NHB Collected Works - Böcker

A playwright known for dazzling structural inventiveness combined with emotional intelligence and wit, James Fritz is a unique voice in British theatre. His work, reflected in these six plays covering the first decade of his career, confronts the fault lines in our culture with thrilling imagination, an unflinching moral seriousness and a warm, compassionate sense of humour.Four Minutes Twelve Seconds (Hampstead Theatre, 2014; Trafalgar Studios, 2015; winner of the Critics' Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright) is a 'morally terrifying drama' (Evening Standard) that unpicks the trust between parents and their teenage offspring in an age of selfies and sexting.Ross & Rachel (Edinburgh Fringe, 2015; Off-Broadway, 2016) is a 'dialogue for one' that takes an incisive look at the myths of modern love. 'Shockingly good... a virtuosic piece of writing, playful, post-modern and devastatingly serious, all at once' Time OutParliament Square (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, and Bush Theatre, London, 2017; winner of the Judges' Award, Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting) is a searingly powerful exploration of what one individual can do to effect change. 'There are few playwrights working in Britain today whose work is as slick and unsettling as James Fritz's' ExeuntLava (Nottingham Playhouse/Fifth Word, 2018; revived 2022) is a funny, tender and moving story about friendship and reconnection in the aftermath of catastrophe. 'Compassionate, warm and funny... Fritz's plays find reservoirs of humour in places you wouldn't expect' The StageSkyscraper Lullaby (Audible Original, 2022) is a powerful drama, first written as an audio play, about two parents trying to come to terms with the disappearance of their toddler, a haunting examination of the ways we cope with tragedy, complicity and remorse.Also included is a previously unpublished short play, twins (Arcola Theatre, 2015), as well as a playful and illuminating introduction written by the author.

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.

The second collection of plays from the multi-award-winning Irish playwright, Enda Walsh.This volume of remarkable plays charts the development of one of the most strikingly original playwrights in contemporary theatre. It collects together four full-length plays – three of which were produced by Galway’s Druid Theatre Company, three of which were performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, and two of which transferred to London’s National Theatre – along with two fascinating short plays and a Foreword by the author.The Walworth Farce (2006) is a madcap yet tender play about what can happen when we become stuck in the stories we tell about our lives.The New Electric Ballroom (2008) is a dark, glitter-dusted fable of the emotionally stultifying effects of small-town life.In a savage and riveting take on the classic Greek myth of Odysseus’s wife, Penelope (2010) sees four ridiculous men facing their inevitable deaths, and playing for an unwinnable love.Ballyturk (2014) saw Walsh reuniting with actor Cillian Murphy after Disco Pigs and Misterman for a jaw-droppingly physical play in which the lives of two men unravel over the course of ninety minutes.Also included in this volume are two short plays, My Friend Duplicity (2010), which went on to inspire Ballyturk, and Room 303 (2011).‘One of the most fiercely individual voices in the theatre today’ New York Times‘Enda Walsh makes his own distinctive stage music in the fury of his writing talent and the irresistible surge of his blatant theatricality’ Independent

This collection of plays written and introduced by actor-turned-writer Ayub Khan Din charts the development of a writer able to turn the tumultuous experience of life in modern Britain into satisfying, humane and often richly comic drama.Whether drawing on his own childhood, growing up in an Anglo-Pakistani family in Salford, or on E.R. Braithwaite's account of racial tensions in the East End in To Sir, With Love, he depicts the struggles of individuals to come to terms with their conflicting cultural legacies – and he does so with unerring warmth and compassion.East is East (1996) is an irresistible comedy set in multiracial Salford in 1970, where the Khan children are buffeted this way and that by their Pakistani father’s insistence on tradition, their English mother’s laissez-faire and their own wish to be citizens of the modern world. The film adaptation that followed, with a screenplay by the author, became one of the most successful British films ever made. The version included here is the revised text first performed at the Trafalgar Studios in 2014.The short, elegiac play, Notes on Falling Leaves (2004), is an emotionally tender depiction of a young man as he loses his mother to dementia, 'overwhelming in its emotional impact' (Telegraph).In All the Way Home (2011), a quarrelsome group of siblings gathers at the family home under the shadow of impending loss. Amidst the cut and thrust of spiky Salford banter, long-harboured resentments rise to the surface and family bonds unravel and unwind.To Sir, With Love (2013), based on E.R. Braithwaite's autobiographical novel, is the uplifting story of a talented, idealistic young teacher discovering the reality of life as a black man in Britain after the Second World War as he struggles to find a way to connect with his students at a tough but progressive East End school.

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.

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

In this collection of plays from one of our finest dramatists, Caryl Churchill demonstrates her remarkable ability to find new forms to express profound truths about the world we live in. Complete with a new introduction by the author, this volume contains:Seven Jewish Children (Royal Court Theatre, London, 2009): a short play about seven families wondering how to protect their children, written at the time of the bombing of Gaza by Israel in 2008–9.Love and Information (Royal Court, 2012): a fast-moving kaleidoscope in which more than a hundred characters try to make sense of what they know.Ding Dong the Wicked (Royal Court, 2012): two families on opposite sides of a war, locked in identical hatred.Here We Go (National Theatre, 2015): a play about dying and being dead.Escaped Alone (Royal Court, 2016): three old friends and an unexpected neighbour have tea in a sunny back yard, and face catastrophes.Pigs and Dogs (Royal Court, 2016): a look at how colonialism crushed the fluidity of sexuality in Africa and brought a new intolerance, as shown in the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2014.Also included are three previously unpublished short plays, each written in response to political events: War and Peace Gaza Piece (2014), Tickets are Now On Sale (2015) and Beautiful Eyes (2017).'The wit, invention and structural ingenuity of Churchill's work are remarkable… she never does anything twice' Telegraph'The most dazzlingly inventive living dramatist in the English language' New York Times

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

A collection of shorter plays from stage and television by one of the UK's foremost political playwrights.Included are:Blood Sports, five hilarious sketches on sporting subjectsBall Boys, an unlikely match between Marx and tennisBaby Love, a powerful and moving account of a baby-snatcherThe National Theatre, 'Three Sisters' in a strip clubThe Midas Connection, an ironic look at gold dealingEspecially suitable for performances by groups with limited time and/or resources, all the pieces engage – however wryly – with important issues. The whole collection sheds fascinating new light on Edgar the dramatist.