Even Stillness Breathes Softly Against a Brick Wall


Book Description

“I believe in this. I believe in here. Me and you.” Everyday life, is it nothing but a series of creeping, soul-destroying disillusionments and compromises? This young couple start to think so, falling further and further into a lyrical, wild and emotional world of their own, but their escape could prove much more dangerous than the conformity they've rejected. Combining shrewd observation of the toils of daily living, with a keen and lyrical style, Even Stillness Breathes Softly Against a Brick Wall by exciting young playwright Brad Birch is sure to inspire and delight audiences and readers alike.




Birch Plays: 1


Book Description

Birch Plays: 1 celebrates the work of Welsh writer Brad Birch. Winner of the 2016 Harold Pinter Commission for the Royal Court Theatre Birch is the writer in residence at Undeb Theatre and is currently on attachment at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. His work has been produced by the Royal Court, Sherman Cymru, Theatre503 and the National Youth Theatre as well as around the world in Russia, the USA, Italy, Germany and Spain. Bringing together plays from throughout his career to date this remarkable collection includes a selection of previously published and unpublished works along with an introduction by the author. Where the Shot Rabbits Lay (Royal Court, 2012) - "There are some lovely grace notes in Brad Birch's intimate father-son tale" (Time Out London) Even Stillness Breathes Softly Against a Brick Wall (Soho Theatre, 2013) - "a lovely play of sharp edges, falsehoods and unsaid thoughts, twinning great humour and strong emotion throughout" (WhatsOnStage) The Brink (Orange Tree, 2016) - "short, sharp, shockingly entertaining" (The Guardian) Black Mountain (Paines Plough Roundabout, Edinburgh, 2017) - "This is a real rarity: a psychological thriller that feels psychologically accurate – and it actually thrills too." (Scotsman)




New Monologues for Men


Book Description

New Monologues for Men features forty monologues from plays published by Bloomsbury Methuen Drama recently. The monologues are selected by the editor, Geoffrey Colman, on account of their suitability and relevance to drama school students and recent graduates entering the profession. Each monologue is preceded by an introductory paragraph, written by the editor, outlining the setting, character type, and point in the plot. Suggestions are offered for staging, performance decisions, points of significance in the text, and drawing on decisions made in professional production/s. This collection is the go-to resource for auditioning actors with an insatiable appetite for new, original and excellent material.




The Brink


Book Description

It's what life does to you. We don't have time to waste. Worrying over the small stuff while the big stuff takes its toll. You're living and then . . . boom. At 27, History teacher Nick is on the edge. A hidden secret lies under the Brink. Nick can't get it out of his mind. A series of visions force Nick to investigate what lies beneath. Nick's girlfriend doesn't understand. Neither do his fellow teachers. Frustrated, he confides in a Year 10 student but can she be expected to have all the answers? The Brink is an arch but affecting parable for the times we live in. This edition was published to coincide with the play's world premiere at the Orange Tree Theatre, London, in April 2016.




The Cane


Book Description

It will be the biggest send off any teacher has ever had. No teacher is as loved. After 45 years as a dedicated teacher, Edward is looking forward to the imminent celebration to mark his retirement. But his home is under siege. A mob of angry students have gathered. A brick has been thrown through the window, he and his wife haven't left the house for six days, and now his estranged daughter has arrived with her own questions. Why would they attack the most popular teacher in the school? The Cane explores power, control, identity and gender as well as considering the major failure of the echo-chamber of liberalism.




The New Wave of British Women Playwrights


Book Description

It is a fact that today’s British stages resound with powerfully innovative voices and that, very often, these voices have been those of young women playwrights. This collection of essays gives visibility and pride of place to these fascinating voices by exploring the vitality, inventiveness and particularly strong relevance of these poetics. These women playwrights sometimes invent radically new forms and sometimes experiment with conventional ones in fresh and unexpected ways, as for example when they re-energize naturalism and provide it with new missions. The plays that are addressed are all concerned with the necessity to grasp the complexity of the contemporary world and to further investigate what it means to be human. Intimate or epic, and sometimes both at once, visionary or closer to everyday life, these plays approach the contemporary world through a multitude of prisms – historical, scientific, political and poetic – and open different and visionary perspectives.




Octagon


Book Description

Some poems are better written in flesh . . . After Wall Street and Tahrir Square, after ISIS and the NSA, after Ferguson and Eric Garner: here come the poets. In a downtown poetry slam with a place on the team to be won, eight young poets prepare to do battle. But backstage it's all kicking off with love triangles, families to feed and wounds to rip open. And in the end, is it about winning – or finding the words that need to be said? Octagon received its world premiere at the Arcola Theatre, London, on 16 September 2015.




RSC Making Mischief


Book Description

Fall of the Kingdom, Rise of the Foot Soldier by Somalia Seaton - a racially-motivated attack on a student forces her teacher to confront the uncomfortable truth lurking beneath the community. Fraser Grace's Always Orange, set in the aftermath of the London terrorist attacks, looking at how to be human in a world always on the edge. The Making Mischief Festival features work from some of today's most exciting playwrights who are challenging and questioning our society. The Festival runs from 27 July to 27 August from The Other Place Studio Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon.




National Theatre Connections 2018


Book Description

Theatre has a funny way of getting to the heart of who we are now and – particularly in the case of Connections – who we are going to be. Drawing together the work of nine leading playwrights, National Theatre Connections 2018 features work by some of the most exciting contemporary playwrights. Gathered together in one volume, the plays offer young performers an engaging selection of material to perform, read or study. From friends building bridges and siblings breaking down walls; girls making their voice heard and boys searching for home; and not forgetting a band of unlikely action heroes taking control of the weather. The anthology contains nine play scripts along with imaginative production notes and exercises, as well as a short introduction to the writing process for the tenth Connections play [ BLANK ] by Alice Birch. National Theatre Connections is an annual festival which brings new plays for young people to schools and youth theatres across the UK and Ireland. Commissioning exciting work from leading playwrights, the festival exposes actors aged 13-19 to the world of professional theatre-making, giving them full control of a theatrical production - from costume and set design to stage management and marketing campaigns. NT Connections have published over 150 original plays and regularly works with 500 theatre companies and 10,000 young people each year.




Tremor


Book Description

This is the person I am now. It's the person I want to be, should have been for a long time. We got dark, Sophie. Things got dark, and I...I'm better now. I'm in a better place... Once our lives are touched by tragedy, can we ever truly move on? Sophie and Tom's relationship fell apart in the aftermath of a catastrophe. Four years on, as they come face to face once again, the aftershocks of that fateful day can still be felt. Tremor is a play about now. It's about how we choose to see things and live our lives in a world riven with tension, anxiety and division. This thrilling new play by Brad Birch, recipient of the Harold Pinter Commission, offers a taut, intense and thrilling two-hander.