Methuen Drama Latest Plays
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Latest Plays - click on covers to see full Publisher's details
Simon Dunmore, Hilary Lissenden | Actors' Yearbook 2010 |
 : | Actors' Yearbook is a comprehensive reference guide to acting for television, film and theatre. It lists contact names and addresses for all sections of the acting world, from agents to production companies. Articles and commentaries provide a valuable insight into the profession. This edition includes many new articles including: The Essentials of Screen Acting by international acting and voice coach, Mel Churcher; and Physical and Mental Fitness for Actors by Alex Caan. This edition also includes far more contacts in the tv and film industry. This is an essential resource for actors and anyone involved in the industry, from those just embarking on a career, to experienced actors who may be unfamiliar with certain areas of the profession. |
Alistair Beaton | Caucasian Chalk Circle |
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Jonathan Holmes | Katrina |
 : | In August 2005 Hurrican Katrina narrowly missed New orleans. The resulting storms breached rotting levees and emptied neighbouring lake Pontchartrain into the city. Marooned by floodwater that swamped over 80% of their holmes, the inhabitants had to wait a week without food or clean water before their government came to their aid. Katrina uses survivor testimonies and the rich musical tradition of new orleans to tell the story of the immediate aftermath of the hurricane. Staged in a five-story warehouse on london's South bank, Jericho House's new play takes the audience on an odyssey through a drowned city, enveloped in the most immersive of visual and aural designs, in the company of individuals displaced and abandoned within their own city |
Simon Stephens | Punk Rock |
 : | Punk Rock about a group of "A" level students in a private sixth form college in Stockport |
Kwame Kwei-Armah | Kwei-Armah Plays: 1 |
 : | Elmina's Kitchen; Fix Up; Statement of Regret; Let There Be Love |
Paul Allain | The Theatre Practice of Tadashi Suzuki |
 : | A lively, critical study of one of the most important innovators, thinkers and directors in comtemporary world theatre: Tadashi Suzuki. This book explores Suzuki's theatre practice and contains a DVD with practical Suzuki Method actor-training examples. |
Gill Foreman | A Practical Guide to Working in Theatre |
 : | challenging profession but how is professional theatre actually made? What are the roles and what does each person do? Which pathways lead into the profession? What skills are necessary to each role and how does the job differ according to the size of theatre or company? |
Roger McGough | Hypochondriac, The |
 : | First produced in 1673 and Molière's final play, The Hypochondriac is a scathingly funny lampoon on both hypochondria and the 'quack' medical profession. Argan is a perfectly healthy, wealthy gentleman, convinced that he is seriously ill. So obsessed is he with medicinal tinkerings and tonics that he is blind to the goings on in his own household. However, his most efficacious cure will not appear in a bottle or a bedpan, but in his sharp-tongued servant, who has a cunning plan to reveal the truth and open her master's eyes. |
Tom Murphy | Last Days of a Reluctant Tyrant, The |
 : | An epic family drama, shot through with dark humour, The Last Days of a Reluctant Tyrant tells the tragic story of a family disintegrating, having lost its moral values. .Arina is an ambitious woman. As a servant girl she marries into the degenerative family she works for, her peasant genes saving it from extinction. Her ruthless energy saves it from bankruptcy and she expands the family estate into an empire. As matriarch she rules with an iron hand, her avarice insatiable - until she begins to wonder what is it all for? She slackens her hold and loses her power to the hypocrisy and relentless grasping of her chosen son. |
Michael Frayn | Alphabetical Order |
 : | The library office of a provincial newspaper is a scene of utter confusion - the cluttered chaos of the room matching the lives of its staff. It is also a scene of warmth and light-heartedness. In comes Leslie, a new young assistant with a passion for organisation who transforms the office and the lives of its inhabitants into something orderly and neat - and also arid and colourless. An announcement that the paper is to close leads to a struggle between chaos and order. |
James Graham | History of Falling Things |
 : | Oh, you do look. . .really good, though. You know. In the face. Oh and, uh, I love you. Prisoners of their fear of falling things keraunothetophobiacs Jacqui and Robin are restricted to living indoors. When they meet online a relationship begins which forces them to confront their fear and discover whats real in their lives and what really matters. A History of Falling Things, a new play by the acclaimed young playwright James Graham, is a gentle love story fearful, funny and moving. |
Mike Poulton | Mary Stuart |
 : | Mary Stuart tells the story of the personal struggle between two extraordinary women - one French, one English - both captive to the demands of sovereignty and both caught in a tumult of political and religious intrigue. Which of them is the rightful Queen of England Mary Stuart or Elizabeth Tudor? |
Noel Coward | Tonight at 8:30 |
 : | Written as a vehicle for Cowards own acting talents alongside his frequent stage partner Gertrude Lawrence, Tonight at 8:30 is Cowards ambitious series of ten one-act plays which saw him breathe new life into the one-act form. First performed in London in 1936, the plays perfectly showcase Coward's talents as a playwright, providing a sparkling, fast-paced and remarkably varied selection of theatrical gems. |
Michael Frayn | Alphabetical Order |
| : | The library office of a provincial newspaper is a scene of utter confusion - the cluttered chaos of the room matching the lives of its staff. It is also a scene of warmth and light-heartedness. In comes Leslie, a new young assistant with a passion for organisation who transforms the office and the lives of its inhabitants into something orderly and neat - and also arid and colourless. An announcement that the paper is to close leads to a struggle between chaos and order. |
Nick Leather | Billy Wonderful |
 : | BILLY WONDERFUL is about fathers, sons, and football. ". . .there is one thing. One thing I believe in. One thing you can. I think . . . I really think . . . there is a thing. I believe . . . are yer listenin'? I do believe. I believe. In football." As one-time boy wonder Billy Walters relives his debut in a Merseyside 'derby' match at the age of nineteen, ninety minutes cuts across twenty-two years and fellow players becomes family and friends, enemies and lovers. Can Billy achieve his lifelong ambition of scoring the winner in the derby, and is there really such a thing as life after football? Nick Leather, one of the North-West's most prominent young playwrights, brings us a fast-paced coming of age story pulsing with all the excitement and physicality of Match Day. |
Anthony Neilson | Edward Gant's Amazing Feats Of Loneliness |
 : | mixes Victorian melodrama with a catalogue of grotesque comic tales |
Mark Ravenhill | Over There |
 : | "I found you. You're here. And I was over there. But now I'm over here. I'm here. You're my brother. I love you" When Franz's mother escaped to the West with one of her identical twin boys, she left the other behind. Now, 25 years later, Karl crosses the border in search of his other half. As history takes an unexpected turn, the brothers must struggle to reconnect. Examines the hungers released when two countries, separated by a common language, meet again. |
Jean Benedetti | Stanislavski And The Actor |
 : | concerns the random stabbing of an 18 year old boy by a girl of the same age one night in a london shop while she was out of her head on drugs. She asked for a pound, he told her to eff off, and was knifed in the heart for his brusqueness. |
Jean Benedetti | Stanislavski: An Introduction |
 : | The Stanislavski 'system' is still the only comprehensive method of actor training we possess. It is studied in schools and universities as well as professional theatre schools. The aim of this book is to show the slow growth of the 'system', from its roots in the tradition of Russian realism, and to chart the various phases it went through until the final emergence of the Method of Physical Action in the years before his death. It also provides a short account of the writing, publication and translation of his books on acting. |
Leo Butler | Faces In The Crowd |
 : | When Dave moved south to London he left behind his family, wife Joanne and mounting financial woes in favour of a playground of riches, sex and shopping. 10 years on and Joanne wants payback. . .with interest. Faces In The Crowd offers a unique insight into 21st century London and the debts we accrue in the wake of seeking out our ambitions. |
Jonathan Croall | Buzz Buzz! Playwrights, Actors and Directors at the National Theatre |
 : | Containing over a hundred interviews conducted over the last fifteen years with leading directors, actors and playwrights at the National Theatre, Buzz Buzz! is a fantastic compendium that offers unrivalled insight into the work and practice of the best theatre talent. |
Barry Day | Letters of Noel Coward, The |
 : | 'A uniquely charming and enticing journey through a remarkable life. Coward's own record is made all the more delightful by the wise and helpful interpolations of Barry Day, the soundest authority on the Master that there is.' Stephen Fry |
Dara Marks | Inside Story |
 : | Inside Story offers the most important advancement in screenwriting theory to come along in years. This innovative method for structuring a screenplay is designed to kep writers focused on the heart and soul of their story so that plot, character and theme create a unified whole. Her method offers an easy to follow template for story construction, helping the writer to identify what the story is actually about, the thematic intention. It then uses the internal character development of the protagonist as a vehicle to drive the thematic intention and the line of action within the story. |
Christopher Shinn | Now Or Later |
 : | Election night in the U.S. and things are looking rosy for the Democratic Party. Holed up in a hotel watching the results flood in are the likely President-elect, his wife, advisors and twenty-year-old son John Jnr. Every speech, interview and photocall has been carefully controlled and meticulously orchestrated, all leading up to this big night. At the same time controversial photos of John Jnr are gathering momentum on the internet. Whilst his father's advisors work against the clock on damage limitation, it's up to father and son to try and reach an agreement. Christopher Shinn's searching play examines religion, freedom of expression and personal responsibility. |
Shelagh Stephenson | Long Road, The |
 : | concerns the random stabbing of an 18 year old boy by a girl of the same age one night in a london shop while she was out of her head on drugs. She asked for a pound, he told her to eff off, and was knifed in the heart for his brusqueness. |
Simon Vinnicombe | Cradle Me |
 : | In the aftermath of an unspeakable yet avoidable tragedy, a family finds themselves torn apart by grief and turning for comfort to Daniel, the troubled teenage boy who lives next door. Having experienced their tragedy first hand, Daniel shares in their grief in a way that creates an individual bond with each member of the family. However, it is Marion, the dead boys mother, who expresses her grief through Daniel in a way that will ultimately lead both he and her family on a path that will irrevocably alter the course of their lives forever. |