Craig Higginson – författare

This book introduces young people to the theatrical processes behind the scenes of one of the country's best known and best loved theatres. The Young Vic is famous for its hugely successful productions of classic and modern plays, which have attracted widespread critical acclaim. Here Ruth Little, the theatre's associate artistic director, looks at the processes involved in staging a theatrical work with young people from transforming stories into action in GRIMM'S TALES, tackling classical dialogue in DR FAUSTUS, developing character in RAISIN IN THE SUN, or staging a musical in SIMPLY HEAVENLY. Each chapter is based on actual work led by professional directors at the Young Vic and includes multiple ideas for how to enthuse young actors and directors with the possibilities of theatre, including costume and design, running rehearsals and much, much more.With a preface by the Young Vic's Artistic Director, David Lan, THE YOUNG VIC BOOK is full of insights from actors and directors who have worked at the theatre including Jude Law, Lennie James, Frank Dunlop and Barbara Houseman.

This brilliant new collection of ten plays for young people will prove indispensable to schools, colleges and youth theatre groups. Specially commissioned by the National Theatre for the Connections Festival 2012 involving 200 schools and youth theatre groups across the UK and Ireland, each play is accompanied by production notes and exercises. Power struggles, rites of passage, love and forbidden relationships are some of the rich themes that run through the 2012 cycle of plays. Some are deeply funny, some are provocative and some reflective; and one has really catchy songs!For the 2012 Festival, the anthology has an international feel and offers a window on the world. It includes from Australia a play based on a nineteenth century court case in which a teenage girl was falsely convicted; from Brazil a drama about young lovers doomed to tragedy; set in Russia, a play exploring differing attitudes to National Service and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991; a drama about students' rights to an education and the Cultural Revolution of 1966 in China; and a comedy involving a group of Irish country girls travelling to London to audition for the X-Factor.

A fusion of boyhood innocence, ancient lore and the harsh reality of adult life, love and betrayal. The Hill is at times hauntingly realistic, a story with which many can identify - achingly sad and heart-warming by turns. Set in a boarding school in the Drakensberg in the early '80s it tells the tale of an 11-year-old boy with an unusual bond with nature and the supernatural. Haunted by dreams of creatures conjured by San mythology and encouraged by the enthusiastic teachings of an over-friendly school teacher. Excluded from his home, Andrew makes this his new home. He is popular and somewhat of a daredevil but will escape to the surrounding bush at any opportunity to explore and listen to nature's teachings. Until a shadow falls, darkening his new life too. Afraid and unsure of how to cope he withdraws from the web being spun around him and seeks solace among the ancient figures of the caves. This exploration of blurred boundaries, overturned trust and child abuse would be sad were it not for AndrewAs emotional resourcefulness. Higginson weaves a tale of obsession and trauma that will haunt you long after you have read the final page.

The first collection of plays from the acclaimed author and playwright. Includes Dream of the Dog, The Girl in the Yellow Dress, The Imagined Land and The Red Door.

From a version by Tim SuppleFrom the novel by Rudyard KiplingMowgli was still a toddler when he was lost in the jungle – his parents feeing the tiger, Shere Khan. There, Mowgli was brought up by wolves, and educated by the bear Baloo and the panther Bagheera.He was happy while growing up and learning the ways of the jungle –and his name was soon known amongst all the animals. But Mowgli’sgrowing fame provoked resentment and envy, and his life was soon threatened from all sides… First published in the late 1890s, Rudyard Kipling’s two Jungle Books have enchanted generations of children and adults.Often describedas an allegory for the society and politics of the time, The Jungle Book has now been adapted by critically-acclaimed South African playwright, Craig Higginson. The play asks: Who is your family? Those who look the same as you or those who love and nurture you? Here, the tales become a powerful examination of an emerging democracy, and the forces that threaten it. Based on a version by the celebrated director Tim Supple, this adaptation was first staged at Johannesburg’s Market Theatre in 2008. This powerful and magical version of a much-loved classic is as resonant now as it was when it first appeared – both within South Africa and beyond its borders.

A new gripping psychological drama, The Girl in the Yellow Dress, centers on a love story set in Paris between two apparently disparate characters, one a UK teacher and the other her Congolese student.

Nominated for four Naledi Awards (South Africa's equivalent of the Olivier Awards) including Best New South African Play.

Thirty miles outside Johannesburg, a group of school friends decide to spend the night in a network of underground caves. The area is known as the Cradle of Humankind. The oldest pre-human remains have been found there, including a four million year-old ape-man called Little Foot. As the friends go deeper underground, forces are unleashed between them and around them.Part reality, part nightmare, South African playwright Craig Higginson's dark and poetic play takes us on an unforgettable journey into our unconscious ancestral memory.