Too Much World at Once

Billie Collins

Summary

'We should've seen this coming. We did. We did see this coming. The world will not be kind to us because we haven't given it a reason to be.'
On his fifteenth birthday, Noble transforms into a bird. Thousands of miles away, his sister Cleo is stationed on a remote island with the British Antarctic Survey.
But the birds have disappeared and Noble needs to reach her. Lying low until it's safe to take flight, he finds solace in misfit Ellis, while his mum desperately tries to stop their home from falling apart.
The world turns. Dark clouds gather. Chaos is on the horizon...
Billie Collins's play Too Much World at Once is an urgent coming-of-age story for our times – and a lyrical, theatrical journey that spans continents and lives. It was premiered at HOME, Manchester, in March 2023 by Box of Tricks Theatre before a UK tour.

Available since: 03/16/2023.

Print length: 104 pages.

Poetry & Theatre

Other books that might interest you

The Orloj of Prague - The Orloj...

Erasmus Cromwell-Smith II

Young Erasmus Cromwell-Smith II's adventure happens inside Prague's astrological clock. Together with a band of five other harlequin-dressed youngsters, he experiences a city filled with wizards, enchanters, witches, conjurers, and evil gargoyles. The youngsters seek clues to reach the mysterious Hradcany Castle and become Wizard Apprentices. They are guided on their quest by The Orloj, the old clock, and Buggie and Thumpee, his sons. Through the wicked streets of Prague, the six harlequins must find six statues representing each of the human virtues of Generosity, Humility, Compassion, and the human flaws of Pride, Envy, and Avarice. They earn clues to reach the castle only after they successfully learn them. The Orloj is a magical tale filled with non-stop action, thrills, and timeless wisdom through nine timeless fables and poems.

Show book

Divide and Rule

Walid Bitar

In Divide and Rule, Walid Bitar delivers a sequence of dramatic monologues, variations on the theme of power, each in rhymed quatrains. Though the pieces grow out of Bitar’s personal experiences over the last decade, both in North America and the Middle East, he is not primarily a confessional writer. His work might be called cubist, the perspectives constantly shifting, point followed by counterpoint, subtle phrase by savage outburst. Bitar’s enigmatic speakers are partially rational creatures, have some need to explain, and may succeed in partially explaining, but, in the end, communication and subterfuge are inseparable – must, so to speak, co-exist.

Show book

Testmatch

Kate Attwell

'We're not going down without a fight.'
Present day, it's the Women's Cricket World Cup: England vs India. There's a rain delay. Tensions mount, ambitions are laid bare and a whole new tactical game begins.
Calcutta, in the eighteenth century. Two British colonial administrators encounter challenges on the field of play that threaten the entire regime. In this game of integrity and power, past and present collide…
Kate Attwell's funny, provocative play explores and explodes the mythology of fair play. First performed in 2019 at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, it received its British premiere in 2024, produced by the Orange Tree Theatre, ETT and Octagon Theatre, Bolton, and directed by Diane Page.

Show book

You Took the Last Bus Home - The...

Brian Bilston

Read, with his trademark charm and humour, by Brian Bilston.If you like a) laughing or b) words which rhyme with each other, you will love Brian Bilston - Richard Osman, author of We Solve Murders'There is poetry to be found in anything if you look hard enough.'You Took the Last Bus Home is a collection of ingenious, hilarious and touching poems from Brian Bilston, one of Britain’s funniest and best-loved poets.With endless wit, wisdom and delightful wordplay, Bilston's first collection of poetry offers profound insights into the common joys and sorrows of modern life. Exploring themes as diverse as love, death, and the unbearable torment of forgetting to put the rubbish out, all of Bilston’s poems are alive to the improbable nuances of the English language.Constantly experimenting with poetic forms – from Venn diagrams to Scrabble tiles – this irresistibly charming collection of poems will make you ponder the very essence of the human condition in the twenty-first century.'Bilston is a magician with words' - The Guardian'Brian Bilston is a laureate for our fractured times' - Ian McMillan

Show book

Fighting the Madness

Fay van Burg

This debut collection is not for the faint of heart, as the poet unpacks the raw pain of the mind. Based on her life experiences, Fay van Burg addresses gut-wrenchingly relatable struggles and painful moments, while fighting for her sanity and wellbeing.  
Fighting the Madness tackles abstract concepts of hurt and sorrow while taking you on an emotional journey of strength and perseverance.

Show book

Room Swept Home

Remica Bingham-Risher

Room Swept Home serves as a gloriously rendered magnifying glass into all that is held in the line between the private and public, the investigative and generative, the self and those who came before us. In a strange twist of kismet, two of Bingham-Risher's ancestors intersect in Petersburg, Virginia, forty years before she herself is born: her paternal great-great-great grandmother, Minnie Lee Fowlkes, is interviewed for the Works Progress Administration Slave Narratives in Petersburg in 1937, and her maternal grandmother, Mary Knight, is sent to Petersburg in 1941, diagnosed with "water on the brain"—postpartum depression being an ongoing mystery—nine days after birthing her first child. Marrying meticulous archival research with Womanist scholarship and her hallmark lyrical precision, Bingham-Risher's latest collection treads the murky waters of race, lineage, faith, mental health, women's rights, and the violent reckoning that inhabits the discrepancy between lived versus textbook history, asking: What do we inherit when trauma is at the core of our fractured living?[sample poem]XI. the more ground covered, the more liberated you becameI am scared my mind will turn on me. I am scared I will be naked in a burning house. I am scared my children won't outpace me.I am scared my children (who aren't made by me) believe I am a sad imitation of the others.I am scared I will gather in a roomwhere everyone will ask me to rememberand when I don't lie they'll say I'd hate to be you. I've lived long enough to be scared my kidneys will give out on me. I've lived long enough to know just when they should. I have never shared my fears with anyone; I am scared they will map the land and take liberties. Will the women be ashamed? I'm scared to ask. What will live again? What will die with me?

Show book