Books in the Modern Plays series

A play set in London in the 60s reflecting a time of social change. Its subject is the cultural poverty and frustration of a generation of young people on the dole and living on council estate

The National Theatre Connections anthology selects nine plays commissioned for young performers and schools, tying in with the National Theatre Connections annual drama festival for young performers. Features work by Brad Birch, In-Sook Chappell and Natalie Mitchell.

I want, one more time, to be absolutely in the moment . . .I am going to try as hard as I can to not be a human being. A series of suggestions on desire, death and time. Nuclear War is the searing result of a groundbreaking and form-defying collaboration between Simon Stephens and the choreographer and movement director Imogen Knight, developed by Actors Touring Company.Introduced by the author, this edition also features a suite of lyrics written by Simon Stephens for a musical collaboration with Dutch singer-songwriter Wende Snijders, performed at Schouwburg Het Park in Westerdijk, The Netherlands, in March 2017. Nuclear War was published to coincide with the world premiere of the play at the Royal Court Theatre, Upstairs, London, in April 2017.

Love ain't something you just say. Just this word. It's something you do. A twenty-first-century love story. Caneze meets Sully in the college canteen. The heat rises over triple chilli sauce in Nando's. She makes her move in the sweet smoke of a shisha bar. A touchpaper is lit . . . but neither of them bargained on the lengths to which her brother would go to keep them apart. Blood is a heartfelt play by Emteaz Hussain, the writer of Tamasha's Sweet Cider. It received its world premiere in a production by Tamasha Theatre company in March 2015.

if I was gold almighty himself,and destroyed this first attempt at life.what would my second version be?. . . a dead end of endless possibility.A pedlar boy wakes up in a field somewhere in London, surrounded by the remnants of the night before. With no memory of how he has come to be there, he knows he must go back to the start in order to understand it all. His attempts to retrace events from the previous days lead him on a haunting journey where everything comes into question: his life, his world, his future.peddling is Harry Melling's remarkable debut play following a day in the life of a door-to-door salesman as he battles difficult questions and attempts to come to terms with the resulting truths.peddling received its world premiere at Hightide Festival on 10 April 2014, performed by Harry Melling, before transferring to 59E59 Theatre, NY, for a four-week run. It was revived in 2015 by HighTide at the Arcola Theatre, London.

The Arab world's greatest folk stories re-imagined by the acclaimed Lebanese novelist Hanan al-Shaykh, published to coincide with the world tour of a magnificent musical and theatrical production directed by Tim Supple

"I can't believe we're arguing over a Blue Riband""I can't believe we're stuck down a mine.""Yet here we are"3rd May 1979, South Wales. Thatcher is counting her votes, Sid Vicious is spinning in his grave, and six Welsh miners are trapped down a coal mine. Within two weeks everything these men believe in and everything they know will have changed. A darkly comic drama looking at the dramatic two weeks in which a group of Welsh miners are trapped underground.Chris Urch's debut full-length play is packed full of blistering comedy and summons a generation of lost voices.

How is it delivered? That's the best bit! Royal Mail. Postman Pat brings your smack to your door with a smile and his black and white cat is none the wiser.Bruce is nineteen, unemployed and living with his Nan. A struggling young Geordie tech-head, he's the unlikeliest international criminal mastermind you can imagine. But sucked into an underworld dark web of new-age pirates, local gangsters and tea-cosies, it isn't long before Bruce discovers how easy it is to buy narcotics online.Prompted by the arrest in October 2013 of the alleged owner of Silk Road, and the first play ever to be funded by bitcoin, Alex Oates's play is a biting black comedy about how simple it is not only to buy, but also sell drugs online. Published alongside Rules For Being a Man, a stirring new play that uses silent disco technology to create a vivid soundscape and take the audience into the head of three generations of men as they struggle with mental health issues and contemplate suicide.Rules For Being a Man depicts the everyday battle of masculinity, whilst these men go about their lives and struggle to hold on.Three different generations of men come to terms with love, life and other peoples expectations. Living in a society where the scars of toxic masculinity are becoming more and more visible on the cultural landscape, Rules For Being A Man looks at the marks men create in themselves, and others. Following three generations of a family centred around one pivotal action, this honest new play attempts to try to come to terms with the different pressures men face going through life trying to be a man and the damaging toll they take on their mental health. Inspired by interviews with survivors of suicide and The Samaritans.

Tommy McMillan believes himself to be a popular man with acumen and ambition. King of Scotland is his hilarious and poignant account of his supposed professional progress after being taken on by the Department of Upward Mobility.The Tobacco Merchant's Lawyer, also by Heggie, focuses on the dilemmas of Enoch Dalmellington.

In Methuen Drama's Modern Classics series, this edition of Brecht's anti-war masterpiece translated by John Willett features an extensive introduction and Brecht's notes and textual variants.

A programme text edition published in conjunction with the Finborough Theatre to coincide with the centenary of the birth of William Saroyan, The Time of Your Life runs from 26 November - 20 December.

Play version of this novel that was a hit with adults and teenagers alike

A programme text edition published in conjunction with The Synergy Theatre Project in association with The Forgiveness Project and Soho Theatre, The Long Road runs from 10 - 29 November 2008.

An expertly annotated edition of Joe Penhall's compelling drama: a dark, exhilarating tale of race, madness and power in the midst of a struggling National Health Service.

Ben is married to Denise but on the pull; Kenny's looking for someone who's "right"; Ade's with Sandra but playing the field; and Nate's a proud new father. This play is an urban drama of sexual politics and race in west London.

At head of title: A Paines Plough and Theatre Royal Plymouth Production.

Mum told me that there was something in his brain that was different, she said that he liked to put his toys in lines and that was a symptom or whatever. I used to go in his room and see all his stuffed animals in a line and I''d mess them up. I''d mess the line up.Rose loves her brother Mikey. Mikey loves Rose, Bruce Willis films and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but he hates change. When their mum is diagnosed with leukaemia, their world is plunged into chaos. Rose returns home to find a very different brother to when she left. But today is his eighteenth birthday and Rose wants everything to be perfect, though life with Mikey isn''t ever that simple.Inspired by events in the playwright''s own life, Plastic Figurines is a funny and moving play that explores the relationship between siblings with very different views of the world. This new edition was published for the first revival of the play at the New Diorama, London, opening in September 2016.

I'm a hard worker. I don't push him to the . . . You know I don't go out for breaks when I'm not supposed to. I don't stay in the loo when I'm not supposed to. If I was that kind of person I could have him done for discrimination . . . I just get on with things you know.Four people arrive to work the night shift in a meat factory. They meet for the first time. They are employed as cleaners by a temp agency. They are all on zero-hours contracts.Every shift, they clean. Every four hours, they take a break. They drink tea or coffee together. They read magazines. They chat. As it gets light, they go home or to another job. The cycle goes on. And on. Strangers. Until something stirs, until isolated people get too close to one another, too fast.Alexander Zeldin's brutally honest and darkly humorous play, written through devising with the ensemble of the premiere production, exposes stories of an invisible class. It received its world premiere at The Yard on 1 July 2014 and transferred to the National Theatre's Temporary Theatre on 28 April 2015.

When Don Revie took over this club, Leeds were a rugby league town. No interest in football. Gates under 10,000. We'd never won a thing. He built one of the great clubs of English football, one of the great teams of English football, from scratch on barren ground from nothing more than spirit and fight and nous, which are the exact same qualities you used at Derby. And out of jealousy, you never tried to understand that. Never tried to make the most of that. Sad. 1974. Brian Clough, the enfant terrible of British football, tries to redeem his managerial career and reputation by winning the European Cup with his new team, Leeds United. The team he has openly despised for years, the team he hates and that hates him. Don Revie's Leeds.A West Yorkshire Playhouse and Red Ladder Theatre Company co-production, adapted from David Peace's ingenious and much-lauded novel, which was subsequently made into a film starring Michael Sheen, The Damned United takes you inside the tortured mind of a genius slamming up against his limits, and brings to life the beauty and brutality of football, the working man's ballet.Anders Lustgarten's stage adaptation of David Peace's novel received its world premiere at the West Yorkshire Playhouse on 3 March 2016.

There's a hole running through the centre of my stomach. You must have all felt a bit awkward because you can probably see it. Sea Wall is a delicate monologue, completely devastating and beautifully powerful.Alex's story, spoken directly to the audience, begins full of clear light and smiles, as he speaks about his wife, visiting her father in the South of France, having a daughter, photography, and the bottom of the sea. His tone is natural, happy and engaging, with flickers of questions about belief and religion glimpsed under the surface. But his contentment falls away into deep and heart-breaking grief, crumbling to pieces with a vividness that is incredibly moving.

Beats and Cold, two ambitious DJs, are gaining reputation in the music industry. They have found a new sound - jungle - and it's going to be massive! At first the chemistry between them produces gold. But as Beats turns into a producer, and Cold, the 'bedroom genius', fights for the space to be a true artist, the tension builds beat by beat.

Reissue of this Methuen classic to tie in with a major new production

You've heard of magic hour right? We're in it. right now. Journalist Katy is desperate for her big break, and an interview in Paris with world famous concert pianist Silvia de Zingaro looks like just her chance.But the odds are against her. After a disastrous interview, Katy feels certain there's a bigger story there than meets the eye. She hunts for clues, finding Silvia has a collection of mystical books and an apparent fixation with composer Erik Satie. Just as Katy's hope begins to fade, a mysterious night-time encounter with the pianist may well give her the scoop she's looking for.This compelling new play examines music, time and attention in our modern digital age.This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford Upon Avon in June 2019.

Just tennis all day, whenever you want. Not many 13 year olds have that, do they? They're going to make you so good we won't recognise you. Creating a tennis champion costs a lot; it requires time, dedication and, most importantly, cash. Nina and Ade decide early on that their daughter is worth the investment. Imagine the return - prize money, world travel, endorsements and maybe their own tennis academy. Hell-bent on their child becoming Britain's number 1, the pair are willing to sacrifice just about anything. If you want to reach the top spot in the game of tennis, love means nothing.Oli Forsyth's breakthrough play is a blistering exploration of blind, parental ambition and the consequences of tough love.

Nine plays from the annual National Theatre Connections festival, commissioned for young performers and schools. Contributions from Rob Drummond, Nell Leyshon, Katie Hims and more.

Labour MP David Lyons cares about modernisation and "electability"... his constituency agent, Jean Whittaker cares about principles and her community. Set away from the Westminster bubble in the party's traditional northern heartlands, this is a clash of philosophy, culture and class against the backdrop of the Labour Party over 25 years, as it moves from Kinnock through Blair into Corbyn... and beyond?This razor-sharp political comedy from James Graham was produced by Michael Grandage Company and Headlong and received its world Premiere at the Noël Coward Theatre in September 2017.

Can a computer program, that basically shuffles numbers of zero and one, duplicate the ability of the neurons to create minds, with mental states, understanding, perceiving. Can we replicate consciousness? David sets his brother Lewis up on a blind date with April. April is like no woman Lewis has ever met before. She is beautiful, kind and intelligent. In fact, she seems perfect, perhaps even too perfect to be real.A moving and fascinating story about the modern intersection of grief, technology and late capitalism, R and D asks what''s more powerful: science or the soul? And when it comes to our obsession with ''research and development'', how far is too far in the search for ''progress''?R and D was first performed at the Hampstead Theatre Downstairs on 22 September 2016.