end of his career. A single-minded man of angry pride, trapped in a frozen marriage to Aline, he is terrified of being eclipsed by the younger generation snapping at his heels. A decade after their first meeting, the charismatic and bewitching young Hilde Wangel comes back into his life and inspires him to even greater heights. But will his last towering achievement renew him or destroy him?

This is from the press release: "In 1958, a white family moves out. In 2008, a white family moves in. In the intervening years, change overtakes a neighborhood, along with attitudes, inhabitants, and property values. Bruce Norris's pitch-black comedy takes on the issue of gentrification in our communities, leaving no stone unturned-and taking no prisoners-in the process."
- nytheatre.com

Anne Boleyn is traditionally seen as a pawn manipulated by an ambitious father and his friends into the King's bed, or as a licentious predator, even a witch. But Brenton puts a very different Anne - and her ghost - on the Globe stage. Witty and confident in her sexuality, she takes on the vicious world of Tudor Court politics.

Small lies, little lies, tender lies, well-intentioned untruths. Ana calls Edward's bluff on their disintegrating relationship and enters a deadly truthful world where honesty is celebrated in all of its dangerous glory. They don't make women like Helen anymore: loving mother, home-maker, wife. But beneath the civilised veneer of her life, a dark truth threatens to surface. Two couples explore the threat of honesty and our perverse need for it in this blistering play from one of UK theatre's most exciting new voices.

Shared Experience and Sherman Cymru join forces to tell the extraordinary story of identical twins June and Jennifer Gibbons. Refusing to speak to adults, the twins communicate in their own private language and have an intense and turbulent bond ith each other. Speechless is an astonishing and moving portrayal of the twins secret world and their struggle to find a voice against all odds.

Feisty 18-year-old Katie is thrust into a journey she'll never forget after her boyfriend is attacked on the street. The complexities of multicultural inner city life are vividly exposed in this remarkable coming-of-age tale by exhilarating writer, Jack Thorne. --

A riveting and savage take on the classic Greek myth of Penelope, wife of Odysseus. It's 11.30 a.m. and already it's thirty-three degrees Celsius. At the bottom of a drained swimming pool, four ridiculous men face their inevitable deaths, and play for an unwinnable love.

A collection of five extraordinary plays exploring and reflecting contemporary life across the Near East and North Africa. Withdrawal by Mohammad Al Attar (Syria) 603 by Imad Farajin (Palestine) Damage by Kamal Khalladi (Morocco) The House by Arzé Khodr (Lebanon) Egyptian Products by Laila Soliman (Egypt)

In The Urban Girl's Guide to Camping, four young friends leave the city behind and head into the wilderness, but a burning secret threatens to tear their lives apart. A bittersweet comedy about life, love and friendship once school is long gone.

Passionate, highly entertaining and gloriously funny - Robert Tressell's classic pre-First World War account of the working lives of a group of housepainters and decorators is vividly adapted by Howard Brenton. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists recounts the little daily successes and the disasters of a group of working-class men, living under the constant fear of being laid off by employers forever looking for new corners to cut. Both workers and bosses are caught in a system spiralling out of control, but why is it the workers always come out worse? Howard Brenton's stage adaptation lays bare the many social injustices perpetrated on these men whilst capturing their individual characters with touching truth to life.

The play is set in France in 1654, and revolves around an upheaval in a famous acting troupe. Elomire, the troupe's renowned leader, is furious because Prince Conti, the troupe's patron, is forcing a street performer, Valere, upon them. Elomire finds Valere and his work to be revolting and base, while Bejart, the troupe's second in command, is worried about offending the Prince and, thereby, losing their patron. Valere is a terrible bore, who loves nothing more than the sound of his own voice, which he amply demonstrates at his first entrance, when he delivers an uproariously funny and extended monologue. Elomire can barely withhold his contempt, but Valere is completely unaware of the barbs tossed his way. The Prince arrives; anxious to see how Elomire and Valere are getting along, having high hopes for their union. The Prince feels Elomire's work has grown stagnant and that the troupe needs new blood. Elomire, convinced that Valere will never be able to work in an ensemble situation, challenges Valere to pr

Bringing the familiar and not-so-familiar tales of Britain's first great epic to spectacular life, this new adaptation traces Arthur's rise and fall, from the sword in the stone and the foundation of the Round Table to the Holy Grail and the adultery of Launcelot and Guenever. See brave knights, damsels in distress and fiery dragons as The Courtyard Theatre plays host to the story of the 'once and future King'.
- theatre website