Böcker i Modern Plays-serien

You've got to learn how to keep it inside. We have to. The world doesn't like us acting out. They'll put you down any chance they get. You can't be doing all this screaming. As siblings Shirley and Dwight bury their mother, they remember their upbringing in 1980s Chapeltown Leeds differently. In the height of racial discrimination, police brutality and poverty, the struggle for survival ripped through their family.Now as adults, they need to bring together the fractured pieces of their past in order to move forward.Zodwa Nyoni's gripping and heartfelt drama explores the complexities and beauty of what it really means to care for one another.

'I have no name for the thing which is in my head. It is not envy. It is more than envy. It does not scare me. I must look close enough to look at what it is.'A ploughman and his wife live a simple existence in a pre-industrial time until they, along with the hated local miller, are drawn into a struggle of knowledge, power and attraction.David Harrower's haunting play established him as one of the UK's leading contemporary playwrights. This new edition is published to coincide with the new production of this tense modern classic at the Donmar Warehouse in August 2017, directed by Yaël Farber.

Do you know what I believe in? I believe in us. Me and you, right here. This town was once an incredible place. We have to have courage to fight for it again.Hero or enemy? Who can actually tell the difference?Everything is going to be fine, better than fine, in fact there's nothing that can't be achieved if everyone just believes a little. That's what the town's MP, Mick, thinks.He's optimistic, positively boosterish about his plan for the town. He just wants the naysayers to pipe down. But there's a problem. His sister, Dr Rhiannon Powell, has discovered that the project appears to be polluting the town's water supply. Mick sold the town a story about the future, but what will happen when reality looks to tear that story apart?Is Mick a hero of the people, or is he in fact their enemy? Brad Birch's bold new reimagining of Ibsen's An Enemy of the People pits the personal against the political and facts against emotion. A Hero of the People is a gripping contemporary drama for our times.

Dress by Ganni.Bra by Coco de Mer.Knife by Stanley.A gripping revenge tale about an actress in her 40s under investigation for the murder of an auteur theatre director whilst rehearsing a stage production of Hitchcock's Psycho.A whip-smart take on what it means to be middle-aged and female in an industry captivated by stardust and beauty.This edition was published to coincide with the run at The Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, 2022.

'I got my first pair of glasses when I was seven.A nurse came to the school and tested everyone's eyes. And so it was discovered why I'd thrown bread to the floating crisp packets in our local pond and walked into lamp posts and said, 'excuse me'. Until that day the world was a swirl of moving coloured blobs. I thought it was the same for everyone.How wrong I was.'Part memoir, part theatre and part standup comedy this delightful story of a myopic seven year old is brought to you by actor, comedian and playwright Sonya Kelly. Sonya tells her story about growing up with poor vision that went undiagnosed until she was seven years old. Combining several forms of theatre, this delightful story shows us how we can better the world even if we cannot see the world.Winner: Scotsman Fringe First Award 2012Critic's Pick, New York Times

'Eric Argyle was notably surprised when rather unexpectedly his eyes opened again. If truth be told, if he was being honest with himself, he hadn't really expected this type of thing would ever be happening again.'Eric Argyle is having a bad Sunday. It's late. He's still in his pyjamas. A room full of people are staring at him. And he died at 11.42am, two days ago. An issue that people don't seem all that receptive to.Nominated for Best New Play at the Irish Times Theatre Awards, Ross Dungan's The Life and Sort of Death of Eric Argyle premiered at the Pleasance Dome in Edinburgh in August 2012 before transferring to Dublin. It debuted in London at the Soho Theatre on 2 April 2013.

During the Apartheid years in South Africa, a copy of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare was smuggled around the prison on Robben Island. The book's significance resides in the fact that the book's owner, Sonny Venkatratham, passed it to a number of his fellow political prisoners in the single cells, including Nelson Mandela, asking them to mark their favourite passages with a signature and date. Informally known as "the Robben Island Bible", numerous prisoners selected the speeches that meant the most to them and their experience as political prisoners. In 2008 and 2010, playwright and scholar Matthew Hahn conducted interviews with eight former political prisoners in South Africa. Offering a vivid and startling account of the experience of these political prisoners during Apartheid, this extraordinary verbatim play weaves Shakespeare's words together with first-hand accounts from these men. They offer their reflections on their time as Liberation activists and, twenty years later, on the costs, consequences and whether or not it was all worth it.The play is published alongside a preface by Sonny Venkatrathnam and an introduction by South African actor, director , playwright and cultural activist John Kani.

A village. A dragon. A damsel in distress.Into the story walks George: wandering knight, freedom fighter, enemy of tyrants the world over. One epic battle later and a nation is born.As the village grows into a town, and the town into a city, the myth of Saint George which once brought a people together, threatens to divide them.

I have to believe in the institutions we trust to be fair, and functional. Whether that be the judiciary, the police, the media . That they should all be able to resist the temptations of a more entertaining lie, over a less extraordinary truth.April 2003. Army Major Charles Ingram, his wife and coughing accomplice are convicted for cheating on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?The evidence is damning. The nation is gripped by the sheer audacity of the plot to snatch the £1,000,000 jackpot. But was he really guilty? It's time for you to decide.Question everything you think you know in James Graham's provocative new play.Olivier Award-nominee James Graham returns with a sharp, fictional imagination of one of the most famous quiz show controversies to date. The production premiered at Chichester Festival Theatre and this edition was published this edition was published to coincide with the West End opening at the Nöel Coward Theatre in April 2018.

Noël Coward's Brief Encounter is remembered as one of the most haunting love stories on screen ever. Drawing on the characteristic wit and musicality of Kneehigh, Emma Rice, former Joint Artistic Director of the Company, has adapted Coward's classic 1945 screenplay, and the one-act play Still Life on which it was based, into a richly theatrical, imaginative and vibrant piece of theatre.From an original idea by David Pugh & Dafydd Rogers, Kneehigh's production received its world premiere in 2008. This edition is published to coincide with the production's run live at the Empire Cinema in London's West End for 2018, co-produced by Steve and Jenny Wiener and The Old Vic.With an updated foreword by Emma Rice.'Surely the most enchanting work of stagecraft ever inspired by a movie.' Ben Brantley, The New York Times'Moving, funny, gripping and even at its most inventive, true to the original and its all-English heart' The Times

Charles Dickens' London is reimagined for the 21st century.Twenty-four hours in the life of a city that has 371 people in every square kilometer, where every street and square shelters heroes and villains, emotional turmoil, violent allegiances, adventures, the remarkable and the everyday.Olivier Award-winning playwright James Graham forges a uniquely crowd-sourced play, incorporating scenes by emerging writers into his own sweeping narrative. Dickens' panoply of London and Londoners, his big characters and fantastic stories in Sketches by Boz are updated for the modern age, incorporating the broadest range of voices from across the community in a theatrical whirligig of wonder and imagination.

Last night I tried not to be shy, just as an experiment for one night - and with catastrophic results.17 year old Callum is proud to be shy and he thinks you should be too, because what this noisy, crazy world needs right now is a bit more self-restraint. The Shy Manifesto is a bittersweet coming-of-age comedy drama about a shy boy who is fed up of constantly being told to come out of his shell. Tonight he is to address an audience of radical shy comrades and incite the meek to finally rise up and inherit the earth. But memories of the previous night's drunken escapades at a classmate's end-of-term party keep intruding, and threaten to upend the fragile identity he has created for himself.Callum delivers his manifesto, exploring adolescence, isolation, self-loathing and sexuality. His irreverent lightness of touch, and multi- rolling as the other characters in his story endear him to the audience, encouraging us that we, too, can be proud to be shy.The Shy Manifesto is a solo piece that takes the experience of being shy as its central subject- something which has rarely been explored in drama, and yet which touches on many audience members lives.

"It's not just the choiceIt's never just the choiceChoice is a fairytale."Tattoos are forever. Almost. And at Noodle Soup Tattoo there are strict rules: No names unless they're dead. Nothing on the face. Nothing you might get sued for later.When Jodie, a rough sleeper, asks for a free tattoo from apprentice Kit, her request is well within the guidelines. But Kit is still unsure, because they know only too well that getting inked isn't the only decision that stays with you for the rest of your life.Albatross is a small but sweeping story about the past refusing to stay in the past. It was originally commissioned by Plaines Plough in collaboration with Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and is published here to coincide with its production at the Playground Theatre, London in October 2021.

An award-winning, tender exploration of questioning authority, suspending shame through intimacy, and very bad advice.

In October 1921, a delegation of the Dáil left by boat and train for London, where they were to negotiate with the British government for peace, unity and a republic. They came back with just one of those; and that peace didn't last long, as war with Britain was replaced by war with their own. Were the Irish outclassed or outgunned? Were they lied to? Did they lie to their own colleagues back in Dublin? Or did they achieve the best that could be achieved, an incremental step on the way to fuller sovereignty?The Treaty tells the story of what happened inside those negotiations, as Arthur Griffith, Michael Collins and colleagues faced off against one of the most formidable negotiating teams ever assembled, headed by David Lloyd George and with Winston Churchill often at his side. This edition is published to coincide with Fishamble's production in November 2021.

"Everyone is constructing themselves. I'm just conscious of doing it.More than that, I'm a sculptor of it.I am a fucking artist."Finalist: Popcorn Writing Award 2021Alex is a social success. Her Instagram boasts a montage of members-only rooftops, inexplicably sunny days and clinking glasses - like after like after like! When her father dies, Alex reluctantly joins a bereavement group. She shares a little, and then lies... a lot. And it feels good - like the 'likes', but live, and just like that, Alex is hooked.Please, Feel Free to Share by Rachel Causer is a dynamic, darkly comic, one-woman show about our personal addictions, the never-ending pursuit of 'likes' and our growing desire to share all.This play was developed by Scatterjam, a female-led production company that are committed to creating innovative shows that actively challenge commonly held preconceptions and celebrate the comedic potential of doing so. They are the makers of the Offie-Nominated play When It Happens.

Nominated for an Olivier Award 2022"I'll tell you one more thing. I got more songs in my head than I ever told you. I got enough to sing for days..."1903, Somerset. Rooted in the land where she has lived her entire life, Louie Hooper's mind overflows with its songs - more than 300 of them passed down from her mother. Cecil Sharp, a composer visiting from London, fears England's folk songs will be lost forever and sets out on a mission to transcribe each and every one. He believes Louie's music should speak not just for this place but for the whole of England.Nell Leyshon's Olivier Award-nominated play with songs originally heard on BBC Radio before a sold-out, highly acclaimed run at London's Hampstead Theatre. The production was revived in June 2022 due to popular demand.

"We think we'll be alright - because we wade through air, not water, but that's not enough."Best friends Mohsen and Kash are gearing up for the biggest night of their lives - Jess Denver's pool party. There's just one problem... they can't swim. Fueled by halal Haribo and chicken wings, the pair throw themselves in at the deep end, tackling cramped cubicles and cold showers as they learn how to be at one with the water. Fierce, funny, and brimming with heart, Karim Khan examines the pressures faced by young Muslim men in this exhilarating new play about fitting in and striking out. This was published to coincide with the production at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, in August 2022.

I was the eyes and she was the bodyI mean that sounds poetic but really that's how it workedGirl meets anatomical wax sculptor.Anatomical wax sculptor meets Girl.They fall in love. Or something like that.Bea's older neighbour was her first love, her first cigarette, her first prosthetic eye. When Bea is invited to the Wellcome Collection to speak about her expertise making glass eyes, she finds herself unable to untie Margot from all that she does. As she tries to unpack her mentor's effect on her work, Bea must dissect for herself what love really looks like.Isabella Waldron's electric new play, how to build a wax figure, brings a fresh perspective on queer love, age-gap relationships, and ocularistry.

"Traverse Theatre Company, Wilf / by James Ley. A Traverse Theatre Company commission. First performedat the Traverse Theatre on 7 August 2022"--Preliminary page [3].