Kieran Hurley – författare

In a once-great Scottish town, a massive redevelopment project promises to bring money, jobs and new prospects to its forgotten population. However, when Dr Kirsten Stockmann discovers a dangerous secret, she knows she must bring the truth to light – no matter the cost.A provocative and timely drama about corruption, politics and the media, The Enemy is a uniquely Scottish take on Henrik Ibsen’s timeless work An Enemy of the People, written by award-winning playwright Kieran Hurley.This edition was published to coincide with its National Theatre of Scotland production in October 2021.

Salisbury Crags, Edinburgh. Twilight. A woman takes a step forward into the air. A teenage boy pulls her back. Two lives are changed forever.Libby whiles away her days in New Town cafes and still calls herself a writer – but she’s not put pen to page for years. Declan is a talented young artist struggling with a volatile home life in Pilton. As they form an uneasy friendship, complicated by class and culture, Libby spots an opportunity to put herself back on track, and really make a difference.She needs Declan’s story. In all its messy, painful detail.But does she have the right to it?When does poverty portrayal become poverty porn?Often startling, sometimes shocking and threaded with unexpected humour, Mouthpiece takes a frank and unflinching look at the different Edinburghs which often exist in ignorance of one another, and examines whether it’s possible to tell someone else’s story without exploiting them along the way.

Max is a normal-ish kid in a normal-ish town. He spends his days daydreaming and hanging out with his weird wee pal Stevie Nimmo. But when Max is called for his first Square Go, a fight by the school gates, it’s his own demons he must wrestle with first. Featuring an original soundtrack by members of Frightened Rabbit, this unmissable collaboration between Fringe First winning writers Kieran Hurley (Heads Up) and Gary McNair (A Gambler’s Guide to Dying) is a raucous and hilarious new play about playground violence, myths of masculinity and the decision to step up or run.

Multi-award-winning Scottish playwright Kieran Hurley has been making waves since the early 2010s with his vivid storytelling and searing honesty, creating plays acutely concerned with society and community, and deeply enmeshed in Scotland's local political context. Tracking the evolution of Hurley's work from his early solo shows to his later large-cast plays and featuring an introduction by Scottish theatre critic Joyce McMillan, this is an exciting collection showcasing one of the UK's most exciting creators of politically-engaged theatre. The plays collected are:Hitch (2010): a previously unpublished solo show about Hurley's hitchhiking trip to the 2009 G8 meeting in L'Aquila, exploring the meaning of political protest.Beats (2012): a coming-of-age story exploring the aftermath of the 1994 Criminal Justice Act outlawing raves. It was adapted into a film in 2019, garnering nominations for BIFA Best Debut Screenplay and WGGB Best Screenplay.Heads Up (2016): a ferocious piece of storytelling asking what we would do if we found ourselves at the end of our world as we know it. (Winner of the Fringe First Award 2016.)Mouthpiece (2018): an unflinching Edinburgh-centric two-hander which examines whether it's possible to tell someone else's story without exploiting them along the way. (Winner of the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award 2019.)The Enemy (2021): a provocative and timely drama offering a uniquely Scottish take on Henrik Ibsen's timeless work An Enemy of the People.

I was there you know. when we shut your places down. gender studies. social studies. the strongholds of your politically correct bullshit worldview. we shut them down. and I was there. and the news cameras were there. and the whole world was watching. What happens when a male lecturer calls a female student a slut?A provocative, dynamic and original , Bubble is a new play by award-winning writer Kieran Hurley. Set entirely on Facebook and written in both text and emojis, it explores the disconnect between online persona and true personality, the fractured nature of online debate and how events can snowball in expected ways.Bubble was originally commissioned and developed as a stage play as part of The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s MA Classical and Contemporary Text Programme with support from the Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland. It was later developed as a digital theatre production by Theatre Uncut and streamed by 195,000 people online and watched in 32 countries.

Everyone always grows up thinking it’s the end of the world. The only difference with you lot is you think it makes you special.A black comedy that is by turns explosive and tender, Adults follows acclaimed playwright Kieran Hurley’s TravFest19 smash-hit Mouthpiece.Amongst a raft of anonymous Airbnbs in Edinburgh, thirty-something Zara is running her own business and trying to make her way in the world. A new client has just arrived, but her colleague is running late. Tensions are high.Also, the business is a brothel, the client is her old teacher, and her colleague is having an existential panic attack about growing up. They’re all convinced that they’re the most hard done by, and that the mess of a world that’s around them definitely isn’t their fault. But maybe something has to break between them, before anything can really change.Adults is a raw, darkly funny play about alienation, loneliness, growing up, growing old - and the human need for connection, intimacy and acceptance to survive in a world that fails you. This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at the Traverse Theatre during the Festival, in August 2023.

Winner of a Fringe First Award 2024Winner of the Popcorn Writing Award 2024Here, you. Are you a VL?Max and Stevie are just two wee guys trying to survive in an ordinary Scottish secondary school. But to survive, sometimes you need to hide. And there's no hiding when you're a VL. A VL is a Virgin Lips. It means you've never kissed a lassie, or a laddie. But it’s so much more than that. And the longer you stay a VL, the more of a VL you become. Kieran Hurley and Gary McNair, the Fringe First Award-winning writers of Square Go, team up again for another raucous and riotous comedy about status in a chaotic hormonal pressure cooker...This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at Paines Plough's Roundabout, produced by Francesca Moody Productions at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2024.

To paraphrase Alistair Beaton's Caledonia - the first play in this collection - 'The English have anthologies, the Spanish have anthologies, the French have anthologies . . . why should not Scotland have its anthology?'Scotland is entering a crucial period in its history, where its identity is being debated daily, from everyday conversation to the national and international press. At the same time, its theatre is resurgent, with key Scottish playwrights, theatres and theatre companies expanding their performance vocabularies while coming to prominence in national and international contexts.Caledonia is a tale of hubris and delusion, portraying a crucial slice of Scotland's history and its foray into imperial colonialism told with dark humour and creative flair, by award-winning playwright and satirist Alistair Beaton.Bullet Catch, by Rob Drummond, is a unique theatrical experience exploring the world of magic, featuring mind-reading, levitation, and the most notorious finale in show business.Morna Pearson's The Artist Man and the Mother Woman is a wickedly funny, deceptively simple, surreal portrait of a spectacularly dysfunctional relationship.Rantin', by Kieran Hurley draws on storytelling, live music and an unapologetically haphazard take on Scottish folk tradition, in an attempt to stitch together fragmented stories to reveal a botched patchwork of a nation.First performed at the Royal Court in 2013, Narrative by Anthony Neilson is a theatrical exploration of the the boundaries and possibilities of storytelling.Featuring plays from Alistair Beaton, Rob Drummond, Morna Pearson, Kieran Hurley and Anthony Neilson, this collection is edited by Dr. Trish Reid, a leading critical voice on Scottish theatre.

Shortlisted for the Brighton Fringe Emerging Talent Award 2013 at the Edinburgh Fringe.Maggie is just in from Sainsbury’s Local to make a quick sandwich for Jamie. He likes his cheese and pickle. With the crusts off. A good heart, that lad. Not like those other boys around here. You know what boys are like. Laws unto themselves once they reach that age. But it’s those other boys, really. Not Jamie. A boy with a Batman lunch box? What harm is he to anybody?Co-written by AJ Taudevin and Kieran Hurley, Chalk Farm explores love, responsibility, and the culture of blame and retribution surrounding the 2011 English riots.

In 1994 the Criminal Justice Act effectively outlawed raves, banning public gatherings around amplified music characterised by ‘the emission of a succession of repetitive beats.’Featuring a soundtrack from a live DJ and psychedelic 90s-inspired visuals, Beats tells the story of Johnno McCreadie, a teenager living in a small suburban Scottish town at the time of the Act. Beats is an award-winning new play by Kieran Hurley; a coming-of-age story exploring rebellion, apathy, and the irresistible power of gathered youth.Beats was the winner of Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland, as well as the winner of The Arches Platform 18 Behaviour Award 2012.

A retired American steps off the plane at Prestwick, hoping to discover the land of his fathers. A beleaguered politician in Edinburgh dips her feet into a hot bath.An old drunk man in Peterhead has a mystical vision at the harbour.A supermarket checkout girl in Port Glasgow approaches work with a baseball bat...Part living-room gathering, part play, part gig session, Rantin draws on storytelling, live music and an unapologetically haphazard take on Scottish folk tradition, in an attempt to stitch together fragmented stories to reveal a botched patchwork of a nation.