Bøker i Modern Plays-serien

Days of Significance is the new work by Roy Williams commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company and staged at the Swan Theatre in January 2007.

Written in the 15th century by Johannes Von Saaz, "Death and the Ploughman" is a dialogue between Death and a widowed farmer. West has dramatized it here as an adversarial duel where the farmer's defence of mankind is as strong as Death's ruthless prosecution of his own cause.

Presents the tale of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, one of Britain's finest comedy double-acts. This is a comedy bringing to life the comic genius and flawed relationship of Moore and Cook.

Lauren's come back for Christmas dinner, she's pregnant at fifteen, but she's not staying. They've found her a place with a creche so she can do her exams. This publication shows a harsh slice of life from "What's in the Cat" premiered at Contact Theatre, Manchester, in November 2005.

When one man goes to war he leaves the city, his wife and brother. A year later only the wife and brother remain. This work asks what happens when people and events apparently thousands of miles away affect the heart and soul of a city.

Frayn's sparkling comedy about a university reunion, currently revived in the West End

The play revolves around the aftermath of a military coup d'etat in a "fictional" Trinidad and Tobago. The playwrights other work includes "Play Mas", "Independence" and "Meetings".

Danny returns from Basra to a foreign England and a different kind of battle. He visits an old flame, buys a gun and goes on a blistering road trip through the new home front. Written during the London bombings of 2005, this work is a response to the anti-war movement - and to the war itself.

When his fingers slip away from his father's hand, one boy's destiny changes forever. In the chaos of border crossing between India and the newly formed Pakistan, a small boy called Pali suddenly finds himself lost and alone. Taken in to a Muslim family he is given a new name, and a new faith - Islam.

Set in a mythical Chicago, Saint Joan of the Stockyards tells the story of a Salvation Army lieutenant who challenges the power of Pierpoint Mauler, the meat king. The play, which was never staged in Brecht's lifetime, is published here with a new translation and introductory notes.

"A poet of the theatre, shaping a new language out of broken words: an emotional seismograph registering the tremors which shake the substratum of human life" (The Times)

This monologue features Cathar heretics, a mysterious female French book thief and an oriental violinist who does pig impressions.

Opening at Teatr Dramatyczny, Warsaw, in November 2007 in a production by the internationally acclaimed director, Robert Wilson, Symptomes is Gabriella Maione's first full length play.

Davey has seen something he can't forget. Anita has been forced to flee her home. These two have never met. Tonight their paths cross with devastating consequences. Vincent River received its West End premiere at the Trafalgar Studios on 30 October 2007.

My Child is a gut-wrenching exploration of the lengths a father will go to to have access to his child. It was published to coincide with the world premiere at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in May 2007.

The only full-length stage play by the acclaimed novelist and critic Malcolm Bradbury

A programme text edition of Leo Butler's new two-hander for the Royal Court that opens in October 2008.

"Being on a tightrope is living, everything else is waiting."When Gary Maddocks rejoins Mike Evans and his Counter IED Team in Afghanistan he is pleased. He has been finding life back home with Emma dull and is impatient to get back to the job he loves, but if he had known what fate had in store for him would he have been so eager? Of course he would: it's like an addiction, and if your luck runs out there's nothing you can do about it, is there? But was it bad luck, faulty equipment, or something worse? Mike has been acting strange lately and Emma appears to be hiding something.When you step on a pressure plate you think you hear the click, or you think you feel it, but you don't know for sure. And you can't know because what you remember . . . well some of it isn't real.Ross Ericson's play Casualties explores how love, friendship and truth are not so certain in the context of war.

A revised edition of Michael Frayn's comedy set in a provincial newspaper office, Alphabetical Order won the Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy when it transferred from the Hampstead Theatre to the West End in 1975.

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. The latest play by leading Irish playwright Tom Murphy, it was produced at the Abbey Theatre in June 2009.

A programme text of two short plays that examine the darker side of Scottish families and which were presented as a double-bill at the Traverse Theatre in November 2009.

Moonfleece is an intense and thrilling exploration of memory and identity, and is the most directly political play to date by leading playwright Philip Ridley. Set in an abandoned council flat, Moonfleece centres on a young, right-wing activist forced to reassess his personal and political beliefs.

Philip Ridley's multi-award-winning play caused a sensation when it premiered at Hampstead Theatre in 1992. A provocative and edgy drama, it is now regarded as a contemporary classic. Set in a strange room in East London, party preparations are underway but the presence of a very, very sharp knife does not bode well for an entirely happy birthday.

A programme text edition of Billy Wonderful published to coincide with the world premiere at the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, on 12 March 2009.

Gathered in a kosher bar in North London are a foulmouthed cabbie, who can't stop blubbing, an old woman in a wheelchair, who hears only what she chooses to, and the world's worst waitress, wearing nothing but her smalls. Joining them is a man with no name who takes them on at their own game.

A comedy of ice-cream making and family rivalries in Manchester's Italian Community. When ice-cream man Giuseppe Raffa decides to set his two sons in competition with each other. Supported and obstructed by Rocco's wife Bernie and Lino's girlfriend Lulu, the fight quickly becomes a serious business. And soon everybody's screaming for ice-cream...

Katrina uses survivor testimonies and the rich musical tradition of New Orleans to tell the story of the immediate aftermath of the 2005 hurricane. Jericho House production at the Barge House, Oxo Tower Wharf Sept 2009.

A visceral play about friendship, teenage recklessness, futile ambitions and frustrated hopes.

Anyway. I was just wondering if you had any jobs at all? . . . Yeah . . . like . . . media. Something to do with media stuff . . . Where am I based? Well, currently Herefordshire but . . . sorry . . . that's too far away . . . too far away from what? . . . Oh . . . ok.Paul is trying to find a job. Snowy is trying to find himself. But when Snowy stumbles across an ailing cow stuck in a local field, he ropes Paul into trying to help the cow, either to improve its lot or put it out of its misery.What follows is a hilarious procession of failed suffocations, experiments with a saw and trip to the train tracks in this funny and moving black comedy about friendship, unemployment and a cow called Sandy.Milked premiered in a production by Pentabus Theatre Company in November 2013. This edition is published to coincide with the revival and national tour, beginning February 2015.

A programme text edition of Nick Grosso's tough piercing new comedy exploring the dynamics of addiction, from The X Factor to Class A drugs.