Bøker i Contemporary Dramatists-serien

Michael Frayn is one of the great playwrights of our time, enjoying international acclaim and prestige. This anthology contains three of Michael Frayn's best-known titles: Copenhagen, Democracy and Afterlife, as well as an introduction by the author and a chronology of his work.

The first collection by a seminal contemporary gay playwright

A fourth volume of plays by John Godber, all of which were produced by Hull Truck Theatre in 2007 and 2008 and featuring Our House, Crown Prince, Sold and Christmas Crackers.

This volume contains Ridley's first three plays, which heralded the arrival of a unique and disturbing voice in the world of contemporary drama.

An important new voice for African-American theatre, Katori Hall explores the lives of black and often invisible Americans with vivid language, dynamic narratives and richly-textured characterisation. This first collection of her plays showcases her visceral, passionate and energetic writing.

The first collection by Sweden's foremost contemporary playwright

An anthology of the work of Germany's most famous living playwright. This collection includes Through the Leaves, his study of the frail, flawed relationship between a middle-aged woman tripe butcher and a loud-mouthed factory worker, which became a West End hit in Summer 2003.

"The Morning After Optimism" borrows patterns from European fairytale to explore the relationship between reality and illusion. "The Sanctuary Lamp" is a play about spritual refugees, and "The Gigli Concert" is the story of a man who, wishes to sing like Gigli.

The first collected edition of darkly humorous plays.

This volume contains six plays by Arnold Wesker: "Annie Wobbler"; "Four Portraits - of Mothers"; "Yardsale"; "Whatever Happened to Betty Lemon?"; "The Mistreess"; and "Letter to a Daughter".

Brings together three major political plays, "Accidental Death of an Anarchist", "Mistero Buffo" and "Trumpets and Raspberries", along with two previously unpublished short farces - "The Virtuous Burglar" and "One was Nude and One Wore Tails".

A collection of plays written in collaboration between John Arden and Margaretta D'Arcy. The plays featured here include "The Business of Good Government", "Ars Longa Vita Brevis", "Friday's Hiding", "The Royal Pardon", "Vandaleur's Folly" and "The Little Gray Home in the West".

A collection of five plays written by Judy Upton: "Ashes and Sand"; "Sunspots"; "People on the River"; "Stealing Souls"; and "Know Your Rights".

This second collection of plays by Caryl Churchill includes "Objections to Sex and Violence", "Softcops", "Top Girls", "Fen" and "Serious Money".

"Stephens writes dramas set in uncaring, uncompromising worlds, whose characters speak in a language at once naturalistic and yet artificially pared-down and whose uncertain attempts to assert their own identities sometimes lead to gratuitous and brutal acts of violence." - Financial TimesA fifth collection of plays by one of Britain's most prolific contemporary playwrights, Simon Stephens, charting his work from 2011-2016, ranging from London's Royal Court Theatre, Manchester's Royal Exchange and Broadway. Wastwater (2011) "Metaphoric, allusive, and thoroughly disturbing in its evocation of suspicion and uncertainty, Wastwater is a thought-provoking play whose quiet intensity stays with you for days - its effect is like that of a ugly stone dropped into a pool, which results in constant ripples of dirty water lapping at your subconscious" (Aleks Sierz)Birdland (2014) "Mega-fame and limitless cash can turn a man into a monster, and Simon Stephens's new play excellently evokes its hero's spiritually shrunken world" (Michael Billington, Guardian) Blindsided (2014) "the dialogue has a rare quality of moment-by-moment intensity" (Telegraph)Song From Far Away (2015) "a meditative monologue - a searching study of impotently self-aware emotional insufficiency" (Independent) Heisenberg (2016) "Mr. Stephens ... is an uncannily subtle dramatist who never wears his depths on the surface ... he probes clichés until they fall apart, before reassembling them into solid but transformed shapes, reminding us why such clichés have become enduring elements of our collective mythology." (Ben Brantley, New York Times)

Since her early break-through at the Royal Court Theatre in 1995, where she won the George Devine award and was joint winner of the Verity Bargate Award, Judy Upton has proven herself to be one of Britain's most prolific and diverse writers. In this, her second collection, we see work ranging from 1995 through to the 2000s and a collection of short work created during the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic. Bruises (1995) Royal Court Theatre, London - "This is no angry polemic but a subtly atmospheric piece ... Neither writer nor director seeks easy answers in this coolly disturbing view of an issue usually hammered home with both fists." (Evening Standard)The Girlz (1998) Orange Tree, London - "Judy Upton's ever-promising career takes another small leap forward with this tantalising foray into characteristic Upton territory, the febrile world of foul-mouthed, disadvantaged young females from the south-east." (Time Out) Sliding With Suzanne (2001) Royal Court Theatre, London - "Judy Upton probably won't thank me for saying so, but her new play, Sliding with Suzanne, comes over as that rarest of phenomena - a contemporary play with a Right-wing agenda. If Margaret Thatcher went to see it she would be appalled by the language and much of the action but would, I suspect, end up applauding its sentiments." (Telegraph) Gaby Goes Global (2009) New Wimbledon Theatre, London - A wry and mischievous look at the benefits system, and the world of fine art. Gaby is a downtrodden employment advisor at the Benefit Delivery Centre. She tries to get rich by promoting the struggling artists who sign on. But it is Gaby who grabs all the attention - with the sort of exposure she hadn't bargained for...Lockdown Tales (2020) - "a story of struggle, hope, even more struggle and then hope which provides a sensitive and sincere insight into the mind of a key worker during lockdown . a must watch and is the epitome of the type of work that should be produced during lockdown." (A Younger Theatre)

'Playwright David Ireland challenges people to draw lines between what they find funny and what they find outrageous' (Sydney Morning Herald) This first collection of plays by David Ireland brings together three of his most successful hits that have enjoyed numerous productions around the world alongside two previously unpublished plays: Half a Glass of Water: 'The dialogue is brutal and tender, horrific and humorous ... this is a tough, challenging work, undercut by Ireland's trademark black humour, which asks questions of what a successful post-conflict society looks like.' (Independent) The End of Hope: 'A freewheeling, majestically entertaining, all-too-brief hour that touches on everything from religion and identity to body dysmorphia' (Times)Cyprus Avenue: 'The most shocking play on the London stage ... a blackly comic examination of sectarian hatred - and a subversive drama that has never been more relevant' (Guardian) Ulster American: 'What a brave, savage writer David Ireland is! There are moments in this play that are so shockingly provocative, so laugh-out-loud funny while simultaneously curl-into-a-ball-and cringe-worrying that I found my mouth was actually open. He can't go there, I thought. And then he did.' (WhatsOnStage) Sadie: 'A fascinating account of one woman, her troubles and the Troubles.' (Irish News)David Ireland was Playwright-in-Residence at the Lyric Theatre Belfast 2011-12. He won the Stewart Parker Award and the Meyer-Whitworth Award in 2012 and was shortlisted for the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright 2016. He won the James Tait Black Prize Award for Cyprus Avenue.

Multi-award-winning Scottish playwright Kieran Hurley has been making waves since the early 2010s with his vivid storytelling and searing honesty, creating plays acutely concerned with society and community, and deeply enmeshed in Scotland's local political context. Tracking the evolution of Hurley's work from his early solo shows to his later large-cast plays and featuring an introduction by Scottish theatre critic Joyce McMillan, this is an exciting collection showcasing one of the UK's most exciting creators of politically-engaged theatre. The plays collected are:Hitch (2010): a previously unpublished solo show about Hurley's hitchhiking trip to the 2009 G8 meeting in L'Aquila, exploring the meaning of political protest.Beats (2012): a coming-of-age story exploring the aftermath of the 1994 Criminal Justice Act outlawing raves. It was adapted into a film in 2019, garnering nominations for BIFA Best Debut Screenplay and WGGB Best Screenplay.Heads Up (2016): a ferocious piece of storytelling asking what we would do if we found ourselves at the end of our world as we know it. (Winner of the Fringe First Award 2016.)Mouthpiece (2018): an unflinching Edinburgh-centric two-hander which examines whether it's possible to tell someone else's story without exploiting them along the way. (Winner of the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award 2019.)The Enemy (2021): a provocative and timely drama offering a uniquely Scottish take on Henrik Ibsen's timeless work An Enemy of the People.

"James Graham is a political playwright so on top of his game that you kind of take it on faith that any play he comes up with will be a banger, regardless of how esoteric the subject." (Time Out) The third collection of James Graham's plays brings together four West End hits and a Tony Award Best Play nominee into one unforgettable anthology of political, national and human stories perceptively told and expertly crafted. INK: "It's a sharply written, vibrantly theatrical, boisterously performed piece of work. And while it vividly recaptures the now extinct world of Fleet Street - with its adrenalized and testosterone-heavy mix of news hounds and hacks, idealism and cynicism, professional pride and boozy waggishness - the play's depiction of the rise of a certain brand of populism and its immediately detrimental effect on British society makes it profoundly of the moment." - Hollywood Reporter Labour of Love: "James Graham [...] has a rare capacity to recreate pivotal moments from our past. In his brilliant new play, however, he adds another weapon to his armoury. He not only provides a portrait of the historic ups and downs of the Labour party; he also charts, with surprising tenderness, a turbulent relationship between an MP and his constituency agent". - Guardian Quiz: "Can we truly believe our eyes and ears, or do we only ever see what we want to see? In James Graham's glittering play you can take your pick from an array of alternative facts, but you might struggle to find the truth among the razzle-dazzle. One thing's for sure, though - Quiz is a winner." - TimesBest of Enemies: "History comes hurtling to life in "Best of Enemies," the latest attempt from the prolific playwright James Graham to put flesh on the bare bones of the past. Chronicling a sequence of televised face-offs that transfixed the United States in 1968, Graham once again shows a gift for mining the annals of politics and journalism for real theatrical gems. The result [...] is the most riveting play in London just now." - New York Times