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The second collection of plays from the multi-award-winning Irish playwright, Enda Walsh.This volume of remarkable plays charts the development of one of the most strikingly original playwrights in contemporary theatre. It collects together four full-length plays three of which were produced by Galways Druid Theatre Company, three of which were performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, and two of which transferred to Londons National Theatre along with two fascinating short plays and a Foreword by the author.The Walworth Farce (2006) is a madcap yet tender play about what can happen when we become stuck in the stories we tell about our lives. The New Electric Ballroom (2008) is a dark, glitter-dusted fable of the emotionally stultifying effects of small-town life. In a savage and riveting take on the classic Greek myth of Odysseuss wife, Penelope(2010) sees four ridiculous men facing their inevitable deaths, and playing for an unwinnable love. Ballyturk (2014) saw Walsh reuniting with actor Cillian Murphy after Disco Pigs and Misterman for a jaw-droppingly physical play in which the lives of two men unravel over the course of ninety minutes. Also included in this volume are two short plays, My Friend Duplicity (2010), which went on to inspire Ballyturk, and Room 303 (2011).One of the most fiercely individual voices in the theatre todayNew York TimesEnda Walsh makes his own distinctive stage music in the fury of his writing talent and the irresistible surge of his blatant theatricalityIndependent

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 and was chosen by JK Rowling to write the script for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.This collection, with a revealing introduction by the author, covers a period of intense creativity beginning with When You Cure Me (Bush Theatre, 2005), a painful and painfully funny play about being very young and in love, and coping with serious illness at the same time. One of the years finest pieces of new writingEvening StandardIn the monologue play Stacy (Arcola Theatre, 2007), twenty-something Rob tells the story of a confusing couple of days in which everything in his life seems to have gone wrong. A pin-sharp, brilliant piece of workTime Out2nd May 1997 (Bush Theatre, 2009) distils all the euphoria and despair of New Labours landslide electoral victory into three stories told with quiet profundity and verve (Telegraph), while Bunny (Edinburgh Fringe, 2010) is a white-knuckle ride through the streets of contemporary Britain, written for a solo female performer. TerrificScotsmanRed Car, Blue Car is a heartbreaking short play about guilt, grief and responsibility, written for and performed at the Bush in 2011.Finally, Mydidae (Soho Theatre, 2012), a two-hander set entirely in a bathroom, is an electrifyingly intimate account of the darker side of love which hits audiences like a punch in the gut (Whatsonstage.com)An absolutely top-class playwright JK Rowling

Since her play Steel opened in her native Sheffield in 2018, Chris Bush has rapidly become one of the UKs most successful and widely staged playwrights, with her plays on stage at the National Theatre, in the West End, and across Europe. Celebrated for her spirited dissections of power, female agency and northern identity, her work is infused with wit, empathy, and a powerful sense of place and belonging.Included here are five of her plays, all first performed between 2018 and 2021, together with a revealing introduction in which she reflects on the tumultuous period from which they emerged.Steel (Sheffield Theatres, 2018) is a political epic constructed from minimal resources, a two-hander spanning three decades of women in politics. Sharp, witty and uncannily topicalThe StageFaustus: That Damned Woman (Headlong, 2020) is a radical reimagining of the classic tale, asking what women must sacrifice to achieve greatness. Original, ambitious and fantastically revisionistGuardianNine Lessons and Carols(Almeida Theatre, 2020) is a play, with songs by Maimuna Memon, about connection and isolation, forged during the Covid pandemic, exploring what we hold on to in troubled times. A reminder of the power of theatre and our need for itTelegraphHungry (Paines Plough, 2021) is a pithy two-hander about food, love, class and grief in a world where theres little left to savour. Reconfirms Chris Bush as one of our greatest, most relevant contemporary playwrightsBroadway World Not the End of the World (Schaubuhne, Berlin, 2021) is a daringly theatrical investigation of the climate crisis through the perspectives of class, patriarchy and colonialism. Staggering Bushs remarkable text melds a ruthless structural concept with exquisite lyricismGuardianOne of our most prolific and arresting writersEvening StandardA writer of great wit and empathyThe Times

Five ambitious and exciting plays by the multi-award-winning playwright, hailed as one of the prime movers in a new golden generation of British playwrights (Independent), and introduced by the author.Earthquakes in London (National Theatre & Headlong, 2010) is an epic drama about climate change, population explosion, social breakdown and worldwide paranoia, travelling from 1968 to 2525 and back again. The theatrical equivalent of a thrilling roller-coaster ride (Daily Telegraph)Love, Love, Love (Paines Plough & Drum Theatre Plymouth, UK tour, 2010; Royal Court & Paines Plough, 2012) examines the baby boomer generation, from coming-of-age in the 1960s to retirement-age more than forty years later, in a play that does the clash of generational world views with a devastating precision (Guardian).The Enemy is a short play in which a journalist seizes an opportunity to interview the man who shot Osama bin Laden. It was staged by Headlong as part of Decade (St Katherines Dock, London, 2011), exploring 9/11 and its legacy.13 (National Theatre, 2011) is a panoramic drama in which a young man returns to London, a city riven by social protest and upheaval, with a radical vision for the future. Premiered on the Nationals largest stage, it confirmed Bartletts ability to tackle epic themes with supreme assurance: His ambition is distinctive and immense (Evening Standard).Medea (Headlong, UK tour, 2012) is a startlingly modern version of Euripides tragedy, exploring a womans private fury at her husbands infidelity, while imprisoned in her marital home. A savage play for today, superbly well done (Mail on Sunday)

Since her debut in 2008, Lucy Kirkwood has firmly established herself as a leading playwright of her generation, the writer of a series of savagely funny, highly intelligent and beautifully observed plays that tackle the pressing issues of our times.This collection, with an introduction by the author, brings together five of her plays, starting with the wild and riotously funny farce, Tinderbox (Bush Theatre, 2008), a disturbing vision of a dystopian future where England is dissolving into the sea, realised with off-kilter imaginative flair (The Times).Written for Clean Break theatre company, it felt empty when the heart went at first but it is alright now (Arcola Theatre, 2009; winner of the John Whiting Award) is a devastating report from the hidden world of Eastern European women trafficked to London to work in the sex industry.The previously unpublished small hours (Hampstead Theatre, 2011), a collaboration with Ed Hime, directed by Katie Mitchell, is an intimate dissection of the claustrophobic world of a new mother struggling to cope on her own.The sharply satirical NSFW (Royal Court, 2012) is a richly absorbing and inventive (Telegraph) look at power games, privacy and gender politics in the media.The volume concludes with Chimerica (Almeida Theatre and West End, 2013), a gripping and provocative examination of the shifting balance of power between East and West. Winner of multiple awards, including the Olivier and Critics Circle Awards for Best New Play, the Evening Standard Best Play Award and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Chimerica is gloriously rich and mind-expanding (Guardian), and a tremendously bold piece of writing (Evening Standard).Kirkwood is the most rewarding dramatist of her generation Independent

Rona Munros vividly imagined historical cycle brings to life three generations of Stewart kings who ruled Scotland in the tumultuous fifteenth century.James I: The Key Will Keep the Lock explores the complex character of the colourful Stewart King poet, lover and law-maker.Captured at the age of 13 and crowned King of Scots in an English prison, James I of Scotland is delivered home 18 years later with a ransom on his head and a new English bride. The nation he returns to is poor: the royal coffers empty and his nobles ready to tear him apart at the first sign of weakness. Determined to bring the rule of law to a land riven by warring factions, James faces terrible choices if he is to save himself, his Queen and the crown.James II: Day of the Innocentsdepicts a violent royal playground from the perspective of the child King and his contemporaries, in a terrifying arena of sharp teeth and long knives.James II becomes the prize in a vicious game between Scotlands most powerful families. Crowned when only six, abandoned by his mother and separated from his sisters, the child King is little more than a puppet. There is only one friend he can trust: William, the future Earl of Douglas. As James approaches adulthood in an ever more threatening world, he must fight to keep his tenuous grip on the crown while the nightmares of his childhood rise up once more.James III: The True Mirror, like the King himself, is colourful and unpredictable, turning its attention to the women at the heart of the royal court.Charismatic, cultured, and obsessed with grandiose schemes that his nation can ill afford, James III is by turns loved and loathed. Scotland thunders dangerously close to civil war, but its future may be decided by James resourceful and resilient wife, Queen Margaret of Denmark. Her love and clear vision can save a fragile monarchy and rescue a struggling people.Each play stands alone as a unique vision of a country tussling with its past and future; viewed together the cycle creates an intricate and compelling narrative on Scottish culture and nationhood, full of playful wit and boisterous theatricality.The James Plays premiered at the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, in August 2014 as part of the Edinburgh International Festival, before transferring to the National Theatre, London. The original three-play cycle was named Best New Play at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2014.

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, first staged at Commodity Quay, St. Katharines Dock, London, in 2011.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.

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, staged in 1995 but set in the Soho clubland of 1958, superbly captures the atmosphere of the infant British rock and roll scene where seedy low-lifers hustle for the big time (Daily Telegraph). It is Beckett on speed (Observer) by a dramatist of obvious talent and terrific promise (The Times).The Night Heron (2002) is set in the Cambridgeshire Fens amongst assorted oddballs, birdwatchers and the local constabulary. Its funny, its sad, its haunting and it also strangely beautiful. Above all, it is quite unlike anything youve ever seen before (Daily Telegraph).In The Winterling (2006) a gangland fugitive is visited by two associates from the city who have other things on their mind than a jolly reunion. The dialogue is testosterone taut, a sense of menace invades every conversation... and as tales of torture and treachery unfold, the black comedy never misses (Time Out).Leavings(previously unpublished), a short monologue about an old man whose dog has gone missing.The housing estate in Parlour Song (2008) is a place of illicit desire and painful memories, of bad dreams and mysterious disappearances... a play that combines the comic, the erotic and the downright disconcerting with superb panache (Daily Telegraph).The Naked Eye (previously unpublished), a short monologue about a family preparing to watch Halleys Comet as it passes through the night sky.Introducing the plays is an interview with Jez Butterworth specially conducted for this volume.

Reunidas por primera vez en un solo volumen y tras dos años de ambicioso y cuidado trabajo editorial, ven la luz un total de diecisiete piezas teatrales, en su gran mayoría inéditas, que se encontraban hasta ahora dispersas en distintos archivos personales e institucionales. Mil paginas de unas obras desafiantes y revolucionarias que acabaron prohibidas por la censura y obligaron a su autor al exilio. En ellas ya se prefiguran algunos de los temas, tramas y personajes que mas tarde caracterizaran tambien su narrativa, asi como una destreza que el mismo consideraria crucial en su escritura: el dominio de los dialogos.En su teatro se pueden distinguir dos etapas. La primera, aun en España, se caracteriza por sus ecos de picaresca, esperpento y voces lorquianas. En la segunda, ya en Francia, se acerca al teatro del absurdo y al surrealismo. Su escritura es una interseccion entre tradiciones, que auna transgresion y lirismo. La alegoria le sirve de recurso para reflejar la sociedad del momento, pero tambien trascenderla en un revelador analisis atemporal de los mecanismos del poder y su contrapunto: figuras disidentes que señalan las fisuras y rompen los tabues para vivir de acuerdo a sus propias reglas.Listado de obras que contiene el volumen:Doña Frivolidad (1955), Unos muertos perdidos (obra perdida), Historia privada de un pequeño pueblo (1959), Verano (1959), Elecciones generales (1959-1960), Fedra en el sur (obra perdida), El tribunal, Prometeo Jimenez, revolucionario (1961), Dialogos de la herejia (1961; nueva version 1980), El salon, Los gatos (1963), Balada matrimonial (1964-1965; nueva version 1996), Queridos mios, es preciso contaros ciertas cosas (1965-1966), Mil y un mesias (1966), Adorado Alberto (1968), Prepapa (1968), Cena con Mr. & Mrs. Q. (1969; nueva version 1996), Sentencia dictada contra P. y J. (1970; nueva version 1993), Interview de Mrs. Muerta Smith por sus fantasmas (1970-1972).Tierra mia, pais mio, hare como los viejos guerreros; no quedara en pie nada que recuerde al pasado, tu opio. Te arrasare primero y luego te construire. Tu proximo arbol no sera el viejo arbol que dio sombra a tantas iniquidades. Sera nuevo y dara sombra a verdades nuevas. Tu proximo pajaro no cantara en mañanas tristemente conocidas. Seran mañanas diferentes, alegres, con una tarea distinta. Una tarea humana que llevara al hombre al conocimiento de su fuerza, de su libertad, donde no quedara rencor ni sombra de esclavitud. Y te proyectaras con hijos verdaderos, que te conozcan y te superen. Tierra mia, pais mio, esperame. Yo pienso en ti. Lucio, Mil y un mesias. A. G. A.

Immerse yourself in the sublime words of the Bard with this sumptuous anthology of Shakespeare, with one entry for every night of the year.Chosen especially by a Shakespeare fanatic to reflect the changing seasons and daily events, the entries in this glorious book include:Romeo and Juliet on Valentines Day.A Midsummer Nights Dream in Midsummer.The witches of Macbeth around their cauldron on Halloween.Also featured is one of Shakespeares only two mentions of football for the anniversary of the first FA cup final. Beautifully illustrated with favourite scenes from Shakespeares best-loved plays, this magnificent volume is a fun introduction to the well-known work and lesser known plays and poetry and is designed to be accessible to both adults and curious children.Keep this book by your bedside and luxuriate in the rich language of the greatest writer the world has ever known, for entertainment, relaxation and timeless wisdom every night of the year.

After the breakout success of his early work for stage and screen, Jack Thorne turned for inspiration to his own family for a series of plays about hope, idealism and domestic politics. The work in this collection five full-length plays and two shorts showcases his extraordinary ability to combine electrifying dialogue with heartfelt warmth, candour and humour.Hope(Royal Court Theatre, 2014) is a funny and scathing fable about the leaders of a local council faced with savage funding cuts. A surprisingly entertaining state-of-the-nation drama The StageThe Solid Life of Sugar Water (Graeae/Theatre Royal Plymouth, 2015) is an intimate, tender play about loss, hurt and rediscovery. Startlingly good... an adult play in the very best senseThe TimesJunkyard(Headlong, 2017) is a joyful celebration of imaginative play, a musical drama about a group of young people tasked with building a playground out of junk. Genuinely funny and poignantWhatsOnStagethe end of history... (Royal Court, 2019) is a moving and sophisticated portrait of the impact of political idealism on a family. Clever and highly intriguingIndependentAlso included are Burying Your Brother in the Pavement, written for the National Theatre Connections Festival in 2008, which tackles complex themes of grief, violence and sexuality with fierce compassion and wild imagination; and two short plays: Whiff Whaff and Boo.I think these plays are about love, about heroes, about trying to understand how to be heroic, about trying to understand how to lead a good life Jack Thorne, from his IntroductionJack Thorne is Britains hottest playwright and screenwriterThe TimesJack Thorne never ceases to stimulate and entertainEvening StandardThorne is a writer of immense emotional intelligence and his dialogue regularly devastatesThe Stage

Three options, as I see it theyll kill it off entirely, youll let it die of natural causes, Im going to make it live again.When the owner of a Sheffield scissor manufacturer dies, the future of the factory site falls into uncertainty. Can it be reborn as a fashionable music venue, converted into luxury apartments, or somehow reinvigorated so the old business can survive?Theres more than just money or bricks and mortar at stake. Its about knowing where you fit in the world knowing that somewhere theres still a place for you.Fresh, funny and heartfelt, Rock / Paper / Scissors are three intricately interwoven plays by Chris Bush about family, heritage and legacy. They were first performed simultaneously with the same cast moving between three theatres in Sheffield the Crucible, the Lyceum and the Studio as part of Sheffield Theatres fiftieth birthday celebrations in 2022.While the three plays can be enjoyed separately, they also offer a uniquely rewarding opportunity for any company looking to take on the challenge of staging them together.

Come, you drunken spirits. Come, you battalions. You fields of ghosts who walk these green plains still. Come, you giants!When Jez Butterworths Jerusalempremiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2009, it served notice of an astonishing development in the career of a writer whose debut, Mojo, had premiered on the same stage nearly fifteen years before.Unearthing the mythic roots of contemporary English life, and featuring Mark Rylance in an indelible central performance as Johnny Rooster Byron, the play transferred to the West End and then to Broadway, before returning to the West End in 2011. Storming restores ones faith in the power of theatreIndependent. Unarguably one of the best dramas of the twenty-first centuryGuardian.Jerusalem was followed by the bewitching chamber play The River (Royal Court, 2012), a magnetically eerie, luminously beautiful psychodramaTime Out. A delicately unfolding puzzle all of it is wrapped in marvellous language extraordinaryThe Times.This volume concludes with the multi-award-winning The Ferryman (Royal Court and West End, 2017; Broadway, 2018), an excavation of lives shattered by violence, set in a farmhouse in Northern Ireland in 1981. A richly absorbing and emotionally abundant play an instant classicIndependent. A magnificent play that uses, brilliantly, the vitality of live theatre to express the deadly legacy of violenceFinancial Times.Also included here is the screenplay for the short film The Clear Road Ahead(2011), published here for the first time, and an edited transcript of a conversation between Butterworth and the playwright Simon Stephens.

Robert Holman wrote plays of startling beauty, combining close observation of the way people behave with a thrilling and often fiercely uncompromising mastery of dramatic form. He is the playwright most admired by other playwrights. To Simon Stephens, he was, until Holmans death in 2021, My favourite living writer.Here, in this selection from Holmans first decade of playwriting, a monkey is taken for a French spy by an eighteenth-century fishing community; the inhabitants of a Greek island reside under the shadow of the atom bomb; and a group of lonely people converge on the North Yorkshire moors.With an introduction written for this volume by Holman himself, Robert Holman Plays: One contains The Natural Cause (Cockpit Theatre, London, 1974), Mud (Royal Court Theatre, London, 1974), Other Worlds (Royal Court, 1983), Today (Royal Shakespeare Company, 1984) and The Overgrown Path (Royal Court, 1985).Holmans instinct for truth, and an unaffected ability to spot whats poignant in it, is what one remembers: that, and a paradoxical impression of spare richness, astringent abundance The Times

Very few playwrights can be identified from a single line of dialogue debbie tucker green is one of them. This collection of her first six plays, together with a short introduction by the author, shows a dramatic artist in full control of her craft.born bad (Hampstead Theatre, 2003; winner of the Olivier Award for Best Newcomer) dives headlong into the heart of a conflicted family, unleashing wit, ferocity and verbal dexterity on the way. One of the most assured and extraordinary new voices weve heard in a long while. ElectrifyingIndependent on Sundaydirty butterfly (Soho Theatre, 2003) is a mesmerising study of voyeurism, power and guilt. There is a sly, controlled power in this writing And now I cannot get it out of my headGuardiangenerations(National Theatre Platform performance, 2005; Young Vic, 2007) follows three generations of a Black South African family comparing cooking skills but food isnt the only topic and the family numbers are declining. Devastating will last you a lifetimeGuardianstoning mary(Royal Court Theatre, 2005) confronts the reality of global conflicts, transposing them to the West. The words fly around the theatre piercing the dark like gleaming shards of shrapnelThe Stagetrade(Royal Shakespeare Company, 2005) shines a light on the world of female sex tourism. Poetry laced with shards of broken glassGuardianrandom(Royal Court Theatre, 2008) is set over one day, following one family and the effects of one random act of violence. The writing seems to penetrate the very heart of griefTelegraphdebbie tucker green uses language as deftly as a composer might use notes.Financial Times

A selection of the best work of Stephen Jeffreys, whose career stretches from an award-winning play at the National Student Drama Festival in 1977 through to an adaptation of The Alchemist for the RSC in 2016.Included here are his first big success, Valued Friends, a comedy of manners about the property market which won both the Evening Standard and Critics Circle Awards; a riotous farce set in the time of Elizabeth I, The Clink, in which a stand-up comedian becomes involved in the political skulduggery surrounding the ailing queen; an autobiographical drama set in 1966, A Going Concern, about a washed-up family business; and Jeffreys smash-hit, The Libertine, a Restoration romp about the licentious Earl of Rochester, much revived and also filmed with Johnny Depp.Rounding off the volume are two previously unpublished plays: Interruptions, inspired by Jeffreys interest in the collective aspect of politics and his fascination with the Japanese aesthetic principle of Jo-ha-kyu; and a very likable, short autobiographical monologue, Finsbury Park.Together, all six plays represent the impressively wide range of topics and styles that Jeffreys embraced. Above all, each one of them is intensely and enjoyably theatrical to its very core.I had the great pleasure of working with Stephen Jeffreys on his play, The Libertine. Would that all playwrights had his openness, his talent, his hard-headedness, his experience, his enthusiasm, his complexity, and perhaps best of all his talent and interest in eliciting the best in others John MalkovichStephens plays always bear the kitemark of unique, handcrafted quality Ian Rickson

This anthology comprises five of the best plays from VAULT 2016, Londons biggest and most exciting arts festival.Eggs is a dark comedy about female friendship, fertility and freaking out, by Florence Keith-Roach, rising star of the London theatre scene (Evening Standard). Two women, living very different lives, are united by their quick wit, love of nineties dance music and a mounting alienation.In Mr Incredible, Adam is single. He doesnt like it. He misses Holly. He deserves Holly. Doesnt he? A monologue about love and entitlement by Camilla Whitehill, author of Where Do Little Birds Go?, who was described by The Times as a writer of huge promise.The world of the celebrity PA is laid bare in Primadonna. A young first-timer navigates impossible tasks, difficult conversations and fearsome passive aggression in this one-woman play from Rosie Kellett, winner of the VAULT Festival Spirit Award.Mickey and his team of Cornermen never have much luck in the boxing world. Until, that is, they sign a young fighter whose winning ways catapult them to a level theyve never known before. A striking new play by an exciting new writer, Oli Forsyth (Scotsman).Stephen Laughtons one-man play Runexplores what it means to love, to lose, and how to grow from a boy into a man, as a gay Jewish kid sneaks out over Shabbat to meet his boyfriend and his universe implodes.A vibrant, varied programme full of theatrical treats a brilliant place to spot new talentThe Stage on VAULT 2015

The second collection of plays from the multi-award winning author.Included in this volume is Conor McPhersons The Weir, one of the most successful plays of recent years. In a bar in a remote part of Ireland, the local lads are swapping spooky stories to impress a young woman from Dublin newly moved into the area... A spellbinder that transfixes you... No praise in fact is too highGuardianDublin Carolis set on Christmas Eve, when a Dublin undertaker is visited by his estranged daughter urging him to face up to the past. McPherson writes like a dream.... The play works an ingenious spellDaily MailPort Authority tells of three interwoven lives: a boy leaves home for the first time; a man starts a job for which he is unqualified; a pensioner is sent a mysterious package... Overwhelmingly poignant... desolate, searing eloquenceEvening StandardAnd in Come on Over, published here for the first time, a Jesuit priest, sent to investigate a miracle in his home town, re-encounters the woman who loved him thirty years before. Piercingly evocative, powerfully exploring the tension between human and divine love Daily TelegraphThe volume also contains an Afterword by the author.

The fourth volume of the collected plays of one of the best playwrights alive.Written over a period of ten years and evincing an extraordinary range of topics and techniques, this fourth volume of Caryl Churchills collected plays confirms her standing as a playwright who is amongst the best half-dozen now writing (The Times).This volume includes:Hotel (Schauspielhaus, Hannover, 1997), an innovative theatre piece combining music, voices and dance, with a text by Caryl Churchill and music by Orlando Gough.This is a Chair (Royal Court Theatre, 1997), a short play about the surreal nature of modern life.Blue Heart (Out of Joint & Royal Court Theatre, 1997), two linked one-act plays, both startlingly innovative, exploring the underpinnings of family relationships.Far Away (Royal Court, 2000), a brilliantly unsettling play about conflict and its unsettling effect on our lives and humanity.A Number (Royal Court, 2002), a fascinating meditation on human cloning, personal identity and the conflicting claims of nature and nurture.Drunk Enough to Say I Love You? (Royal Court, 2006),examining US foreign policy and international power politics through the lens of an intense personal relationship.A Dream Play (National Theatre, London, 2005), a spare and resonant version of August Strindbergs 1901 masterpiece.

The first eight astonishing plays by Enda Walsh, 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 (1995), Walshs very first, previously unpublished play, a Cork cabaret about a ventriloquist who loses control.Disco Pigs (1996), his breakthrough play, winner of the 1997 George Devine and Stewart Parker Awards, a play that does for Irish kids what Irvine Welshs Trainspotting did for young Scots (Daily Telegraph).Misterman(1999, revised in 2012), in which we meet Thomas Magill on his obsessive mission to bring God to the townsfolk of Inishfree.bedbound (2000), his Fringe First Award-winning play, in which a father and daughter are trapped in their own compulsive and claustrophobic story.The Small Things (2005), a harrowingly precise and poetic (Guardian) exploration of language and our need for words to survive.Chatroom(2005), a chilling tale of teenage manipulation that was written for the National Theatres 2005 Connections season.Also included are two previously unpublished short plays, How These Desperate Men Talk (2004) and Lynndies Gotta Gun (2005), written during Walshs time working with European theatremakers.