Matt Hartley – författare

Drawing together the work of ten leading playwrights - a mixture of established and emerging writers - this National Theatre Connections anthology is published to coincide with the 2014 festival, which takes place across the UK and finishes up at the National Theatre in London. It offers young performers between the ages of thirteen and nineteen everywhere an engaging selection of plays to perform, read or study. Each play is specifically commissioned by the National Theatre's literary department with the young performer in mind. The plays are performed by approximately 200 schools and youth theatre companies across the UK and Ireland, in partnership with multiple professional regional theatres where the works are showcased.As with previous anthologies, the volume will feature an introduction by Anthony Banks, Associate Director of the National Theatre Discover Programme, and each play includes notes from the writer and director addressing the themes and ideas behind the play, as well as production notes and exercises.The National Theatre Connections series has been running for nineteen years and the anthology that accompanies it, published for the last three years by Methuen Drama, is gaining a greater profile by the year. Some iconic plays have grown out of the Connections programme including Citizenship by Mark Ravenhill, Burn by Deborah Gearing, Chatroom by Enda Walsh, Baby Girl by Roy Williams, DNA by Dennis Kelly, and The Miracle by Lin Coghlan. The series has a recognisable brand and the anthologies continue to be an extremely useful resource, their value extending well beyond their year of publication.This year's anthology includes plays by Sabrina Mahfouz, Simon Vinnicombe, Catherine Johnson, Pauline McLynn, Dafydd James, Luke Norris and Sam Holcroft.

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 24 May to 17 June from The Other Place Studio Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon.THE EARTHWORKS: “The universe doesn’t care if we know how it works.”On the eve of the activation of the Large Hadron Collider, two strangers – a journalist and a scientist – share their experiences of loss and hope in a funny but deeply touching one-act play.MYTH:“I can only see wrong choices. Things that will make everything worse.”In one wine-fuelled evening, two couples debate their materialistic lifestyle. As their dinner party descends into chaos, their friendship and their lives are irreparably changed. A play about those things we don’t want to see or say.

In The Wife of Cyncoed, Jayne is newly retired and disappointed with her life. She's in danger of becoming her daughter's babysitting service, and is desperate to make a change. When she meets a handsome stranger in the park – and an opportunity to do something for herself arises – can Jayne allow herself a second chance at happiness?This charming and open-hearted play premiered at Sherman Theatre, Cardiff, in 2024, and provides gloriously entertaining opportunities for a mature solo performer.In Idyll, tempers are fraying in the scorching heat as a rural village is overwhelmed by noise, cars and day trippers… Scratch the surface and you'll find danger bubbling away. This captivating short play was first presented as an open-air production by Pentabus Theatre Company in 2021.

A devastating drama about family and the ties that bind us together.Sixty five miles. The distance between Hull and Sheffield. The distance between a man and the daughter he's never met.Pete and Rich are two very different brothers. Reunited after nine years, both are seeking forgiveness. Rich needs to confront ex-girlfriend Lucy, and the shadows of his recent past. Pete's search is for the one woman in his life he has never known, his daughter.Matt Hartley's play Sixty Five Miles won the Under-26 Award at the 2005 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, and was first staged by Hull Truck Theatre in 2012.

A searing thriller about paranoia, social divisions, and the creeping threat of the intruder, by the Bruntwood Prize-winning playwright.Alex has his flat. His home. He's building a life with Clare. Nothing can derail his happiness - he just wishes those kids would stop hanging round outside his house. But they're just kids, with nothing to do. They're not dangerous, right?Matt Hartley's play Microcosm was first performed at Soho Theatre, London, in May 2014.

Matt Hartley's moving, funny and charming play, Here I Belong, takes you through decades of history seen through the eyes of one village resident.It’s Elsie’s ninetieth birthday. Come and join us in the village hall to celebrate. There will be cake.Elsie has lived in the village for sixty years. She has seen elections, weddings, wars, people coming, people going. The village is where her daughter grew up, it’s where her husband died and it’s where she’s going to stay.  Travel through time from 1953 to the present day in this play about village life and the right to grow old in your own home. First produced on a UK tour by Pentabus Theatre Company in 2016, performed by two women, Here I Belong provides ideal material for amateur companies for up to eight female performers – especially those performing in their own village halls.This volume also includes Matt Hartley's short monologue play, Last Letters Home.

A bittersweet and vital play that throws a spotlight on 'Generation Rent' and the lengths they will go to in order to get that first step on the property ladder.Rachel and Ben want to buy a flat in London. And so do their friends, Melanie and Sam. But what with rent, tax, student loans and bills, it's impossible to save for a deposit.So the foursome come up with a fast-track solution to the problem: live together. Sneakily split the rent and bills on a tiny one-bedroom flat for a year. But with paper-thin walls and space growing sparser by the day, which will they sacrifice first – the friendship, the relationship, or the dream of buying their own property?Matt Hartley's play Deposit premiered at Hampstead Theatre Downstairs in 2015, and was revived there (in this revised and updated version) in 2017.