Plays from the United Kingdom
Plays by playwright: H
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.
Plays
are also listed by playwright, by last name.
A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M /
N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W /
X / Y / Z
If you are unsure of the author's name, please to to our search
engine and enter the title of the work you are interested in.
 Modern Theatre Guides: Blasted
Helen Hall
Blasted has been labelled as one of the landmark plays of post-war British theatre, acheiving its iconic status and notoriety very quickly. This guide provides students with a comprehensive critical introduction to the play, including a brief biography of Sarah Kane, its socio-political background, its structure, style, and characters, its performance history, and key production issues and choices. Softcover, 121 pp. $18.95.
 Pitmen Painters
Lee Hall
In 1934, a group of Ashington miners and a dental mechanic hired a professor from Newcastle University to teach an art appreciation class. Unable to understand each other, they embarked on one of the most unusual experiments in British art as the pitmen learned to become painters. Softcover, 124 pp. $21.95.
 Diana of Dobson's
Cicely Hamilton
Softcover, 206 pp. $16.95.
 Embers
Christopher Hampton
Sandoe Marai's rediscovered novel of the 1940s, turned into an unforgettable
play by Christopher Hampton, tells a compelling story of love, friendship
and betrayal, set against a backdrop of war-torn Europe. Henrik,
a retired Austro-Hungarian general, awaits the arrival of his dearest
childhood
friend, Konrad, a man he mas not seen for several decades, when Konrad
mysteriously disappeared from Vienna after a fateful hunting trip,
abandoning Henrik and his beautiful wife, Krisztina. Will the union
bring answers
to the questions that have haunted Henrik's life with such intensity?
Softcover, 49 pp. $32.95.
 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.
 Gethsemane
David Hare
Nothing is more important to a modern political party than fund-raising. But the values of the donors can't always coincide with the professed beliefs of the party. And family scandal within the cabinet has the potential to throw both the money-raisers and the money-spenders into chaos. Softcover, 123 pp. $23.95.
 The Blue Room
David Hare
Freely adapted from Arthur
Schnitzel's La Ronde. Schnitzler described Reigen, his
loose series of sexual sketches, as completely unprintable. $15.99.
 Done Up Like A Kipper
Ken Harmon
Softcover 87 pp. $18.95.
 Singular Male Voices
Peter Harness & Owen McCafferty
Three distinct and distinctive plays for one male actor - each giving voice
to a character in extremis. Two are by relative newcomers, the other is a new,
as yet unperformed piece by Owen McCafferty. The three plays included in this
versatile collection are Mongoose, Cold Comfort and Brazil.
Softcover, 82 pp. $22.95.
 A Doll's House
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House caused outrage both in its style and subject matter when it was first staged in 1879. Zinnie Harris's retelling is played against the backdrop of British politics at the turn of the last century -- to reveal a world where duty, power, and hypocrisy rule.
M-3, F-3. Softcover, 111. pp. $22.99.
 Solstice
Zinnie Harris
A family is riven by intergenerational conflict when forced to resettle
in an oppressive state. Solstice explores themes of faith and terror
in a world slipping out of control. Zinnie Harris's Solstice is her
second RSC commission and marks the first in a trilogy of plays. Softcover,
135 pp. $21.00.
 Blackbird
David Harrower
Fifteen years ago Una and Ray had a relationship. They haven't set eyes on
each other since. Now, years later, she's found him again. M-1, F-1. Softcover,
87 pp. $21.00.
 Dark Earth
David Harrower
When Valerie and Euan's car breaks down in a remote countryside near the Antonine
Wall in Scotland, they have to find help fast. This comes in the form of a
farming family who live and breathe the history and traditions of the small
area of earth they've made their home. When the mechanic takes an unexpectedly
long time in coming, the travellers are drawn into a world of family dilemma
which is both familiar and unrecognisable at the same time. m:2 f:3. Softcover,
108 pp. $20.00.
 Out in the Open
Jonathan Harvey
Harvey's earlier play ( and film) Beautiful Thing, brought him out to
the attention of a wider audience in England and North America. This is a funny
and caustic exploration of love and the limits of friendship featuring seven
interesting characters ranging from early 20's to 60's in age. $15.99.
 To Fool the Eye
Jeffrey Hatcher
Softcover 71 pp. $9.99.
 Sauchiehall Street
Ian Heggie
In a sprawling top floor office, Dorothy Darvel, actors' agent
extraordinaire, is one of the busiest women on Sauchiehall street.
Busy shaping the careers of her hopeful young clients, busy trying
to stem the flow of the best ones to powerful London agencies and busy
trying to check the reckless spending of her once famous husband, Gerard.
Enter two hot shot young actors and a timid trainee agent and the world
of Dorothy and Gerard is turned upside down. M-2, F-3. Scotland. Softcover,
91 pp. $22.95.
 Iain Heggie
Plays 1
Iain Heggie
Softcover, 276 pp. $32.95.
 Gilgamesh
Derrek Hines
Gilgamesh is one of the most powerful men in Iraq. A king, a demi-God and a fearsome tyrant, he thrives on the shame and suffering of his subjects, robbing them of their innocence to fuel his lust. But when the Gods turn against him, an almighty battle of wills ensues, and a defiant Gilgamesh is forced to learn love, friendship, empathy and, in the end, mortality. M-7, F-4, extras. Softcover, 70 pp. $23.00.
 Holes in the Skin
Robert Holman
15-year-old Kerry and her mom have moved to a council estate. Kerry
hates it. She hates her mom's new man too. But when she meets a boy in
the playground and asks him to do something about it, she finds herself
adrift in a landscape of physical brutality, drugs and, eventually, love.
M-5, F-3. Softcover, 132 pp. $25.00.
 Katrina
Jonathan Holmes
The flooding of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and the following abandonment of the non-white, non-wealthy inhabitants by the government, has become rightuflly infamous. In Katrina, Jonathan Holmes uses survivor testimonies and traditional New Orleans performance styles to tell the sotry of the immediate aftermath of the hurricane. Softcover, 47 pp. $18.00.
 Food
Joel Horwood and Christopher Heimann
Set in the turbulent world of celebrity chefs, Food is a journey inside one man's mind. It explores the compulsive nature of perfectionism and the sacrigices we make to realise our dreams. When you aim high, you've only got further to fall. Softcover, 65 pp. $22.95.
 Pieces
John Hywel
After their parents' deaths twins Jack and Beatrice are left in the care of their godmother Sophie. In their remote rural home their collective grieg triggers a tragic attempt to remember, repair and recreate the past. 1M 3F. Softcover, 76 pp. $11.99.
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