Rona Munro – författare

Exam Board: SQALevel: National 5Subject: EnglishFirst Teaching: September 2014First Exam: June 2015This play, a set text for National 5 English, is the story of three women in war-torn Belfast. Although their men have been killed or imprisoned for their political activities, everyday life must go on. However, the arrival of a disturbing young girl and the revelations which follow threaten to disrupt their friendship. The main themes are largely domestic - relationships between women and within families, dreams and homemaking. The language is colloquial with Irish idioms, and many contemporary references, and there is a poignant ending. The play is aimed at students of English, particularly those studying National 5 English. In 1991 Rona Munro won the Susan Smith Blackburn Award and "The Evening Standard" Most Promising Playwright Award for "Bold Girls".

Lucy Barton wakes after an operation to discover much to her surprise her mother at the foot of her bed. They haven't seen each other in years. During their days-long visit Lucy tries to understand her past works to come to terms with her family and begins to find herself as a writer.

"To protect a muddy little hillside, you doomed your whole world!"The Doctor takes Bill and Nardole back to 2nd century Scotland to learn the fate of the 'lost' Ninth Legion of the Imperial Roman Army. 5,000 soldiers vanished without explanation - how?The search for the truth leads the Doctor and his friends into a deadly mystery. Who is the Guardian of the Gate? What nightmare creature roams the wildlands, darkening the sky and destroying all in its path? A threat from another dimension has been unleashed on the Earth, and only a terrible sacrifice can put things right...

"To protect a muddy little hillside, you doomed your whole world!"The Doctor takes Bill and Nardole back to 2nd century Scotland to learn the fate of the 'lost' Ninth Legion of the Imperial Roman Army. 5,000 soldiers vanished without explanation - how?The search for the truth leads the Doctor and his friends into a deadly mystery. Who is the Guardian of the Gate? What nightmare creature roams the wildlands, darkening the sky and destroying all in its path? A threat from another dimension has been unleashed on the Earth, and only a terrible sacrifice can put things right...

'You're a wonder. You're a window into a wide world.'Scotland, 1504, seen fresh through the eyes of new arrivals Ellen and Anne, two Moorish women who were expected to take their place at a royal court… but not this one.Both women now have to fight to find and keep a place in the dazzling, dangerous world of the Scottish court of James IV. It's a world where war is never far away, words of love and promises of peace are not what they seem, and where poets might turn out to be more dangerous than any assassin.Rona Munro continues her journey through an uncharted period of Scottish history with James IV: Queen of the Fight, which was first presented in 2022 by Raw Material and Capital Theatres in association with National Theatre of Scotland, and directed by Laurie Sansom.It follows the spectacular success of Munro's plays about James I, II and III, which were first performed by National Theatre of Scotland, transferred to the National Theatre, London, and were named Best New Play at the Evening Standard Awards.

'She made some very poor decisions. You tried to warn her. You love her yet, and that's a credit to you, but you need to think about what's best for Scotland...'It's 1567. James Melville is an intelligent, charismatic and skilled diplomat – and also one of the most loyal servants of Mary Stuart, the troubled Queen of Scots. It's a time of political turmoil, and the shocking crimes he has witnessed have shaken him.Now he needs to decide who's guilty, who's innocent, and who is too dangerous to accuse. Change is coming, but at what price?Mary is an explosive political thriller, and part of Rona Munro's breathtaking theatrical exploration of Scottish history. It is the sixth instalment of The James Plays Cycle which began with James I, II and III, performed by National Theatre of Scotland, including a run at the National Theatre in London, and which won the Evening Standard and Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards in 2014, and James IV, co-produced by Raw Material and Capital Theatres in association with National Theatre of Scotland, in 2022.Mary received its world premiere at Hampstead Theatre, London, also in 2022, directed by Roxana Silbert.

'If a young woman made you smile, you wouldnae want to see her set on fire, would you?'Katherine Hamilton is a nineteen-year-old woman facing arrest and trial in the King's court, with only her quick wit as defence against execution.James V: Katherine is a dramatic interpretation of key events during a turbulent time in Scotland's history, events that changed the nation forever. It is also a play filled with hidden histories, deft comedy and a secret love story between two young women.Rona Munro's renowned James Plays are a breathtaking series of plays set during the reigns of Scotland's generations of Stewart kings. Each play stands alone as a thrilling depiction of a moment in Scottish history, full of playful wit and boisterous theatricality; taken together, the cycle is a uniquely compelling narrative of a nation tussling with its past and future.James V: Katherine was first staged at Capital Theatres' The Studio, in April 2024, directed by Orla O'Loughlin, before embarking on a Scottish tour. It was a co-production between Raw Material and Capital Theatres, who previously produced James IV: Queen of the Fight.Rona Munro is a writer who has written extensively for stage, radio, film and television. Earlier works in the James Plays cycle (I–III) have been performed at the National Theatre in London, across the UK and internationally, and have won Evening Standard and Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards.

A play about the last woman to be executed for witchcraft in Scotland, The Last Witch explores the psychological rifts that can divide close communities and drive families apart.Dornoch, northern Scotland, 1727. In the claustrophobic heat of summer, a woman's apparent ability to manipulate the power of land and sea stirs suspicion. Janet Horne can cure beasts, call the wind and charm fish out of the sea. Or can she? Her refusal to deny the charge of witchcraft puts her in dangerous opposition to the new sheriff. Her defiance threatens not only her own life but that of her daughter...Rona Munro's play The Last Witch is based on the historical account of Janet Horne, the last woman to be executed for witchcraft in Scotland.The play was commissioned by Edinburgh International Festival and co-produced by the Festival and the Traverse Theatre Company. It opened at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, in August 2009.

Fifty years after Yuri Gagarin's first orbit around the Earth, Little Eagles tells the fascinating and little-known story of Sergei Korolyov, chief designer and unsung hero of the Soviet space programme.Under Korolyov's leadership the 'little eagles' of the USSR beat the Americans in the early stages of the space race, achieving a series of firsts, including the first human in space.Rona Munro's gripping play illuminates the life and work of a brilliant engineer who struggled to meet the military demands of his ruthless political masters, whilst devoting as much time as possible to his real passion, exploring outer space.Little Eagles was first staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company at Hampstead Theatre, London, in 2011.

A thrillingly fast-paced play about youthful disaffection, protest and violence, drawing on the history of the Scuttlers, the youth gangs of nineteenth-century Manchester.It's 1882 and the streets of Manchester are crackling with energy, youth and violence.As workers pour into Ancoats to power the Industrial Revolution, 50,000 people are crammed into one square mile. The mills rumble thunderously day and night. The air is thick with smoke. Life is lived large and lived on the street. This is the world's very first industrial suburb and the young mill workers form the very first urban gangs, fighting over their territory with belts, fists and knives.Invisible in history, their lives, deaths, loves, lusts and defiant energy tell stories that will repeat and repeat over the decades that follow.Scuttlers by Rona Munro was first performed at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, in 2015. With nine leading roles and a large cast of mill workers and gang members, Scuttlers is well suited to performance by schools and youth groups, who will enjoy its physical energy and dramatic storyline.

Rona Munro's vividly imagined historical cycle brings to life three generations of Stewart kings who ruled Scotland in the tumultuous fifteenth century.James I: The Key Will Keep the Lock explores the complex character of the colourful Stewart King – poet, lover and law-maker.Captured at the age of 13 and crowned King of Scots in an English prison, James I of Scotland is delivered home 18 years later with a ransom on his head and a new English bride. The nation he returns to is poor: the royal coffers empty and his nobles ready to tear him apart at the first sign of weakness. Determined to bring the rule of law to a land riven by warring factions, James faces terrible choices if he is to save himself, his Queen and the crown.James II: Day of the Innocents depicts a violent royal playground from the perspective of the child King and his contemporaries, in a terrifying arena of sharp teeth and long knives.James II becomes the prize in a vicious game between Scotland’s most powerful families. Crowned when only six, abandoned by his mother and separated from his sisters, the child King is little more than a puppet. There is only one friend he can trust: William, the future Earl of Douglas. As James approaches adulthood in an ever more threatening world, he must fight to keep his tenuous grip on the crown while the nightmares of his childhood rise up once more.James III: The True Mirror, like the King himself, is colourful and unpredictable, turning its attention to the women at the heart of the royal court.Charismatic, cultured, and obsessed with grandiose schemes that his nation can ill afford, James III is by turns loved and loathed. Scotland thunders dangerously close to civil war, but its future may be decided by James’ resourceful and resilient wife, Queen Margaret of Denmark. Her love and clear vision can save a fragile monarchy and rescue a struggling people.Each play stands alone as a unique vision of a country tussling with its past and future; viewed together the cycle creates an intricate and compelling narrative on Scottish culture and nationhood, full of playful wit and boisterous theatricality.The James Plays premiered at the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, in August 2014 as part of the Edinburgh International Festival, before transferring to the National Theatre, London. The original three-play cycle was named Best New Play at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2014.

It’s 1991 in West Belfast. With their husbands either locked up or killed, Marie, Cassie and Nora are just trying to get on with their lives, despite the bombs, burning buses and soldiers trampling the flower beds. Life must go on – after all, there’s still laundry to do and kids to feed.But when a mysterious young woman turns up on Marie’s doorstep and disrupts their girls’ night out, the devastating revelations which ensue will shatter dreams and threaten their friendship irrevocably.Sharply funny, moving, yet never shying from the harsh realities of life during the Troubles, Bold Girls is a celebration of women’s strength under siege.It was first performed by 7:84 Scottish People's Theatre at Cumbernauld Theatre in 1990 and on tour. The play announced Rona Munro as one of the best playwrights of her generation, winning her the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for 1990-91.This new edition was published alongside the revival at Theatre by the Lake, Keswick, in June 2018.

Kefalonia, 1941. Captain Corelli, an enigmatic young Italian officer, is posted to the idyllic Greek island as part of the Axis occupying forces. Shunned by the locals at first, he proves to be civilised, humorous – and a consummate musician.The captain is soon thrown together with Dr Iannis's strong-willed and beautiful daughter, Pelagia, who discovers all of the complexities of love, and how it can blossom in the most unexpected and profound way.Rona Munro's adaptation of Louis de Bernières' much-loved epic novel, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, premiered on tour of the UK in 2019, before transferring to London's West End.

An eighteen-year-old girl, Mary Shelley, dreams up a monster whose tragic story will capture the imaginations of generations to come.A young scientist by the name of Frankenstein breathes life into a gruesome body. Banished into an indifferent world, Frankenstein's creature desperately seeks out his true identity, but the agony of rejection and a broken promise push him into darkness. Dangerous and vengeful, the creature threatens to obliterate Frankenstein and everyone he loves, in a ferocious and bloodthirsty hunt for his maker.Rona Munro's 'inventive feminist adaptation' (The Stage) of Mary Shelley's Gothic masterpiece places the writer herself amongst the action as she wrestles with her creation and with the stark realities facing revolutionary young women, then and now. It premiered on a tour of the UK in 2019.

Two plays, from the award-winning author of Iron.Your Turn to Clean the Stair is a comically sinister study of the tensions in an Edinburgh tenement.Old Mrs Mackie has always been in charge of her stair, the communal stairwell she shares with inhabitants like tough single-mum Kay and brittle young couple Lisa and Brian. And then there's dodgy Bobby who just gets on everyone's nerves. So when – after avoiding his stair-cleaning duties once again – Bobby's body is found at the bottom of the stairs, the question is not did he fall or was he pushed, but whodunnit?Rona Munro's play Your Turn to Clean the Stair was first performed at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, in April 1992 and subsequently on tour.Fugue is a psychological horror story about a woman suffering a mental breakdown.Kay, a 24-year-old secretary, encounters her alter ego as she suffers an emotional breakdown in the Grampian Hills.Fugue was first performed at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, in April 1983.

An intense psychological drama set in a women's prison, in which a mother and daughter try to break through the barriers of time, memory and punishment which separate them.Josie is seeing her mother Fay for the first time in a while – she's never walked into a prison before, and she's been putting it off for fifteen years. Fay is serving life for murdering her husband with a kitchen knife. Her daughter needs to find out why she can't remember anything that came before that terrible night, why her own mother would kill her father. Uncovering the memories they share is going to be more perilous than either of them can imagine...Rona Munro's play Iron was first performed at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, in July 2002, transfering to the Royal Court Theatre, London, in January 2003. It went on to win the 2003 John Whiting Award.

An exciting innovation: three of Scotland's top playwrights combine forces on a single play - staged by 7:84 Scotland in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London.Some people need help. Some people find themselves in a position to help. And others just help themselves. There's Mick, the TV presenter, searching for reconciliation; Carla, who's looking for love; Al, in search of security; teenaged Jo, who'll try anything for a way out; Chris, out of work and in need of respect; James, who's put his faith in Anita; and Anita, who would just like to start all over again. They are all guilty victims of money and love – and the price we are willing to pay for both.Gilt is the result of an innovative and possibly unique collaboration. Three of Scotland's best writers - Stephen Greenhorn, Rona Munro and Isabel Wright - have worked together on the one play, creating seven characters whose worlds collide and interweave to create a modern mosiac about love and money.Commissioned by 7:84 Theatre Company, Gilt was first performed at Paisley Arts Centre in October 2003 before touring, including performances at Soho Theatre, London, in November 2003.

A romantic-comedy-thriller about the heat of love and the magic of changing perspectives.Lin Han and Jie Hui have exchanged 536 emails and 72 jpegs, though they've only just met. She's sure he's the man she could fall in love with, if only he'd do it first.But Jie Hui's a little distracted. When his business partner gets shot, things start to get very complicated – especially when he realises his heart is broken.Meanwhile, Madeleine finds herself falling for James, the most attractive man she's met in years. And the feeling seems to be mutual. It's just a pity he's the policeman questioning her about the shooting of her ex-boyfriend…Rona Munro's play Pandas was first staged at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, in 2011.