Stags And Hens


Book Description

'Stags and Hens takes place in the Gents and Ladies loos of a tacky Liverpool club, where Dave and Linda have decided, unbeknownst to each other, to hold their stag and hen parties . . . a bleakly funny and perceptive study of working-class misogyny, puritanism and waste' Guardian 'Combines comedy with acrid truth in the style Willy Russell has made unmistakably his own ... and hits off brilliantly the herd instinct driving both sexes onward and bedward' Daily Telegraph 'Firmly in the centre of the playwright's best achievements: lively, coarse, well-organised, truthful and very funny' Financial Times




Educating Rita


Book Description

Educating Rita, about a working-class Liverpool girl's hunger for education, is 'simply a marvellous play, painfully funny and passionately serious; a hilarious social documentary; a fairy-tale with a quizzical, half-happy ending.' Sunday Times Educating Rita premiered at the RSC Warehouse, London, in June 1980. Voted Best Comedy of 1980, it was subsequently made into a highly successful film with Michael Caine and Julie Walters.




Blood Brothers GCSE Student Edition


Book Description

Written specifically for GCSE students by academics in the field, the Methuen Drama GCSE Student Editions provide in-depth explanatory material alongside the play texts frequently studied at Key Stage 4. Whether for use in the classroom or independent study, these editions offer a fully comprehensive and lightly glossed play text with accompanying notes specifically directed towards readers of this age, which unravel essential topics and challenge all students to delve further into literary analysis. A well established modern classic, Willy Russell's Blood Brothers tells the story of Mickey and Eddie, twins separated at birth who grow up to lead very opposite lives, but which constantly and inevitably intersect. In addition to some on-page explanatory notes and the play text, this edition contains sub-headed analyses of themes, characters, context and dramatic devices, as well as background information on the playwright. The Methuen Drama GCSE Student Editions never lose sight of their readership, and offer students the confidence to engage with the material, explore their own interpretations, and improve their understanding of the works.




Blood Brothers


Book Description

A Liverpudlian West Side Story, Blood Brothers is the story of twin brothers separated at birth because their mother cannot afford to keep them both. One of them is given away to wealthy Mrs Lyons and they grow up as friends in ignorance of their fraternity until the inevitable quarrel unleashes a blood-bath. Blood Brothers was first performed at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1983 and subsequently transferred to the Lyric Theatre, London. It was revived in the West End in 1988 for a long-running production and opened on Broadway in 1993.




Sea and Land and Sky


Book Description

Set in 1916, three young women from the Scottish Women's Hospital are sent to the Russian front to support the war effort. Ailsa is working class and determined to make an impression on her superiors, Millicent is a self-confessed hedonist and Lily is searching for her lost husband. Unprepared for what they witness, each must find a way of coping as they fight to survive an experience that will change them forever. Poetic, visionary and startlingly written, Abigail Docherty's historical play is based on actual diaries of young Scottish nurses who experienced the Great War. Often darkly funny and raw in its emotions, Sea and Land and Sky is a gripping and sensual tale of youth, war, memory - and the power of love. Sea and Land and Sky is boldly inventive, blackly comic, and starkly savage.




A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky


Book Description

On a farm in the North East of England a family gathers. Five brothers and four generations feature in an epic play about hope, love, fear and the very end of time. A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky is a refreshingly subtle and compassionate vision of the world on the edge of apocalypse. Within a cosmological context, the focus is on a single family, their relations with each other and their unreconciled regrets, soon to become permanent. With an ensemble of strong, engaging characters, there are knotty, realistic family dynamics and a palimpsest of recent family history. The characters and dialogue are naturalistic but the serious themes are elucidated and alleviated with humour and quirky, surreal touches. The play represents a unique collboration between three of the UK's pre-eminent stage writers. The ambition of the partnership is matched by the ambition of the play's sweeping scope. Whilst the three voices collide, they also ring out individually without sacrificing the piece's coherent wholeness, and the play represents a rare, fascinating study in stage collaboration.




Town' and 'Honest'


Book Description

"So here I am, homeless at home and half-gratified to feel that I can be happy anywhere" John Clare Inspired by the four-day journey made on foot by the legendary mad poet, John Clare, Town creates a new story set in contemporary Northampton. On John's return to Northampton from the bright lights of London, he finds his hometown is exactly the same as when he left it - from the rooms at his parent's house, to the Saturday nights on Abington Street. In fact, the only thing that seems to have changed... is John. Slipping back into his old habits, old jobs and old relationships, an out of work and disillusioned John considers why he swapped the anonymity of corporate city life for the comforts of home and embarked upon a sixty mile walk North. Northampton writer DC Moore's Town poignantly explores enduring themes of identity, isolation and belonging, rooting them in modern life. With heartbreaking honesty and humour, the play probes the feelings that we all have about our hometown, and follows one man on his road to get back to where he started. This edition also includes the darkly comic monologue Honest, where one man's addiction for telling the truth leads to a night that spirals out of control. Taking you on a journey across London towards a late-night epiphany, the piece explores the lies we tell ourselves and each other, and the fall-out when the truth is revealed.




Kwei-Armah Plays: 1


Book Description

Few playwrights have been as successful as Kwame Kwei-Armah at bringing a distinctive new voice and examination of our culture to the stage in recent years. This collection of his work includes his trilogy of plays commissioned and produced by the National Theatre between 2003 and 2008, and Let There Be Love, first produced at the Tricycle Theatre, London, in 2008. Elmina's Kitchen won him awards for most promising new playwright and was described as 'a scorching drama about the black experience in Britain's inner cities. . . there is no mistaking its raw power, humanity and urgent concern' (Daily Telegraph). Fix Up explores race and cultural roots and heritage with verve and wit, setting heritage against the inexorable march of time and change. Statement of Regret explore tensions within the Black community amid changes in the team leading an influential Black policy think-tank. The final play, Let There Be Love, was presented at the Tricycle Theatre, London, in 2008: 'a smart and possibly noble exploration of what it takes to be human and happy' Evening Standard . The volume is introduced by the author and features a chronology of his work..