Kay Adshead – författare

Six Ensemble Plays for Young Actors is an anthology of work written for actors aged 11-25. Ideal for youth theatre groups, schools and amateur dramatic companies, it contains a diverse selection of plays suited to large casts and ensemble performance. Varying in style and subject matter, the plays offer performers, directors and designers a range of exciting challenges: from recreating the mythological world of The Odyssey to a dramatisation of two hundred years of slavery that will take the audience on a journey from eighteenth century Africa to 1990s London in Sweetpeter. Contemporary urban living is confronted in plays ranging from the starkly realistic to the playful, lyrical and surrealistic. From the innocent and imaginative world of a school playground to issues of racism, peer pressure, crime and communication in a mobile phone obsessed culture, this is a wide-ranging anthology that will enrich the repertoire of youth theatre groups and the curriculum in schools. The volume is introduced by Paul Roseby, artistic director of the National Youth Theatre.

Six Ensemble Plays for Young Actors is an anthology of work written for actors aged 11-25. Ideal for youth theatre groups, schools and amateur dramatic companies, it contains a diverse selection of plays suited to large casts and ensemble performance.Varying in style and subject matter, the plays offer performers, directors and designers a range of exciting challenges: from recreating the mythological world of The Odyssey to a dramatisation of two hundred years of slavery that will take the audience on a journey from eighteenth century Africa to 1990s London in Sweetpeter.Contemporary urban living is confronted in plays ranging from the starkly realistic to the playful, lyrical and surrealistic. From the innocent and imaginative world of a school playground to issues of racism, peer pressure, crime and communication in a mobile phone obsessed culture, this is a wide-ranging anthology that will enrich the repertoire of youth theatre groups and the curriculum in schools. The volume is introduced by Paul Roseby, artistic director of the National Youth Theatre.

Six Ensemble Plays for Young Actors is an anthology of work written for actors aged 11-25. Ideal for youth theatre groups, schools and amateur dramatic companies, it contains a diverse selection of plays suited to large casts and ensemble performance.Varying in style and subject matter, the plays offer performers, directors and designers a range of exciting challenges: from recreating the mythological world of The Odyssey to a dramatisation of two hundred years of slavery that will take the audience on a journey from eighteenth century Africa to 1990s London in Sweetpeter.Contemporary urban living is confronted in plays ranging from the starkly realistic to the playful, lyrical and surrealistic. From the innocent and imaginative world of a school playground to issues of racism, peer pressure, crime and communication in a mobile phone obsessed culture, this is a wide-ranging anthology that will enrich the repertoire of youth theatre groups and the curriculum in schools. The volume is introduced by Paul Roseby, artistic director of the National Youth Theatre.

In 2011, all over the Arab World, veiled women took to the streets to protest. Their calls for change were briefly celebrated, soon derided, and eventually ignored. For the first time on stage, The Singing Stones gives voice to their extraordinary stories. These are the women who snitched on Gaddafi, marched on Tahrir Square, defended the bloody borders of Kurdistan, and became the heroines of our century’s greatest struggle. But who are they? What led them to revolution? And where do they go from here? The Singing Stones is a fearless exploration of women and the Arab Spring.

In 2011, all over the Arab World, veiled women took to the streets to protest. Their calls for change were briefly celebrated, soon derided, and eventually ignored. For the first time on stage, The Singing Stones gives voice to their extraordinary stories. These are the women who snitched on Gaddafi, marched on Tahrir Square, defended the bloody borders of Kurdistan, and became the heroines of our century’s greatest struggle. But who are they? What led them to revolution? And where do they go from here? The Singing Stones is a fearless exploration of women and the Arab Spring.

A young woman arrives in a strange country. A woman who has committed no crime. She is indefinitely confined, humiliated and racially and sexually abused. She witnesses her guards' petty dishonesty and casual brutality. She sees innocents scapegoated and worst of all she hears the authorities lie and lie again. The country is England.

From the author of The Bogus Woman

Moving from the biggest democracy on the planet to one of the newest, "Bites" takes us back to Afghanistan via Texas. In the last diner at the end of a world ravaged by war, a menu of love, death and revenge is served by the 'hired help'. Seven courses make for a poetic feast of universal tales looking back to the forgotten war and forward to a nightmarish future. "Bites" was first performed at the Bush Theatre, London, in January 2005.

The Oikos Project is an innovative partnership, with surrounding themes of environmentalism and the effects of the changing world.

A young woman arrives in a strange country. A woman who has committed no crime. She is indefinitely confined, humiliated and racially and sexually abused. She witnesses her guards’ petty dishonesty and casual brutality. She sees innocents scapegoated and worst of all she hears the authorities lie and lie again. The country is England. It is 1997.The Bogus Woman was produced at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh in 2000 and at the Bush Theatre, London in 2001.

The Oikos Project and the two plays Oikos and Protozoa are an attempt to take responsibility for creating a different future in relation to the coming threat of climate change. Can we createa future based less on material gain and more on being in sympathy with our only planet?OIKOS Salil, a highly-successful businessman, has it all worked out: career, family, river-view des-res in Chiswick and a beautiful mistress. So why is he increasingly haunted by ghosts from the Old Country? When the Thames bursts its banks and his family scramble to keep their heads above water, the very foundations of his perfect life are threatened and Salil is forced to look to both his future and his past for redemption.PROTOZOA When the United Kingdom disappears in The Floods, Cordelia is determined to rebuild her grand house at any cost. When Sheann emerges half dead from the black waters, she will do anything to find her lost child. In this strange, formless new world, Inspector John Hall, born again out of the mud and slurry, will stop at nothing to ensure the survival of his citizens. If civilisation was to disappear tomorrow, how would we rebuild it? As Cordelia, Sheann and Hall’s lives collide in a volatile, repressive and increasingly familiar world, who are the women on the other side of the shrinking, fetid river who watch and wait?

At the heart of a London Park there is a beautiful house. Inside, the raging Pongo has volunteered for an anger management drug trial. But isn’t anger vital to our humanity?Set in a mythical England against ongoing war and civil insurrection, Animal is a dark and funny tale of humanity’s struggle for progress. In this millennium, will we choose to be Animals or Angels? Animal opened at The Soho Theatre and New Writing Centre, London, on 4th September 2003 before embarking on a National tour.

Moving from the biggest democracy on the planet to the newest, Bites takes us back to Afghanistan via Texas. In the last diner at the end of a world ravaged by war, a menu of love, death and revenge is served by the ‘hired help'. Seven courses make for a poetic feast of universal tales looking back to the forgotten war and forward to a nightmarish future.Produced at the Bush Theatre, London in January 2005 (Mama Quillo in association with The Bush).