A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky

A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky PDF Author: David Eldridge
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1472536916
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 129

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Book Description
On a farm in the North East of England a family gathers. Five brothers and four generations feature in an epic play about hope, love, fear and the very end of time. A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky is a refreshingly subtle and compassionate vision of the world on the edge of apocalypse. Within a cosmological context, the focus is on a single family, their relations with each other and their unreconciled regrets, soon to become permanent. With an ensemble of strong, engaging characters, there are knotty, realistic family dynamics and a palimpsest of recent family history. The characters and dialogue are naturalistic but the serious themes are elucidated and alleviated with humour and quirky, surreal touches. The play represents a unique collboration between three of the UK's pre-eminent stage writers. The ambition of the partnership is matched by the ambition of the play's sweeping scope. Whilst the three voices collide, they also ring out individually without sacrificing the piece's coherent wholeness, and the play represents a rare, fascinating study in stage collaboration.

A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky

A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky PDF Author: David Eldridge
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1472536916
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 129

Get Book Here

Book Description
On a farm in the North East of England a family gathers. Five brothers and four generations feature in an epic play about hope, love, fear and the very end of time. A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky is a refreshingly subtle and compassionate vision of the world on the edge of apocalypse. Within a cosmological context, the focus is on a single family, their relations with each other and their unreconciled regrets, soon to become permanent. With an ensemble of strong, engaging characters, there are knotty, realistic family dynamics and a palimpsest of recent family history. The characters and dialogue are naturalistic but the serious themes are elucidated and alleviated with humour and quirky, surreal touches. The play represents a unique collboration between three of the UK's pre-eminent stage writers. The ambition of the partnership is matched by the ambition of the play's sweeping scope. Whilst the three voices collide, they also ring out individually without sacrificing the piece's coherent wholeness, and the play represents a rare, fascinating study in stage collaboration.

A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky

A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky PDF Author: David Eldridge
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : End of the world
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky

A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky PDF Author: David Eldridge
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1408131463
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 129

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Book Description
On a farm in the North East of England a family gathers. Three of the UK's leading playwrights come together to create an epic play about the very end of time.

The Trial of Ubu

The Trial of Ubu PDF Author: Simon Stephens
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1408172445
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 65

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Book Description
In The Trial of Ubu, Simon Stephens takes the grotesque and amoral megalomaniac dictator from Alfred Jarry's proto-surrealist 1896 play Ubu Roi and places him before a twenty-first century international tribunal. Set in January 2010, at the International Criminal Tribunal sitting in The Hague, it is day 436 of the trial of the dictator Ubu. Sitting before a UN constituted International Tribunal, he is charged with Crimes against Humanity and other serious violations of international humanitarian law. Simon Stephens' virtuosic satire examines the often absurd legal wrangling of the international justice system. The Trial of Ubu is a savage comedy that interrogates the assumptions of a Court as it struggles to deal with defendants who are not only opposed to the morality of law, but exist in a different moral dimension altogether. Exploring the central legitimacy and effectiveness of international law, Stephens asks how a civilised society can deal with the perpetrators of unspeakable crime, and wherein lies the legitimacy of any internationally convened tribunal. Taking a wry and intelligent look at the international courts when reduced to senseless and convoluted legal altercations, this funny yet unsettling play asks important questions about legal against moral justice, and the futility of reasoned argument in the presence of a heinous malefactor.

The Cherry Orchard

The Cherry Orchard PDF Author: Anton Chekhov
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1474231799
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 101

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Book Description
The funny thing is the harder I work the more clearly I understand things. When I'm worn out after a day's work then it's like my brain relaxes. And sometimes then I get it. The meaning of my life. My purpose on this earth. How many people ever get to say that? And you know what? It doesn't matter. Doesn't change anything. It is not important. In Chekhov's tragi-comedy - arguably his most popular play - the Gayev family is torn by powerful forces deeply rooted in history and the society in which they live. Their estate is hopelessly in debt. Urged to cut down their beautiful cherry orchard and sell the land for holiday cottages, the family struggles to act decisively. Vigorous and profound, this new version of Chekhov's classic play by Olivier award-winner Simon Stephens, from a literal translation by Helen Rappaport, is an anguished and heartbreaking love letter to a society in violent transition. It received its world premiere at the Young Vic, London, on 10 October 2014.

Stephens Plays: 3

Stephens Plays: 3 PDF Author: Simon Stephens
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1408176874
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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Book Description
Harper Regan follows a woman's road trip through the heart of England in a violent and comic exploration of the moralities of sex and death. Quietly harrowing, this play is a barometer for our times exploring dark secrets and familial estrangement. Marine Parade is a musical about sex, betrayal and hope, set in a run-down B&B on Brighton's waterfront. A moving and poignant play, it 'captures the peculiar aroma of Brighton, with its mix of the bracing and the melancholy' (Guardian). Olivier award-winning play On the Shore of the Wide World is an epic piece about love, family, Roy Keane and the size of the galaxy. Punk Rock is based on Simon Stephens's experience as a teacher and he describes this play as 'The History Boys on crack'. It explores the underlying tensions and potential violence in a group of affluent, articulate seventeen year old students.

A Doll's House

A Doll's House PDF Author: Henrik Ibsen
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1472528247
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Book Description
'I think I'm a human being before anything else. I don't care what other people say. I don't care what people write in books. I need to think for myself.' Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House premiered in 1879 in Copenhagen, the second in a series of realist plays by Ibsen, and immediately provoked controversy with its apparently feminist message and exposure of the hypocrisy of Victorian middle-class marriage. In Ibsen's play, Nora Helmer has secretly (and deceptively) borrowed a large sum of money to pay for her husband, Torvald, to recover from illness on a sabbatical in Italy. Torvald's perception of Nora is of a silly, naive spendthrift, so it is only when the truth begins to emerge, and Torvald appreciates the initiative behind his wife, that unmendable cracks appear in their marriage. This compelling new version of Ibsen's masterpiece by playwright Simon Stephens premiered at the Young Vic Theatre, London, on 29 June 2012. It was updated with minor changes in 2013.

Port

Port PDF Author: Simon Stephens
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1472520602
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 118

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Book Description
I see you in the morning, on the first morning I stayed over at your house. Waking up. Watching you lying asleep next to me. You looked, you looked. It was like. I think about that more than you probably think I do. Stockport 1988-2002. Racheal Keats is growing up in a town she doesn't like with a family in tatters and a future she cannot picture. As those she loves begin to let her down or leave her behind, can Rachel find the strength to make her own way in the world? Port premiered at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, in November 2002. It was later staged in the Lyttelton at the National Theatre, opening in January 2013. Both productions were by Marianne Elliott.

Punk Rock

Punk Rock PDF Author: Simon Stephens
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1474229379
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
Everything human beings do finishes up bad in the end. Everything good human beings ever make is built on something monstrous. Nothing lasts. We certainly won't . . . William Carlisle has the world at his feet, but its weight on his shoulders. He is intelligent, articulate and f***ed. In the library of a grammar school, William and his fellow sixth-formers are preparing for their mock A-Levels while navigating the pressures of teenage life. They are educated and aspirational young people, but step-by-step, the dislocation, disjunction and latent aggression is revealed. Punk Rock premiered at the Lyric Hammersmith on 3 September 2009 in a co-production between Lyric Hammersmith and the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. It is published here as a Student Edition featuring commentary and notes by Catherine Love. The ancillary material is geared at students and considers: - an introduction outlining the play's plot, character, themes, context and performance history - the full text of the play - a chronology of the playwright's life and work - a detailed introductory analysis - extensive textual notes - questions for further study Methuen Drama Student Editions are expertly annotated texts of a wide range of plays from the modern and classic repertoires. This play includes some strong language and violent scenes.

The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary British Playwrights

The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary British Playwrights PDF Author: Aleks Sierz
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1408123347
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 545

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Book Description
The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary British Playwrights is an authoritative guide to the work of twenty-five playwrights who have risen to prominence since the 1980s. Written by an international team of scholars, it will be invaluable to anyone interested in, studying or teaching contemporary drama. Among the many playwrights whose work is examined are Sarah Daniels, Terry Johnson, Martin Crimp, Sarah Kane, Anthony Neilson, Mark Ravenhill, Simon Stephens, Debbie Tucker Green, Tanika Gupta and Richard Bean. Each essay features: A biographical sketch and introduction to the playwright A discussion of their most important plays An analysis of their stylistic and thematic traits, the critical reception and their place in the discourses of British theatre A bibliography of texts and critical material