Bøker i Oberon Modern Plays-serien

'None of this is the truth. It's just people saying things. It's all subjective. There's the truth, and there's what people think is the truth, and it all depends on how you slant it...'Taking Care of Baby tackles the complex case of Donna McAuliffe, a young mother convicted of the murder of her two infant children. In a series of probing interviews the people in this extraordinary story, including Donna herself and her bewildered mother Lynn, reveal how they may have harmed those they sought to protect.Dennis Kelly's ambitious play uses the popular techniques of drama-documentary and verbatim theatre to explore how truth is compromised by today's information culture.

Winner Evening Standard Most Promising Playwright.Shortlisted for Susan Smith Blackburn Award.Autumn, and the orchard is full of cider apples: Beauty of Bath, Kingston Black and Glory of the West. Inside the farmhouse, the rule of the matriach Irene is challenged when her estranged daughter returns and her middle-aged son, beginning to tire of being tied to the unprofitable farm, grows restless.A richly evocative tale about life in our changing rural landscape.

Jamaica: a sensual paradise where the sun, sea and sand are free but anything more comes at a price.Welcome to the 21st century where women travel across the world in search of sex, love, and liberation but the reality is that hard cash equals hard men. Toned torsos and slick sweet talk meets orange peel beneath the coconut trees in an exchange that leaves everyone short-changed.Sugar Mummies is a funny, provocative and revealing study of the pleasures and pitfulls of female sex tourism.It was a huge success at the Royal Court Theatre in August 2006, and proceeded to tour throughout the UK.

On the eve of his release from Feltham Young Offenders Institution, Zahid Mubarek, a young British Asian man, was attacked by his racist cellmate. One week later he died of his injuries.How was this allowed to happen? This new play traces the Mubarek family's pursuit of the truth. Based on evidence given to the Zahid Mubarek Inquiry and interviews taken, one of Britain's leading writers examines the incompetence of the official response to Zahid Mubarek's death.

Inspired by Intimate Death by Marie de Hennezel.Can the dying teach us how to live? Inspired by the experiences of psychologist and palliative careworker Marie de Hennezel, we are asked to accompany people towards death. Characters explain to the audience the nature and progress of their disease and share final thoughts and deeds. A beautifully simple piece. On Death is part of a groundbreaking series of 'theatre essays', which use drama as a way of exploring the fundamental preoccupations of modern life. Other works include On Love and On Ego.

Friendships grow in the most unlikely of places. Mrs Reynolds is a little old lady. Jay is a troubled youth. When he vandalises her lovingly tended garden, the authorities send him back to help her fix it. It seems a recipe for disaster - but human beings are more complex than the headlines.At first glance this is a simple tale of two generations locked in battle, Mrs Reynolds standing up for traditional values with her "e;nice little house, nice little garden and nice little life"e; vs. Jay, the textbook chain-smoking hoodie prowling the urban jungle demanding respect but offering little in return. But there is more to these characters than the other suspects. Just as they think they have the measure of each other, something is revealed and they are shocked by what they find out.Mrs Reynolds and the Ruffian explores human nature and friendship alongside the social climate of modern Britain giving a warm, funny and wise glimpse into the way we live now.

Also includes The Stigma Manifesto Pity Tony's nannies at New Labour's Millbank election war-room: they're working night and day to get 'Red Ken' and prevent him from becoming Mayor of London. Suddenly it's Ken, the cuckoo in the nest, who's getting the people's vote and Millbank, charged with plotting his downfall, is getting desperate. Ever more dastardly plots are afoot as the election draws nearer. Snogging Ken was produced at the Almeida in April 2000: 'the first step in the return of democracy to London'.

Our Bad Magnet is an unashamedly dark and deliciously funny play from one of Scotland's brightest young writing talents, in which the boundaries between fantasy and reality merge with unpredictable results.Centering on an uneasy reunion, Our Bad Magnet follows the progress of four boys from 9 to 29 as they try to unlock the secrets of childhood and memory. Throw in 1980s indie music, a ventriloquist's dummy, some magical fairy stories and the word 'nimston', and you have an hilarious black comedy which isn't afraid to make you think while you're laughing out loud.

The Flu SeasonNo one in the middle of being in love ever sat down to write a love story. It's only after the belongings are sorted and the shirts returned that the pencils are sharpened and the notebooks opened. So, in a serious way, love stories are never love stories. Love is their inspiration, yes, but the end of love is the reason for their existence. This is a problem. It proposes anti-journeys where we saw only journeys, directs things toward a new negative we hadn't intended. The Flu Season tries to be a love story, anyway. It has a strategy. The play revels in ambivalence, lives in fits and starts, and derives a flailing energy from its doubts about itself. But these come at a price, which is paid by the characters in the play. A kind of clarity finally comes. In the end, is the end.Intermission"Two couples chat with one another at a play's intermission. From what we have heard, it sounds dreadful, which the cocky Jack points out. But his quibbles give way before Mr. Murray's torrent of memory and invective. He doesn't want to hear stylistic complaints, he wants the boy to recognize the play's attempts at truth. And while Mr. Murray's curmudgeon sneers at audiences' yen for weeping at shows, Mr. Eno then makes us - practically by brute force - cry for him. Mr. Eno's triumph is both canny and deeply touching, a vital look into a theater that actually reminds us what it's for." The New York SunThe Flu Season was the winner of the 2004 Oppenheimer Award for best debut production.

'And besides, nothing ever happens here. Nothing. Niks.'Outside a South African town a silent woman, Ruth, goes through her self-imposed rituals, a child's crib strapped to her back. An observer, Simon, who has loved Ruth since childhood, tells her story. Tshepang was inspired by the horrifying rape in 2001 of a nine month-old child. The child, Tshepang, gave her name to Lara Foot Newton's award-winning play, though it is also 'based on twenty thousand true stories' - the number of child rapes estimated to occur in South Africa each year. Having premiered in Amsterdam in June 2003, Tshepang opened at the Gate Theatre, London, in September 2004.Winner of the Fleur du Cap Award for Best New South African Play 2003

A young Shona girl escapes an arranged marriage by converting to Christianity, becoming a servant and student to an African Evangelical. As anti-European sentiments spread throughout the native population, she is forced to choose between her family's traditions and her newfound faith.

Amy's found another body in a hotel bedroom.There's a funny smell coming from one of Jim's storage units.And Kate's losing it after spending all day with the police.There's no going back after what they've seen.Breathing Corpses was first performed at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs in February 2005.

Charlotte is fifteen and grieving over the loss of her beautiful mother. Her relationship with her father is put to the test as she discovers sex, ambition and 'beauty products'. Inspired by Euripides but with its sights set firmly on contemporary America, A Brief History of Helen of Troy is an unsettling examination of complacency culture and the politics of beauty.

'What gets me through is knowing I took this pain, and saved all of you from suffering the same.'Stumbling down Clifton Street at 11:30 a.m. drunk, Effie is the kind of girl you'd avoid eye contact with, silently passing judgement. We think we know her, but we don't know the half of it. Effie's life spirals through a mess of drink, drugs and drama every night,and a hangover worse than death the next day - till one night gives her the chance to be something more.This powerful new adaptation of the enduring Greek myth drives home the high price people pay for society's shortcomings.Winner of Best New Play at the UK Theatre Awards 2015

You're six years old. Mum's in hospital. Dad says she's 'done something stupid'. She finds it hard to be happy.So you start to make a list of everything that's brilliant about the world. Everything that's worth living for.1. Ice Cream2. Kung Fu Movies3. Burning Things4. Laughing so hard you shoot milk out your nose5. Construction cranes6. MeYou leave it on her pillow. You know she's read it because she's corrected your spelling. Soon, the list will take on a life of its own.A new play about depression and the lengths we will go to for those we love.

In 1930s Berlin - an intriguing city of Jazz and overground cabaret overpowered by the rise of Hitler and World War II - the daughter of a Jewish family falls in love with their black shabbes goy (a term used for those who assist Jews on the Sabbath with tasks forbidden to Jews within Jewish law). Fast-forward to the tale of a mixed-race couple in seemingly unprejudiced modern-day Brooklyn, where the same family is coping with a number of calamities. Shalom Baby is a touching and very funny exploration of love, family and friendship.

'Would you ever want to sit with me in the dark? Just sit with the lights out, barely even touching, maybe not touching at all, and just listen to me breathe?'Everybody wants a piece of Stephanie Schwartz. Her son's demanding nuggets, her boyfriend wants her to wax and her best friend's taking her to a stripping class. Now there's a rapist on Sutton Drive, an obscene caller invading her home and a portal to hell beneath her sofa. How far must she go to make it all stop? And how far is too far? A heart-breaking, taboo-busting black comedy by Joshua Conkel, 'the most important queer playwright of his generation' (Doric Wilson, the Co-Founder of Off-Off-Broadway's very first theatre, Café Cino.)

Based on a short story by Somerset Maugham, Before The Party tells the story of a family attempting to return to normal in the wake of the Second World War. With daughter Laura returned from Africa, widowed but not alone, they prepare for the latest social gathering. Amidst the never-ending whirl of hats and dresses and below stairs skirmishes, Laura reveals a shocking secret that threatens to ruin more than one party on the climb to social success.

Meet Karim, Rehaan and Ammi, three first and second generation Pakistani immigrants trying to make a living, a life and a home in the UK's cultural capital, London.Another day on Harlesden High Street and business is not going well. Karim needs to save for Ammi's operation and time is running out. Rehaan wants to marry Firoza but who will take a man with such pitiful prospects? Something has to change and it has to change soon, but what hope is there when all they can sell is toilet roll and jackfruit?Harlesden High Street is a feast for the senses, an explosive exploration of the meaning, value and significance of home.Thought-provoking, witty, carefully observed and beautifully written in verse, this is a play for everyone and anyone who has ever lived in London. Boasting one of the most diverse populations on the planet, London has an influx of thousands of immigrants every year. But what happens to this population when the country's social, financial and political climate is stretched?How are London's demographically diverse boroughs affected?What changes and sacrifices have to be made in order to survive?

'You'd like that, would you, your most private, pinkest, tenderest - small bird, small bird, small fragile - stolen from you, slammed down onto the slab, the block, poked at and paraded.'The children swing their legs on the chairs. The student delivers the presentation. The older woman stands with the gun. The young couple arrives at the house. The house is returning to nature. A movie is being made. The truth is being plundered. But the house is still lived in and the spirit to resist is strong.Janet Adler and Margaret Gibb were conceptual artists working in New York at the end of the last century. They were described by art critic Dave Hickey as the 'most ferociously uncompromising voice of their generation'. With Adler's death in 2004, however, the compromise began.Adler & Gibb tells the story of a raid - on a house, a life, a reality and a legacy. The play takes Tim Crouch's fascination with form and marries it to a thrilling story of misappropriation.Also includes what happens to the hope at the end of the evening by Tim Crouch and Andy Smith, a facsimile of the text as used in performance.

M.Rock is a magical new play, based on a true story, about the enduring joys of music, dancing and self-discovery.In his distinctive language, Philpott charts the fortunes of 18-year-old Tracey and her grandmother Mabel. Tracey has just finished school, she's bought a round-the-world ticket and is flying away to soak up experience. By contrast, Mabel is stable. She plays piano for The Players, knits for the African appeal and looks after Hilda's cat.When Tracey misses her plane home, Mabel sets off on a quest to find her granddaughter. But what she finds is her inner DJ.

Full of fun, seriously dramatic too, this collection of monologues takes you on a wondrous journey through the lives of six Scots who lose their partners but come out the other end still fighting. These are their strange, marvellous stories of sex, drugs, crown green bowls, heartbreak and a Turkish adventure!Grae Cleugh's first play F ing Games was produced at the Royal Court Theatre and was directed by Dominic Cooke. It won him the Laurence Olivier Award for the UK's Most Promising Playwright.

By mixing text, 3D animation and a dynamic physicality, this play is a powerful look at the ripple effects of one man's decision.

"My heart had broken. Cracked like a paving stone tapped by a mallet. All things in life which require effort - pleasure, passion, wit and thought - are impossible when your heart is cracked. And it's also very hard to get out of bed"Tonight everything must go.Melody's got secrets. Dirty, dark, sick-to-the-bottom-of-your-stomach secrets that she's hidden away from for years. The tattoos up her arms tell part of the story, but the truth is a lot more complicated.John, the boyfriend, thinks he knows Melody but he doesn't know the half of it. To him, it's just a question of presentation. Olive, Melody's irascible almost-mother-in-law, thinks she knows all about it. She isn't afraid to put her oar in, but she's got her version of events to hide. Ashley turns up at Melody's door on a mission to reveal everything. Only she doesn't know the full picture.The pressure that's been building up for years is about to boil over. Melody premiered at the Traverse Theatre in March 2006.

Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell were two of America's most brilliant poets. Throughout their lifetime, they wrote over 400 letters to each other; spanning decades, continents, political eras. Their connection was messy and profound, platonic yet romantic, intense and intangible. A love that resists easy definition.These are their words.Susan Smith Blackburn award winner Sarah Ruhl has crafted a stunning and quietly bold piece of theatre about what it means to love someone, and all the questions we regret never asking.

Tracey Gordon, the 67 bus, friendship, sex, UK garage, school, music, teachers, friendship, periods, emergency contraceptive, arse and tits, friendship, raves, tampons, white boys, God, money. Friendship. Aaron, Candice, sex and Connor Jones. Chewing Gum Dreams is a one-woman play that recalls those last days of innocence before adulthood.Written and performed by Michaela Coel who spent her childhood in Hackney, London, Chewing Gum Dreams won the 2012 Alfred Fagon Award.