Samuel Adamson – författare

"All About My Mother" is a passionate hymn to the strength and spirit of women; a kaleidoscopic drama embracing motherhood, love and desire; and, a homage to the great Hollywood movies. Following the tragic death of her beloved son, Manuela goes to Barcelona in search of the father. But before she can exorcise her guilt she gets caught up in the lives of three women: Agrado, a long-lost transexual friend; Rosa, a young nun in search of love; and, Huma Rojo, the famous actress Manuela's son so admired. As Manuela's life regains meaning, her son's father returns and her journey of discovery draws to a redemptive close.

This is noisily Protestant England - the England of William and Mary's Glorious Revolution at the end of a century of civil strife. This is London in the 1690s, the monster city tamed into awe by our only Orpheus: Henry Purcell.Monarchs, princes, prostitutes, wigmakers, composers, tapsters, musicians, transvestites and watermen jostle for attention in the teeming, unruly world of late seventeenth-century London, where enthralling stories both real and imagined merge and intersect.Samuel Adamson's Gabriel premiered at Shakespeare's Globe, London, in July 2013 with Alison Balsom, one of the world's finest trumpeters, performing the music of Purcell and Handel. Every day three trumpet calls from the theatres on the Bankside, then songs would float over the thatch and roll across the water and make my work sweet.

I'm done, Father,Keep your crown,I swear you'll never bring me down!I am not queen material!Once, in opposing kingdoms lived a princess and a prince who had lost their mothers. Althea, unable to cry, became light with grief and floated, and so was locked away. Digby, so heavy-hearted that he could never smile, one day declares war. Althea, forced out of hiding, escapes, only to encounter the solemn prince on contested land and the warring heirs begin a passionate affair. But for Althea to find real love, she must first face her own deepest fears.

I'm done, Father,Keep your crown,I swear you'll never bring me down!I am not queen material!Once, in opposing kingdoms lived a princess and a prince who had lost their mothers. Althea, unable to cry, became light with grief and floated, and so was locked away. Digby, so heavy-hearted that he could never smile, one day declares war. Althea, forced out of hiding, escapes, only to encounter the solemn prince on contested land and the warring heirs begin a passionate affair. But for Althea to find real love, she must first face her own deepest fears.

No one has recognised Reade Collins in the street for over a decade. Suddenly everyone seems to know who he is again - things are looking up. But there's a flip side to second-hand fame - and Reade discovers that there's more than one way of getting shafted. Drink, Dance, Laugh and Lie is a wildly entertaining look at the nature of celebrity.Drink, Dance, Laugh and Lie premiered at the Bush Theatre, London, in 1999.

Simon is looking forward to lunch with Patrick Mulligan, the first man he slept with nearly twenty years previously, while playing Puck in a school production. It soon becomes apparent that Patrick is expecting to see not Simon, but the boy who played Lysander, and their lunch is cut short. When Simon is approached by Patrick's wife the situation becomes increasingly tortured and darkly comic.Southwark Fair premiered at the National Theatre, London, in February 2006.

Today - after I had the electric sex, got clobbered, killed the dog and parked the hijacked ice-cream van - I found the pop legend's house in Greenwich.'Very funny, shrewd and moving.' IndependentNEW YORK TIMES CRITICS' PICK Small-time hack and seeker of minor adventure, Rachel sets off down the Thames Path to Greenwich to interview Lulu for her tabloid's glossy supplement. But between London Bridge and the pop legend's mirrored hallway lies a series of unpredicted and comic events. Some Kind of Bliss is a play about how a walk on an everyday Wednesday can become an odyssey that turns your life upside down.Some Kind of Bliss opened at the Trafalgar Studios, London, in November 2007.

I know. No country matters. Not in the kitchen.Not on a Sunday. Not in England.After six lonely weeks with nobody but her disabled boy for company, Rita Affleck, wealthy, beautiful and consumed by jealous love, welcomes home her husband Alfred. But, far from the passionate reunion she so craves, there is only torment as Alfred's possessive half-sister arrives, and he announces his great revelation.I want things how they were ... My perfect poet ... 1945, one afternoon in London - on the floor,every last undiluted drop of you.Taking Ibsen's Little Eyolf as the inspiration for a passionate and tragic tale of obsessive love, set in 1950s England, Samuel Adamson's Mrs Affleck opened at the National Theatre, London, in January 2009.

For Lilly and her mother, going to Indonesia isn't just another holiday. It's an escape and a new start. But when Will takes a gentle ride along the beach on an elephant called Oona, calamity strikes. As a tsunami comes crashing towards them, Oona charges deep into the jungle, her young rider desperately clinging on. Miles from civilisation, there's wonder, discovery and treetop adventures among the orang-utans. But then as Lilly's thoughts turn to his mother left behind on the beach, tigers prowl, hunger hits, and she must learn to survive the rainforest.Samuel Adamson's adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's novel Running Wild was premiered by the Chichester Festival Youth Theatre in 2015. It received its professional premiere in May 2016, in a Regent's Park Theatre and Chichester Festival Theatre co-production.Running Wild was winner of Best Show for Children and Young People at the 2015 UK Theatre Awards.

- And your husband forgave you. But what did you do? Decided that forgiveness was offensive and walked out on your marriage. With nothing. Into nothing.- Into everything, I think.It's 1959. Robert leaves Ibsen's A Doll's House outraged by its attack on the sanctity of marriage; his wife Daisy dashes round to the stage door, in love with both Nora and the actress who plays her, thrilled by their promise of escape.Daisy is at the crossroads. Her moral compass tells her to go one way, society the other. What she chooses to do next will have consequences not just for her and Robert, but for four couples who come after them over ninety years.The truth is we have to give up parts of ourselves if we want to be with someone. And what if, before you know this, you run away from the wrong person?Samuel Adamson's Wife premiered at Kiln Theatre, London, in May 2019.

- And your husband forgave you. But what did you do? Decided that forgiveness was offensive and walked out on your marriage. With nothing. Into nothing.- Into everything, I think.It's 1959. Robert leaves Ibsen's A Doll's House outraged by its attack on the sanctity of marriage; his wife Daisy dashes round to the stage door, in love with both Nora and the actress who plays her, thrilled by their promise of escape.Daisy is at the crossroads. Her moral compass tells her to go one way, society the other. What she chooses to do next will have consequences not just for her and Robert, but for four couples who come after them over ninety years.The truth is we have to give up parts of ourselves if we want to be with someone. And what if, before you know this, you run away from the wrong person?Samuel Adamson's Wife premiered at the Kiln Theatre, London, in May 2019.

- Have we met?- No: you're unforgettable. Do you want to play primo or secondo, James?At St Pancras International, a woman sits at the piano and begins to play. The music captivates commuters, tourists and, following a viral clip, people around the world. Behind the music is the incredible story of a lifelong duet: the ballad of Hattie and James.Throughout their lives, Hattie and James find themselves inextricably linked, and cannot help but replay the experiences that have shaped them.Samuel Adamson's virtuosic tale of friendship and music opened at Kiln Theatre, London, in April 2024.

Samuel Adamson takes Ibsen's "Little Eyolf", a haunting psychodrama of guilt, sexual frustration and self-deceit, and re-locates it to 1950s England. Rita Affleck is a sensual, intelligent woman, stifled by circumstances. Her troubled ex-serviceman husband Alfred returns home after six weeks in the Scottish Highlands and vows to devote himself to their disabled son Olly. Rita decides that Olly has stolen Alfred from her, and claims her right to her husband's unconditional love. When he overhears their arguments, Olly - who was crippled whilst his parents were preoccupied with love-making - follows the mysterious Flea into the sea, and tragedy ensues. "Mrs Affleck" was presented at the National Theatre in 2009, directed by Marianne Elliott and starring Claire Skinner and Angus Wright.

Shipbuilder Karsten Bernick is a respected, highly successful businessman in a small Norwegian coastal town but his wealth has been founded on a lie and now he is threatened with exposure. As the wily, unscrupulous Berniock struggles to preserve his standing in the community, he sets in motion a chain of events that threatens to destroy all he holds most dear.Samuel Adamson's highly-acclaimed new version of the Ibsen classic was presented at the National Theatre in 2005, directed by Marianne Elliott and starring Damian Lewis.