Visar resultat för..."Nick Hern Books"

The Bronze Age. The Iron Age. The Age of Oil.The Stone Age didn't end for want of stones.Oil follows the lives of one woman and her daughter in an epic, hurtling collision of empire, history and family.Ella Hickson's explosive play drills deep into the world's relationship with this finite resource. It is 'the single most gloriously audacious piece of playwriting of the last few years' (Evening Standard) and won the Catherine Johnson Award for Best Play in 2013.Oil premiered at the Almeida Theatre, London, in October 2016, in a production directed by Carrie Cracknell and starring Anne-Marie Duff.

Fall in love with your voice. Get to know how it works. You will soon feel how good it is to sound like you.In The Voice Exercise Book, Jeannette Nelson - Head of Voice at the National Theatre - shares the voice exercises she uses with many of Britain's leading actors to help to keep their voices in shape. Her belief is that all of us, not just actors, can learn to use our voices well.Whether you perform professionally or you just want to be understood clearly and easily, you can improve your voice by knowing how it works and by practising simple exercises. The aim is not to 'fake it' – to try to sound like someone else. It is to find your authentic voice: to be honestly and clearly you in any situation.'Jeannette’s warm-up sessions are tremendous and this book extends those exercises.' Zoë Wanamaker CBE'Jeannette’s knowledge is astonishing, and her approach so gentle and effective.' Derren Brown'She makes voice production endlessly fascinating and fun. There is no one better.' Rory Kinnear'A must for anyone who is serious about producing a strong, clean noise from their voice box.' Sir Lenny Henry

In The Viewpoints Book, first published in the United States, acclaimed theatre directors Anne Bogart and Tina Landau introduce the history, terminology and philosophy of Viewpoints, and offer a step-by-step recipe for using it as both a training tool and a rehearsal technique.Viewpoints is a technique of improvisation that grew out of the post-modern dance world, allowing actors to learn to function spontaneously and intuitively. It was first articulated by choreographer Mary Overlie, whose ideas have been expanded and developed by Anne Bogart and Tina Landau, adapting them for the use of actors.Over the last twenty years, Viewpoints has ignited the imaginations of actors, directors, designers, choreographers, dramaturgs and writers. It is taught all over the world and used by countless theatre-makers in the rehearsal process to develop flexibility, articulation and strength in movement, and to enrich ensemble playing.An invaluable resource for theatre-makers, as well as for anyone with an interest in collaboration and the creative process, whether in art, business or daily life.'Viewpoints is timeless – a system belonging to the natural principles of movement, time and space. It is a philosophy translated into a technique for training performers, building ensemble, and creating movement for the stage' Anne Bogart and Tina Landau

'I'd get freaked out here, alone in the dark. Wondering what's lurking at the bottom of the bed, ready to grab your feet.'Jenny and Sam – and their baby Phoebe – have recently moved into their new home. But something feels frightening and wrong. Very wrong. Over the baby monitor, at 2:22 every night, Jenny hears footsteps around her daughter's cot. Could the house be haunted?When their friends Lauren and Ben come round for a housewarming dinner, they drink wine, relive their pasts, and argue about the existence of ghosts. They decide to stay up until 2:22, to discover the truth. Over one adrenaline-filled night – as the foxes scream outside – secrets will emerge and ghosts may appear…Spine-chilling, funny and scary, Danny Robins' play 2:22 was premiered at the Noël Coward Theatre in London's West End in August 2021, directed by Matthew Dunster, and starring Lily Allen, Julia Chan, Hadley Fraser and Jake Wood. It went on to win Best New Play at the 2022 WhatsOnStage Awards, and was nominated for Best New Play at the Olivier Awards.2:22 provides rich opportunities for any drama group wanting to make things go bump in the night – and their audiences scream.

A vital companion for actors in rehearsal - a thesaurus of action-words to revitalise performance, with a foreword by Terry Johnson. Finding the right action is an essential part of the process of preparation for the actor. Using this thesaurus of active verbs, the actor can refine the action-word until s/he hits exactly the right one to help make the action come alive. The method of 'actioning' is widely used in rehearsal rooms, but has never before been set down in a systematic and comprehensive way.'If you want to act, or act better, Actions will take you a long way on the journey to excellence' Terry Johnson

'There is no acting, only reacting to the space.'In his bestselling book The Actor and the Target, Declan Donnellan laid out a fresh and radical approach to acting that has inspired actors around the world.Now, in The Actor and the Space, he develops and extends those ideas, exploring that most profound source of vitality in life as well as performance: the space around us.Tackling fundamental questions that face any actor – What makes performance better? How do I create a space for my character to live in? How do I tap into that space, and draw energy from it? – Donnellan offers a universal set of keys to unlock the mysteries of performance.Full of insightful precepts, acute psychology and practical, hands-on advice, the book presents a bold new way of thinking about acting, illustrated throughout with line-by-line analysis of scenes from Macbeth to show how it works in rehearsal and performance.Essential reading for any actor or theatre director, The Actor and the Space is also a fascinating distillation of the work of a world-leading director that will reward and enrich anyone with an interest in theatre.'A hand grenade of a book. It contains all the humility and chutzpah you need to work in the theatre.' Cate Blanchett'A wonderful book. Few directors think as deeply or perceptively about the art of acting as Declan Donnellan. This is an essential text for the actor, supremely useful, practical, elegant and profound.' Matthew Macfadyen'Beautifully clear. This generous vision takes a very complex art form and makes it all seem so simple. The whole book is a key. Unlocking the problems actors face as they try to accept another reality long enough to let the audience get a glimpse of the best our art can offer – a glimpse into themselves.' Adrian Lester 'Declan Donnellan's profound insight and point of departure is that great theatre, like a child's sandcastle, inhabits a vulnerable and ever-changing space between the safe and the dangerous. There is a whole lot of wisdom in this book – about tragedy, human psychology, words, dread and about how great acting really works – conveyed with remarkable clarity and simplicity. It's worth sharing with non-actor friends for its insights into Macbeth alone. Most of all, it's a distillation of hard-won lessons learned from decades of immersion in the mysteries of theatre by one of the great directors of our day.' James Shapiro, Shakespeare scholar and author of 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare

Packed with insights from a lifetime of directing theatre, Words into Action is a fascinating read and a vital masterclass for actors and directors.Renowned theatre director William Gaskill was one of the founders of the Royal Court, whose ethos, as Christopher Hampton says in his Foreword, 'this book goes a long way towards defining'.Gaskill's acclaimed work as a director always began with the words of the playwright, and here, starting with a chapter on 'Trusting the Writer', he takes the actor through the vital steps needed to find the life of the play and then to articulate it on stage.Drawing instances from his own work in the theatre and from teaching at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he looks at action and intention, stillness and movement, sentences and rhetoric, punctuation and pauses. He pays detailed attention to staging Shakespeare's plays, and there are also chapters on masks, on language as character, and on verse and prose. Gaskill was, says Maggie Smith, ‘the best teacher in the world.'

'Something is shifting between you – again.Something terrifyingand comforting.'Dre and Des. Young. Gifted. Black. He stayed. She left.Years later, Des and Dre come crashing back into each other's lives, carrying new secrets and old scars. With the clock counting down until Des has to leave again, memories of their past collide with their present and they're forced to question if destiny has brought them back together for a reason.Benedict Lombe's play Shifters is a fierce, funny and beautifully intoxicating celebration of the enduring power of memory and first love. It was performed at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2024, directed by Artistic Director Lynette Linton, before transferring to the Duke of York's Theatre in London's West End. It went on to win Best Production (Play) at the 2025 Black British Theatre Awards, and was staged in an Off-Broadway production in 2026.

In 1969 Loren McIntyre, a National Geographic photographer, found himself lost among the people of the remote Javari Valley in Brazil. It was an encounter that was to change his life, bringing the limits of human consciousness into startling focus.  Inspired by the book Amazon Beaming by Petru Popescu, The Encounter traces McIntyre’s journey into the depths of the Amazon rainforest, incorporating innovative technology into a solo performance to build a shifting world of sound. The Encounter opened at the Edinburgh International Festival in August 2015 performed by Simon McBurney, and received its London premiere at the Barbican in February 2016 before embarking on a world tour.

'A part we have played is like a person we once met, grew to know, became intimately enmeshed with and finally moved away from. Some of these characters remain friends, others are like ex–lovers with whom we no longer have anything in common. All of them bring something out in us that will never go back in the box.'In a varied and distinguished career, Harriet Walter has played almost all of Shakespeare's heroines, notably Ophelia, Helena, Portia, Viola, Imogen, Lady Macbeth, Beatrice and Cleopatra, mostly for the Royal Shakespeare Company. But where, she asks, does an actress go after playing Cleopatra's magnificent death? Why didn't Shakespeare write more – and more powerful – roles for mature women?For Walter, the solution was to ignore the dictates of centuries of tradition, and to begin playing the mature male characters. Her Brutus in an all–female Julius Caesar at the Donmar Warehouse was widely acclaimed, and was soon followed by Henry IV. What, she asks, can an actress bring to these roles – and is there any fundamental difference in the way they must be played?In Brutus and Other Heroines, Walter discusses each of these roles – both male and female – from the inside, explaining the particular choices she made in preparing and performing each character. Her extraordinarily perceptive and intimate accounts illuminate each play as a whole, offering a treasure trove of valuable insights for theatregoers, scholars and anyone interested in how the plays work on stage. Aspiring actors, too, will discover the many possibilities open to them in playing these magnificent roles.The book is an exploration of the Shakespearean canon through the eyes of a self-identified 'feminist actor' – but, above all, a remarkable account of an acting career unconstrained by tradition or expectations. It concludes with an affectionate rebuke to her beloved Will: 'I cannot imagine a world without you. I just wish you had put more women at the centre of your world/stage… I would love you to come back and do some rewrites.''A glorious reminder that genuine diversity on stage offers astonishing creative benefits… Harriet Walter is mesmerising in one play after another, bringing her classical training to bear as a conflicted Brutus, then a Henry IV who wears his crown heavily, and finally a Prospero who knows that the steel bars of prison are resistant to all magic… this is genuinely art to enchant' The Guardian on the Donmar Warehouse's Shakespeare Trilogy

Harriet Walter's wonderfully practical - and personal - introduction to acting.'Acting is what I do with who I am', writes Harriet Walter. And in this book she takes us step by step through the processes involved in performance. Each step of the way is illuminated with brilliantly precise examples from her own career.So we are introduced to the Workshop, the Rehearsal, and the Roots and Pathways into a role. Then follows the main meat of the book: six Keys to the Development and Exploration of character. The closing section deals with Performance on stage and screen. Every insight, every suggestion is firmly rooted in the author's own experience.Harriet Walter's book is full of unparalleled insights into the everyday working life of an actor, and into quite how much hard work is needed before they can convincingly put themselves in other people's shoes.'My advice to a young actor: read this book' Richard Eyre

Jez Butterworth's hugely acclaimed, prize-winning play - a comic, contemporary vision of life in England's green and pleasant land.On St George's Day, the morning of the local country fair, Johnny 'Rooster' Byron, local waster and Lord of Misrule, is a wanted man. The council officials want to serve him an eviction notice, his son wants to be taken to the fair, a vengeful father wants to give him a serious kicking, and a motley crew of mates wants his ample supply of drugs and alcohol.Jerusalem premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in July 2009 in a production directed by Ian Rickson and starring Mark Rylance. It transferred to the Apollo Theatre in the West End in January 2010, and played on Broadway in 2011.Jez Butterworth's play won the Evening Standard Best Play Award and the Critics Circle and Whatsonstage.com awards for Best New Play.

'I spend the night in an officer’s barracks, where no woman has ever set foot.' In the darkest recesses of Ukraine, a war is raging.A journalist takes a research trip to the front line. Teenage girls wait for soldiers on benches. A medic mourns her lover killed in action.Natal'ya Vorozhbit's play Bad Roads is a heartbreaking, powerful and bitterly comic account of what it is to be a woman in wartime.It was premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, in November 2017, in a production directed by Vicky Featherstone. It was developed by the Royal Court International Department, and translated by Sasha Dugdale.Natal’ya Vorozhbit is the leading Ukrainian playwright of her generation and has worked with the Royal Court since 2004. Her work includes The Khomenko Family Chronicles, Maidan Diaries (Royal Court) and The Grain Store (RSC).

‘I know you’re there… Miranda? Miranda!’On a summer’s day in 1900, three Australian schoolgirls on a picnic expedition to the remote Hanging Rock abscond from their group. They are last seen heading towards the beckoning Rock…In Tom Wright’s chilling adaptation of Joan Lindsay’s classic novel, five performers struggle to solve the mystery of the missing girls and their teacher. Euphoria and terror reverberate throughout the community, as the potential for history to repeat itself becomes nightmarishly real.This adaptation of Picnic at Hanging Rock was first co-produced by Malthouse Theatre and Black Swan State Theatre Company, Perth, and first performed at Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne, in 2016. The play received its European premiere at the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, in 2017.

A true modern classic from one of the twentieth century's most significant writers, Long Day's Journey into Night is an intensely autobiographical, magnificently tragic portrait of the author's own family - a play so acutely personal that he insisted it was not published until after his death.One single day in the Tyrones' Connecticut home. James Tyrone Snr is a miser, a talented actor who even squanders his talent in an undemanding role; eldest son Jamie is an affable, whoremongering alcoholic and confirmed ne'er-do well; youngest son Edmund is poetic, sensitive, suffering from a respiratory condition and deep-seated disillusionment; and their mother Mary, living in a haze of self-delusion and morphine addiction.Existing together under this roof, and the profound weight of the past, they subtly tear one another apart, shred by shred.'Set in 1912, the year of O'Neill's own attempted suicide, it is an attempt to understand himself and those to whom he was irrevocably tied by fate and by love. It is the finest and most powerful play to have come out of America' Christopher BigsbyEugene O'Neill's play Long Day's Journey into Night was written in 1939-41, and first published in 1956 (after O'Neill's death in 1953). It was first performed at the Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm, in February 1956, and had its first American production at Helen Hayes Theater, New York, in November that year. It won the Tony Award for Best Play, and O'Neill was posthumously awarded the 1957 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.This edition includes a full introduction, biographical sketch and chronology.

'I never know what to say when I have to go over all this. It starts to sound like some story I tell that's about some other person entirely.'From the outside, they're the picture of a nice, normal family. Inside, they're in crisis. At their heart is Diana Goodman, a suburban wife and mother living with bipolar disorder and haunted by her past. How far will she go to keep her family's world intact?With powerful lyrics and an electrifying score of more than thirty original songs, next to normal is an intimate exploration of family and loss. It opened in New York in 2008, and transferred to Broadway in 2009, winning three Tony Awards including Best Original Score, and the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.This new edition features the complete book and lyrics of the musical, and exclusive new material, including testimonials on creating the show by James Lapine, Michael Greif, Alice Ripley, David Stone and Michael Longhurst, an essay on its presentation of mental health, and the lyrics to a dozen deleted or alternative songs.It was first published alongside the acclaimed 2023 London premiere at the Donmar Warehouse, which was nominated for four Olivier Awards including Best New Musical, and transferred to the West End in 2024.

‘There is no shame in deriving pleasure from this little world.’Siblings Fanny and Alexander are growing up amidst the gilded romance and glamour of 1900s Sweden. But their world is turned upside down when their widowed mother remarries the iron-willed local bishop. As creative freedom and rigid orthodoxy clash, a war ensues between imagination and austerity in this magical study of childhood, family and love.Legendary film-maker Ingmar Bergman’s 1982 masterpiece Fanny & Alexander was adapted for the stage by Stephen Beresford. It premiered at The Old Vic, London, in 2018, in a production starring Penelope Wilton and directed by Old Vic Associate Director Max Webster.Stephen Beresford is the BAFTA award-winning screenwriter of Pride. His other plays include The Last of the Haussmans, which premiered at the National Theatre.

'We're all failing a generation of boys, and therefore we're failing a whole generation of girls.' Jessica Parks is smart, compassionate, and a true maverick at the peak of her career as a London Crown Court Judge. The system needs to change, and she's challenging it one case at a time.Behind the robe, Jessica is a loving wife, a supportive parent and a karaoke fiend. But when an incident involving her son threatens to blow the family apart, she finds herself having to fight for everything she holds dear.A scalding examination of modern masculinity and motherhood, Inter Alia premiered at the National Theatre, London, in 2025, with Rosamund Pike as Jessica. From Suzie Miller and Justin Martin, writer and director of the award-winning global phenomenon Prima Facie, the production received widespread critical acclaim.This edition was published alongside the 2026 West End transfer to Wyndham's Theatre in a co-production with the National Theatre and Playful Productions, featuring the revised, definitive text of the play and an introduction by the playwright.

A striking play from Northern Ireland about two women and the childhood tragedy they'll never be allowed to forget.For Emma and Clare, 1980 was the summer they met at the swings, the summer they built a tree house and stole from Dennis O'Donnell's shop. The summer a young mother and her infant daughter moved into number 14...Now in their thirties, Emma and Clare struggle to come to terms with the chain of devastating events that began that summer, to understand what they did, what they became and how they were judged.Lisa McGee's play Girls and Dolls was first performed by Tinderbox Theatre Company on a tour of Northern Ireland in 2006. It won the Stewart Parker Trust Award in 2007.

Two powerful plays about the shattering impact of war, and the astonishing resilience of those living through it, written by two of Ukraine's leading playwrights.'They've mobilised all the living now, the fifth call took the last of the living. But the war keeps on. So high command asked us.'Sasha, a Colonel in the Ukrainian Army, has died suddenly of a heart attack, leaving his relatives Katia and Oksana to mourn for him. But a year later, as war intensifies, the army has resorted to recruiting the dead. Sasha is anxious to be resurrected so he can rejoin the fight, but can his family bear to lose him all over again? Take the Rubbish Out, Sasha by Natal'ya Vorozhbit blends reality and the supernatural in a startling exploration of the effects of war and conflict.'I want to report a robbery... I was robbed. What was stolen from me? Almost everything... Home, land, car, work, friends, city, faith in goodness...'Donbas, 2014. A nameless woman stands in the street, trying to sell a basket of kittens. She has lost everything else she holds dear. Her only remaining hope is to find a home for the kittens, since she cannot offer them one herself. Pussycat in Memory of Darkness by Neda Nezhdana is an unflinching examination of Russia's war on Ukraine through the brutalised eyes of one woman.The two plays were translated by Sasha Dugdale and John Farndon, respectively, and performed in English at the Finborough Theatre, London, as part of their #VoicesFromUkraine season in 2022.10% of the proceeds from sales of this book will be donated to the Voices of Children Charitable Foundation, a Ukrainian charity providing urgently needed psychological and psychosocial support to children affected by the war in Ukraine.

Celebrate the incredible journey of Phoebe Waller-Bridge's outrageously funny, blazingly forthright Fleabag, from fringe theatre hit to international cultural phenomenon, in this special edition – featuring the original playscript, never-before-seen colour photos, and exclusive bonus content by Phoebe, director Vicky Jones and key members of the creative team.In 2013, Fleabag made its debut as a one-woman show in sixty-seater venue the Big Belly, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe's Underbelly. It was an immediate hit, going on to enjoy two runs at London's Soho Theatre, national and international tours, whilst picking up prizes including Critics' Circle, The Stage, Fringe First and two Off West End Theatre Awards, plus an Olivier Award nomination.The 2016 TV adaptation propelled Fleabag and Phoebe to worldwide fame, earning critical acclaim and further accolades including Writers' Guild, Royal Television Society and BAFTA Television Awards. A second series followed in 2019, winning an amazing six Emmy Awards (including Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series), along with a sold-out run of the original play in New York.This special edition of the play is released alongside Fleabag's first West End run at Wyndham's Theatre, London. It is introduced by Deborah Frances-White, stand-up comedian, writer and host of The Guilty Feminist podcast.

‘I sit on the loo and think about all the people I can have sex with now. I’m not obsessed with sex. I just can’t stop thinking about it.’The Fleabag bites back. A rip-roaring account of some sort of female living her sort of life.Phoebe Waller-Bridge's debut play is an outrageously funny monologue for a female performer. Fleabag premiered at the 2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, performed by Phoebe herself, before transferring to Soho Theatre, London, for the first of several successful runs, followed by UK and international tours, a sold-out run in New York and a West End run in 2019. Fleabag won a Fringe First Award in Edinburgh, the Most Promising New Playwright and Best Female Performance at the Off West End Theatre Awards, The Stage Award for Best Solo Performer and the Critics' Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright. It received a Special Commendation in the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and was nominated for the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre.In 2016, Fleabag was turned into a wildly successful and 'utterly riveting' (Guardian) BBC television series, with a second series following in 2019.This edition features the original play, plus an introduction by the author.

Desperate for a child, a baker and his wife journey into the woods to reverse a curse and change their luck. As the couple venture into the unknown, their story collides with Cinderella, Jack, Little Red Ridinghood, Rapunzel, witches, princes and giants.Featuring such classic songs as 'Giants in the Sky', 'Moments in the Woods', 'No One is Alone' and 'Children Will Listen', Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's audacious and beloved musical intertwines the Brothers Grimm's most famous fairy tales and reckons with the realities of 'happy ever after'.Into the Woods was first staged at the Old Globe Theatre, California, in 1986, and opened on Broadway the following year. That production went on to win three Tony Awards, including Best Book of a Musical.This edition features an exclusive introduction by David Benedict, Sondheim's authorised biographer. It was published alongside the 2025-26 revival at the Bridge Theatre, London, directed by Jordan Fein and with set and costume design by Tom Scutt. The production was named Best Musical Revival at the 2026 Olivier Awards and transferred to the West End later that year.

Based on the award-winning memoir by Timothy Conigrave, and adapted for the stage by acclaimed playwright Tommy Murphy, Holding the Man tells a remarkable true-life love story that speaks across generations, sexualities and cultures.The course of teenage love rarely runs smooth, but it is a white-water adventure if you are secretly gay in an all-male school in 1970s Melbourne with a crush on the captain of the football team.Against the odds, Tim and John develop a relationship that, for fifteen years, survives everything life throws at it – the separations, the discriminations, the temptations, the jealousies and the losses – until the only problem that love can't solve turns up to part them.Tommy Murphy's play Holding the Man was first performed in Sydney, Australia, in 2006. It had its UK premiere at the Trafalgar Studios in the West End in 2010.‘Tommy Murphy is a bewitching playwright of startling originality’ - Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton, Artistic Directors of Sydney Theatre Company

'Maybe it's in the air. Maybe it's the weather. Maybe it's the pace of life. Maybe it's breathing in that black soot everyday on the tube. Maybe it's commuting. Maybe it's the cultural consciousness. Maybe it's being a millennial. Maybe it's the climate crisis. Maybe it's the patriarchy.'When 'intimidating' Rachel and eternal 'nice guy' Nick meet at an awkward work Christmas party, what was meant to be a one-night-stand becomes a sexual odyssey of self-discovery… and mutual destruction.Adrift, isolated and insecure, they scramble for new ways to connect. Can some playful, passionate pegging provide a pathway through the pitfalls of modern relationships and present the possibility of a deeper bond?A penetrating comedy about the search for sexual knowledge, true love and top-notch Tupperware, Lisa Carroll's play The Misandrist was first produced by Metal Rabbit Productions at the Arcola Theatre, London, in May 2023.

A practical investigation of how comedy works, by a well-respected practitioner and teacher. With a Foreword by Toby Jones.Comedy is recognised as one of the most problematic areas of performances. For that reason, it is rarely written about in any systematic way. John Wright, founder of Trestle Theatre and Told by an Idiot, brings a wide range of experience of physical comedy to this unique exploration of comedy and comedic techniques.The book opens with an analysis of the different kinds of laughter that can be provoked by performance. This is followed by the main part of the book: games and exercises devised to demonstrate and investigate the whole range of comic possibilities open to a performer.Why Is That So Funny? is an invaluable book for teachers and performers, and a fascinating read for anyone interested in how comedy works.

On a frozen Minnesota lake, the ice is beginning to creak and groan. It's the end of the fishing season, and two old friends are out on the ice, angling for something big; something down there that is pure need.Something that might just swallow them whole.In Nice Fish, celebrated actor Mark Rylance draws on his own teenage years in the American Midwest, in a unique collaboration with critically acclaimed Minnesotan contemporary prose poet Louis Jenkins and the whole company.This sublimely playful, profound and very funny play transferred direct from a sell-out run in New York to the Harold Pinter Theatre, London, in 2016, in a production directed by Claire van Kampen and starring Rylance and Jim Lichtscheidl.

'The sky turns the colour of a jay's eye. The sea turns a deep royal purple. The mist lifts in quick, lithe ribbons, like a conjuring trick. Before us lies the island…'It's 1935, and an eccentric English family – four children, their widowed mother, and Roger the dog – arrives on the sun-soaked shores of Corfu to start a new life.For eleven-year-old Gerry Durrell, the extraordinary landscape provides the perfect playground. Its exotic fauna inspires a life-long fascination with the animal kingdom – and his much-loved memoir My Family and Other Animals.Janys Chambers' acclaimed stage adaptation was first seen at York Theatre Royal, and invites other theatre companies to make ingenious and inventive decisions, bringing to life all the inhabitants of Durrell's cherished island – whether they walk and talk, fly and squawk, crawl or swim or slither.

'I wish I'd had this book when I was starting out as a young director... I cannot recommend it highly enough' Marianne Elliott, from her ForewordThis dip-in, flick-through, quick-fire resource book in the bestselling Drama Games series offers dozens of ideas and exercises to energise and inspire a bold, creative rehearsal process for any play, of any period or genre.Aimed at directors of all levels, it covers every aspect of rehearsal, including:Warm-up exercises to prepare the body, voice and mind, and to create a strong ensembleIdeas for approaching the text, tackling the 'Story of the Play'A wealth of games for unlocking the 'World of the Play', including developing characters, finding a physical style, understanding genre and investigating themesSuggestions for exploring sound and music, whether for use in the production or simply to encourage a sense of fun in rehearsalsThis essential 'go-to' book will provide you with a host of original and illuminating games, perfect for the play you're rehearsing, be it Shakespeare or Greek tragedy, a Restoration comedy, physical theatre, Modern Naturalism – or even a brand new play.Marianne Elliott, one of the most innovative and exciting directors working anywhere in the world, describes it as a 'beautiful, and very clearly written book' which will become her 'constant companion in future'.