Jack Thorne

A painful and painfully funny play about being very young and in love and coping with serious illness at the same time.Rachel and Peter are seventeen. They have been going out for six months. Its loves young dream. Then Rachel gets ill seriously ill. She doesnt want her mum to fuss; she doesnt want Alice to pretend shes her best friend; and she certainly doesnt want Alices boyfriend telling bad jokes at her bedside. The only person she wants is Peter, but Peter doesnt know what it is that he wants.Jack Thornes play When You Cure Me is a bittersweet and poignant tale of love and misunderstanding and discovering that what you say and do can be very different from what you think and feel.When You Cure Me was first staged at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2005.

A smouldering play about escaping the past, seizing the present and owning the future.2nd May 1997. An historic victory. The Tories, eighteen years in power, are defeated as New Labour sweeps into government. From the euphoria and despair, three deeply personal stories emerge.Tory MP Robert prepares to attend the count. With defeat looming large, he fears becoming a forgotten man, while his wife Marie counts the cost of her own sacrifice to politics. Lib Dem footsoldier Ian is no hero, but party-crasher Sarah is determined to make him one. Best mates Jake and Will wake up with a new world order to memorise before their A-level Politics class. Jake dreams of Number 10. Will dreams of Jake.Jack Thornes play 2nd May 1997 was first performed at the Bush Theatre, London, in September 2009 in a co-production with nabokov theatre company, in association with Watford Palace Theatre and Mercury Theatre Colchester.

It had been a while. I was really nervous. I mean, its not really like riding a bike. Sex. Its far more complicated.Phil and Alice are in love familiar, flawed, ordinary love. They are on a journey, but this journey doesnt have an A to Z.Jack Thornes 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.

The Eighth Story. Nineteen Years Later.Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne, a new play by Jack Thorne, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" is the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage. The play will receive its world premiere in London''s West End on July 30, 2016.It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn''t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children.While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.This Special Rehearsal Edition will be available to purchase until early 2017, after which a Definitive Edition of the script will go on sale.

A two-part play presenting two distinct moments in the life of Mary Bell, the eleven-year-old Newcastle girl who was convicted of the manslaughter of two toddlers in 1968.In the first part, Two Little Boys, two actors play childish games that gradually reveal the facts of the case, stepping in and out of several roles including judges, parents and abusers.The second part, Superstar, takes place ten years later in 1978. Mary and a friend from the open prison where she is serving her sentence abscond for the weekend to Blackpool, where they meet two young soldiers on leave from Northern Ireland.Jack Thornes play Fanny and Faggot was first performed at the Finborough Theatre, London, in January 2007. (A version of the first part of the play, Two Little Boys, was staged at the Lift venue at the Pleasance as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2004).

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

An exhilarating coming-of-age drama for a solo performer.Scorching heat. A fight. A car chase. A siege. When her boyfriend is attacked on the street, feisty eighteen-year-old Katie is thrust on a white-knuckle ride through one extraordinary evening. Amidst the baying for blood and the longing for love, Katie is forced to decide her future.Jack Thornes play Bunny was first performed at the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, in a production by nabokov and Escalator East to Edinburgh in association with Watford Palace Theatre and Mercury Theatre, Colchester. It was awarded a Fringe First, and subsequently toured the UK from June 2011 before a run at Soho Theatre, London, in October 2011.

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

Rob finds life confusing in a world of unwritten rules. If theres no one around to tell him right from wrong, except for a copy of FHM and a call-centre supervisor, he just has to guess. But hes never been very lucky, and sometimes he gets his guesses very wrong.Jack Thornes play Stacy is a darkly confessional monologue for one male performer and a slide projector. It was first performed at the Arcola Theatre, London, in February 2007.

A play about grief and looking at someone that little bit more closely.Toms brother Luke is dead. This has upset a lot of people but it hasnt upset Tom. Or, rather, it has upset him, but in ways he cant explain and other people cant understand. You see, Tom and Luke were never friends. In fact, Tom didnt really like Luke at all.So its an odd decision - to try and bury Luke in the pavement of the Tunstall Estate where he was killed. But to Tom, it sort of makes sense, in a stupid-weird kind of way. As he sleeps out on the pavement, he 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 Travelcard.Written specifically for young people, Burying Your Brother in the Pavement was part of the 2008 National Theatre Connections Festival and was premiered by youth theatres across the UK.

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 Thornes play 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.Mydidae was commissioned by DryWrite theatre company and first performed at Soho Theatre, London, in December 2012, in a production featuring Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Keir Charles.

We live in an age of cuts. We are a working-class town, thats our strength and in the current climate, our weakness.An urgent political play from the writer behind Let The Right One In and This is England 86.Hope is a funny and scathing fable attacking the squeeze on local government.How do you save twenty-two million pounds? Mark and Hilary, the leaders of the Council, are about to find out.Jack Thornes play Hope premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in November 2014.

No talent at all when it comes to cooking as you will discover but when it comes to pissing off my children immense talent Olympian talent.Newbury, 1997. Sal is attempting to cook dinner for the family. She and husband David have pulled off a coup and gathered their brood back home for the weekend. Eldest son Carl is bringing his new girlfriend to meet everyone for the first time; middle daughter Polly is back from Cambridge University for the occasion; and youngest Tom will hopefully make it out of detention in time for dinner.Sal and David would rather feed their kids with leftist ideals and welfarism than fancy cuisine. When youve named each of your offspring after your socialist heroes, youve given them a lot to live up toJack Thornes play the end of history premiered in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in June 2019, in a production directed by John Tiffany.

In May 1926, Britain grinds to a halt, as workers down tools for the General Strike.With the printing presses shut down, the only sources of news are the governments British Gazette, edited by Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill, and the independent, fledgling British Broadcasting Company, led by John Reith. The stage is set for a fierce battle over control of the news and who gets to define the truth.Jack Thornes When Winston Went To War With The Wireless is a gripping play about the birth of a great British institution and its efforts to stay impartial. It premiered at the Donmar Warehouse, London, in June 2023, directed by Katy Rudd, with Stephen Campbell Moore as Reith, Adrian Scarborough as Churchill, and Haydn Gwynne as Stanley Baldwin.Jack Thorne never ceases to stimulate and entertainEvening Standard

A heartbreaking short play about guilt, grief and responsibility, written for and performed at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2011.

Its 1979, rubbish is on the streets of Bristol, and its tricky being Fiz. Shes thirteen, shes got no money, her sisters pregnant and her mum thinks shes a waste of space...Rick remembers what its like to be a teenager. So he thinks it wont take much to get a bunch of kids to help him build a playground out of junk.Hes wrong. It takes everything hes got. But when its finished, its going to be something. Its going to be everything...Jack Thornes honest and witty Junkyard, with music by Stephen Warbeck, premiered in 2017 in a co-production between Headlong, Bristol Old Vic, Rose Theatre Kingston and Theatr Clwyd, and directed by Jeremy Herrin.

1964: Richard Burton, the firebrand Welsh actor, newly married to movie star Elizabeth Taylor, is to play the title role in an experimental new production of Hamlet under the exacting direction of John Gielgud.But as rehearsals progress, the collaboration between actor and director soon threatens to unravel. One of them is the most famous movie star in the world; the other, a patrician from an earlier age of theatre. The stage is set for two titans to collide.Jack Thornes The Motive and the Cue is a fierce, funny play which offers a glimpse into the politics of a rehearsal room and the relationship between art and celebrity. This edition was published alongside the West End transfer in 2023, following its world premiere at the National Theatre, London, earlier that year. Originally commissioned and co-produced by Neal Street Productions, it was directed by Sam Mendes, and starred Johnny Flynn as Burton, Mark Gatiss as Gielgud and Tuppence Middleton as Taylor. It was named Best Play at the 2023 Evening Standard Theatre Awards, and Best New Play at the 2024 Critics Circle Theatre Awards.

The Eighth Story. Nineteen Years Later.Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, a new play by Jack Thorne.Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, a new play by Jack Thorne, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage. The play will receive its world premiere in London''s West End on 30th July 2016.It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn''t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband, and father of three school-age children.While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.

The complete scripts of one of the most urgent and talked-about television series of recent times.Set in a northern English town, Adolescence tracks the aftermath of the brutal murder of a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl. When her classmate Jamie Miller is arrested in a dawn raid for the crime, his family, psychologist and the detective in charge are all left asking: how could this have happened?Adolescence gripped audiences and commentators around the world when it was released on Netflix in 2025, sparking headlines and debate about the difficult and vital issues it confronts head on. Also applauded for its technical ingenuity with each episode presented in one continuous shot, in real time it became one of Netflixs most-watched series of all time and won numerous accolades, including eight Emmy Awards and four Golden Globes.This volume contains the full shooting scripts of all four episodes, as well as new insights and commentary from the creators including writer Jack Thorne, co-writer and star Stephen Graham, and director Philip Barantini colour photographs, and essays about the issues it explores.A must-read for admirers of this acclaimed series, its also an invaluable resource for screenwriters and other filmmakers, as well as anyone looking to understand more about the pressures and challenges facing young people today.