Plays from the United Kingdom

TheatreBooks stocks plays in English from around the world and, of course, all plays published in Canada. We stock and sell plays from Samuel French Ltd., Dramatists Play Service and Dramatic Publishing Co., and the leading play publishers in Great Britain. We carry books on all aspects of theatre production, as well as opera and dance. If you don't find the title or playwright you are looking for, please stop by the store and ask, or contact us at action@theatrebooks.com, by phone at 416.922.7175, toll-free at 1.800.361.3414 or by fax at 416.922.0739.

Strandline
Abbie Spallen
Following the death of her husband, Mairin, an artist and an outsider living in a small coastal village in Northern Ireland, gathers three local women to her house. Each of the women has a reason for being there and a bloody good reason not to be. These women have secrets. This community has secrets. And, as the evening passes, Mairin learns more than she bargained for about the man she loved. f-5. Softcover, 98 pp. $22.00.

Tales of Ballycumber
Sebastian Barry
In search of advice, young Evans Stafford calls at the home of friend and strong-minded traditionalist Nicholas Farquhar. The following day, as Farquhar learns the devastating consequences of this meeting, he discovers that his memories and words are governed by a buried history, a force far greater than himself. m2, f3. Softcover, 50 pp. $22.00.

Another Door Closed
Peter Gill
Two elderly sisters get an unexpected visit from a younger man. It appears, many years ago, the sisters' mother had been very kind to him ... m1, f2. Softcover, 63 pp. $22.00.

If There is I Haven't Found it Yet
Nick Payne
Surviving school as a fat kid is tough enough, but when your mum's a teacher, it's hell. When Anna decides to retaliate against the bullies, she's suspended from school and stuck at home with hapless uncle Terry, who is trying to save her. But Terry needs saving himself and, as the bond between the two deepens, Anna is swept up in a friendship she can't live without. m2, f2. Softcover, 98 pp. $22.00.

The Priory
Michael Wynne
Kate is delighted when she finds a house in the country to escape to for New Year's Eve. Gathering together a select group of her closest friends, she is keen to start the coming year afresh. But successful, stressed-out thirtysomethings in search of a good time can make for one fearsome party ... and some surprising resolutions. M-4, F3. Softcover, 126 pp. $22.00.

Before Anger
John Osborne
Here are two early play by John Osborne, written before the overwhelming success of Look Back in Anger in 1956. The Devil Inside Him (1950) concerns a young Welshman, Huw, at odds with the hypocrisy and imaginative poverty of his community. Personal Enemy (1955) is set in small-town America during the summer of 1953, at the height of the anti-Communist witchhunts. The play tells the story of a family torn apart by a country's political, and sexual paranoia. Softcover, 191 pp. $27.95.

The Habit of Art
Alan Bennett
Benjamin Britten, sailing uncomfortably close to the wind with his new opera, Death in Venice, seeks advice from his former collaborator and friend W.H. Auden. This imagined meeting, as dramatised by Alan Bennett, is as much about theatre as it is about poetry or music. It looks at the unsettling desires of two difficult men, and at the ethics of biography. It reflects on growing old, on creativity and inspiration, and on persisting when all passion's spent: ultimately on the habit of art. Softcover, 88 pp. $22.00.

The Power of Yes
David Hare
On September 15, 2008, capitalism came to a grinding halt. As sub-prime mortgages continue to dominate the headlines, David Hare, author of Stuff Happens and The Permanent Way, wrote The Power of Yes. Approaching his material with the investigative skills of a journalist and a playwright's sense of drama, Hare has crafted a formally experimental work -- part-story, part-play -- which claims exciting new ground for the British theatre. Softcover, 72 pp. $22.00.

The 39 Steps
Patrick Barlow
The 39 Steps, adapted from novel by John Buchan (adapted from the Alfred Hitchcock film), is Broadway's longest running comedy! A spy story told with the zaniness of Monty Python, The 39 Steps is packed with non-stop laughs, over 150 characters (to be played by a cast of 4!), an on-stage plane crash, handcuffs, missing fingers, and, of course, some good old-fashioned romance. Softcover, 110 pp. $12.99.

Women Beware Women
Thomas Middleton
A playful parody of serious sexual games ultimately showing society imploding under the pressure of sexual manipulation, victimization and gender inequality, Middleton's outrageous masterpiece is as funny today, sexy, frightening and entertaining today as it must have been 400 years ago. Adapted by Jesse Berger. 8M, 4W (flexible casting). Softcover, 71 pp. $11.99.

Free Outgoing
Anupama Chandrasekhar
When a well-behaved Indian girl is filmed with a boy in her classroom, the video clip spreads like a virus. Transmitted from person to person it infects firstly the local community and then seemingly the whole of India with a burning moral outrage which pillories both the girl and her family. M-4, F-3. Softcover, 53 pp. $22.95.

The House of Dracula
Martin Downing
This clever spin-off from the House of Frankenstein! sees the Baron, Baroness and their repulsive retainers, Ygor and Frau Lurker, going to stay at the macabre Transylvanian fortress. Excitement turns to terror, though, when they are greeted by more than a few of their mortal and immortal enemies, and the news that they are to take part in an unholy survival test. A wickedly funny, fast-moving horror farce. Softcover, 71 pp. $12.99.

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Waves
Katie Mitchell
In 2006, Katie Mitchell and her collaborators devised an original work for the National Theatre which seamlessly transposed the pointillist vision of Virginia Woolf's experimental novel The Waves into an entirely new form. The intertwining narrative of six friends -- from childhood to maturity and beyond -- was rendered into a series of beautiful and poignant images on a screen by live actors and musicians incorporating techniques taken from theatre, radio and video production. This book combines the text used with the corresponding images to create a record of that production. Softcover , 95 pp. $47.50.

The Sea
Edward Bond
A wild storm shakes a small East Anglian seaside village and sets off a series of events that changes the lives of all its residents. Set in the high Edwardian world of 1907, The Sea is a fascinating blend of wild farce, high comedy, biting social satire and poetic tragedy. Softcover, 69 pp. $16.50.

The Duchess of Malfi
John Webster
John Webster's masterpiece of early modern drama is presented in full and illucidated with notes and and extensive introduction that take into account the play's historical context as well as contemporary reflections, including the first inclusion third-wave feminist scholarship. Softcover, 430 pp. $21.00.

Philaster
Francis Beaumont & John Fletcher
Even though this tragicomic rewrite of Hamlet is notorious for its hero's emotional excesses, one should not ignore the play's potent political content. In addition to a clear and authoritative version of the play, this edition offers detailed scholarship, including a fresh assessment of the play's changing political valences across time and its presentation of deviant sexuality. Softcover, 340 pp. $25.00.

Aristo
Martin Sherman
Aristo is the story of the last years in the life of Aristotle Onassis, and of his complex and interwoven relationships with Jackie Kennedy and Maria Callas, and his son Alexandros. Based in part on Peter Evans' book Nemesis, Aristo is an explosive account of how those in positions of enormous power and wealth often live lives detached from the realities and moral codes of everyday existence. Softcover, 90 pp. $16.50.

The Long Road
Shelagh Stephenson
When eighteen-year-old Danny is fatally stabbed in a random attack his family struggles to find meaning and forgiveness. His mother's determination to understand the atrocity brings her face to face with his killer and forces the family to confront the bitter senselessness of their loss. Softcover, 58 pp. $16.50.

Lieutenant of Inishmore
Martin McDonagh
Who knock Mad Padraic's cat over on a lonely road on the island of Inishmore and was it an accident? He'll want to know when he gets back from a stint of torture and chip-shop bombing in Northern Ireland: he loves his cat more than life itself. Softcover, 81 pp. $16.50.

Waste
Harley Granville Barker
Radical politician Henry Trebell sees his personal and political lives collide as a casual affair with a married woman threatens his power and passionate ideals. Her insistence on a woman's right to choose brings private scandal into the public spotlight. Softcover, 112 pp. $16.50.

Saved
Edward Bond
Described by Edward Bond as 'almost irresponsibly optimistic,' Saved is a play set in London in the sixties and reflects 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 estates. Softcover, 132 pp. $16.50.

The Jew of Malta
Christopher Marlowe
Hugely popular in its day, this play swings wildly and rapidly in genre, from pointed satire, to bloody revenge tragedy, to melodramatic intrigue, to dark farce and groteque comedy. With its sometimes complex treatment of anti-Semitism and its relationship to Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, The Jew of Malta is still relevant to modern audiences. Softcover, 136 pp. $16.50.

John Godber Plays: 4
John Godber
This collection contains: Our House, Christmas Crackers, Crown Prince, and Sold. Softcover, 456 pp. $27.50.

Lay Me Down Softly
Billy Roche
Set in rural Ireland of the early 1960s, Billy Roche's new play introduces the colourful if seedy burlesque that is Delaney's Travelling Roadshow - and in particular its boxing hall, where prizefighter Dean takes on all comers on a nightly basis. That is, until a challenge from a professional fighter upsets the apple-cart... Softcover, 82 pp. $22.95.

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Last modified June 19, 2010.
Please note that all prices are in Canadian dollars. All prices are subject to change without notice.