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Nick Payne

NICK PAYNE  

 Nationality:    British
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Curtis Brown Group Ltd  


Nick Payne is currently the Pearson Playwright-in-Residence at the Bush Theatre. In 2009, he won the George Devine award for Most Promising Playwright. Natalie Ibu is Associate Director at HighTide and was the Trainee Director at the Royal Court Theatre for the 2008/9 season

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below is a list of Nick Payne's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

 Adam Lives in Theory         Bytes         Constellations         Electra         Fugitive Motel         If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet         In The Beginning         Internet Shorts         Lay Down Your Cross         Lost Mariner, The         One Day When We Were Young         Starlings         Stops, The         Switzerland         Wanderlust

Adam Lives in Theory

Synopsis:
Harry's son, Adam, disappeared six months ago. A group of middle aged men now think they know exactly where he has gone. A play about faith, grief and UFOs.

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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
70 min One Act

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Bytes

Synopsis:
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Notes:
part of Rough Cuts. Four new short plays by Alia Bano, DC Moore, Nick Payne and Penelope Skinner examining and exploring our relationship to the internet. With multiple platforms on which to share our thoughts and say what we think, what is freedom of speech on the internet?

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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
short play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Constellations

Nick Payne
Let's go for a drink. I don't know what I'm doing here anyway. One drink. And if you never want to see me again you never have to see me again. One relationship. Infinite possibilities. Quantum multiverse theory, love and honey. An explosive new play about free will and friendship.

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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Electra

Nick Payne
When young Electra's father is murdered by her mother, her world changes irrevocably. Ten years on, bound by grief and unwilling to forgive, Electra surrenders to an all-consuming desire for revenge that propels her toward a bloody and terrifying conclusion.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Sophocles

1st Produced:

Company:
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1st Published:
Oberon Books (2011) >>>    978-1849430616

Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
Theatre Record Volume XXXI (2011) Issue 08 Page 404

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Fugitive Motel

Nick Payne
The King James Version of the Bible (KJV) is a foundation stone of the English language. The KJV was composed as a collective project and written to be spoken. Sixty-Six Books has been created, in the spirit of the original, in the same way. Pulpit to print; stage to page; mediated through many forms oral and written, the KJV has, since its inception, been a fundamental part of written and spoken English.This is a work that has travelled to every continent of the globe. It has been shared as a melodic instrument of inspiration, illumination and mutual understanding; and it has also been wielded as a tool of colonial oppression. Sixty-Six Books is a fresh interpretation of the KJV for the new millennium, celebrating and challenging the traditions and achievements of this great work on the occasion of its 400th anniversary. The curators of this project have gathered together a formidable and inspiring line-up of the best established and emerging writing talent to produce a new version of the KJV for thetwenty-first century. Each writer has created anew a book of the KJV - as prose, poetry, drama, performance, song, or ground-breaking digital form. Each writer has spoken back to the KJV with untrammeled inventiveness of the imagination. The voices of Sixty-Six Books, drawn from across five continents, innovate, transmute, transpose, reinvent and talk back to four hundredyears of history. All the works that make up Sixty-Six Books are written to be spoken. Culminating in major performance events at the Bush Theatre and Westminster Abbey in 2011 in London, Sixty-Six Books is a contribution towards the mutual curiosity, tolerance, and force of collective enterprise and shared humanity that characterizes the international and ancient arts of writing and spoken performance

Notes:
Part of Sixty-Six Books: 21st-century writers speak to the King James Bible. Play is A response to the King James Bible book of Hosea

1st Produced:

Company:
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1st Published:
Oberon Books (2011) >>>    978-1849432276

Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
piece

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet

Nick Payne
Surviving school as a fat kid is tough enough. When your mum's a teacher, it's hell. What's more, Anna's dad is obsessed with saving the world and her maverick uncle Terry is dossing on the couch. When Anna hits back at the bullies, she suspended from school and stuck at home with hapless Terry trying to save her. But Terry needs saving himself and, as the bond between the two deepens, Anna is swept up in a friendship she can't live without.

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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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In The Beginning

Synopsis:
Exactly four hundred years ago, in 1611, a group of scholars gathered together in the Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster Abbey to finalise their translation of the King James Version of the Bible (KJV). To celebrate the publication of this remarkable text, Westminster Abbey has teamed up with the Bush Theatre to create a unique, intimate and highly theatrical event. In The Beginning will see audience members taken, in intimate groups, on an extraordinary journey round the Abbey - accessing areas that are rarely open to the public and at a time when it is usually closed to visitors. As you travel round the building, an ensemble of performers will read carefully chosen extracts from the KJV which will cast a fresh and surprising light on the Abbey itself.

Notes:
with extracts from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV) selected by the Revd Dr James Hawkey

1st Produced:
Westminster Abbey, London    24 Mar 2011

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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
piece site specific

Parts:
Male:  9            Female:  8            Other:  -

Further Reference:
Theatre Record Volume XXXI (2011) Issue 06 Page 304

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Internet Shorts

Synopsis:
examining and exploring our relationship to the internet

Notes:
four new short plays by Alia Bano, DC Moore, Nick Payne and Penelope Skinner. A regular mini season of short plays, experimental readings and works in progress continue, taking over the Wilson rehearsal studio

1st Produced:

Company:
Rough Cuts 2013

1st Published:
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Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
short plays

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Lay Down Your Cross

Synopsis:
'You left! You left. You made it clear how you felt, and you left. And that speaks volumes' In a house in Luton, boxes are stacked high, the paint is out and Tony is ready for a spring clean. Amidst the dust and clutter lie photos and memories of family fun; reminders of what used to be. As the funeral of his son looms, and his aloof daughter and ex-wife return, will the regrets of the past and the sorrows of the present prove too much for Tony and his kin?

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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Lost Mariner, The

Synopsis:
Life without memory is no life at all. Chef Jimmy thinks it's 1995. Whilst his psychiatrist Burroughs diagnoses his condition, his wife and children become increasingly desperate in their efforts to get Jimmy to remember. A work in progress about family and forgetting.

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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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One Day When We Were Young

Synopsis:
When Leonard and Violet embark on their first night together, they know it also might be their last. It's 1942 and in a small hotel room in Bath, the couple prepare for Leonard's departure to war, and dream of what the future may bring. As the V1 bombs begin to fall, they know their world won't ever be the same again.

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Company:
Paines Plough

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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Starlings

Synopsis:
Melissa wants to get on with her life but never knows when her father is going to turn up next. Over 30 years she struggles to overcome her past while her family, torn apart by alcohol, try to repair the damage. Nick Payne's new play about history and hope is a poignant, unflinching reflection on the ties that bind us.

Notes:
part of Young Writers Festival Readings 2009

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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Stops, The

Synopsis:
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Notes:
Part of Miniaturists 32 - Bringing you more of the best short plays by some of the most exciting playwrights in the UK today

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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
short play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Switzerland

Synopsis:
where a woman journeys to Zurich to finally escape her Motor Neurone Disease

Notes:
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1st Produced:
New Cut Arts, Halesworth, Suffolk    2008

Company:
HighTide Theatre Festival

1st Published:
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Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Wanderlust

Nick Payne
Joy is a married woman, a GP, and struggling to remain interested in sex. Her husband Alan, however, thinks of little else. And their teenage son Tim is ready to burst.

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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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