NHB Collected Works – serie

Since her play Steel opened in her native Sheffield in 2018, Chris Bush has rapidly become one of the UK's most successful and widely staged playwrights, with her plays on stage at the National Theatre, in the West End, and across Europe. Celebrated for her spirited dissections of power, female agency and northern identity, her work is infused with wit, empathy, and a powerful sense of place and belonging.Included here are five of her plays, all first performed between 2018 and 2021, together with a revealing introduction in which she reflects on the tumultuous period from which they emerged.Steel (Sheffield Theatres, 2018) is a political epic constructed from minimal resources, a two-hander spanning three decades of women in politics. 'Sharp, witty and uncannily topical' The StageFaustus: That Damned Woman (Headlong, 2020) is a radical reimagining of the classic tale, asking what women must sacrifice to achieve greatness. 'Original, ambitious and fantastically revisionist' GuardianNine Lessons and Carols (Almeida Theatre, 2020) is a play, with songs by Maimuna Memon, about connection and isolation, forged during the Covid pandemic, exploring what we hold on to in troubled times. 'A reminder of the power of theatre and our need for it' TelegraphHungry (Paines Plough, 2021) is a pithy two-hander about food, love, class and grief in a world where there's little left to savour. 'Reconfirms Chris Bush as one of our greatest, most relevant contemporary playwrights' Broadway WorldNot the End of the World (Schaubühne, Berlin, 2021) is a daringly theatrical investigation of the climate crisis through the perspectives of class, patriarchy and colonialism. 'Staggering… Bush's remarkable text melds a ruthless structural concept with exquisite lyricism' Guardian'One of our most prolific and arresting writers' Evening Standard'A writer of great wit and empathy' The Times

This volume of Conor McPherson's collected plays, covering a decade of writing, celebrates a fascination with the uncanny which has led him to be described as 'quite possibly the finest playwright of his generation' (New York Times).In Shining City, a man seeks help from a counsellor, claiming to have seen the ghost of his dead wife. The play, premiered at the Royal Court, London, is 'up there with The Weir, moving, compassionate, ingenious and absolutely gripping' (Daily Telegraph).The Seafarer, premiered at the National Theatre before going on to become a Tony Award-winning Broadway hit, tells the story of an extended Christmas Eve card game, but one played for the highest stakes possible. 'McPherson proves yet again he is both a born yarn-spinner and an acute analyst of the melancholy Irish manhood' (Guardian)Set in 'the big house' in 1820s rural Ireland, The Veil is McPherson's first period play. Seventeen-year-old Hannah is to be married off in order to settle the debts of the crumbling estate. But when Reverend Berkeley arrives, determined to orchestrate a séance, chaos is unleased. 'A cracking fireside tale of haunting and decay' (The Times)The Birds, hauntingly adapted from the short story by Daphne du Maurier, is 'deliciously chilling, claustrophobic, questioning, frightening; and with a twist' (Irish Independent). It is published here for the first time, as is The Dance of Death, a new version of Strindberg's classic, which premiered at the Trafalgar Studios in London. 'A spectacularly bleak yet curiously bracing drama that often makes you laugh out loud' (Daily Telegraph).Completing the volume is a Foreword by the author.

Four early plays from the author of The Weir, with a foreword by the author.The plays in this volume – three monologues and a three-hander – were all written while Conor McPherson was in his twenties.In This Lime Tree Bower (Crypt Arts Centre, Dublin, 1995; Bush Theatre, London, 1996), three young men from a small seaside town near Dublin tell us in overlapping monologues of their inextricably linked lives and the eventful week which was to change things for good.St Nicholas (Bush Theatre, London, 1997) is an eccentric, teasing yarn in which a cynical and jaded drama critic falls for a beautiful young actress. In pursuing her, he meets a group of modern-day vampires who offer him eternal life – his part of the bargain is to feed their bloodlust.Rum and Vodka (University College Dublin, 1992; City Arts Centre, Dublin, 1994) is a short monologue play in which a young Irishman with a drink problem tells of three momentous days in his life when his drab nine-to-five existence is obliterated in an escapist binge which threatens to engulf him.The Good Thief (City Arts Centre, Dublin, 1994) is a monologue play about a petty criminal who is punished by his conscience when he becomes involved in a bungled kidnap.

Four full-length plays and two previously unpublished shorts from the multi-award-winning author of Jerusalem.Jez Butterworth burst onto the theatre scene aged twenty-five with Mojo, 'one of the most dazzling Royal Court main stage debuts in years' (Time Out). This first volume of his Collected Plays contains that play plus the three that followed, as well as two short one-person pieces published here for the first time – everything in fact that precedes Jerusalem, 'unarguably one of the best dramas of the twenty-first century' (Guardian).Plays One includes:Mojo, staged in 1995 but set in the Soho clubland of 1958, 'superbly captures the atmosphere of the infant British rock and roll scene where seedy low-lifers hustle for the big time' (Daily Telegraph). It is 'Beckett on speed' (Observer) by a 'dramatist of obvious talent and terrific promise' (The Times).The Night Heron (2002) is set in the Cambridgeshire Fens amongst assorted oddballs, birdwatchers and the local constabulary. 'It's funny, it's sad, it's haunting and it also strangely beautiful. Above all, it is quite unlike anything you've ever seen before' (Daily Telegraph).In The Winterling (2006) a gangland fugitive is visited by two associates from the city who have other things on their mind than a jolly reunion. 'The dialogue is testosterone taut, a sense of menace invades every conversation... and as tales of torture and treachery unfold, the black comedy never misses' (Time Out).Leavings (previously unpublished), a short monologue about an old man whose dog has gone missing.The housing estate in Parlour Song (2008) is 'a place of illicit desire and painful memories, of bad dreams and mysterious disappearances... a play that combines the comic, the erotic and the downright disconcerting with superb panache' (Daily Telegraph).The Naked Eye (previously unpublished), a short monologue about a family preparing to watch Halley's Comet as it passes through the night sky.Introducing the plays is an interview with Jez Butterworth specially conducted for this volume.

Since her debut in 2008, Lucy Kirkwood has firmly established herself as a leading playwright of her generation, the writer of a series of savagely funny, highly intelligent and beautifully observed plays that tackle the pressing issues of our times.This collection, with an introduction by the author, brings together five of her plays, starting with the wild and riotously funny farce, Tinderbox (Bush Theatre, 2008), a disturbing vision of a dystopian future where England is dissolving into the sea, realised with 'off-kilter imaginative flair' (The Times).Written for Clean Break theatre company, it felt empty when the heart went at first but it is alright now (Arcola Theatre, 2009; winner of the John Whiting Award) is a devastating report from the hidden world of Eastern European women trafficked to London to work in the sex industry.The previously unpublished small hours (Hampstead Theatre, 2011), a collaboration with Ed Hime, directed by Katie Mitchell, is an intimate dissection of the claustrophobic world of a new mother struggling to cope on her own.The sharply satirical NSFW (Royal Court, 2012) is a 'richly absorbing and inventive' (Telegraph) look at power games, privacy and gender politics in the media.The volume concludes with Chimerica (Almeida Theatre and West End, 2013), a gripping and provocative examination of the shifting balance of power between East and West. Winner of multiple awards, including the Olivier and Critics' Circle Awards for Best New Play, the Evening Standard Best Play Award and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Chimerica is 'gloriously rich and mind-expanding' (Guardian), and a 'tremendously bold piece of writing' (Evening Standard).'Kirkwood is the most rewarding dramatist of her generation' Independent

A collection of five plays by Alexi Kaye Campbell.The premiere of The Pride at the Royal Court Theatre in 2008 marked the emergence of Alexi Kaye Campbell as a distinctive new talent. With its bold and ingenious structure and its daring take on sexual politics in the 1950s and today, the play combined thrilling dramaturgy with profound insight into the affairs of the human heart. It went on to win an Olivier Award, the Critics’ Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright, and the John Whiting Award for Best New Play, and was revived in the West End in 2013.Published here alongside that remarkable debut are Alexi’s four subsequent plays, which together demonstrate his rare ability to harness theatricality in pursuit of emotional truth.Apologia (Bush Theatre, London, 2009; revived in the West End in 2017), a perceptive look at what has happened to 1960s idealists and their children. ‘Sharp, funny, wise and humane, Alexi Kaye Campbell is a writer to cherish’ TelegraphThe Faith Machine (Royal Court, 2011), an exploration of the relationship between faith and capitalism that asks fundamental questions about the true meaning of love. ‘An urgent play of expansive ambition and largeness of spirit’ GuardianBracken Moor (Tricycle Theatre and Shared Experience, 2013), a haunting tale of grief and denial, set against the economic crisis of the 1930s. ‘A superior kind of ghost story… intellectually as well as emotionally haunting’ The StageSunset at the Villa Thalia (National Theatre, 2016), a passionate and deeply personal play about the impact of foreign influence, planned and unintentional, on a nation and its people. ‘This play is a winner, a thought-provoking slow-burn story that works on many levels’ The TimesAlso included is an introduction by the author.

When her first play, Eight, transferred from student theatre in Edinburgh to the West End and then New York, Ella Hickson was still in her early twenties. She has since built on that promise with a series of engaged and engaging dramas that pit romanticism and optimism against the realities of life as a young person in Britain.Eight (Edinburgh Fringe, 2008), that astonishing first success, is included here: a state-of-the-nation group portrait in monologues, ‘an interactive Talking Heads for 21st-century teens and twentysomethings’ (Independent).Also included is Hot Mess (Edinburgh Fringe, 2010), a dark and lyrical tale about twins born with just a single heart between them, and Precious Little Talent (Edinburgh Fringe, 2009; West End, 2011), about two young adults graduating into a world that’s sold them down the river.In Boys (HighTide Festival, Nuffield Theatre Southampton and Soho Theatre, 2012), the Class of 2011 faces a tricky transition to adulthood in a play that ‘powerfully captures the mood of a generation’ (Independent).The volume also contains an introduction by the author and two short plays: the previously unpublished PMQ, part of the Coalition season at Theatre503, London, in 2010; and Gift, first seen as part of Headlong’s immersive theatre production Decade in 2011.‘On the cusp of greatness’ Independent

A selection of the best work of Stephen Jeffreys, whose career stretches from an award-winning play at the National Student Drama Festival in 1977 through to an adaptation of The Alchemist for the RSC in 2016.Included here are his first big success, Valued Friends, a comedy of manners about the property market which won both the Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Awards; a riotous farce set in the time of Elizabeth I, The Clink, in which a stand-up comedian becomes involved in the political skulduggery surrounding the ailing queen; an autobiographical drama set in 1966, A Going Concern, about a washed-up family business; and Jeffreys’ smash-hit, The Libertine, a Restoration romp about the licentious Earl of Rochester, much revived and also filmed with Johnny Depp.Rounding off the volume are two previously unpublished plays: Interruptions, inspired by Jeffreys’ interest in the collective aspect of politics and his fascination with the Japanese aesthetic principle of Jo-ha-kyu; and a very likable, short autobiographical monologue, Finsbury Park.Together, all six plays represent the impressively wide range of topics and styles that Jeffreys embraced. Above all, each one of them is intensely and enjoyably theatrical to its very core.‘I had the great pleasure of working with Stephen Jeffreys on his play, The Libertine. Would that all playwrights had his openness, his talent, his hard-headedness, his experience, his enthusiasm, his complexity, and perhaps best of all his talent and interest in eliciting the best in others’ John Malkovich‘Stephen’s plays always bear the kitemark of unique, handcrafted quality’ Ian Rickson

Robert Holman wrote plays of startling beauty, combining close observation of the way people behave with a thrilling and often fiercely uncompromising mastery of dramatic form. He is the playwright most admired by other playwrights. To Simon Stephens, he was, until Holman's death in 2021, 'My favourite living writer'.Here, in this selection from Holman's first decade of playwriting, a monkey is taken for a French spy by an eighteenth-century fishing community; the inhabitants of a Greek island reside under the shadow of the atom bomb; and a group of lonely people converge on the North Yorkshire moors.With an introduction written for this volume by Holman himself, Robert Holman Plays: One contains The Natural Cause (Cockpit Theatre, London, 1974), Mud (Royal Court Theatre, London, 1974), Other Worlds (Royal Court, 1983), Today (Royal Shakespeare Company, 1984) and The Overgrown Path (Royal Court, 1985).'Holman's instinct for truth, and an unaffected ability to spot what's poignant in it, is what one remembers: that, and a paradoxical impression of spare richness, astringent abundance' The Times

Described as 'America's greatest living playwright' (Wall Street Journal), Kenneth Lonergan is internationally acclaimed for his trademark humour and his genius for capturing the real heart and soul of human interactions. This volume gathers together three of his landmark plays.This Is Our Youth (1996) is a wildly funny, bittersweet and lacerating look at three days in the lives of three affluent young Manhattanites in the 1980s. Its West End premiere in 2002 was notable for its successive casts of young Hollywood stars, including Casey Affleck, Matt Damon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anna Paquin and Summer Phoenix. 'A rambunctious and witty play… caustic, cruel, compassionate' The New York Times.The Waverly Gallery (1999) is a poignant, generous and frequently hilarious play about a feisty grandmother's last battle against Alzheimer's disease. More than a memory play, it captures the humour and strength of a family in the face of crisis. It was a finalist for the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and revived on Broadway in 2018 to widespread acclaim. 'Both one of the most beautiful things you'll ever see in a Broadway theatre and one of the most profoundly sad' Chicago Tribune.Lobby Hero (2001) tells the story of a luckless young security guard trying to get his life together after being thrown out of the navy. But working in a lobby proves to be no sanctuary from the world, as he is unwittingly drawn into a murder investigation. The play received its British premiere at the Donmar Warehouse, London, in 2002, and was also revived on Broadway in 2018. 'Artfully intertwines private and public issues… [Lonergan] has the lightest of touches and writes with deft humour' Guardian.Kenneth Lonergan is an American film director, playwright and screenwriter. He wrote and directed the films You Can Count On Me, Margaret and Manchester by the Sea, for which he won the 2017 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. This collection, published alongside the UK premiere of Lonergan's The Starry Messenger in 2019, also features an exclusive introduction by the author.'Lonergan's ear for the crosscurrents of love and recrimination, of accusation and confession, is as fine as that of any American dramatist' Washington Post

Spanning almost ten years and embracing a remarkable range of style and subject matter, this third volume of Churchill's Collected Plays, introduced by the author, contains:Icecream - an unsettling look at British attitudes to America, and vice versaMad Forest - Churchill's response to the Romanian RevolutionThe Skriker - a 'spellbinding' piece combining English folk tales with modern urban lifeThyestes - a 'bleakly eloquent new translation of Seneca's Roman tragedy' (Sunday Times).Plus two collaborative pieces combining word and dance:Lives of the Great Poisoners - a libretto to music by Orlando Gough and choreography by Ian SpinkA Mouthful of Birds - written with David LanCaryl Churchill has been hailed as 'a dramatist who must surely be amongst the best half-dozen now writing' The Times